Iowa Future Website Launches as Place for Education Innovation Conversations

A new reality is beginning to sweep across Iowa and the nation. There's a growing understanding that big changes are going to be needed in education for Iowa students to be successful learners, earners and citizens in the 21st Century.

"It's not just the rest of the nation that Iowa's kids have to compete with now. It's the rest of the world," said Iowa's incoming Director of Education, Jason Glass, when Governor Terry Branstad introduced him to the state recently.

To keep Iowa's education stakeholders up-to-date with this new reality, a new website is here to help. It's Iowa Future at http://iowafuture.org. You can also follow Iowa Future on Twitter at http://twitter.com/iowafuture.

Iowa Future is promoting the need for innovation — a willingness to abandon some of the ways of the past and try new things to provide a 21st Century education Iowa students need.

The site is a forum for sharing ideas from across the state and nation, and highlighting work underway to prepare students for the future — the Iowa Future. The website will provide videos, discussion guides, presentation templates, testimonials, links to great resources and more. In addition visitors can offer fresh ideas of their own.

Five state education groups are collaborators on the site: Iowa Area Education Agencies, Iowa Association of School Boards, Iowa Department of Education, Iowa State Education Association and School Administrators of Iowa. The work is supported by a grant from The Wallace Foundation.