School Administrators of Iowa

2014 Fall Conference

Today’s Conversation

Iowa Department of Education

Context

Content

Courage

Context• Why did the “reform” conversations begin in

earnest 3-4 years ago?

Iowa Department of Education

Context

Stagnant Performance• Iowa was “passed”

• from first in the nation status to the middle of the pack

• Iowa was slow to take on improvement efforts such as rigorous standards and aligned assessments

• Iowa Nice

Iowa Department of Education

Context

Iowa’s Rank among the States4th Grade NAEP Reading

Iowa Department of Education

Context

1992 (N=42)

1994 (N=40)

1998 (N=41)

2002 (N=45)

2003 (N=52)

2005 (N=52)

2007 (N=52)

2009 (N=52)

2011 (N=52)

5th8th 7th

12th 11th

25th

14th

27th 25th

Year (# States with Adequate Data)

Changing World• Global economy increasingly driven by knowledge

and innovation• Jobs require a higher skill level than in the past

• Globalization and technological change eliminating many pathways for unskilled workers to enter the middle class

• Demand for skilled workers outstrips supply hampering economic growth

• Closing education and skills gap is necessary for Iowans to maintain standard of living

Iowa Department of Education

Context

Iowa Department of Education

Context

Results• The context provided evidence that we are not

where we want to be.• Our students have dreams and we have a

responsibility to provide an education that supports those dreams.

• The future of our local communities, state, and nation rest on the education our students are provided.

Iowa Department of Education

Context

The Content• Big-picture ideas of

the Department• Human capital

pipeline• Aligned system

with students and their learning at the center

Iowa Department of Education

Content

The Human Capital Pipeline“How do we design a system that can meet the learning needs of all students by ensuring teaching competence, recognizing and rewarding talent, making employment in the system dynamic and fulfilling, and building the system’s capacity?“ - Rachel Curtis

Iowa Department of Education

Content

Recruitment Pre-service Preparation

Mentoring & Induction

Job-embedded

Development

Leadership Opportunities

Aligned System

• Content• Assessment• Instruction• Leadership• Schools• Community

Iowa Department of Education

Content

Content• Unpack the Iowa Core

• Engage in conversations with teachers about how to best put the standards into practice

• Emphasize both content and process expectations found in the standards

Iowa Department of Education

Content

• Standards set the expectations• Local schools and districts determine the tools and

resources needed for students to reach and even exceed the standards

Assessments• Design and implement a balanced assessment

framework• Formative classroom assessment is central• Large-scale summative assessments are a part of the

framework

Iowa Department of Education

Content

Iowa Department of Education

A Comprehensive Balanced Assessment SystemAligned to State Content Standards

Statewide Assessments(Summative)

Interim/Benchmark Assessments(Summative)

Classroom Assessments(Formative and Summative)

Four key questions inform the construction of quality assessments:

• Why assess? (What's the purpose and who will use the results?)

• Assess what? (What are the learning targets? Are they clear? Are they good?)

• Assess how? (What method? Sampled how? Avoid bias how? Written well?)

• Communicate/provide feedback how? (How do we manage the information? How do we report?)

Iowa Department of Education

Content

Instruction• Emphasis on student learning

• What do we want students to learn vs. what do we want students to do

• Guided by student interest/students at the center• Supported by MTSS thinking• Based on high-quality lesson plans

• Content and process objectives

• Innovation and technology are considered and used when likelihood of student learning increases

• Research-based practices in tandem with promising practices

Iowa Department of Education

Content

Leadership• Collaboratively design a mission, vision, and

theory of action• Distributed leadership - Empower teachers as

partners in the learning• Teacher Leadership and Compensation System

• Discuss your authority/autonomy or loose/tight framework

Iowa Department of Education

Content

Schools and Community

Iowa Department of Education

Content

Schools• Focus on continuous

improvement • Guided by data and

the loose/tight conversation

Community• Engage your

stakeholders• School boards• Parents/guardians• Local non-profits• Businesses• Legislators

Relationships• All of what I have just said works best when

guided by authentic, powerful relationships• People will move mountains when they know

they are cared for and heard

Iowa Department of Education

Content

Courage – this is the most important work

• The Instructional Core

Iowa Department of Education

Courage

Courage to Lead Change… for ImprovementWhat is your framework for change?

Iowa Department of Education

Courage

First-Order Change• Consistent with

prevailing values and norms

• Meets with general agreement

• Implemented using people’s existing knowledge and skills

Second-Order Change• Not obvious how it will

make things better• Requires people to learn

new approaches, or• It conflicts with prevailing

norms and values

From Waters, Marzano, and McNulty “First-Order versus Second-Order Change”

How is Your Improvement (Change) Work Going?

• The Differential Impact of Leadership• Recognize that change, like beauty, is in

the eye of the beholder• Distributed leadership is the most

effective kind• How have you prepared to/are you

implementing your improvement (change) framework?

• How is it going?

Iowa Department of Education

Courage

Lots of Exciting Work Underway!

• Teacher Leadership and Compensation• Early Literacy Initiative• Science, Technology, Engineering and

Mathematics (STEM)• Competency-Based Education

• Wonderful 2014-15 school year!

Iowa Department of Education

Courage

The [Man] in the ArenaIt is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Iowa Department of Education

Courage