Reforming Iowa Education

Ben Jacobson:

The stagnation of Iowa’s educational system will impact the region negatively in more than just rankings, according to the United States Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. The status quo has potential to cripple Iowans entering a globally competitive job market.
“The countries out there that out-educate us, they out-compete us,” Duncan said. “The sad truth is that Iowa has started slowly slouching toward mediocrity.”
The Keynote speaker of Gov. Terry Branstad’s much publicized Education Summit, said that reform will be tough, possibly unpopular, but absolutely necessary to remain relevant in a “knowledge economy.”