The Practice of Authentic PLCs: A Guide to Effective Teacher Teams, will be a featured speaker at the SAI conference on Thursday morning, August 9.

Iowa ASCD is sponsoring a "value-added" opportunity for Iowa ASCD members the afternoon of August 9, 12:00 - 3:00 P.M.  For $15, members will have the opportunity for a focused conversation with Verables around authenticating your PLCs. Each participating member will receive lunch as well as a copy of Venables's book. Non-members are welcome to attend at a fee of $45; they, too, will receive lunch and a copy of this practical book for implementing PLCs.

Daniel will address specific questions of the participants as well as the following:

• Lessons learned regarding the "nuts and bolts" of PLCs
• Suggestions for getting the most from three basic tasks of PLCs - examination of teacher and student work, development of common formative assessments, and review and response to student learning data.
• The role of principals and/or central office staff in establishing the vision for improving learning.
• Tips and suggestions for addressing PLCs that fail to collect, analyze, and present evidence of work beyond simple, self-reported, anecdotal observations.
• Recommendations or strategies for training facilitators of PLCs.  

Individuals may register with a credit card on the Iowa ASCD web site or call (515.271.1872)/FAX (515.271.2233) Bridget Arrasmith with purchase order information.   

You may also contact Kevin Vidergar with questions regarding this opportunity. 

All emerging leaders are enrolled in the program for two years and may be paired with an ASCD mentor - a member of the ASCD Board of Directors, an ASCD affiliate leader, or another high-level contributor who can provide support and guidance in their professional development. Emerging leaders are invited to attend ASCD's Leader to Leader (L2L) Conference held in late July every year, where they have the opportunity to encounter new ideas, resources, and best practices from other ASCD leaders, presenters, and staff to help further develop their leadership skills.

This year's class was invited to apply for this competitive program based on self-nominations and recommendations made by past program participants, current ASCD members, and the greater education community. An advisory panel composed of ASCD staff, leaders, and emerging leader alumni reviewed and selected this year's class.

"It is my pleasure to congratulate the members of the 2012 Emerging Leaders Class on their selection to this prestigious program," said Executive Director and CEO Dr. Gene Carter. "ASCD's mission to support the success of each learner requires thoughtful, creative leaders who can visualize the future and marshal the resources to create that future. I'm confident that this year's class is up to that task, and I look forward to working with them to develop the skills they need to meet that challenge head-on."

Throughout the program, leaders will have the opportunity to pursue various leadership pathways, such as serving on committees, hosting networking events for educators, advocating for sound education policy, and contributing to ASCD publications like Educational Leadership that not only match leaders' current strengths, but also empower them to continue to grow.

Emerging leaders have typically been in the profession between 5 and 15 years, have a marked interest in making a positive contribution to education policy and practice, and have invested in professional growth opportunities aimed at improving student outcomes. The 2012 class of emerging leaders is both professionally and regionally diverse, ranging from chemistry specialists to academic services administrators, hailing from across the globe and educating students from Hong Kong to Sarcoxie, Missouri.

Note:  This is Iowa's second emerging leader in two years.  Stefanie Rosenberg-Wager of Des Moines Public Schools will be  completing her second year of the program.   

Statewide Educator Evaluation System Task Force: The task force will develop a statewide teacher evaluation system and submit its recommendations to the legislature by October 15, 2012. The task force will be comprised of at least 12 members. This section takes effect upon the governor's signature.

Iowa Teaching Standards and Criteria Review Task Force: This task force will study the Iowa Teaching Standards and recommend improvements to them. The report must be submitted to the Legislature by November 15, 2012. 

Teacher Performance, Compensation, and Career Development Task Force: The task force will develop recommendations for a new teacher compensation system and submit its recommendations to the Legislature by October 15, 2012. This section takes effect upon the governor's signature. 

Online Learning: This provision addresses the use of online learning as an alternative to classroom education. It allows the two school districts that have entered into partnerships with private providers to continue to operate those agreements for two years. The legislation limits the number of pupils who can receive their educational instruction primarily over the Internet to no more than eighteen one-hundredths of one percent. It also limits the number of students who use open enrollment to receive online education to no more than one percent of the sending district's student enrollment.

School Administration Manager (SAM): This provision requires that a person serving as a school administration manager (SAMs) have a BOEE authorization. The BOEE has the authority to develop the authorization requirements.

Question to consider:

• If we use the SAM program, what will that authorization entail?

Resource: School Administration Manager   

Early Childhood Literacy: This provision has several provisions to strengthen early childhood literacy:

• Authorizes the State Board of Education to adopt rules that provide guidance to districts to improve reading proficiency in grades K-3. These guidelines are to be in place by July 1, 2013.
• Establishes an Iowa Reading Research Center if an appropriation is provided. The standing appropriation bill, HF 2465, appropriated $2M for the center. This center will look at instructional strategies and professional development strategies for improving reading proficiency. In addition, the center will develop guidance for the establishment of an intensive summer literacy program.
• Requires districts to administer a kindergarten readiness assessment to every resident pre kindergarten or four-year old child who enrolls in the district after July 1, 2013.  

The bill establishes new requirements on districts with respect to student progression and remedial instruction for those students failing to meet reading proficiency requirements in grades K-3. Included in those requirements are the following: 

• Requires districts to assess all students' reading proficiency in K-3 at the beginning of the school year. The assessment method may be determined by the district.
• Requires districts to provide intensive reading instruction to students with substantial deficiencies.
• Requires notification of parents of a student who fails to meet reading proficiency.
• Requires districts to offer an intensive summer reading program effective May 1, 2017, if funds are appropriated.
• Allows a district to suggest retention of a 3rd grader who fails to enroll in a summer intensive reading program effective May 1, 2017.
• Sets parameters for determining retention of a 3rd grader to include consultation with parent and proficiency in other subjects.
• Establishes a good cause exemption from considering a student for retention.
• Requires districts with more than 15 percent of K-3 students identified as reading deficient to include strategies for reading proficiency in their Comprehensive School Improvement Plan.  

Questions to consider:  

• What do we currently do for students who are not proficient?  
• Do we assess all K-3 students at the beginning of the year?  
• Do we have the appropriate programs and structures in place to ensure students attain reading skills?
• How are we communicating with parents?

Resources:  

• Assessments      
• Parent Communication 
• Response to Intervention 

School Instructional Time Task Force: This provision establishes a task force to study the minimum requirements of the school day and the school year. This task force will be comprised of at least seven members and will submit its report to the legislature by October 15, 2012. The issue of a mandatory school start date is one the task force will consider.

Class Sharing Agreements: This provision allows supplemental weighting for Project Lead the Way class sharing arrangements. It also exempts a student enrolled in career and technical courses under the senior year plus dual enrollment program from proficiency requirements. A community college may require the student to complete an initial assessment to determine readiness and may deny that student enrollment.

Practitioner Preparation Program Assessments: This provision changes requirements for assessing, before entering the practitioner preparation program and during the program, the competency of an individual seeking to enter the teaching profession.

Questions to consider:  

• How will this impact those who are entering the profession?  
• How will this impact the number of teachers available to be hired?

Resource: Current Rules      

Kindergarten Requirement: This provision establishes that a child who is at least five years old by September 15 and is enrolled in kindergarten be considered to be of compulsory attendance age. If a parent or guardian submits written notice to the district, the child may be removed from the district and no longer be considered of compulsory attendance age.

Other Items to Note:

• Provides $2 million for the Iowa Reading Research Center authorized in the education reform bill
• Provides $50,000 for an anti-bullying Internet site and telephone hotline.
• Eliminates some of the AEA media requirements.
• Reduces AEA funding by $20 million.  

Questions to consider:  

• How will this impact the services that our school and students receive?  
• How will our district provide those services?

Resource: Contact your AEA to find out what changes are being made that will impact your services.

• Repeals the sunset on the Early Intervention/Class Size program. The program will now continue until repealed by the legislature
• Codifies last year's session law that a school district may use no more than five percent of preschool funds for administrative expenses. This is effective for the current fiscal year.
• Requires that a district partnering with a community provider must pass through no less than 95 percent of preschool funds based on per-pupil enrollment. 
• Allows a community-based preschool provider to use up to five percent of the funds it receives from the district for administrative expenses.

Four of Iowa State University's newly-minted Ph.D.s have researched topics of great interest to Iowa curriculum and school leaders. Who isn't hungry for more information about how PLCs, school administrators' use of social media, 1:1 laptop initiatives, and standards-based reporting are working?

Drs. Tony Aylsworth, Dan Cox, Nick Sauers and Jill Urich each shined a light on one of these issues. More importantly, their research included Iowa school districts, so we know that what was learned applies to our teachers, students and schools. Here is a summary of the authors' research and contact information for them. Enjoy!

Professional Learning Communities: Tony Aylsworth, currently assistant principal at Ankeny High School and principal-elect at Carlisle High School, examined one high school's implementation of PLCs to see if they made a difference for student learning. His study sought to compare teacher participation in a Professional Learning Community with the performance of their students. Student achievement data from multiple subject-alike groups were compared in a pre- and post-PLC format.

Ten PLCs from one high school in a suburban, Iowa setting were compared. Mean scores from the 3 research questions that guided this study found that (1) 7 of the 10 PLCs improved student learning after functioning as a PLC; (2) no consistent relationship existed between teacher participation in a PLC and student failure rates and; (3) no consistent correlation existed between the student learning results from effective PLCs (as measured by the Aylsworth PLC Survey) and those that did not meet the criteria of an effective PLC.

Based on the findings of Tony's study, implications for educational practice and suggestions for future research include (1) collaboratively setting the vision for PLCs, (2) researching and understanding the implementation and structures of PLCs, (3) providing appropriate resources and ongoing support for PLCs, and (4) developing supportive leadership for PLCs.   

Administrators' Use of Social Media:   Dan Cox, principal at Hoover Middle School in Waterloo, sees two purposes for his qualitative, multiple-case study: 1) to describe, analyze, and interpret the experiences of school principals and superintendents who use multiple social media tools such as blogs, microblogs, social networking sites, podcasts, and online videos with stakeholders as part of their comprehensive communications practices; and 2) to examine why the principals and superintendents have chosen to communicate with their stakeholders through social media.  

Dan interviewed 12 principals and 12 superintendents purposefully selected from four regions of the United States and Canada. Social Customer Relationship Management (CRM) served as the framework for the study. Findings revealed four themes that applied to both groups: 1) Social media tools allow for greater interactions between school administrators and their stakeholders; 2) Social media tools provide stronger connections to local stakeholders, to fellow educators, and to the world; 3) Social media use can have a significant impact on a school administrator's personal and professional growth; and 4) Social media use is an expectation; it's no longer optional. Implications for practice, for boards of education, for educational leadership programs, and for expanding the definition of Social CRM are included.

1:1:  Nick Sauers, formerly K-8 principal at Spirit Lake and currently a lecturer at the University of Kentucky, studied the impact of a school's 1:1 status on three research questions. The first question focused on the amount of time teachers reported that students used technology at school. The second question analyzed the amount of technology integration teachers reported, and the final question investigated teacher-reported competency levels using technology.   

This study was conducted using multiple sources of data. Initially, school-level data were collected from the Common Core of Data as well as from the Iowa Department of Education. Teacher-level data were then collected by administering a survey to high school teachers across the state of Iowa. The initial part of the study involved identifying 1:1 schools across the state of Iowa. Those schools served as the treatment in this study. In order to find schools that were similar to those 1:1 schools, propensity score matching was used to identify the control schools. An important step in the propensity score matching was identifying the variables to use to match the schools. This study used 22 variables for that matching and 112 high schools were identified for the study.  

After those schools were identified, surveys were sent to high school teachers at each of those 112 schools. The 922 teachers who responded to the entire survey were included in this study. The study was able to account for teacher and school level data for each of the individuals in the study. The results of this study add to the limited body of research around 1:1 schools. Most importantly, they can help policymakers and school leaders as they make decisions about the adoption of a 1:1 program.

Standards-Based Reporting:  Jill Urich, principal at Northview Middle School in Ankeny, wanted to learn about the experiences of teachers as they transitioned from traditional grading practices to standards-based reporting (SBR). In order to achieve this overall objective, three research questions framed her qualitative study:

1) What experiences do middle school teachers have as they transition from traditional grading practices to standards-based reporting?  

2) What kinds of supports do teachers need as they transition from traditional grading practices to standards-based reporting?  

3) Is there a change in teachers' clarity regarding what their students know, understand, and do as they transition from traditional grading practices to standards-based reporting?

Twelve teachers from a Midwestern suburban middle school were interviewed individually and in focus groups to provide insight into the research questions. Six themes emerged from the data. 1) In an SBR grading scheme, a grade truly represents what a student knows, understands, and is able to do. 2) SBR helps teachers achieve clarity in what their individual students know, understand, and are able to do. 3) Active engagement, trust, and support from administration is valued and needed by educators transitioning to SBR. 4) Resources such as time, professional literature, collaborating with peers, aligning rubrics with the curriculum, observing others implementing SBR, and adopting a reporting tool that is SBR-friendly are essential components of support. 5) Formative assessment, flexible grouping, and differentiation are instructional practices that naturally lead to SBR. 6) Opportunities for parent education and effective communication with stakeholders are imperative for a successful SBR transition.

Jill found that the teachers in this study appeared to be happier and more satisfied with their work in moving students forward in their learning when implementing SBR, evidenced by students learning at higher levels as well as teacher clarity in students' instructional needs. The success of the implementation of SBR was due, in part, to a slow, multi-year process of transforming practices that naturally led to SBR such as formative assessment, flexible grouping, feedback, and differentiation. Equally important to changes in instruction was a collaborative culture committed to engaging all students in learning at high levels.

Jill's recommendations for future research are to study schools at the secondary level that have fully implemented SBR, schools that have adopted a dual system of letter grades and SBR, and college level students who have graduated from a secondary SBR system.