Josh Moser

Clear funding for Iowa education reform remains elusive

Heaven forbid the Iowa Legislature passes reform efforts with clear, manageable, and sustainable funding. The current version of the education reform bill looks to be a mere skeleton of the Branstad administration's original proposal, submitted...

State fair vs. school year: Branstad makes his choice

The Iowa State Fair is an iconic part of Iowa's identity. No one can deny its influence on shaping the culture of the state, nor can one escape the many learning opportunities it presents to the million-plus...

Professional development: important work, sacred time

As Iowa educators find themselves a month into the 2009-2010 school year, they are confronted with the question most educators ask themselves from time to time: how can we improve student achievement? The answers to this question vary from...

Aplington-Parkersburg: A true Iowa school community

With close to 67% of the districts in the state having less than 750 students K-12, it might seem that rural Iowa school Aplington-Parkersburg is not all that different from others like it. This couldn't be further...

Des Moines Education 101: What are charter schools?

Des Moines Register writer Melissa Walker reported a story about the Des Moines School Board's desired action items in today's edition. Among them is a request to lift the cap on the number of...

Cell phone usage in school, take 2

Educators have learned that asking a student to part with their cell phone - even temporarily - is asking the impossible. Once cell phones became common accesories for students, school boards were quick to adopt ...

Iowa school's cell phone policy interesting, illegal

The use of cell phones in school is certainly old news, but an Iowa school board has reinvigorated this debate with a controversial (and apparently illegal) proposal: jam cell phone signals in school. The St. Ansgar School...

A 'teachable moment' indeed: More public speaking instruction

A previous article offered a series of public speaking missteps from former President George W. Bush. Rather than it pointing out the obvious flaws in Bush's rhetoric, however, I used it as a means of illustrating the need for...

Des Moines Education 101: What is the Iowa Core Curriculum?

The historyIowa prides itself on giving local control to school boards, building administrators, and classroom educators because Iowans understand that educators are the experts in their field. In fact, up until two years ago, Iowa school districts were allowed to...

A book for all junior high and high school teachers

Fred Kaplan has done a wonderful thing for educators in writing 1959: The Year Everything Changed. He may not have intended to do so, but the book allows educators from many content areas to use this nonfiction piece to...

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