Gov. Terry Branstad is expected to sign the legislation even though he and Department of Education Director Jason Glass agree it falls short of what they wanted.

The governor’s ambitious 156-page, $25 million proposal released in January is now a 33-page package costing less than a tenth of the original figure, and that money is earmarked for early childhood reading.

Some of the most controversial proposals were chucked overboard in the waning days of the 84th General Assembly when it became clear that the majority Republicans in the House could not agree with the majority Democrats in the Senate.

Still, some students — those in third grade, those who take online courses and those who are in college studying to become teachers — will see changes, assuming Branstad signs the measure into law.

“Much of what was required in (the legislation) we are already doing,” said Paul Gausman, superintendent of Sioux City Community School District and chairman of the Urban Education Network of Iowa.

“There are some items we’d like a little more clarity on and to see some details on, like how they define collaboration time,” he said. “I think the conversations we had this year were ambitious, and I think what was done here won’t have immediate changes but laid the groundwork for the future.”

Third-grade retention, online learning

For the rest of the article, go to Iowa’s education reform: What will it mean to you?

And it’s a real school experience, she said, with teachers, a high-quality curriculum, clubs, and activities.

“Virtual education is a very appealing and interesting option for all types of students,” Bazin said noting the flexibility it brings is important.

The type of student varies by need, ranging from athletes to the medically fragile to rural students, she said.

Iowa City residents Maria Valentine and her husband have applied to put their 8-year-old son, Josiah, into the Iowa Connections Academy.

For the rest of the article, go to Iowa City School District set to review requests for online school enrollment

As with any innovation, challenges are expected. Accepting innovative change typically relies on an easy to understand explanation of the innovation, an advantage over the current system for those being served, can be tried and tested before adoption, and is compatible with our values.

The two new virtual schools are organized around individualized, paced instruction. Students may accelerate in some subjects while taking more time in other subjects if needed. A highly qualified teacher living and working in Iowa implements the instruction and determines advancement through the curriculum using frequent assessments.

For the rest of the article, go to Iowa View: ‘Virtual schools’ have a place in Iowa

The Republican-controlled House passed a sweeping education reform package in February that would require more student testing and seeks expansion of charter schools. It also keeps in place a third-grade retention program that survived a paring-down process by the governor to recognize the financial and political realities of a major overhaul affecting students, teachers, administrators, parents, interest groups and public institutions.

The House also rejected key components in Branstad’s reform recommendations by eliminating a requirement that prospective teachers have and maintain at least a 3.0 GPA, and placing new restrictions on who can take online classes before sending the Iowa Senate one of the session’s must-do priorities for further consideration.

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, who will be floor manager of the education reform bill, said there’s broad support for competency-based education and for expanding the topics covered by the core curriculum.

He also said there’s strong support for early-grade reading and getting students help early but he noted “some controversy over retention decisions” that would end social promotion for kids struggling to read after finishing third grade.

Quirmbach also noted “a lot of heartburn” over two Iowa school districts’ announced plans to open online academies this fall.

Clayton Ridge Community School District and CAM Community School District contracted with private online education providers under current state law. Students from across the state could enroll in the academies and have their lessons delivered over the Internet. The private companies receive the students’ state aid as payment, less an administrative fee of 3 percent or 3.5 percent that goes to the host district.

Quirmbach expressed concern that virtual academies in Colorado have been marred by high dropout rates and low achievement levels. “That’s not a direction we want to go,” he said.

A major obstacle to agreement will be financing, Schoenjahn noted, saying Senate Democrats won’t accept House Republican plans to shift money from existing class-size reduction and other programs to cover the $17 million or more price tag needed to implement the new reforms.

“Taking money from existing programs to finance reform is probably not the direction that we are interested in,” he said.

For the rest of the article, go to Lawmakers favor fewer school reforms 

As with any new innovation, challenges are appropriate and expected. Accepting innovative change typically relies on an easy to understand explanation of the innovation, an advantage over the current system for those being served, can be tried and tested before adoption, and is compatible with our values.

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual public schools have a place in Iowa’s future

When meeting with the Editorial Board last month, Nelson explained that he decided to contact companies like K12 Inc. after then Gov. Chet Culver called for a 10 percent across-the-board budget cut in 2009. Fearful that the cuts would eliminate some of the elective and advanced classes the small district in northeast Iowa could offer, Nelson said he was ready to think outside the brick-and-mortar box.State needs to keep an eye on online schools

For the rest of the article, go to State needs to keep an eye on online schools

Students in these schools rarely hear from their teachers. At the Insight School of Wisconsin, owned by K-12, students need only sign in on the school website once every three days to prove they were actually attending. At times K-12 has outsourced paper grading to a contractor in India.  Angelique Smith, a parent of a student in a K-12 school for early elementary, said “ It’s more the parent teaching them”. Virtual school students started with higher test scores but ended up with learning gains that were “significantly worse” than students in traditional charter and public schools.

For the rest of the article, go to On-line Education

The first concern is to follow the money. The funding that would go to a local school district and then percolate through the local economy now would go to an out-of-state corporation.

There is also the question of quality. The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow with 10,000 students in Ohio had test scores ranking above just 14 of the 609 school districts in the state. In 2010, barely half its third graders scored proficient or better on state reading tests, compared with the state average of 80 percent.

The Center for Research and Education Outcome looked at results in Pennsylvania, specifically the arguments about individually tailored lesson plans which are provided to teachers who typically have classes of 50-100 students. Susan Ohanian, an educational consultant, created three online student identities and took all the first- and second-grade social studies courses as a research project. When she reported that “Johnny wasn’t getting it,” the answer from K-12 (another on-line company) was “repeat the lesson until you get it right,”

For the rest of the article, go to Cedar Valley Voices: Online education lacks human component

No, they will just have to turn on the computer.

The Marshalltown residents could be among the first students in the new Iowa Virtual Academy, which is run entirely through the computer and telephone calls between staff and students.

Iowa Virtual Academy, also known as the IAVA, will give lessons online as teachers will be in touch with students for several hours daily.

Caine and Ethan’s mother, Amanda Sanford, said she looked into the school as a way to boost their interest in school and achieving. She also thinks she can be more a part of the process this way.

“I would be able to have more time with my kids and help them with their work at home,” Sanford said.

The academy is operated through Clayton Ridge School District in Guttenberg and is part of the public school system. Students from districts across the state can attend by open enrolling out of their own district. Sanford has filed the papers for her sons to open enroll to IAVA, but said she is still 50/50 whether she wants them to officially be students next year or stay at Franklin Elementary School, where she said the teachers have been great.

Sanford said if she sees enough progress in the classroom in the next few months she may choose the public school route and doesn’t plan to have them in IAVA for the long term either.

For the rest of the article, go to Can a computer replace a classroom?

Students who “attend” will remain at home and receive all instruction through the Internet. A kindergartner could go to school 13 years and never set foot in a classroom. The private companies insist this is not a home-school program so they can collect almost all of the nearly $6,000 in per pupil education funding for these students.

For the rest of the article, go to Does Iowa really want online schools?