Nicholas Johnson [NJ]: Good morning Gayane, Lane and Trudy.

I have good news and bad news.

The good news that has not been mentioned by Gayane or either of you yet, being essentially of the modest persuasion, is that the morning news reports that our school district has been selected as one of the top three in the North Central area of the United States. One of 100 picked out of 15,000 school districts, which I thought at least worthy of mention.

Sarge Shriver used to keep a sign on his wall, "Bring Me Only Bad News, Good News Weakens Me." So the bad news question is, "How do you avoid complacency?"  How do you continue to spur people on to change, to keeping up with the latest in educational research, when you have some of the highest graduation rates and SAT scores and so forth in the country?  How do you continue to encourage people to improve?

Dr. Lane Plugge, Superintendent, Iowa City Community School District [LP]: I did see that publication.  We heard about that yesterday.  We didn't know that that recognition was coming.  It is always very nice to receive that.

I don't think that districts like Iowa City or the other districts mentioned can be mentioned if they remain complacent.  We are living in rapidly changing times and I think it is more important than ever before that we continue to try to find ways to improve.  And that improvement begins at the classroom level.  What can we do as administrators to provide the resources and the encouragement for teachers to improve that teaching and learning?  And you also need to inspire your community to say, "How can we be better?"  There is high interest here.  The challenge is in getting folks to try new things that could take us even higher and make us better.

Dr. Trudy Day, Principal, City High School, Iowa City [TD]: I think we do two things, Nick.

The first is that it is incumbent upon us, as sort of the nation's leading educators to constantly stay on top of the research and be aware of the research in learning.  In the past four years there has been a doubling of research and understanding of the brain and how children think and learn.  And in the next four years the prediction is that that brain research will double again.  And so we're constantly aware of new and different ways that children learn.

I think also we not only focus on the averages that are indicated by testing and by reports but we also have a mentor, if you will, for each of us to leave no child behind, so we don't lose one child.  We do look at the averages and do celebrate the averages.  But we also look at each individual child and don't lose one of them.

[LP]: And I think that another trend that you are seeing, and you're well aware of it Nick, is that the Board of Education and the entire district is trying to move more toward a data driven institution.  And I think that will help us also.  Schools all think they're good, especially your local schools, and I think we talked about that at the last Board Meeting.  Everyone thinks that the state of American education is maybe at a "C," but my school is an "A" or "B."  I think if we continue to focus on data, that that will help drive our organization to improve.

[NJ]: All right.  Well, we're proud to have both of you in town and thank you for the long hours and creative work that you put in.

Gayane Torosyan [GT]: Thank you, Professor Johnson.  And let's take another call right now.  This is Margaret.  Hi Margaret.  You're on Iowa Talks.

Margaret [M]: Thank you very much.  I'm calling from my car.  I'm in Illinois.  I'm starting to lose this station now.  So I might not even be able to hear the answer.  I was wondering if there are some trends in public education on the horizon in smaller classroom curriculum changes, that sort of thing.  And what do you see coming in the future, the next 10 years or so, for the Iowa City Public Schools?

[LP]: I would think that the big major impact has been that of technology.  How can we use technology in instruction?  Technology has impacted our entire world and our society in major ways and continues to do so.  So I would say that one trend would be how we utilize technology, how we use that to get information and organize information.  So that's important.

I also think you look at trends out.  Iowa does not have vouchers or charter schools yet, but they are things across our nation that we will probably have to look at and respond to the public's want to try to customize education.  I think that will be very difficult because traditionally schools have pretty much had that same industrial model that we are founded with more than a century ago or 150 years ago.  I think that if we can customize to the many varied needs of people and that the learning does not just take place between 8 and 3 o'clock.   So, I think those will be some of the major challenges facing us.

[GT]: Would technology play a major role in that?

[LP]:  Most definitely.

[TD]: I think the technology goes hand in hand with looking at how kids learn.  All the different ways that kids learn.  And using in the classroom and in the school at large all of the different resources available to the teacher.  And how can you reach all the different kids that you have coming before you.

[GT]: In your previous comment, you were saying that the University has a strong impact on your work.  Would you like to continue that thought.

[TD]: Well, a couple of things for us.  We have a very close relationship with the school of education.  We always have a high number from the area universities, not just the University of Iowa, but from many are universities of student teachers favoring lots of excitement and energy and new ideas and enthusiasm for education to us.  And we hope they leave us with that bolstered.

We also have some partnerships.  We have a science research class, for example.  We send about 20 kids over to the University to do a high school course and they do research  in some of the labs throughout the University and do real research at the University.  We also have the opportunity to post secondary education for some of our older students to go and take courses at the University.  So it's a tremendous educational resource for us here.  Through Hancher Auditorium we have the opportunity for many of the Arts that are brought to us and that's a part of the University as well.

[GT]: Well, we're just talking about future plans and academic standards and measuring those standards.  I just have a question.  What are academic results?  How do we measure them?  Isn't education a process that isn't necessarily aimed at the product and the product should be the student's ability to learn rather than the absolute test score, for example?  Because I know that if the federal government requires that states become a control for those results and test scores are the measure, then how about the philosophy of learning?  Isn't it a process?

[LP]: Well, the standardized test score can never be the sole measure of how successful a student or a school truly is.  Because that's one measure and it can help us measure academic achievement.  But I think the true measure of the success of anyone is how they transition in the next environment.  How successful are our students when they enter the world after K-12 education ends?  How do they do at a university level?  How do they do when they enter the work world?  That should be the true measure of how successfuly we are.  There's many more things than a simple academic score.

[GT]: You are a teacher.  Have you been teaching?  Do you teach now?

[LP]: I guess you would say that I have different classes.  My classroom may be the community.  I don't directly teach students.

[GT]: That's also a classroom.

[LP]:  Yes it is.

[GT]: What do you want for your students right now when we talk about achievement and results?  What is your desire for them?

[LP]: My desire for them personally?  It would fall under a number of different categories.  I hung a wish the other day at Horace Mann School.  They have a neat project starting this year at the school where everyone -- faculty, staff, I don't know if parents were involved also -- to write a wish on a ribbon and tie it on.  My wish was that every child would find a best friend.

First of all, we had hoped that people could find positive relationships, get along with their peers, be able to work both as an individual and more importantly as a team member and a group member.  And then also in a broader sense for them to do as academically as well as they can and be successful.  There's many measures of success.  Success isn't always measured in the test score.  To me it is just supporting how they work in their world.

[GT]: What are the sources of funding for a school district?  The federal government requires that school districts provide the people with equal opportunities in education, but do those communities stand on equal economic basis to begin with?  Do you think this government requirement is blind to economic inequalities between school districts and communities, counties?  A county in North Carolina, for example, is suing the federal government for not taking into account their extreme poverty while imposing standards regarding test results.  What's your take on this?

[LP]: In the last few years there has been a number of court cases that have forced states to provide equity in funding.  At one time, I would say five to ten years ago, there were major differences in how school districts raised and spent their dollars.  And to me, it shouldn't matter where you grow up as to the quality of your eduction.  In the state of Iowa and most states now equity has become a major part of it as schools pay less from their local and more from state.  In fact, in the Iowa City community schools we have a budget of 73 million dollars annually.  About 44 percent of that comes from state aid; 33 percent comes from property taxes; 7 percent comes from carry over funds from the previous year's budget; 4 percent from the income surcharge.  And about 12 percent  from other sources, which include grants and federal dollars.  73 million seems like a big figure and it certainly is.  I try to break that down into how much do we spend per day per child.  And if you break it down in the Iowa City community schools, we spend about $35 per day per child, which I don't think is too bad when you look at even what daycare would cost you.

[GT]: We have a caller waiting.  So let's go to Mary from Iowa City.  Hi, Mary.  You are on "Iowa Talks."

Mary Vasey [MV]: Hi.  I have a question.  I was downtown in Iowa City in the Ped Mall the other day and saw quite a few high school-aged students while school was going on.  My question is, "What are you doing to attract, to identify, and then to find and attract some of the kids who have dropped out of school?  And then, once they are there, what are you doing to make sure that they feel welcome and that they're really getting something out of it and that they stay there?"

[TD]: Well, what folks forget sometimes -- and Mary I know you don't -- is that at 16 children legally can drop out of school.  That's terribly unfortunate.  But first, let's just get that one off the table.

We have an excellent alternative school that offers alternative scheduling, alternative ways to finish high school.  That's one thing that we do.

And then we try to offer services at the school in a couple of ways.  It's what we call "at risk" -- and when I say at risk I mean at risk of not graduating from high school -- services and support.  Do you need help with your homework?  One of the basics.  Many times when kids leave it's because they begin to disengage and don't feel like they belong.  And so another thing we try to do with kids is to find a hook to bring them into high school and making them feel like they belong.  Is it through some kind of club or activity or hooking them up with friends at school or some teacher identification that takes a special interest in them?  But somehow making them feel like we do need you at school, you in particular.

Those are a couple of ways for alternative school and then building a strong at risk network at each high school to try and reach out to kids and pull them back into school if they are beginning to question dropping out.  Give them the support to make the decision not to.

[LP]: We have received some additional funds this year through the state for at risk programs.  And we've hired a couple of staff members to assist in keeping kids in school.

I know that Dr. Day mentioned our senior high alternative center.  We serve about 60 students there a year.  I think we probably need to look to see if that can grow and expand to offer some kids an alternative.  The large comprehensive high school isn't for every child.

And also, I think one of the toughest things is that kids learn and develop at different rates and some kids need a break from school.  And what's difficult is to get them back to school.  I would like to see some programs where we could bring those kids back.  I don't have any answers now.  For many kids, once they drop out they don't feel welcome to come back once they fall off of the pace of that class they started with.  That's a challenge I would hope we could find some answers to.

[GT]: Mary, are you with us?

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