I applaud the continued advancement of the Iowa Core outline and grade level expectations, as these are what will guide Iowa's curriculum, assessment, and high achievement.
I champion the fund for innovation, for it is only as we look at learning in a student-centered way and restructure learning to enable students to take charge of their own learning, will we advance as a state and nation.
I do not support an "exit test" because I know, as a lifelong learning facilitator (aka teacher), that there is no one "test" that can assess completely a student's understanding. Many of these "exams" are reduced to standardized tests. The purpose of standardized tests to "separate students" into a bell curve. To do this, you must ask students questions they don't know in order to separate the "well read" from those with less experiences and opportunities. This will do nothing but create a larger gap. Either that or we create an environment that teachers teach to the test. If we go there as a state we take a huge step back. I, for one, want to go forward.
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