Iowa Schools Research Articles

The Relationship Between Secondary School Scheduling Models and ACT Assessment Scores

This article reports the results of the first phase of a longitudinal study of 568 public high schools in Illinois and Iowa in which the relationships among three common secondary school scheduling types and average composite scores on the ACT Assessment were examined. Preliminary findings suggest that merely adopting a different scheduling approach without engaging in any additional reform initiatives within a school will have little effect, if any, on student achievement.

Projects: PRIME-TEAM

The PRIME-TEAM project (Promoting Excellence in Iowa Mathematics education through Teacher Enhancement and Exemplary Instructional Materials) was a professional development project for secondary school mathematics teachers in Iowa. Its primary goals were to help teachers become leaders in their schools and to foster school-level educational change. The project evolved from a smaller National Science Foundation (NSF) project, which involved nine Iowa schools in 1996–1997, to qualify as a NSF Local Systemic Change (LSC) project during the 1998–1999 academic year.

Parenting the Gifted: A New Lens for Detecting Giftedness “Becoming”

Long ago and far away in BGE time (Before Gifted Education), our sons, now well into adulthood, attended a consolidated rural school in Iowa. Here, in BGE time, families and teachers and principals were a community thoroughly dedicated to educating for productive and satisfying lives, and families held the Lake Wobegon belief that “their children were all above average.”

418 Results of an Ornamental Horticulture Survey Conducted at High Schools in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin

Fifty high schools were surveyed in northwestern Illinois, northeastern Iowa, southeastern Minnesota, and Wisconsin to determine the number of students interested in pursuing a horticulture degree at a 4-year university. Students were asked several questions pertaining to horticulture. About 45% of our surveys were returned. Of the 451 surveys received, about 47% of the high school freshman, sophomore, junior, and seniors indicated that they were interested in horticulture. About 41% of the students interested in horticulture wanted to work in landscaping, 20% greenhouse, 14% florist shop, and 7% in turfgrass management. About 70% of the students indicated that they wanted to own and operate their own horticultural business. Almost 53% of the students indicated that they would prefer an emphasis/minor in Agribusiness or Business Administration compared to plant and soil science (19%), biotechnology (14%), plant breeding and genetics (13%), or comprehensive horticulture (1%) in combination with their horticulture degree. The above information was used by our School of Agriculture and Depts. of Biology and Business and Accounting to develop a major in Ornamental Horticulture.

Gifted Child Today

Long ago and far away in BGE time (Before Gifted Education), our sons, now well into adulthood, attended a consolidated rural school in Iowa. Here, in BGE time, families and teachers and principals were a community thoroughly dedicated to educating for productive and satisfying lives, and families held the Lake Wobegon belief that “their children were all above average.”

Gifted Child Today

Long ago and far away in BGE time (Before Gifted Education), our sons, now well into adulthood, attended a consolidated rural school in Iowa. Here, in BGE time, families and teachers and principals were a community thoroughly dedicated to educating for productive and satisfying lives, and families held the Lake Wobegon belief that “their children were all above average.”

Gifted Child Today

Long ago and far away in BGE time (Before Gifted Education), our sons, now well into adulthood, attended a consolidated rural school in Iowa. Here, in BGE time, families and teachers and principals were a community thoroughly dedicated to educating for productive and satisfying lives, and families held the Lake Wobegon belief that “their children were all above average.”

BiographyBiography

Glenn Lyle Hoffman, the son of Ernest J. and Viola M. Hoffman, was born on a small farm in Iowa on December 28, 1918. He is a graduate of Lamont High School in Iowa where he excelled at wrestling. In 1942, he received a B.A. Degree from the University of Iowa, majoring in Zoology. He paid his own way through college by trapping fur animals, washing hospital windows, and working summers at a trout hatchery for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

A voyage into virtual reality. Networking our VR lab to Iowa middle schools and high schools

The Iowa Communications Network (ICN) is a statewide, state administered, fiber optics network. Iowa State University (ISU) is one of the fiber optics endpoints and one of the main entities using the ICN to reach the Iowa community. As part of the ICN outreach activities at ISU, we are investigating how the ICN can be integrated with our research projects in virtual reality (VR). We're particularly interested in how the ICN can enable remote collaborations in immersive virtual environments with sites that don't have any or have limited local resources for VR. We present our first project with the ICN to bring our VR lab to remote middle schools and high schools in Iowa. This project was done in collaboration with Iowa Public Television (IPTV), another ICN endpoint. We connected to 86 schools simultaneously and reached about 2000 students. Ten sites were in interactive two-way video and audio mode. The rest were in viewing-only video and audio mode. We discuss the motivation, technical details, results, and future directions.

Standard Task Measurement for Mobility

The purpose of this study was to establish a normal database in children for one parameter of mobility, walking distance in 30 seconds. Also, we addressed the difference in distance walked by age and the contribution of several variables to the distance walked. Two hundred twenty-seven children between six and 13 years old were recruited from public schools in Iowa. Testing took place in standardized locations (eg, school gymnasiums) using standardized testing procedures. Distance walked in 30 seconds, age, height, right lower extremity length, weight, body type, gender, and race/ethnicity were recorded for each subject. Distance walked increased from six to eight years of age, plateaued from eight to 11 years, declined at 12 years, and increased at 13 years of age. Multiple linear regression identified leg length and weight as two variables explaining 14.4% of the variance in distance walked. The database provides a peer reference for use with children having suspected mobility limitations and is the beginning of a project to develop a Standard Task Measurement for Mobility.

Factors Impacting Perceived Quality in School Organizations

This paper presents the findings of studies conducted at Iowa State University of public schools in Iowa in the area of perceived quality assessment. Demographic characteristics of the respondents on the Perceived Quality Assessment Instrument from forty-four school districts were described by position, home annual income, gender, age, level of education, and years experience in current or a similar job. The research project undertaken incorporated several studies of quality improvement characteristics of public schools. The project resulted in a compendium of coordinated research aimed at learning more about the relationships and effects of quality improvement efforts with other factors of school district operations.

Philosophical Orientation of Counselors in Iowa Secondary Schools

Guidance and counseling in the schools lack focus and direction. Some attribute this confusion within guidance and counseling to a lack of a philosophical foundation. Little is known about the philosophical assumptions of counselors functioning in secondary schools. In this study, the counselors in the secondary schools of Iowa identified most frequently with the phenomenological orientation. The experience of the counselors was related to their philosophical orientation. Counselors with less experience subscribed to an existential orientation.

Technology in Iowa Schools: Linking Classrooms and Making Opportunities Accessible

Technology in Iowa Schools: Linking Classrooms and Making Opportunities Accessible

Adventures in Organosulfur Chemistry

Abstract Irwin Douglass was born in 1904 in Des Moines, Iowa and was educated in the public schools of Nebraska, Illinois and Iowa. He received a B.S. degree from Monmouth College, Illinois in 1926 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Kansas in 1932. In his forty-six year career as a teacher of chemistry he has taught at Monmouth, Illinois High School (1926–1928), the Junior College of Kansas City, Missouri (1930–1931), North Dakota Agricultural College (1932–1933), Northern Montana College (1933–1940) and the University of Maine (1940–1972). He conducted post-doctoral research at Yale University during 1937–1938, served as a Ranger-Naturalist in Yellowstone National Park during the summers of 1936–1940 and was a visiting scholar at the University of California in Los Angeles 1962–1963. He became Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus at the University of Maine in 1972 and was a member of the State of Maine Board of Environmental Protection during 1974–1977. His research explored both the fundamental...

Weight-related behaviors and concerns of fourth-grade children

Behaviors and concerns related to weight were measured among 457 fourth-grade children attending 10 rural schools in central Iowa. A questionnaire was used to gather data on the children's concerns about being overweight, concerns that certain types or amounts of food would contribute to their being overweight, alterations in food intake to avoid being overweight, and perceptions that peers and family members were concerned about being overweight. In addition, each child's height and weight were measured. Weight-related behaviors and concerns increased with increasing weight-for-age and body mass index (BMI) and were more prevalent among girls than boys. The frequency of drinking diet soft drinks was positively correlated with weight-for-age and BMI and tended to increase with an increase in weight-related behaviors and concerns. Girls were more likely than boys to report a desire to be thinner (60.3% vs 38.4%), whereas boys were more likely than girls to want to be taller (67.2% vs 49.1%). The desire for less body fat was significantly associated with an increase in the frequency of weight-related behaviors and concerns, the frequency of drinking diet soft drinks, weight-for-age, and BMI. These findings indicate a need for interventions that combat fear of obesity and restrictive eating among growing children.

A Longitudinal Study of Interdisciplinary Teaming and Its Influence on Student Self-Concept

AbstractThe present study was partial replication of a study done five years earlier which examined interdisciplinary teaming in middle schools and the resulting impact of interdisciplinary teaming on student self-concepts. The degree of interdisciplinary teaming was measured using the stages-of-concern instrument that is a component of the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM). Student self-concept was measured by the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale. Results showed that the majority of teachers in Iowa schools are at the early stages of usage of interdisciplinary team teaching and usage over time does not lead to higher levels of implementation of the concept. In contrast to the 1987 study, which found students who attended middle schools with interdisciplinary teaming had higher self-concepts than middle schools in which teaming had not been implemented, this study did not find a significant difference between students in user and nonuser schools.

The Use of Interdisciplinary Teaming and its Influence on Student Self-Concept in Middle Schools

The present study examined the degree to which interdisciplinary teaming was implemented in middle schools and the resulting impact of interdisciplinary teaming on students' self-concepts. The degree of interdisciplinary teaming was measured by means of the stages-of-concern and level-of-use instruments that are components of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). Student self-concept was measured by the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale. Results showed that the majority of teachers and administrators in Iowa schools are at the early stages of usage of interdisciplinary team teaching. Approximately one-fifth of nonuser teachers use some elements of interdisciplinary team teaching. Students who attended middle schools with high levels of interdisciplinary teaming had higher self-concepts than students who attended middle schools with low levels of interdisciplinary teaming. Thus, interdisciplinary teaming appears to play a role in favorably mediating the self-concepts of middle school students.

A MELUS Interview: Joy Harjo

In the summer of 1987 Joy Harjo and participated in Larry Evers' NEH seminar at the University of Arizona on American Indian Verbal Art and Literature. After reading her poetry, had looked forward to meeting and talking with her. In the course of seminar discussions and informal conversations became more aware of the scope of Joy's interests: she is a jazz musician and visual artist as well as a poet, and has been active in human rights work in this country and internationally. Joy gave a reading from her work then in progress, a collection of poems titled In Mad Love and War (Wesleyan University Press, 1990), for the NEH seminar participants. Her introductory remarks at that reading will introduce her in her own words to readers of this interview: I was born in Tulsa. I'm Creek, Muskogee. We are originally from Alabama, though the Creek Confederacy covered the southeast United States. I'm related to Alexander Posey, the Creek poet; he was my father's father's mother's cousin. So, it makes sense, suppose, that I'm very much involved right now initiating an Arts Council for the tribe with Helen Chalakee, and beginning with the Alexander Posey Award for poetry for kids. grew up in Oklahoma until was about sixteen, when went to Indian boarding school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And I've lived in New Mexico much of my life. My son was born in Tahlequah, but moved back to New Mexico when he was 18 months old. attended graduate school in Iowa at the Iowa Writers' Workshop-did time there. But Oklahoma is my home, and New Mexico is my other home. I'm a poet and a writer because am curious about this process called living, the transformational aspects of language. Some of the conversation in this interview comes from that reading, and most of the rest from transcriptions of a tape made a day or two later. We began our conversation at a restaurant over lunch, and continued it at the university. After edited the first transcript sent it with the tapes to Joy; she went over the text carefully, clarifying her thought at many points, as did later with the introductory notes, until we were both satisfied with it.

Cognitive Style, Teaching Mode, and Learning Outcomes

The effect of field‐dependence‐independence (FDI) on subject‐matter achievement and mastery of inquiry skills was explored using a partially balanced design. The field research was carried out using 12 intact classes in high schools in Iowa. No significant F values were found in the analysis of variance for either the main effects or the covariates: past achievement, teaching mode, and minutes of instruction. In addition, the regression of FDI on achievement was not significant for any classroom.

Development of a “tool for assessing and revising science curriculum” in iowa schools

Development of a “tool for assessing and revising science curriculum” in iowa schools