Rising to Greatness

In the article "Rising to Greatness," there were several key points the author was trying to convey to the audience and to the Iowa community.  This article is talking about whether Iowa is up for the challenge for improving the education system.  According to the article, "Iowa students' futures are at risk."  The education system at Iowa is struggling a bit because the reading progress  is slowly slipping backward, the math progress is also slowly slipping, not enough enrollment in schools, and the students are just underperforming.  There are also race, poverty and disability learning gaps that need to be fixed, mathematic scores and classes in middle school are not at the level they should be at and the national test scores are not the best for Iowa. This message that the article is trying to convey to the audience is kind of a scary thought and does have an impact on me since I went to these schools in Iowa.  But I also think that our education system can compete and this article is focusing on only the bad.  We have scored very well on the ACT test which helps with students getting into college.  I know the state of Iowa can improve their scores and catch up to the rest of the world, we are just taking our time.  Iowa needs to start building their workforce with high-quality teachers which will help the students with their test scores, and learning in general.  This article does impact me as a teacher as well because when I graduate, if I want to stay in Iowa, I know I have to be a highly-qualified teacher to help improve the education at Iowa to catch up with the rest of the nation.  I know the requirements to achieving a job here at Iowa will be harder because they are working towards only hiring highly-quality teachers but with the program at the Universtiy of Iowa, I think they will help me stand out and become that highly-qualified teacher.  Iowa is my home and I want to see the state succeed and if all the teachers in Iowa become world-class quality then Iowa is one step closer to competing with the rest of the world in education.