WATERLOO -- Legislators are poised to redefine who decides what Iowa children learn.

A bill working its way through the Statehouse would mandate curriculum for public and private K-12 schools, in effect providing the official blueprint for how and what teachers can and should teach.

The Iowa Core Curriculum would provide school districts "a guide to delivering instructional content that is challenging and meaningful to students," according to the Iowa Department of Education. Once complete, the proposal will establish models for teaching math, science and social studies with an emphasis on "21st century life skills." Those include civic literacy, financial literacy, technology literacy, health literacy and employability.

"It will truly provide the rigor and relevance and evaluation measurements that our teachers have been asking for in key areas," said state Sen. Brian Schoenjahn, D-Arlington, the bill's lead sponsor.

The bill passed the House Monday and is being considered in the Senate.

What many legislators may not know is the Iowa Core Curriculum is based on concepts developed by Willard Daggett, a controversial education consultant based in New York. Over the course of his career, critics say, Daggett has displayed a tendency to distort information, frequently offering statements as fact that are simply incorrect.

State Sen. Paul McKinley, R-Chariton, calls the Iowa Core Curriculum and Daggett's involvement "very, very troubling."

"The underpinning of this is the discredited outcome-based philosophy of Willard Daggett," McKinley said.

To understand why he objects, McKinley says, observers must draw a distinction between state-mandated education standards and a state-mandated curriculum.

"(Curriculum) is how teachers will teach and what they can teach, rather than what (students) should know and when they should know it," he said.

McKinley solicited opinions about the curriculum from educators, including George Cunningham at the University of Louisville. Cunningham offers a scathing review.

"(Daggett) has become something of a joke in education," Cunningham said. " … The model core is full of his stuff. (The authors) are very dependent on his ideas."

Cunningham described the Iowa Core Curriculum as a "backward-looking document … prepared by folks who agree with the philosophy."

Consequently, McKinley is leading the charge to kill the proposal.

William Callahan is dean of the College of Education at the University of Northern Iowa, a college recognized nationally for producing top-flight teachers. He was also a member of the project lead team organized to begin writing the model core curriculum.

Callahan backs the concept but concedes some of Daggett's statements diminish the consultant's credibility.

"He is no longer the golden boy," Callahan said.

But he also stops well short of attributing the Iowa Core Curriculum to Daggett.

"To say that it's based on Daggett's model may be accurate, but to say that it is implemented under Daggett's guidance is absolutely not accurate," Callahan said.

Representatives of Daggett's organization, the International Center for Leadership in Education, declined multiple requests made over several months for interviews.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Daggett travels every day," a receptionist said Thursday.

Details

Schoenjahn, a former teacher and head of the Senate Education Committee, remains confident legislators are on the right path.

"I think the committee was satisfied the Department of Education had done due diligence," he said.

State officials, including Judy Jeffrey, director of the Iowa Department of Education, embrace Daggett's concept that curriculum should be more rigorous and relevant with a strong emphasis on relationships between subject matter and between educator and student.

"Honestly I don't pay that much attention to the details because I look at the overall message," Jeffrey said. " … His assessment is very consistent with what we are finding out about high school reform."

At the same time, educators, including Jeffrey, distance themselves from Daggett, president and founder of the International Center for Leadership in Education.

"The relationship we have is with the institute, not with Mr. Daggett specifically," said Elaine Watkins-Miller, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Education.

Jeffrey said some of Daggett's statements might be "pushing the envelope," but that may not be unusual.

"If you dig deep enough into any speaker, you could probably find things that are probably not exactly correct," Jeffrey said.

UNI's Callahan is aware of Daggett's reputation and apparent errors of fact.

"I think he's an entertaining fellow, that he has some interesting ideas," Callahan said. "But you're right. If somebody turned in a paper with this many mistakes, they would fail."

Daggett started his center in 1991 in Rexford, N.Y. The Iowa Department of Education launched a program, the Iowa High School Project, modeled on Daggett's principles in January 2006.

Initially, organizers picked 20 high schools to participate, including Waterloo East and Waterloo West. In December 2006, the state added 20 more. The second cadre includes New Hampton; Sumner-Fredericksburg in Sumner; Union in La Porte City and Starmont in Arlington. A third group of schools joined in December and includes West Delaware; Center Point-Urbana; Charles City and Mason City.

Mark Draper, director of the Iowa High School Project, said the initiative is designed to "reinvent" the state's public high schools by capitalizing on best-available practices and sharing information.

"Although there may be inconsistent statements (Daggett) has made, our program continues to believe that the supports and services from the International Center for Leadership in Education are meeting the needs of schools in Iowa," Draper said.

The Iowa High School Project is supported by the Iowa Department of Education through a federal grant.

"The grant for the coming year is close to a half million dollars as we approach the 60 schools," Draper said.

Participating schools receive a three-year membership in what Daggett calls the Successful Practices Network; an opportunity for a leadership team to attend Daggett's national conference; and access to ongoing professional development.

Money matters

Daggett claims 25 state departments of education as customers. A job description posted online in 2007 seeking a senior vice president and chief operating officer offered insight into Daggett's organization.

"With revenues in excess of $10 million, the International Center has a full-time staff of approximately 35 and a robust complement of dozens of per diem consultants and master teachers," the ad read.

The listing goes on to say the center's "mission, message and partnering activities have been embraced by thousands of schools and school districts across the country."

In Iowa, state officials primarily deal with Richard Jones, described as a senior consultant at Daggett's center, and with Larry Gloeckler, executive director of the special education institute at Daggett's center.

"(Daggett) doesn't have a direct relationship with our (60) schools," Draper said.

According to the Iowa Department of Education, the state paid Daggett's center $41,900 to "support the 40 project schools" in 2006-07. Jones and Gloeckler received $30,000 for consultation and training

Beyond that, however, since August 2005 the department has paid far more than the base sum. Since August 2005, Gloeckler received at least $44,000 for honorariums and expenses.

The state also paid Daggett $8,450 in January 2006 to deliver the keynote address at the Iowa High School Summit and $8,250 to make a similar speech at the event in January 2007. In addition, the state paid Daggett about $5,970 for a presentation to state board members in May. Less than 15 people were in the room during the three-hour discussion.

Jeffrey said the expense was reasonable.

"That's probably not an unusual amount. Some of the individuals that travel across the country charge very high fees," she said.

Credentials

The basic concept Daggett promotes is that classes should be more advanced with a special emphasis on math, science and critical thinking. Students should also learn skills needed to compete in a global economy.

Daggett advocates lengthening the school day and year in the United States and realigning subjects to match real-world demands.

"Pretty soon I'm going to tell you the kids don't need the summers off to work in the fields," Daggett told the state board in May.

Watkins-Miller said the Iowa Department of Education views Daggett as a "motivational speaker" and "futurist." His role, she added, is to provide "a spark of discussion about the future and what it may mean to students."

However, Daggett is routinely billed as an expert in education with decades of experience. An agenda from October 2005 sent to members of the Model Core Curriculum project lead team assigned participants homework: "Read 'Preparing Students for their Future' by Willard R. Daggett, Ed. D." Notes from the group's meeting a month later indicate members were briefed by "national educational experts" and watched a DVD featuring Daggett and his associate Jones.

Official minutes from his appearance before the state Board of Education in May state Daggett "discussed what is happening related to high school reform." The purpose of the session was for Daggett to share his views and conclusions with board members as they prepared for a retreat to discuss strategic planning.

"Model Core Curriculum for Iowa High Schools: Final Report to the State Board of Education" was submitted in May 2006. And in it, the authors stated they relied on top educators and institutions.

"Team members … were briefed on recent education innovations, with particular attention paid to the works of professor Chris Dede at Harvard University and Willard Daggett," the report states.

That document is now called the Iowa Core Curriculum, which also includes references to Daggett. Beyond that, divorcing Daggett from the state's Iowa High School Project and core curriculum is problematic: His name is synonymous with the rigor and relevance movement in the United States, and the Iowa High School Project and core curriculum draw heavily on his theories.

Makes sense

Daggett's overall message resonates with many educators in Iowa.

"It's not rocket science. It's not new," Dan Conrad said. "It's logical stuff."

Conrad is director of secondary education for the Cedar Falls Community School District. In that role, he oversees educational programming for seventh through 12th grades.

He first heard Daggett speak at the second annual Iowa High School Summit.

"I think a lot of schools jumped on board, us included," Conrad said.

The Cedar Falls School District has no connections to Daggett, but administrators did adopt one of his concepts, the rigor and relevance framework.

The framework's goal, Conrad said, is to push teachers and students into the upper reaches of applied critical thought and reasoning rather than memorizing facts and information.

"We think it has a lot of merit," Conrad said.

Mary Meier, coordinator of supplemental programs for Waterloo Community Schools, also finds much she likes in Daggett's concepts. She has heard grumbling about the consultant, but says the value of his message outweighs perceived problems.

"What we liked about Daggett is that his concepts are based on research," Meier said. "… Even if his numbers are off by half, there is still merit for reform in high school education."

Concerns

In August 2006, Conrad shared information with Cedar Falls teachers during a professional development day and as he prepared a presentation, he included many of Daggett's findings. Conrad, though, felt compelled to include a warning to colleagues.

"Some researchers have disputed the statistics presented by Daggett," Conrad wrote.

Conrad noted the Iowa Department of Education is quiet on the topic.

"We've never been officially cautioned that there is any controversy surrounding him," Conrad said.

Max Phillips, a member of the Iowa State Board of Education, said Daggett's value is his ability to challenge ways of thinking. He described Daggett as "an innovator in education" but stopped short of endorsing Daggett's entire message.

"My take as a state board member is no one takes what he says as gospel for Iowa," Phillips said. " … I don't think anybody takes Mr. Daggett as a road map. At least I don't."

Jeffrey, the director of the Iowa Department of Education, said she was not aware of any controversy surrounding Daggett. She also stands by Daggett as a voice worth listening to on high school reform.

"We've never questioned the credibility of some of the details, but is the content of the message correct?" she asked.

State Sen. McKinley finds Jeffrey's claim she was unaware of Daggett's cloudy reputation "hard to believe."

"If she isn't, she is leading too sheltered a life to lead a state department of education," McKinley said.

Jim Hawkins, director of Professional Educators in Iowa, said authenticity should matter most.

"Credibility is very important. If a person is credible they don't have to make up things," Hawkins said.

"I am also worried about people who don't worry about credibility."

Contact Dennis Magee at (319) 291-1451 or dennis.magee@wcfcourier.com.See Dagget, page A7