Education
Regents offering on-campus ACT tests
The Iowa Board of Regents will offer on-campus ACT tests for Iowans graduating high school in either 2020 or 2021. The special testing opportunities are being offered “in an effort to ease concerns about access to ACT tests for Iowa high school students due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to a news release. “This is […]
Fewer Iowa students file for financial aid, signaling a drop in college enrollment
Fewer Iowa high school seniors are applying for federal financial aid for the upcoming school year, indicating a potential drop in new enrollment at Iowa’s public universities, according to a new report from Iowa College Aid. That could mean major financial trouble for Iowa’s public universities, which rely on tuition to financially sustain them. Free […]
Reynolds orders Iowa schools to ‘welcome back’ students to classroom
Gov. Kim Reynolds is ordering all Iowa schools to begin the process of “preparing to safely welcome back students and teachers” to the classroom next month. Reynolds said that “the expectation is, especially with core subjects, that over 50 percent of those subjects (will) be offered in the school building.” Reynolds made the announcement Friday […]
Threats won’t end people’s virus anxieties
Give an extra tug on your seatbelt. The next couple of months will be rough ones. The new school year starts in a few weeks. Not surprisingly, with the coronavirus still sickening and killing people in Iowa, what normally is a time of much excitement has become a time of great anxiety. Our president has […]
Sending international students home would sap U.S. influence and hurt the economy
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, made a decision on July 6 regarding international students in the U.S. that will affect far more than just the roughly 870,000 international students themselves. Based on what I know about the power and influence of higher education in the U.S., this decision could increase the tuition American […]
Who were the winners and losers of the 2020 legislative session?
The 2020 legislative session was historic mainly for 11 weeks of inaction as the session was suspended due to COVID-19. Even so, lawmakers racked up a surprisingly robust list of actions. Here’s a look at some of this year’s winners and losers: Winners Iowa Black Caucus and racial-justice protesters: The police reform legislation approved unanimously […]
Break out the Maalox. Gary Barta’s management is under scrutiny again
There’s so much anxiety going around in Iowa City now, and Maalox could easily qualify as the official summer beverage. There’s anxiety over what the fall semester will look like at the University of Iowa, with coronavirus still a fact of life in the community and enforcement of social distancing next to impossible in dormitories, […]
Iowa doctor: State should require masks in schools this fall
As a physician in our community, I am very concerned about the recent guidelines for Return to Learning put forth by the State of Iowa Department of Education that fail to recommend that schools require face masks for all students and staff. There are a few facts that we know: Personal use of masks will […]
State guidelines do not recommend requiring face masks at Iowa schools
The Iowa Department of Education recommends schools do not require students or staff wear a face mask come fall.
Pandemic heightens racial disparities in schools, former education secretary says
WASHINGTON — The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated racial inequities in education, a disparity that Congress needs to help rectify, the former education chief under President Barack Obama told lawmakers this week. “Our education system is fraught with inequities that existed before COVID-19,” John King Jr., who served as Secretary of Education in 2016-2017, told lawmakers […]
House Democrats call for more federal aid for public education
WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats called Monday for more federal aid for education as the nation’s schools prepare to reopen this fall. “Unless the federal government provides immediate relief, it won’t be a matter of whether education funding will be cut, but how deep the cuts will be,” said U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, chair of the […]
University student leaders say cuts will ‘fall hardest’ on minorities
Student leaders at Iowa’s public universities are calling the Legislature’s decision to cut $8 million in spending for higher education “short-sighted and deeply disappointing.” Student representatives at the University of Northern Iowa, University of Iowa and Iowa State University say the cuts for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, coincide with protests over […]