A task force of Iowa teachers and administrators has begun meeting to discuss ways to retain the best teachers and raise teacher pay. Iowa Department of Education director Jason Glass says most teachers who want to grow professionally take “exit ramps” out of the classroom and become a school administrator — or leave the profession entirely. “Education research clearly indicates what anyone who’s ever spent a minute in a classroom already knows, that there are differences in teacher quality and that these differences have an impact on student learning,” Glass says. “The ability of our education system to raise and sustain high levels of student learning is inextricably linked to our ability to raise and sustain high levels of educator quality.”

During a recent task force meeting, some members of the group lamented that the best athletes are recruited out of high school, but there’s little effort to lure the best students into the teaching profession. Glass says giving teachers more leadership opportunities inside their schools will hopefully raise the status of the profession. “By empowering and supporting educators and building teams focused on instruction in every school in Iowa, we take important steps that are in line with high-performing school systems around the globe,” Glass says, “to appropriately honor the teaching profession and more effectively use the best educators we have to grow other great educators.” On August 3rd Governor Branstad will convene a one-day symposium focused on ways principals and teachers can collaborate.

Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds notes both she and the governor have daughters who are teachers.”We know first-hand how incredibly hard our teachers work to make sure that our students succeed,” Reynolds says. “We also realize that growing expectations for students place even more demands on teachers without always providing teachers with the support they need to meet those demands.” Reynolds and Branstad held town hall meetings around the state this winter and spring to discuss education reform ideas, and the governor said last week he’ll put on a “full court press” to build public support for education reform ideas he hopes to get the legislature to embrace in 2013.

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

School’s out for the summer and teenagers who haven’t already lined something up may be looking for a summer job. Iowa Workforce Development spokesperson, Kerry Koonce, says the outlook for snagging a seasonal job is improving. “We certainly seeing it better than it has been the last two or three years, it’s not really up to pre-2008 levels yet, but it’s definitely getting better. And a large portion of that is coming from the adult workforce that had taken some of those jobs who had been laid off from their fulltime jobs. They’re going back to work, so it’s free those opportunities up for the youth again,” Koonce says.

While more jobs are available for teens, there’s still plenty of competition. “Now you still need to present yourself in the best light possible, and it’s still competitive. And you know, broad your search,” Koonce says. “We always tell students not to limit themselves. Obviously as a high school student it’s great not to work Friday and Saturday night — but when you limit yourself to refusing those hours — your opportunities are going to diminish dramatically.” The jobs that teens took in the summer used to be minimum wage, but Koonce says that has changed. “You know it’s really all over the board depending on the type of industry. Even some of the fast-food places that you see out there now are pay far more than minimum wage, so it just kind of varies where you’re looking at,” Koonce says. She says grocery stores are another employer that often pay more than minimum wage.

(Dar Danielson/Radio Iowa)