The State Report Card is out, using Iowa’s low standards rather than grade level standards, and other factors. Results are comparable to basic proficiency in the National Report Card (only NAEP provides assessments at three levels): basic proficiency (entry level low standards), proficient (national grade level standards), and above proficient (international standards). Misleading terms used for the Iowa rankings are: Exceptional (A), High-Performing (B), Commendable (C), Acceptable (D), Needs Improvement (F), and Priority (close it).
An analogy between a system of memorization and a system of concepts would be prepping for a play. Memorize your lines verbatim; on cue (testing) recite your lines – with no emotion or interaction to any of the other actors or situation of the play (no depth of understanding of their meaning) – and you receive marks bases on degree of perfect repetition. Education has been doing this for the past sixty years. Concepts, on the other hand, require a depth of understanding and ability to apply them by interacting with a variety of factors (to demonstrate in assessments and in everyday living).This is where Iowa is not doing well, as indicated by several factors: out-of-state assessments such as FAST, NAEP (24th in 4th-grade reading), NCTQ assessments of teacher training programs (latest elementary level is now available), and the coming replacement of Iowa Assessments by out-of-state ones, such as SmarterBalance.
Iowa elementaries have some serious problems. Iowa teachers, according to the NCTQ, lack the training to effectively teach the five reading concepts known as the science of reading. This accounts for the choice of phonics rules that fail to cover all letter and combination of letter sounds — as phonics did for centuries prior to the change to memorization sixty years ago. This poor choice prevents certain learning styles from making progress to higher proficiencies. The poor choice also means there is a complete lack of ability to effectively remediate, which is why summer school fails to remediate, Special Ed. fails to remediate, and there is no effective remediation for students caught in the transition from the system of memorization to concepts — accounting for the gap that is not closing for many Iowa schools.
The state needs a policy that forces schools unable to effectively remediate to pay for private remediation, provided for decades to students being failed by schools (paid for by parents), to stop the damage continuing to be inflicted. Online K-12 will also work.
Sue Atkinson
Baxter