T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM During the regular Monday meeting, Marshalltown Community School District Board of Education members Leah Stanley and Maria Morales listen to a presentation about the Junior Achievement 3DE program. The MCSD will be the first school district in central Iowa to implement it.

The Marshalltown Community School District will be the first school district in central Iowa, and the third in the state, to implement the Junior Achievement (JA) 3DE program.

Approval of the program was given during the regular Monday school board meeting. JA of Central Iowa President Ryan Osborn and Vice President of Education Shannon Gerard presented information on the benefits of the innovative high school instructional program.

According to Osborn, they observed and researched 3DE before determining it was time to launch the program in central Iowa. The question was where.

“It didn’t take us long,” he said. “Marshalltown was the clear answer right away because of the clear partnership we have had with the district and all the great work we’ve done together to that point.”

Marshalltown will be the 61st school in the country to launch 3DE. There will be no cost to the district during the first year of the program, which will be implemented for 125 to 150 ninth-grade students. A 3DE director and a case experience coordinator will be hired.

Osborn said there will be the opportunity to include all four high school grades. For example, in the second year of 3DE, 10th grade would be included, 11th in the third year and all high school grades by the fourth year. The more students in the program, the lower the cost is per student. From 2026 to 2028, there will be a fixed cost to the district of $206,570.

“If the decision is made to launch in the fall of 2025, that first entire year is covered from a cost perspective,” he said. “I’ve been working the last two years to identify some lead funding to help us get this launched here in central Iowa. Being the first can be seen as a risk, but hopefully we would like it to be seen as an honor to lead the way and Marshalltown is certainly in a position to do that.”

Osborn said the 3DE model was developed to address engagement of high school students.

“Eighty–five percent of kindergarteners are engaged in learning,” he said. “You get to fifth grade, it drops to 60, 65 percent. When you get to high school, it’s less than half the high school population.”

Osborn said if students are not engaged, attendance rates decrease, and the Iowa legislature has placed more focus on combating chronic absenteeism.

Gerard broke down the four aspects of the program, which she called the four Cs:

• Cohorts — Teachers and students are grouped together to build comradery and trust. Coursework is supported by five to eight teachers. Students boost confidence and engagement. Gerard said the school within a school model would be the best fit for Marshalltown.

• Cases — The curriculum is built around real–world cases with at least 17 local and national businesses. Students use core subjects, such as math and English to problem solve. They are connected with businesses to create relevant, memorable and engaging lessons.

• Collaboration — This is accomplished through small group discussion, problem solving and debate to mimic the workplace. Students will go through real-world experiences and receive boosts to social and emotional skills.

• Competencies — Students master six competencies which improve engagement — creativity, cultural agility, critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving and self direction. Gerard said the competencies are circulated throughout the four-year progression, and the goal set for the students is to master those by graduation.

She said students progress through high school starting with process thinking in ninth grade, analytical thinking in 10th grade, independent in 11th and strategic in 12th. In the 11th grade, students will gain entrepreneurial experience.

“They are creating a product or a service and they have an expo day,” Gerard said. “Then 12th grade is a capstone experience, and they call it a consultancy project where students are engaging with a local business throughout the entire school year. When you wrap that all together, 17 local and national companies that the students get involved with at a deep level by the end of 12th grade. It’s pretty incredible.”

It was the outcomes of 3DE that captured their attention, she said.

“Absenteeism [is] decreasing while the graduation rates are increasing,” Gerard said. “Important as always is math and reading proficiencies, college enrollment increasing as well, and competency mastery.”

She said students in the program have a sense of belonging and feel supported. Teachers also have a support system around them. Osborn said he and Gerard will be very involved.

“Taking on a new instructional model like this, you obviously want to do your due diligence and I would just say Marshalltown has done that in spades,” he said. “The team you have . . . have really been deeply involved and really done their homework to learn and make sure this would be right for Marshalltown. Shannon and I feel really good about that. . . There is still a planning and readiness period to go through, which will kick off the next semester in January.”

Superintendent Theron Schutte said they have been purposeful in identifying and inviting teachers who would be good fits for the model.

Board member Elizabeth Wise asked if other schools have a wing dedicated to 3DE or separate classrooms. Osborn told her it is common for a team room to be dedicated in which teachers can collaborate.

“Really, it happens within the normal classroom,” he said. “It’s cross curricular. It’s really about the way the content is being taught and then tying it back to that one case that the students are working on. They will have a case they will address in science, math, social studies, even music, and they’re all connected back to that business case. That’s a big part of the secret sauce that makes the relevant piece come alive. . . It’s not necessarily where it takes place, it’s how the instruction is done.”

Schutte said the MCSD team visited 3DE classrooms throughout the country and noted that they did not look any different than the common room.

“They’re still teaching their standards, but they’re incorporating those standards interdisciplinary wise between the four core disciplines and tying them together through these case studies,” he said. “There’s collaboration ahead of time to try to identify who can do what and make sure everything gets covered.”

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641–753–6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.