Small Iowa school district embraces big changes for collaboration

Just miles from the simple farm house that inspired Grant Wood’s “American Gothic,” a small school district has outfitted itself with state-of-the-art technology and a forwardthinking curriculum.

Visitors to the rural, 800-student Cardinal Community School District don’t expect its hightech classroom or lounge area, Superintendent Joel Pedersen said.

“They oftentimes think it looks like a college classroom or like a Fortune 500 (company’s) room,” Pedersen said. “... They’re really shocked when they walk in - how nice and inviting it is and how much technology is infused in our buildings.”

The “21st Century Classroom” in the district’s shared middle and high school building has whiteboard walls and desktops for students to scribble on, wheeled desks and chairs they can rearrange and multiple TVs that can display class assignments. The space, paid for with funds from the state’s penny sales tax, is meant to promote student collaboration, administrators said.

More and more of those types of spaces known to educators as “student-centered” classrooms - are being built in Iowa schools. Laura Wood, a 21st Century Learning specialist for the area education agencies that oversee much of southern Iowa, has helped advocate for those spaces.

“That is the shift - when teachers and educators talk about ‘the shift,’ it’s that student-centered model,” Wood said. “I think it’s just a matter of time before we move from small pockets of things happening to (having them) scaled and happening all over.”

Similar student-centered spaces have popped up in Cedar Rapids, Waukee, Mount Pleasant and Hamburg, she said. “I think if we promote student agency,” Wood said, “then I think you’re going to see more of those open floor plans happening.”

While students can collaborate in traditional classrooms, 21st century spaces treat group work as the default, said Cindy Green, Cardinal’s director of curriculum and instruction. —AP