At-large candidate: Jeff McGinness

The state should work to expand early childhood education. The importance of preschool was highlighted by the many in attendance at the governor's Iowa Education Summit that I was lucky enough to attend.

Highlighted at the conference was the fact that the first few years of a child's life are a particularly sensitive period in the process of development, laying a foundation in childhood and beyond for cognitive functioning, and behavioral, social and self-regulatory capacities. Further emphasized was that access to preschool programs yield benefits in academic achievement, behavior, educational progression and attainment.

Unless we make preschool a reality for every child, we cannot return to being the education leaders we once were.

In education reform, I hope to see a number of items beyond the scope of this column's length restrictions. I will therefore highlight two items in addition to expanding early childhood

First, we need to expand and enhance technology and technology-based curriculums. I do not mean to imply that I am a gadget guy or in support of technology for technology's sake alone. The two most important factors in a child's education are parental involvement and quality teachers. Technology is no substitute for those two.

Thus, I want the state to adopt a proactive approach to developing the use of technology in a way that is meaningful, relevant and enhances the education opportunities for our children. It should be developed in partnership with the teachers and students.

What I hope to not see is a merit-based pay system for teachers. While good in theory, I question the applicability of such a program in an educational setting. The lack of an objective standard makes the introduction of merit pay into our public education system very difficult.

More important, I think the concept is better discussed when based upon teacher performance as opposed to student performance. Even then, how do you objectively evaluate one teacher's performance from the next without over-reliance upon test scores? In some instances, the best teacher may not be the one with the highest-testing students. Rather, the best teacher may be the one who motivates a difficult population to merely show up and take the test.