April 2015 H elping E ducational L eaders P repare

What's NEW?

"Differentiated Accountability System" (What? No site visits in the future??)

• Beginning with implementation of a pilot in 2015-2016 and full implementation in 2016-2017, the Iowa Department of Education is leading the state to a new system of differentiated accountability and support. Iowa’s new system is founded on seven basic concepts: 1. Tiered support 2. Healthy Indicators 3. Earned autonomy 4. Collaborative Inquiry Questions 5. A single continuous improvement process 6. Streamlined reporting 7. Emphasis on results for Iowa learners
• Iowa’s Differentiated Accountability model will include levels or tiers of support. The basis for a tiered model of support is the idea that not all districts, schools, preschool programs or AEAs need the same level of support in all areas. This is similar to the idea of a multi-tiered system of supports in education as applied to classrooms and students.
• 
  Healthy indicator data will serve as the basis for the tier determinations.  The supports provided will vary as will the required elements of action plans, desk audits, and site visits.   
• The new accountability system will focus on a set of Collaborative Inquiry Questions (CIQs).  The CIQs are based on two bodies of research: systems-change and MTSS. These evidence- based questions are the foundation of system change and continuous improvement in Iowa.
• As a result, districts will not report on Iowa Core Implementation Data for the 2015-16,  Schools/ Districts In Need of Assistance will not engage in traditional Iowa Support Process, and  IEP/IFSP Reviews for students aged 0-13 will not be required.

What's DUE? 

May 13: Spring Student Reporting in Iowa test site closes  

May 15: Spring Student Reporting in Iowa site opens 

June 18: Spring Student Reporting in Iowa certification deadline  

H elping E ducational L eaders P repare, March 2015

What's NEW??

TLC AGORA: Iowa Teacher Leadership and Compensation Community  This online community is designed to bring together teacher leaders and administrators from across the state to collaborate around the TLC effort.

The community features:
  *Calendar of professional learning events across the state
  *On-demand learning opportunities
  *Toolbox of resources provided by districts
  *Online discussion forums
  *Information on grant requirements from the DE
  *Connection to local district websites and social media supporting the TLC work

       You may enter the site as a guest and navigate throughout to see the resources. To participate in the community, be sure to click the button in the community to join. This will allow you to add your own district resources, participate in forums, and receive the announcements via email.

#educoach Instructional Coaching Chat, 9 - 10 p.m. Wednesday evenings is open everyone in the world!

 Join the Chat on your device! The #educoach chat is held each Wednesday night. Experts and practitioners are sharing resources, asking/answering questions and supporting each other. Also check out the EduCoach wiki to peruse archives and MORE!

School start date may be resolved for 2015-16!!

Follow the 2015 Legislative Updates

GHAEA H.E.L.P. Blog- February 2015

Have you visited the new Attendance Center Ranking application?

Last month's blog introduced the Iowa Attendance Center Ranking system. As required by HF 215, it is designed to group schools into one of six categories: exceptional, high performing, commendable, acceptable, needs improvement, and priority. Categories will be based on each school’s performance on nine required measures listed in legislation: 

1. Proficiency rates in math & reading
2. Academic growth 
3. Attendance rates
4. Parent involvement
5. Employee turnover
6. Community activities and involvement
7. Closing achievement gaps score
8. Graduation rate
9. College readiness

The Department is releasing this first phase to demonstrate to the Legislature progress in meeting the requirement. No school rankings are part of this initial release of information. A more complete Attendance Center Rankings system is expected this fall.

Are you familiar with the 2015 AEA Legislative Priorities?

Here’s a brief overview. More in-depth information is found here: AEA 2015 Legislative Priorities

Early Literacy/Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS)

Supports a state commitment of $8 million for the AEA system to reach the goal of every Iowa child reading at or above grade level by the end of third grade.

Restore Funding for Children with Special Needs

$70 million of state funding has been reduced from the AEA system over the past 4 years. 

Teacher Leadership and Compensation Training

Supports a state commitment of $2 million to provide training and technical support for implementation of the Teacher Leadership and Compensation system 

School-based Mental Health Services
Supports a state commitment of $2.5 million to provide pilot projects in each AEA for school based mental health services.

Personalized Learning
Supports a state commitment of $2 million to continue the development and delivery of a robust system of personalized learning for all Iowa students. 

For more information, contact AEA Executive Director Brent Siegrist at bsiegrist@gwaea.org

GHAEA H.E.L.P. Blog, January 2015

What's New?

On Friday, January 30, 2015 the first phase of the Attendance Center Ranking (ACR) system will be made public on the DE website. This is interactive tool provides a snapshot of how the state’s public schools and school districts are performing on two measures: student proficiency rates and growth toward college and career readiness.

Iowa's Data Snapshot available

• Student proficiency rates represent the percentage of students proficient in math and reading in grades 3 through 8 and 11. In Iowa, being “proficient” in math and reading means performing at a basic level. Proficiency does not necessarily put students on the path to college and career readiness.
• The growth measure is defined as the percentage of students who are on a trajectory to be college and career ready (CCR) by the end of high school as defined by ACT.

The tool encompasses two of the nine measures that eventually will make up the Attendance Center Rankings system: student proficiency rates, academic growth, attendance rates, parent involvement, employee turnover, community activities and involvement, closing achievement gaps score, graduation rates, and college and career readiness.

Also, the Iowa Department of Education has released the latest edition of the Annual Condition of Education report. Follow the link to view a wide range of state-level data, including shifts in student populations and demographics, teacher salaries and characteristics, student achievement results and school financial information.

GHAEA H.E.L.P. Blog December 2014

Jingle bells, all is swell.
Vacation time, let’s rest!
Oh what fun ‘14 has been.
We welcome ‘15 with zest!

What's NEW

Teacher Leadership & Compensation System

The next group of school districts has been chosen to launch local teacher leadership plans through Iowa’s new Teacher Leadership and Compensation System. 125 school districts were chosen to put in place local plans – 74 of them during the 2015-16 school year and another 51 during the 2016-17 school year. The school districts serve a mix of urban, suburban and rural communities. In GHAEA, these schools include:

• 2015-16: Atlantic, Central Decatur, Glenwood, Lewis Central, Nodaway Valley and Red Oak
• 2016-17: CAM, Clarke and Lenox

These 125 selected districts join 39 other districts that were chosen to implement the first teacher leadership systems. The goal is to have all Iowa school districts participate in the optional system by 2016-17, according to Brad Buck.

• October 31, 2015 - TLC Year 3 Applications Due.  As the Legislature has only identified TLC as a three-year application opportunity, schools that do not apply for this third round may not have the option to do so in the future. 

For more information about Teacher Leadership & Compensation, please refer to the GHAEA H.E.L.P. site or contact Jan Norgaard, 

Substitute Authorization License Change

A substitute authorization allows an individual to substitute in grades PK-12 for no more than five consecutive days and no more than 10 days in a 30-day period in one job assignment for a regularly assigned teacher who is absent, except in the driver’s education classroom.  As of 12/17/14, holders of the substitute authorization may now serve PK-12 classrooms.  For more information about the change to 282—22.2 (272) Substitute authorization, click here.

School Start Date Waiver Change

Effective immediately, the Department will no longer automatically grant waivers of the school start date requested under Iowa Code section 279.10(4) for the 2015-2016 school year.  Visit the Department of Education and scroll to New Innovative Calendar and Continued Innovative Calendar for more information.

What's DUE

Early Literacy Implementation

For those schools utilizing Iowa TIER (FAST and IGDI screening tools), the winter screening window will be from January 12 to February 6, 2015.

EdInsight

If you are wondering about EdInsight training, there is one last opportunity scheduled for this winter:  January 8, 2015 at Red Oak.  Click here to sign up.

Happy Holidays from GHAEA H.E.L.P!

November 2014     

American Education Week: Nov. 17 - 21

 "Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility."

"An investment in knowledge always pays 
the best interest." - Benjamin Franklin

What's NEW?

Assessment News On November 4, 2014, members of the Assessment Task Force recommended that Iowa lawmakers adopt the Smarter Balanced assessments as Iowa’s new state test for public and accredited nonpublic schools starting with the 2016-17 school year.  The task force will continue to work on a final report, which is due in January to the Legislature, to the State Board of Education and to Iowa Department of Education Director Brad Buck.

340 Success Stories Through the National Blue Ribbon Schools program, 340 schools are receiving recognition for either their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups. Each of the schools—290 public and 50 private—has released one-page profiles detailing its work in providing all students with a well-rounded education, using technology in the classroom, and encouraging educator collaboration and stakeholder engagement to ensure that students succeed.


Did You Know? The makeup of the 114th Congress will set quite a few records, including more women and minorities than any previous Congress, the largest Republican majority in the House since before World War II, and the first Congress since World War II to not include a veteran of that war.

October 2014

Helping Educational Leaders Prepare

What's NEW:

Upcoming Continuous Improvement Model: You may have been hearing buzz around the work of collaborative teams of DE/ AEA/ LEA members developing a unified improvement process for Iowa.  This table captures the vision so far.




Early Literacy Implementation (ELI):  At this time, schools have most likely completed the Fall Universal Screening assessments and have moved forward to: 1) examining the health of Core Instruction, 2) identifying students in need of intervention, and 3) progress monitoring.  As a reminder, many resources are available to support this implementation on the Department of Education's ELI page.


Iowa Reading Research Center (Building Iowa's Home for Literacy) launched their new web site. Check it out for "Latest News" "Facebook Feed" and "Twitter Feed" Iowa Reading Research Center is an online collection of literacy resources available to the public for classroom learning and teaching, at-home support, and educator research for children birth through 12th grade. Resources collected have undergone varying levels of screening to ensure research is accurate and relevant to visitors.

What's DUE:

October 31: TLC Applications
October 31: Special Education Count Date

It is not too late to sign up for the ELI Data Review Days.  Participants MUST have received training on TIER and FAST assessments during the summer 2014.  In this course, participants will understand the data obtained from FAST and use Collaborative Inquiry Questions to build an MTSS system.  Follow this link to register.


For other H.E.L.P. topics and support, visit our Google Site.