Iowa Core Curriculum
Superintendent’s Update
By Dave Ackerman
Change is inevitable, growth is optional.
I know all of us have heard this statement before. What it implies
is that no matter how much we want to fight it, change WILL happen.
The key to change is how we react. Some embrace change, some
tolerate it, some fight it. Essentially we can choose to see it as
opportunity for growth and improvement or we can choose to do
things the same way we have been while expecting different results.
Well, education in Iowa, as mandated by the legislature, is about
to make an important, real change, and therefore Central Lyon will
be making a change as well. This change is called the Iowa Core
Curriculum (ICC). In this case, growth is NOT optional, it is
expected, and even demanded.
The Iowa Core Curriculum is based on research by the Iowa
Association of School Boards Foundation of the five states in the
nation (Delaware, Massachusetts, Virginia, New York, and Minnesota)
which have demonstrated the largest amount of growth in test scores
and other student growth. The Foundation also performed an analysis
of the standards and curriculum alignment of these states. It was
discovered that these states have improved so dramatically because
they aligned their curriculum to be more rigorous and stresses that
instruction go beyond the first levels of learning which are
understanding and application. In a brief description, The Iowa
Core Curriculum demands that instruction go beyond understanding
and application to analyzing the knowledge, evaluation of
information, and even the creation of new solutions. The intent is
to create higher level thinking on all topics rather than just
reciting back the facts learned. The ICC stresses the higher order
thinking skills for all subjects, but reading math, and science
will be the first to be examined and aligned. Again, this is not
just the next fad, this is the new expectation for the direction of
education as directed by the Iowa Legislature. We will be working
diligently to meet these new expectations.
As we look forward to the new school year, I wish to welcome
students and parents to the 2009-2010 school year. I encourage you
to visit your child’s classrooms, contact his/her teachers and
principals, and be involved in your child’s education. Central Lyon
has enjoyed academic success in the past, and we look forward to
continuing that tradition in the future!
