Suppose you are a design engineer working on how you might improve the old rotary telephone. Your efforts and long hours have successfully allowed you to improve the telephone to make dialing more efficient. How silly does this sound? If a poll was conducted to ask elementary students what an old rotary telephone was, most probably wouldn't know. The 21st Century is living and dieing on the latest cell phone technology. While you might be a successful engineer on rotary telephones, your skills will need to be transformed to be of use for improving cell phone technology. This is what is occuring in education throughtout the United States.
The Iowa Core Curriculum is a statewide effort aimed at equipping teachers, schools and communities to better prepare students with the skills they need for the 21st Century. The skills and concepts students need for the 21st Century are different than historical demands. Therefore, educators are being called upon to improve not only the pedagogical practice but what skills and concepts are taught in today's schools. This is what the Iowa Core Curriculum has to offer.
For students, the Iowa Core Curriculum offers a challenging and meaningful curriculum that better prepares students for success in postsecondary education as well as in the emerging global economy. For educators, the Iowa Core Curriculum offers a concise content, practical assessment and engaging instruction to be used to accomplish the same vision. The Iowa Core Curriculum identifies the essential concepts and skills for kindergarten through 12th grade in the areas of literacy, math, science, social studies, and what is called the 21st Century skills. The 21st Century skills include skill sets in areas of finance, health, technology, employability, civic literacy as well as global literacy.
For parents and communities, the Iowa Core Curriculum offers an opportunity for everyone to work together to support this new statewide endeavor to achieve a common goal of improving student achievement. Everyone has skills, knowledge and experiences to offer to improve everyone's involvement towards this common goal of preparing students for the 21st Century.
When fully implemented, the Iowa Core Curriculum will ensure that all schools in the state of Iowa are implementing the best practices that research indicates makes the most difference in student achievement. One of the keys to any success is to adapt and Iowa education is adapting to ensure the future success of our students.
For more information on the Iowa Core Curriculum, visit www.corecurriculum.iowa.gov
