[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 87 (Thursday, June 13, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6194-S6195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  ``IOWA SPIRIT'' SALUTE TO EDUCATION

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, for those awaiting the floor, I will 
only be here for another 3 or 4 minutes. I started a week ago to speak 
about the 150th anniversary of the State of Iowa, which we are 
celebrating with a congressional reception on June 26 on The Mall 
outside the Smithsonian Institution. I hope all of my colleagues will 
come to that and see some of the exhibits over the next 2 weeks 
honoring our 150th anniversary of our State.
  I had a chance earlier this week to speak about the only Iowan to 
become President, Herbert Hoover. I want to speak today about something 
that is really great about Iowa, our educational system.
  Our country's Founding Fathers, of course, had a very clear vision 
about America's public schools and firmly believed that excellence in 
education is paramount to the growth and prosperity of America. Iowa 
benefited from a pattern that was set by the central government, even 
before we had a U.S. Constitution, when the Northwest Compact was 
adopted in 1786, when land was set aside for public education in the 
new territories. That tradition continued west of the Northwest Compact 
area to be included in the traditions of education throughout the upper 
Midwest.
  Today, in honor of Iowa's sesquicentennial celebration, I am proud to 
be able to tell you that Iowa's educational system is a working example 
of what our Founders had in mind. Iowa's high standard of excellence in 
education began in one-room rural school houses on the prairie. That 
same standard can now be seen in advanced academic settings across our 
State, both in the urban areas as well as the rural areas and small 
towns of Iowa.
  The one-room rural school environment ended in the 1950's, but there 
is still the foundation in today's educational system of the personal 
interest of teacher and student in each other that comes from that one-
room rural tradition.
  Today, though, I am proud to share with you accomplishments of Iowa's 
increasingly diverse student population. I commend the continued 
dedication to education not only of students and teachers, as I have 
already said, but of parents and the volunteer school board members as 
well as school administrators across the State. Their combined daily 
efforts are a key part in the continued success of the Iowa public 
school system and the Iowa private school system.
  Iowans are proud of our commitment to quality education for all 
children. It is a commitment that has earned national and international 
respect. Iowa's excellence in education is a direct result of its local 
control of schools and community-level responsibility. For decades, 
Iowa students have received the highest quality education and performed 
well above national averages in academic assessment.
  It is estimated that 88 percent of Iowa students graduate from high 
school. What's more, each year Iowa's rate of students pursuing post-
secondary education and other post-high school training continues to 
grow.
  Iowa's high literacy rate is a key component of the success of Iowa's 
students. We rank as No. 1 of the 50 States in literacy. And, 
individuals in Iowa read more books than those in any other State on a 
per capita basis. The active involvement of some 525 public libraries, 
7 regional libraries, and 62 academic libraries is testimony to Iowa's 
commitment to the advancement of knowledge.
  Iowa's young scholars have ranked at the highest level in the Nation 
for a number of years in college testing assessments. In fact, for 6 of 
the last 7 years, Iowa has ranked first of all the 50 States in the SAT 
tests--and either first or second vis-a-vis Minnesota or Wisconsin, 
depending upon what year you are looking at, as tops in the ACT test.
  In addition to Iowa's 390 public school districts and 235 non-public 
school districts, educators across the Nation rely on the Iowa Tests of 
Basic Skills and Iowa Tests of Educational Development to assess 
student achievement in grades 3 through 12. These two standardized 
achievement tests, developed by the Iowa Testing Program in Iowa City, 
where our university is located, provide teachers nationwide with 
unique supplementary information of the students that are in their 
organizations. This information bears on decisions about academic 
objectives, instructional materials, and learning environments for 
students in elementary and secondary schools.

  I also want to acknowledge the proud tradition, although it is a 
relatively new tradition of about 30 years, of Iowa's 15 community 
colleges. Prior to the community college we had a student system of 
junior colleges throughout Iowa. But it was not statewide. The 
community college system developed 30 years ago is a statewide system 
of community colleges so that all students throughout the entire State 
of Iowa have access to a community college.
  Each year, thousands of students in Iowa have successful academic 
experiences through one of Iowa's 15 community college districts. Last 
year, over 50 percent of the new freshmen in Iowa colleges and 
universities were enrolled at public community colleges. Year after 
year, these community colleges award thousands of high school 
equivalency GED diplomas for that 12 percent of our students who do not 
graduate from high school. Iowa's community colleges provide a myriad 
of curricula options for students whether they are seeking a degree or 
whether they want just a few courses. Our State's community colleges 
promote the concept that is a fact of life in our technological age--
that education does not begin at kindergarten and stop with a college 
degree. Today, for people of all ages, education is a continuing 
process throughout life, including the formalized aspect of education 
that comes through an institution.
  So access, quality, and responsiveness, are the three fundamental 
concepts upon which the community colleges' mission was developed and 
the principles which guide their growth and development that began 30 
years

[[Page S6195]]

ago and is an expanding and more influential aspect of education in 
Iowa all the time.
  Iowa's long history of academic excellence meets the high standards 
that our Founding Fathers set over 150 years ago when our State was 
established. With ongoing dedication from students, parents, teachers 
and school officials, I am confident that Iowa's education system will 
continue its path of growth and success as we continue our history and 
development as a leading State in the Nation.
  I look forward to these new developments in education for today's 
leaders and future generations of American students.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  Mr. BRYAN. Mr. President, I preface my comment by joining with my 
friend and colleague from Iowa, congratulating his great State on the 
sesquicentennial of admission to the Union. As he and I discussed 
before, I have a good many relatives who live in his State. I have had 
the privilege of spending a good bit of time over the years in Iowa. I 
enjoy the State, the people, and, again, I express my congratulations 
to them on the occasion of their celebration.

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