Haluska: State Education Summit was helpful

Four employees of the Decorah Community School District were among those attending the Iowa Education Summit Monday and Tuesday in Des Moines.  Superintendent Mike Haluska, Decorah High School Associate Principal Adam Riley, School District Curriculum Director Diane Lovstuen and Decorah Middle School Principal Leona Hoth all attended the meeting.

Says Haluska, "Every one of us was happy we were there."  That's because much of the Education Summit discussed curriculum matters--and, says Haluska, "we're having the right conversations."

Specifically, says Haluska, many of the experts at the summit discussed the importance of preschool programs and of having statewide curriculum standards.  "It helped (us) draw focus on how we're doing things," said Haluska.

That's not to say there isn't room for improvement.  Haluska says the summit stressed the importance of teaching reading to elementary students.  That's because reading skills are needed for all future education in later graders.

Much publicity was given at the summit to test scores which suggested the reading skills of Iowa 4th graders were not keeping up with those of other states.  But Haluska says there are some weaknesses in the test that was used for those scores--a better measure are the ITED and ITBS test scores, which have been heading upward in Decorah and in Iowa.

The Education Summit brought together educators from throughout the state of Iowa and across the country.  Even just the fact that the summit was held is being seen as a positive step--Haluska says he's worked in public education for 35 years and can't ever remember a statewide education summit before.