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Shelly Neese and Roger Petersen see data collected by the Iowa Department of Education as a pathway to the future. You don’t have to ask a school administrator whether the Iowa Department of Education asks for lots of data. It does. Sure, lots of the collected data meets the state and federal requirements to ensur…

Plymouth Grounds Coffee Shop in Des Moines enables students with special needs to use their academic knowledge in a work setting. It ensures they are ready for careers once they finish school. If it were up to Melinda Collins, all of her students would leave school ready to pursue a career or college. Thankfully for…

If academic subjects were ships, the SS Social Studies is ready for righting with Stefanie Wager at the helm. The upcoming Best Practices in Social Studies Institute will help chart a new course for the discipline. Wager, a social studies consultant for the Iowa Department of Education who is organizing the June ins…

For the third consecutive year, the state’s graduation rate has increased, according to figures released by the Iowa Department of Education. At the same time, fewer students were dropping out of high school in Iowa. Graduation rates for the class of 2013 increased for all but one subgroup of students. Of particul…

Approximately 10 percent of Iowa’s preschool-through-sixth grade schools are dipping their toes into the early literacy assessment waters. The consensus? Good. The schools are participating in Phase One of the state’s Multi-Tier Support Systems (MTSS), which had formerly been referred to as Response to Intervent…

The State Board of Education today honored four exemplars for the stand-out work they have done to ensure career and college readiness among Iowa’s  high school seniors. The Iowa Department of Education, in partnership with ACT, identified this year’s honorees. Honorees are selected for four categories: stu…

By 2016-17, all districts will be able to participate in centerpiece legislation Gov. Terry E. Branstad, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Department of Education Director Brad Buck today announced the first group of Iowa school districts selected to launch teacher leadership systems next school year. Top teachers t…

Early literacy efforts in Iowa are ramping up. The goal, which the Legislature put in place in 2012, is to ensure that students are proficient in reading by the time they finish third grade. That is a particularly important benchmark. “Research shows that if students are behind in reading by the end of third gr…

Life is music to Rosanne Malek’s ears. Consider: Malek sees music in everything, from math to nature. Music is, Malek says, central to life – and academics. And it’s her passion for music that has led Malek, who is the music consultant at the Iowa Department of Education, to being honored on the national stage…

Iowa Department of Education seeks sponsors for summer meal programs An estimated 91 percent of students who receive meal assistance during the school year go hungry during the summer months. That’s because there are not enough summer food programs statewide to meet the needs of the 195,712 students who qualify du…