Breaking through challenging behavior

A sixth-grade Iowa student was on his school’s collective last nerve. His challenging behavior was, at best, disruptive. At worst, he was a physical threat to himself and others.

His behavior ran the gamut – from hair-pulling, grabbing, kicking and scratching staff to injuring himself – up to 100 times an hour.

Historic education reform bill signed by Gov. Branstad

With the wave of Gov. Branstad’s pen, Iowa’s historic education reform legislation will become law on July 1.

The bill-signing event, held June 3 at North High School in Des Moines, was the culmination of bipartisan work in the Legislature. For education stakeholders, however, the event represented a new beginning.

Smarter Balanced practice tests

Teachers, parents and students in Iowa and across the country can now access new online practice tests that are aligned to common math and literacy standards adopted by Iowa and 44 other states.

The practice tests provide a preview of the types of questions that will be featured on the Smarter Balanced assessments beginning in the 2014-15 school year. The Smarter Balanced assessments are being developed by a consortium of states, including Iowa. Iowa will consider the assessments as a possible replacement for the Iowa Assessments but has not adopted them.

Leave the slide on the playground!

Did you know students can back slide in their reading abilities by a full month during the summer break? Even worse: A student can lose 2.6 months in math skills in the same time period!

Avoid the summer slide by joining the Council of Chief State Schools Officers’ summer reading and math challenges.

Iowa will convene task force to review science standards

Iowa’s role in the Next Generation Science Standards initiative will shift from guiding the development of the new science standards to determining whether they are the right fit for Iowa.

Learning the ropes of effective mathematics instruction

Registration is under way for the Cognitively Guided Instruction 7th Biennial National Mathematics Conference to be held July 10-12 in Des Moines.

Cognitively Guided Instruction, or CGI, emphasizes teaching mathematics in a way that taps into how children think in order to maximize their understanding. It is particularly important in elementary school to ensure they will have a firm foundation upon which they can learn more advanced mathematics.

Iowa's Response to Intervention (RtI)

Response to Intervention (RtI) in Iowa is an every-education decision-making framework of evidence-based practices in instruction and assessment that addresses the needs of all students starting in general education.