Iowa City schools considering ‘first in the nation’ partnership with Junior Achievement

IOWA CITY — The Iowa City Community School District is embarking on a first in the nation partnership with Junior Achievement to create K-12 opportunities for hands-on learning and career pathways.

Over the next five years, the Iowa City district would spend an estimate $5.6 million to remodel its Center for Innovation into learning spaces to deliver Junior Achievement’s programming. Funding for construction costs would come from Secure an Advanced Vision for Education, a capital projects fund that’s funded by statewide sales taxes allocated by the state of Iowa to school districts based on certified enrollment.

Nate Klein, vice president of education for Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa, said the partnership with the Iowa City district would be the first in the nation to bring so many Junior Achievement programs under one roof.

“The goal in the next three to five years is starting in kindergarten, every student has an experience tied to Junior Achievement,” Klein said. For some lessons, students will go to the Center for Innovation to “interact and engage with an entrepreneur,” for example, and get hands-on experiences to “make learning real.”

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Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa will invest an estimated $1.2 million in staffing and programming support while bringing $1.5 million in asset and software intellectual property design to the district.

Klein said Junior Achievement would hire one full time experiential learning manager that would be part of managing the Junior Achievement programming at the Center for Innovation in the first year of their partnership. A volunteer coordinator could be added in future phases of the partnership. These full time staff members would be paid by Junior Achievement through their fundraising efforts, including grants and corporate and individual donations, Klein said.

The Iowa City district would pay for Junior Achievement curriculum costs from the district’s general fund.

Junior Achievement’s More Than Money curriculum, which introduces students to financial literacy and entrepreneurship, could cost the district an estimated $97,546 for the 2025-26 fiscal year and $119,193 for the 2026-27 school year, according to board documents.

The Iowa City school board is expected to vote on the partnership this winter.

Junior Achievement is a nonprofit with more than 100 area offices across the nation — including Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa — dedicated to equipping students with the knowledge and skills they need to plan for their futures. Junior Achievement has programs in core content areas of work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy.

“You wouldn’t just throw a student without any mathematics into geometry in high school, but we do that with work readiness. We just start talking about it in eighth, ninth and 10th grade, so why not start talking about the world of work before hand, so they can get excited about what some of those possibilities are,” Klein said in a presentation to the Iowa City school board Tuesday.

What is the Center for Innovation?

The Center for Innovation is located at 301 ACT Dr. in Iowa City — previously known as the Tyler Building. It was purchased by the Iowa City district in 2022 for $8.7 million from ACT with Physical Plant and Equipment Levy funds.

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Superintendent Matt Degner said the building was purchased to provide a space for programming that supports the district’s Portrait of a Graduate — the vision for the skills and qualities a student should have to be successful after graduation.

The Iowa City district’s Portrait of a Graduate includes the competencies of adaptability, empathy, communication, critical thinking and global citizenship, which means valuing diverse cultures and perspectives and demonstrating responsibility.

The district began exploring how to deliver project-based learning that embodies the Portrait of a Graduate principles to students at the Center for Innovation during the 2023-24 school year with the goal of piloting classes this fall.

That plan was derailed by several factors, Degner said. In 2023, changes were made to the Iowa Code that required school districts to have a storm shelter before any daily student programming could occur in a building. Construction on that project began over the summer.

The district also received “unprecedented low enrollment” last fall, creating challenges in the district’s budget. Degner said because of this, school officials began exploring creating programming at the Center for Innovation that required minimal investment in full time teachers to operate.

“We started to explore programming that did not take those resources away from our classrooms,” Degner said.

This year, the Center for Innovation is being used by the district’s online learning program, teacher leadership program, special education team, technology and professional development, Degner said.

Several student experiences will be hosted this school year at the Center for Innovation, including Junior Achievement’s BizTown — a learning experience that allows elementary school students to operate banks, manage restaurants, write checks and vote for mayor — art shows and a college and career fair.

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The district also hopes to create a program called “IC Talks” open to local leaders, professionals, teachers, students and recent graduates that will be hosted at the Center for Innovation. IC Talks will be an opportunity for extended learning where people can “learn a skill” and “share a passion,” according to board documents.

Reagan Boeset, assistant principal at North Central Middle School and facilitator of the Center for Innovation leadership team, said the Center for Innovation should be student-centered and “rich with critical thinking” opportunities.

First phase could begin in 2025-26

If the partnership with Junior Achievement is approved by the school board, Phase 1 could begin by the 2025-26 school year.

Phase 1 includes incorporating teacher-led Junior Achievement in-class programming that aligns with Iowa standards for grades K-8. Student learning experiences will happen at the Center for Innovation as part of the Junior Achievement programs providing students in K-5 hands-on learning opportunities.

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Other programs that will be offered include Junior Achievement’s BizTown and Finance Park.

Finance Park is a curriculum that explores personal finance concepts. Students engage with volunteers and put into practice what they’ve learned by developing a personal budget.

Another program that would be offered would be Junior Achievement’s Dream Accelerator, an immersive program where students can explore careers and develop a plan to pursue a meaningful career and future.

The Center for Innovation would house a dedicated Dream Accelerator space that would be about 4,500 square feet, according to board documents.

Klein said Junior Achievement would partner with educators in the district to administer pre- and post-assessments to measure the knowledge students gain from each experience.

An attitudinal assessment for 3rd-8th graders also would be conducted to show the impact Junior Achievement of Easter Iowa experiences are having long-term.

Second phase would explore STEM careers through gameplay

In Phase 2 of the partnership between the Iowa City district and Junior Achievement, more programs would be launched during the 2026-27 school year.

These include Junior Achievement STEM 360, an immersive experience for middle and high school students to learn how careers in science, technology, engineering and math play a role in products and services through interactive gameplay.

Another program called 3DE — which launched at College Community and Alburnett school districts this year — is a curriculum for high school students that aims to prepare them for the modern economy by making education more relevant and connected to the real world through case and project-based learning.

A Junior Achievement BizPark and Trades classroom at the Center for Innovation would be between 8,500 and 10,000 square feet at the Center for Innovation.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com