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Iowans have long taken pride in the quality of their public education system, and many have been concerned that in recent years K-12 students in Iowa have been dropping in the rankings relative to their peers in other countries and U.S. states. The Des Moines Register reporter Lynn Campbell recently quoted one education advocate:
"We don't win when we compete with other kids and countries," [Marvin Pomerantz] said. "We used to win. We were best in the nation. Now we're not the best."
Results from the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress, published last fall, showed that seven states had children who ranked above Iowans in fourth-grade math, four did better in fourth-grade reading, seven ranked higher in eighth-grade math and three scored better in eighth-grade reading. Nearly half the nation's students recorded average scores similar to Iowa's, according to the report.
You can view stats about Iowa's K-12 educational initiatives on the Iowa Department of Education site.
Writing on a The Des Moines Register blog, Carol Hunter opines about the state of education in Iowa:
Specific steps need to back up the vague wording [of an agreement between major players in state politics], including requiring adoption of a model core curriculum statewide and requiring districts to offer more core courses. All students in Iowa, regardless of where they live, deserve a rigorous education that prepares them well for the global economy.
It might help, too, if Iowa's teacher salaries were more in step with those in the rest of the nation. Granted, the cost of living in Iowa is lower than elsewhere in the U.S., but ranking 38th in the U.S. in teacher salaries is not something of which Iowans should be proud.
Iowa's college students form a large constituency of engaged new voters, and as students they tend to care strongly about education. Is it any wonder, then, that education has been a major theme of the presidential campaigning leading up to tomorrow's Iowa caucuses?
In fact, thanks to high turnout by progressive undergraduate students at my alma mater, the college's precinct is one of the most powerful in the state. (Click on the link to read a very interesting article about the Byzantine workings of Iowa's caucus system.) When Iowa moved its caucuses up to January 3, college students from out of state who attend Iowa schools were effectively locked out of the caucus process. Such students traditionally have a right to vote in Iowa because they live there most of the year, although once Barack Obama's popularity surged among college students in Iowa, the Democratic candidates have been trying to discourage or disqualify caucusing by out-of-state students.
Here's a sampling of the chatter in the blogosphere about the candidates' talk on education:
Heather Wokusch writes of the funding gap in Bush's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) initiative and observes that only one candidate has connected the lack of education funding with the glut of money for the wars in the Middle East:
Factoring in the $14.8 billion underfunding slated for 2008 in Bush’s budget request, NCLB is left with a cumulative funding gap of $70.9 billion.
How can schools be held accountable for failing to reach NCLB goals if the federal government isn’t held accountable for meeting its funding promises?
Meanwhile, the states have faced a one-two budgetary punch as the weak economy has driven down tax revenues yet simultaneously increased demand for social services. All of this has led to across-the-board cuts in education, combined with increased pressure to shell out money on standardized tests.
Doesn’t help that the costs for war have simultaneously skyrocketed. Just last week, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) estimated that the US presence in Iraq was costing almost $15 billion per month. 15 billion dollars per month.
Connecting the dots here is simple, but most Democratic candidates are avoiding the elephant in the classroom. They criticize NCLB and promise more educational funding but don’t say where that money will come from.
Voters know better. In the December 2007 Gallup poll, respondents listed the War in Iraq as the most important issue determining Americans’ choice of president in 2008. It’s worth noting that Kucinich is the only Democratic Presidential candidate who voted against the Iraq war authorization in 2002 and every war-funding measure since then.
He also is the only Democratic Presidential candidate directly linking war spending to education funding.
Whitney Tilson reports on her School Reform Blog about the leading Democratic candidates' approaches to NCLB and education in general.