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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…

We talk a lot about academic proficiencies, and extol high-performing schools. That’s natural, of course, because it’s important to study our high-performing peers. But just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, topnotch systems didn’t get there over night. They did, however, get there through sustained and committ…

Though Iowa’s national rankings are low, state aligns education for strong future Iowa continues to rank at or near the bottom of the nation when it comes to basic reading proficiency among students on Individualized Education Programs (IEP). The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) shows that fou…

Iowa students are invited to apply for a seat on a state advisory council that is focused on ensuring student voices are heard as the state continues its education reform efforts. The Learning Council, created in 2012, complements state officials’ efforts to get input from various stakeholders across the state on …

The overall number of students who enrolled in Iowa’s public schools for the 2013-14 school year increased significantly from the year before, according to the official certified enrollment report released today by the Iowa Department of Education. This is the second consecutive year that Iowa has seen a large one…

Two Iowa colleges have been chosen to collaborate with the Iowa Department of Education on a pilot project designed to explore whether there are better ways to deliver the educational experience to student teachers. The University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls and Dordt College in Sioux Center will share in a $1 m…