Student Achievement Highlighted at Candidate Forum

Ankeny school board candidates have a variety of ideas on how to improve and enhance student achievement in the district.

The topic was one of several discussed at Sunday's candidate forum hosted by the Ankeny Parents Association and the Elementary Parent Teacher Organizations.

Each day this week, Ankeny Patch will publish a question asked of candidates, as well as excerpts from their responses.

Incumbents Aaron Johnson, Andrew Martin, Trent Murphy and Leslie Petersen faced off against challengers Dustin Graber, Brad Huss and Mike Rooney. A fourth challenger, Stephanie Jorgenson, was unable to attend the forum.

The candidates are vying for four seats on the Sept. 13 ballot.

Q: Student achievement is important — what specific changes would you make to improve it? How would you fund those changes?

Huss: The quickest and cheapest way is to focus on the teachers, to make sure they have everything they need from a non-materials standpoint. We need to make sure they’re being listened to and there’s a dialogue and help them feel engaged within the implemented plans. They should have more input into the decisions that are made, and raising morale will help the teaching experience.

Johnson: The good news is we have great momentum with this. We can’t rest there. We have to continue to strive for 100-percent proficiencies and make sure both our challenged and accelerated learners are not lost in the fray. We should continue growing our use of technology and our partnerships with places like DMACC and other universities. We need to work closely with parents because they understand their children best.

Rooney: First and foremost, we need to focus on the teachers. The second — and I can’t say I have an answer to how we do this — is lower class sizes. It makes for a better learning experience for the child. These are two of the most important parts to attack any time you have a goal to improve student achievement.

Martin: The number one thing is to listen to the experts in our district. They’re the ones who know how to do this and what needs to be accomplished. We need to stay out of their way. I am a businessman; I am not an expert in education. I’ve taken courses on 21^st century skills and what’s needed beyond testing. These are critical for kids to graduate and need to be integrated into the classroom. We must evolve. How will we pay for this? We will monitor progress, track results, prioritize the best, most impactful programs and focus our attention there.

Graber: I would do an honest assessment of where our kids are now, look at the deficiencies, then fix them from a non-biased point of view. If we see we’re not meeting goals, we should focus on the ones we are meeting. Class sizes have increased 20 percent and I think we need to reprioritize where our money is going and look at the benefit of a smaller class size so kids have an opportunity for achievement and to spend more time with teachers. My priority is to make sure we have teachers who are supported, who can teach in a positive environment so kids can continue to achieve.

Murphy: I think when you ask that question you have to ask yourself, ‘what is student achievement?’ Is it grades? That’s how my daughter measures her achievement. The classes we have here and the difficulty tells me we’re pushing our curriculum up. Climate, culture and curriculum are the three things I always watch. Everyone in here will agree class size is important to developing good kids, so that is always on the horizon. We are in the best time in our district’s history to position ourselves for the next 20 years. I’m happy to say student achievement will be the first priority because we’ve already taken care of the facilities that will allow us to get there.

Petersen: If there is one thing I’d like to see immediately, it’s foreign language at the elementary level. That’s when they’re sponges and when they can learn. Class size seems to be a hot topic. The six years I’ve been on the board we have a board policy we’re adhering to. To say it’s too high means we need to change policy. If I get re-elected that’s something we need to look at. How do you fund it? We need to ensure an appropriate allocation of resources. I think Ankeny is willing to support education of kids in the right ways, and we need to find that balance.

Here are the topics Ankeny Patch will highlight this week:

• Monday —  
• Tuesday —
• Wednesday —
• Thursday —
• Friday — Student achievement
• Saturday — District communication skills
  
• Sunday — What makes the candidates unique and why you should vote for them