DES MOINES – Two work groups charged with studying ways to reduce the need for developmental college coursework today released recommendations that support Iowa’s vision for all students to graduate from high school ready for college and for college students to have the support they need to complete a degree or credential.
Developmental (or remedial) education refers to undergraduate instruction that does not count toward a degree, but typically must be completed by students who are considered underprepared before advancing to college-level coursework. More than one out of every five Iowa students (21.6 percent) who enroll in an Iowa public college or university within one year of high school graduation take at least one developmental English or math course the first year of college. The rate is almost twice as high for black and Hispanic students (39.1 percent) as it is for white students (19.6 percent).
“Reducing the need for developmental education is a high priority because students who are placed in these courses are at risk of failing to progress and never completing a credential or degree,” said Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise. “These recommendations expand on efforts underway in our schools and colleges to further enhance student success and strengthen Iowa’s workforce talent pipeline.”
Two work groups were established in response to recommendations released last year by the Future Ready Iowa Alliance aimed at reaching the goal of 70 percent of Iowa workers having education or training beyond high school by 2025. One of those recommendations specifically calls out the need to improve remediation at both high school and postsecondary levels.
The High School and Community College Developmental Education Partnerships Working Group focused its recommendations on identifying and closing gaps in reading, writing, and math in high school. The group identified strong partnerships between high schools and community colleges, use of diagnostic tools to identify learning gaps, and meaningful course-taking during the senior year as components for effective transition from high school to college.
The Developmental Education Working Group evaluated best practices for supporting students who aren’t ready for college coursework and focused its recommendations on ways to improve advising, assessment, placement, teaching and delivery methods.
“The length of time spent in developmental courses can impede college persistence, increasing the time and cost it takes to earn a degree,” said Linda Allen, a work group member and Hawkeye Community College president. “Our goal is to identify gaps early and improve instruction and support services in order to make sure all students have a clear path to successful degree completion.”
The groups’ final reports emphasize the need for a statewide commitment to strategically reform developmental education to increase student completion and offer evidence-based strategies to better support Iowa’s increasingly diverse student population.
The work groups also recommend maintaining and nurturing partnerships between high schools and community colleges, with a shared definition of college readiness that outlines expectations of students ready for postsecondary coursework and experiences.
Recommendations include:
Adoption of a common diagnostic tool to determine appropriate senior-year interventions in high school to get them back on track.
Requiring all high school students to complete a math course during the senior year to reduce the erosion of math skills between high school and college.
Use of multiple measures to assess college readiness for student placement in college-level coursework.
Providing holistic and intrusive advising and academic supports in college to address individual student needs.
Implementing strategies that efficiently mainstream underprepared students into college-level courses while providing the supports they need to be successful.
Community college leaders have expressed commitment to implementing this reform and will lead continued efforts to improve and accelerate developmental education in Iowa. Additionally, the recommendations will be shared with the Iowa State Board of Education.
The Johnston Community School District began a journey to provide its students with quality financial literacy learning.
Financial literacy surfaced as a focus from our community roundtable conversations, as well as the new Social Studies standards. Discussions focused on potential benefits of a full semester course versus an integrated approach across multiple courses. They wanted all students to have a quality experience of depth of content, fidelity of topics, and the opportunity to be taught by teacher experts.
Johnston staff agreed that a deep, authentic course was needed for all of our learners to be successful in understanding financial literacy. The team decided the class would be taken by juniors, and last fall a course on Financial Literacy became a graduation requirement.
The semester-long Financial Literacy course uses Next Gen Personal Finance materials, supplemented with teacher choice materials, all of which are free to access and use.
Students will be expected to learn about financial goal setting, budgeting, banking services, paying for higher education, insurance, investing, credit and debt, and buying a home and car. In learning these topics, students do a variety of activities, ranging from games and simulations to creating videos and other multimedia. The key was ensuring that an otherwise dry topic was presented in a fun, engaging and realistic manner.
A recent survey of the first students who went through the course showed that 99 percent of them said that Financial Literacy will help them in their adult life.
Students also take part in the H & R Block Budget Challenge. It is a 10-week simulation where students receive and pay bills, keep a budget, contribute to their 401k, and manage a credit card. Students enjoy the challenges that come along with managing a realistic budget.
Registration is ongoing for a scholarship that offers Iowa high school seniors a chance to receive one of 30 scholarships worth $2,000 for college while learning important financial literacy skills.
In addition, each recipient’s high school will receive a corresponding $500 award.
High school seniors may register for the Iowa Financial Know-How Challenge: Senior Scholarship between now and Feb. 16. Iowa Student Loan® will award $2,000 scholarships to 30 students who complete two online financial literacy tutorials and score highest on a related assessment. Registered students also receive emails highlighting financial literacy tips, such as the importance of early career and college planning and ways to reduce student loan indebtedness. For more information go here.
DES MOINES – Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise today convened members of a new team that will review and recommend statewide standards for computer science education.
The Computer Science Standards Review Team has been established as part of Senate File 274, which former Gov. Branstad signed into law in 2017. The legislation encourages computer science in every Iowa school, establishes voluntary computer science standards and creates a computer science professional development incentive fund to help prepare teachers.
The review team is an extension of the Computer Science Education Work Group, which met last year. That group’s recommendations in November included immediately convening a team to begin reviewing computer science standards.
“Computer science is a basic skill in today’s economy, and the goal behind this new law is that every Iowa student will have had computer science before they graduate from high school,” Wise said. “One of the ways we can ensure high-quality instruction in computer science is to set high-quality standards for what students should know and be able to do.”
Today’s meeting included discussion of state and national context with regard to computer science standards, as well as a review of conceptual guidelines for computer science education.
In the coming months, the review team will seek public feedback and offer recommended standards to the State Board of Education for consideration. If adopted, the computer science standards will be optional for school districts.
When the standards-setting process is complete, Wise hopes to make available the professional development incentive fund. This would allow school districts to reimburse their teachers for participation in professional learning with the goal of preparing to teach computer science. The fund’s availability is contingent upon a state appropriation.
A list of team members is available on the Computer Science Standards Review Team webpage.
The team’s meeting schedule is as follows:
Dates:
February 7
March 8
April 17
May 17
Location:
Grand View University
Student Center
2811 E 14th St
Des Moines
CHARLES CITY – Though the vast majority of students who are deaf or hard of hearing have no additional disabilities, an astounding percentage of them are falling behind their peers in the areas of language and literacy skills. The problem? Lack of access to interpreters and limited access to daily instruction from staff who are specially trained to teach the students.
While larger districts with deeper pockets can provide full-time access to interpreters, smaller districts are often left blowing in the wind, relying on services by itinerant teachers provided by their Area Education Agencies. While that’s sufficient for some students who are deaf or hard of hearing, it creates an educational barrier for others.
“We are talking about access to education,” said Jay Colsch, regional director for the Iowa Educational Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired and Iowa School for the Deaf. “If the student cannot communicate with teachers and their peers, how are they going to learn?”
It is estimated that the number of deaf and hard of hearing students in the state is nearly 1,600. While the state offers full-time class instruction at its School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs, for many parents the notion of sending their child far away isn’t an option.
And to that end, a state leadership team consisting of administrators from the Iowa Department of Education, Area Education Agencies, Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Iowa Educational Services for the Blind/Visually Impaired, Iowa School for the Deaf and the Des Moines Public Schools has developed a plan to create what’s known as regional academies. Regional academies are designed to be dotted across the state for the purpose of providing interpreters and full-time teachers of the deaf to students with hearing impairments. In addition, plans are under way to provide full-time teachers of the visually impaired and vision assistants (paraprofessionals) to students who are blind/visually impaired at various locations throughout the state.
The purpose of regional academies is to expand the continuum of services to students with sensory impairments by providing instructional services that supplement itinerant services currently provided by Area Education Agencies and Iowa Educational Services for the Blind/Visually Impaired.
At present, there’s only one regional academy – North East Iowa Regional Academy – located in Charles City, and it currently only serves students with hearing impairments. But the academy, known by its acronym NERA, is the pilot.
“The AEAs provide support through itinerant teachers,” Colsch said. “But they are limited with the time they can spend with each student and cannot provide full-time itinerant teachers. All too often I have been at IEP (Individualized Education Programs) meetings where the amount of service received is based on the availability of itinerant teachers, not based on what the student needs.”
If the itinerant teacher cannot provide sufficient support – typically, itinerant teachers can spend no more than one hour a day, twice per week, with individual students – those who are deaf or hard of hearing are often staffed into multi-disability special education programs.
“There is a seismic gap in the continuum of services” Colsch said. “If the amount of support from an itinerant teacher of the deaf/hard of hearing isn’t sufficient, the student often is placed in multi-disability special education programs taught by special education teachers who have little or no educational background or experience teaching students with sensory impairments. Special education teachers are inclined to rely on instructional strategies that are effective with students with learning disabilities or cognitive impairments rather than evidence-based strategies that are specially designed for students who have sensory impairments.”
Academic achievement data being collected by local school districts would suggest that the overall rate of progress among students with sensory disabilities is not sufficient to keep pace with their non-disabled peers.
“Deafness does not preclude children from learning at a rate commensurate with their peers,” Colsch said. “But it does require that they are taught in a different manner.”
In 2013, only 39 percent of Iowa students who were deaf/hard of hearing achieved proficiency in reading as measured by the Iowa Assessments. Another study was conducted last year of reading proficiency among Iowa’s children in grades K-3 who are deaf/hard of hearing using FAST Assessment results and other measures of early literacy skill development. Preliminary results indicate that less than 30 percent of Iowa’s children with significant hearing loss achieved proficiency.
“Our state leadership team recognizes that we can’t embrace the status quo,” Colsch said. “There is too much at stake here. Regional academies represent a systems change that is much needed.”
Susan Rolinger, director of extended learning for the School for the Deaf and Iowa Educational Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, said it comes down to the matter of the law for providing all students free and appropriate public educations, known as FAPE.
“What is appropriate for a child who is deaf?” she said. “How you know something is appropriate is access – communication access. We have a communication plan for our IEPs. There is a reason for that. Now, if you have a student who is hard of hearing and they are falling farther behind, putting them into a special education room gets them in with a teacher with more hours dedicated, but it isn’t necessarily appropriate. The child needs education access, but the teacher doesn’t have the ability.”
In no way is the regional academy concept meant to impinge upon the work going on at the AEAs. Rolinger, whose daughter Madeline is deaf, thrived under the itinerant teacher model.
“But many kids who are deaf and hard of hearing are at significantly higher risk of having behavior problems,” she said. “The regional academy offers a critical mass where students who are deaf and hard of hearing have access to education, access to communication. We’re not saying that every deaf or hard of hearing child should be educated at a regional academy. But there is a significant chunk of students who need more.”
“During IEP meetings, the concept of an appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment must be considered,” he said. “Least restrictive environment isn’t a specific place; it is a learning environment where the child can receive an appropriate education with their non-disabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate. If a child is the only one who is deaf or hard of hearing, their communication needs must be addressed in an environment where learning is not restricted by lack of communication access. Placement in a regional academy is less restrictive than placement in a child’s home district, general education classes and multi-disability special education programs where they don’t have access to effective communication with their peers.”
As for Rolinger’s daughter, Madeline is attending the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y., where she is studying public policy with the goal of becoming a disability rights attorney.
“She has critical mass for the first time in her educational career,” she said. “There are 1,200 deaf and hard of hearing students there. You can imagine she loves it.”
Rolinger considers her daughter lucky to have thrived in the mainstream. But she worries about those who don’t.
“Let’s not wait for them to fail before we send them to the regional academy,” she said.
Applications are being accepted for the student member of the Iowa State Board of Education.
Each year the Governor appoints a student to serve as a nonvoting member of the State Board of Education. The term of the student member starts May 1, 2018, and ends April 30, 2019. The State Board meets at least seven times during that term, with most meetings taking place in the Grimes State Office Building in Des Moines. The deadline for submitting an application with all required documents is Feb. 1.
Besides being a full-time, regularly enrolled 10th or 11th grade student in a public high school, the student must meet these requirements:
Has a GPA of at least 3.0 (4.0 scale) or 3.75 (5.0 scale).
Has attended his/her present high school at least the past two consecutive semesters (or the equivalent thereof).
Demonstrates participation in extracurricular and community activities, as well as an interest in serving on the board.
The number of applicants in a year from any one district is limited as follows:
If district enrollment for grades 10 through 12 is less than 400 students, there may be no more than one applicant from the district.
If district enrollment for grades 10 through 12 is from 400 to 1,199 students, there may be no more than two applicants from the district.
If district enrollment for grades 10 through 12 is 1,200 students or more, there may be no more than three applicants from the district.
A centerpiece of the Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) program is collaboration. One of the five state TLC goals is to promote collaboration by developing and supporting opportunities for teachers in schools and school districts statewide to learn from each other.
A common role for a teacher leader is to help create a culture to support shared leadership and collaboration.
Here are some teacher leader roles to support collaboration suggested in “10 Obstacles to Collaboration: the Role of a Teacher Leader” from k12teacherleadership, April 2016.
Encourage teachers to share their ideas and practices by building a relationship to decrease the teacher’s resistance to engage in collaboration.
Educate teachers about the advantages for collaboration and its simplicity.
Clearly communicate the purpose and vision of school-wide collaboration and how it promotes teacher development.
Support the school principal and other leaders in implementing collaboration that impacts student learning and professional practice.
Advocate for time, space, and resources toward collaborative efforts.
Embed professional learning and collaboration into daily practice.
Facilitate opportunities of collaboration to ensure that the experience is positive. Furthermore, collect feedback from all teachers to identify ways to continuously improve collaboration.
Work with teachers to develop group norms and ensure collaboration is open to diverse perspectives.
A collaborative culture is built in teachers’ willingness to share support and explore together. This type of culture will increase teacher retention, improve student learning, and improve professional learning.
For more information, contact Lora Rasey at lora.rasey@iowa.gov or 515-281-6719.
DES MOINES – Two work groups charged with studying ways to reduce the need for developmental college coursework today released recommendations that support Iowa’s vision for all students to graduate from high school ready for college and for college students to have the support they need to complete a degree or credential.
