Superintendent's Message

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Gilbert Community School District!  It’s an exciting time be a part of Gilbert schools as we “foster a passion for learning and empower each student to become a productive citizen in today's global society.”  Our district has an enrollment of over 1300 students and continues to grow.  [more]

Sincerely,

Lindsey Beecher
Superintendent

The Iowa Core

The Iowa Core

Hope Bossard, Director of Curriculum and School Improvement

The Iowa Dept. of Education began its journey in 2005 to assure all students in Iowa had the same opportunity to a rigorous, relevant curriculum appropriate for the 21st century.  Many stakeholder groups worked together to generate a set of essential concepts and skills for high school reading/language arts, math, and science (called the Model Core Curriculum).   Though the original intent was for these expectations to be voluntary for Iowa schools, the State Board chose to make the Model Core mandatory for all high school students.  At that time, the Department of Education was directed to expand the Model Core to social studies, K-8 language arts, math, science, and add K-12 21st century skills, thus the model core became the Iowa Core for all K-12 students.

 
In 2009, Iowa was one of 48 states, 2 territories and the District of Columbia that signed a memorandum of agreement committing to the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI).   Unlike the Iowa Core, the Common Core includes only the areas of English language arts and mathematics.  Once a state commits to the Common Core Initiative, it is required to accept the Common Core verbatim, but is allowed to add up to 15% of content for each content area.

 

Gilbert, like all schools in Iowa, is in the process of aligning with the requirements of the Iowa Core—science, social studies and 21st century skills—and the Common Core—English language arts and mathematics.  Since Iowa has adopted the Common Core, it is now incorporated into the Iowa Core and will no longer be called the Common Core:  it will be simply be referred to as the Iowa Core.

 
If you think this seems confusing, you are not alone.  It is very difficult for schools when expectations are mandated and seem to be a moving target.  On a positive note, the two sets of concepts and skills have a high level of alignment, so the expectations are more similar than different. 

 
If you would like to read more about the Iowa Core, click Here to access the Department of Education's website.