ICCSD, Junior Achievement look to expand career readiness at Center for Innovation

The Iowa City Community School District is ramping up a project-based learning initiative to introduce K-12 students to career pathways by strengthening its partnership with Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa, looking to house several of its programs under one roof at the Center for Innovation. The ICCSD bought the Center for Innovation building from ACT in 2022 – then called the Tyler building, at 301 ACT Dr. – with the aim to create a space that would give students an immersive learning experience that would support the district’s vision for Portrait of a Graduate.

“I think the value with our partnership with Junior Achievement is bringing some of those business professionals into the school or into the Center for Innovation, to interface with our students,” said ICCSD Superintendent, Matt Degner. “And it really speaks to our Portrait of a Graduate, from the standpoint that those skills in our Portrait of a Graduate were identified by community stakeholders. Our business community was a part of that process when we identified those skills of adaptability, communication, critical thinking, empathy, global citizens and having a learner's mindset. And so that's what our community told us our kids need to leave K through 12 education with, and so this is a different way to potentially then deliver those experiences to our students,” adding that the program is still “a little bit to be determined.” Calling it a “first in the nation” partnership for having multiple Junior Achievement programs under one roof, the school district will spend the next five years and approximately $5.6 million renovating the CFI to accommodate the organization’s programs, if approved by the board. Of that number, Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa would invest $1.2 million in staffing and programming support and $1.5 million in software development. The expenditures are considered capital costs and the school district's general fund would not be impacted, according to board documents from October. The nonprofit would also have use of the center’s lower level, dubbed “the dream level.” Until this year, Junior Achievement programming has been mostly regulated to elementary age students with a focus on “one or two grades,” said Nate Klein, Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa’s vice president of education.

“The significance of being a fully integrated partner, K through 12, and having some very impactful experiences, I believe, are going to open up students' eyes to the possibilities both of the world of work and then also their own skills and abilities as well,” he said. “As a district, we've been trying to really provide opportunities for our students to explore different career options and different career pathways,” said Carmen Gwenigale, ICCSD’s director of curriculum instruction and assessment. It’s something the school district has been diligent with regarding its middle through high school grades, “and so a lot of the things that we've already established in that partnership with JA [are] some of our current course offerings.”

Phase one launches ‘Dream Accelerator’

Junior Achievement is an educational nonprofit with an emphasis on entrepreneurship, financial literacy and work readiness to successfully prepare students for life after graduation, and has more than 100 locations nationwide that focus on specific regions. The organization has partnered with ICCSD for approximately 40 years now, and this proposed new development would take things a step further, helping the school district realize its vision for student immersive learning experiences at the CFI. Pending board approval, the first of two phases for the “dream level” of CFI could begin by the 2025-2026 school year. In the first phase, kindergarten through eighth grade teachers would lead in-class Junior Achievement programming that “align with the Iowa standards and are supplemented with Junior Achievement volunteer videos,” board documents stated. Hands-on Junior Achievement programs like BizTown and Finance Park would operate at CFI. With BizTown, students gain exposure to various businesses and career opportunities. “They create their own little town, pretty much,” said Ms. Gwenigale, with students learning how to operate banks, manage restaurants, use credit cards and even vote for mayor. Junior Achievement's Finance Park is a financial literacy initiative that offers a real-world budgeting simulation. The district plans to pilot a capstone experience by offering JA’s Finance Park Fair at CFI, Ms. Gwenigale said. During the first phase, the district is also looking into a pilot program called JA Dream Accelerator, another immersive program that helps students explore career opportunities. “The main premise is, how do we inspire students to lead choice-filled lives?” Mr. Klein said. Under the program, groups of 40-50 students split into smaller groups with volunteers to examine themselves and their community within the context of careers post-graduation. The program will help students identify their strengths “in an AI, interactive way,” he said. From there, participants move to another station that highlights past and present Iowa visionaries representing different industries “so that they can see people from their neighborhoods making a big impact, whether it's inventions, whether it's on the main stage, whatever it might be. And so they get an interactive way to see themselves in the future,” Mr. Klein said. Students rotate through various stations before receiving a printed report, which they can review with their guidance counselor to select high school courses that align with their post-graduation goals. This past fall, ICCSD officials and Junior Achievement staff visited Junior Achievement Rocky Mountain’s Dream Accelerator in Denver to get a first-hand look. “From the experience we saw there, (Dream Accelerator) was really able to bring to light, kind of the local community context to it,” Mr. Degner said. “Here we would bring that to the Corridor metro and say, ‘Okay, well, what's the local context? What is some of our history here in these job sectors? What are our current opportunities in these different job sectors?’” Through this, students would gain hands-on experience while seeing relatable role models, helping them connect their interests to real-world opportunities within their local community, Mr. Degner said. For the 2026-2027 school year, phase two would add JA STEM 360 and JA Trades, board documents stated, but definite time frames for the phases are still to be determined, Mr. Degner said. “The CFI gives us amazing space to consider how we continue to grow and build that (partnership)," Mr. Degner said, noting, however, that although the district initially outlined a four-to-five-year plan to expand the partnership in phases, not all aspects may come to fruition, as no formal funding requests have been presented to the board, nor have agreements for an expanded collaboration been signed as of yet. “Yet at this time, we have a yearly agreement that we do with Junior Achievement. And so while I might not say ‘under construction,’ I would say we are still building it while we partner. So we're just looking for those smart opportunities that continue to make sense to work together,” he added.

Further visions for the Center for Innovation

The Center for Innovation currently hosts the district’s special education program, online learning, teacher leadership programs, and district technology. This year, it has also served as a venue for various events, including a visiting author and illustrator literacy day, art shows, and the ongoing Pathway to Purpose event, where high schoolers offer guidance to eighth graders regarding their course options for high school.

Additionally, the upcoming Design Dash, a project-based learning initiative in partnership with the University of Iowa catered toward high school students, will also be held at the CFI. “We're doing a lot of different events that bring our school communities from across the district together into one space to get to interact with each other and take advantage of a different layout and a different setting, to put our students through some really fun learning opportunities,” Mr. Degner said. The district team is exploring work-based learning opportunities and plans to continue collaborating with Junior Achievement in this area, he said. As Iowa School Performance Profiles increasingly emphasize post-secondary readiness, work-based learning, along with college credit and industry-recognized credentials, remains a key focus for future initiatives. “I really see a great opportunity for us there to build out some credential or certification programs for our students,” Mr. Degner said.

Administrative offices eventually move to CIF

During spring break, the rest of ICCSD’s administrative offices will be moved to the Center for Innovation, and eventually board meetings will also take place there. What the district will do with its current administrative office building at 1725 N. Dodge St. remains to be seen. “I think that's what we're evaluating options for now, if we would sell this space, or if we would hang on to it for future programming needs. So I think that's our next step in evaluation here, also this spring, is to determine what to do with the current Ed Services Center site,” Mr. Degner said. Additional conversations with the school board regarding student programming with Junior Achievement will occur in March or April, school officials said.