The governor’s education czar, Linda Fandel, and Jason Glass, his Dept. of Education director, started a briefing at 8 a.m. this Monday morning. Fandel began, calling it a “blueprint on how we can transform Iowa schools.”
Glass took over, saying the “framework” of the blue print was built looking at high performing schools in other states and around the world. Access and equity for students have been addressed before in Iowa, according to Glass, and he pointed to previous efforts to improve the competency and quality of the teaching profession.
He said all these are positives to build on, but they also represent areas to improve upon.
“Having great teachers and principals in every building, he said. Providing scholarships to high-performing students, raising GPA for getting into teaching and administration programs at the college level and raising starting pay are among the proposals. They want a mentor and master teacher system in every school in the state. A single website to post all education jobs in Iowa is another proposal. “We’d like to stitch that system more closely together,” Glass said.
Glass said Branstad also wants to “expand alternate pathways” into teaching and administration. “We’ve been systematically excluding talent from our workforce,” Glass said.
Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award.
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