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Volume 15, Number 19 The Source
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No Child Left Behind Replacement: Next Steps Involve You!
After years of lackluster education policy action, the House and Senate rallied and passed bills to replace the NCLB. ( See previous Capitol Connection coverage by ASCD). Momentum has slowed, however, and little progress has occurred in recent weeks. It's time for Congress to  get NCLB replacement efforts back on track.
The next steps in the process include creating a House-Senate conference committee (PDF) to reconcile differences between the House and Senate bills (H.R.5 and S.1177, respectively). Congressional staff ha  ve been poring over the two bills to find every point of divergence so conference committee members can address these differences. However, conferees have yet to be appointed and no meetings have been scheduled.
Congress must push forward to provide schools with the updated policies they need. Contact your elected officials today to urge them to keep the NCLB replacement process in motion. If it is not in process by the end of December, there is a good chance we will be waiting two more years for the NCLB to be addressed. Check out this podcast from Dr. Susan Pecinovsky, Iowa ASCD Co-Chair of Advocacy. |
Fall Academy - November 16-17: Standards-Based Grading for School Leaders
Conference speaker Tammy Heflebower of Marzano Research Center shares practical steps and strategies for school and district leaders and their teams to guide educators, students and parents through the implementation process and become acquainted with opportunities and challenges that may arise during the transition to standards-based grading.
Standards-based grading gives students and parents useful feedback by clearly identifying what students need to know and what they still need to learn to achieve those goals. Teachers use proficiency scales to track and report students' progress on prioritized standards and report cards communicate what students have mastered, what they need to work on, and how quickly they are progressing.
During this workshop, participants will explore specific aspects of standards-based grading implementation, from identifying prioritized standards and composing proficiency scales to creating aligned assessments and revising report cards. School and District leaders will learn practical steps and strategies for guiding educators, students and parents through this work.
Outcomes and Goals - Explore concrete steps for implementing standards-based grading.
- Learn to recruit and build teams of educators to prioritize standards and write proficiency scales.
- Discover three kinds of assessments and learn how educators can use each type as an effective part of a standards-based grading system.
- Understand the unique grading challenges posed by exceptional learners and how to incorporate accommodations and modifications into grading practices.
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Create an action plan for revising report cards to more clearly communicate student progress and achievement.
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Formulate an implementation and communication plan to facilitate your school's transition to standards-based grading.
About the Presenter
Dr. Tammy Heflebower is a senior scholar at Marzano
Research. She is a highly sought-after school leader and consultant with vast experience in urban, rural, and suburban districts. Dr. Heflebower has served as a classroom teacher, building leader, district leader, regional professional development director, and national trainer. She has also been an adjunct professor of curriculum, instruction, and assessment at several universities. Registration Information: Iowa ASCD Fall Academy November 16th and 17th, 2015 Registration: 1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Conference: 11/16: 1:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. 11/17: 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Drake University, Olmsted Center 2507 University Avenue Des Moines, Iowa Snacks and supper will be served on November 16 and a continental breakfast and lunch will be served on November 17.
Rate: $275 for Iowa ASCD Members $320 for Non-Members
You may register by sending a purchase order or check with a list of names and their e-mail addresses to Bridget Arrasmith, School of Education, Room 123, Drake University, 3206 University Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50311 (FAX (515) 271-2233).
You may register on line at http://iowaascd.org/index.php/events/event-registration/
All participants will receive A School Leader's Guide to Standard-Based Grading by the Marzano Research Center.
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Curriculum Leads: Function of Our Work - Leaders of Processes
The primary responsibility of curriculum leads is to develop the collective capacity of the organization to assure that all students are successful. One of the functions of these individuals' work to assure the capacity of the system and the success of the students is their collaborative leadership in establishing and monitoring common practices and procedures to assure alignment and achievement of initiatives and plans with district and building goals.
The key words are common practices and procedures. Professional Learning Communities (P  LCs) is a perfect example; a protocol, a common set of procedures, is necessary if we want a systems-wide approach and impact of PLCs on learning. Established processes assure alignment within these communities of practice as well as across the district and promote the achievement of the district's intentions in learning. Without them, we may achieve "pockets of excellence." With them, we will create a system of quality learning and achievement.
As leaders of processes, major initiatives for which we need to establish common practices and procedures are hiring, evaluation, intensive assistance, data analysis, school improvement, and evaluation of programs and initiatives. Others we might consider are processes for learning walks, classroom observations, professional learning communities, facilitation of meetings, and behavior expectations.
A first step in establishing a common process is to benchmark the initiative or plan and then determine the specific steps that will be needed to achieve the desired outcome. Once established, the process must be monitored during implementation and evaluated for its impact based on the initially identified benchmarks. Obviously, skills in monitoring, coaching, and feedback are paramount if the process is to become consistent and universal in the district.
The benefit of the common and successful use of a specific process is the increase in the beliefs of its users in the value and impact of the process. An additional plus is the capacity the use of the common process builds in the organization - capacity in consistency of actions, capacity for achievement of the intended outcomes, and capacity of a system to support teaching, learning, and organizational effectiveness consistent with the district's vision and goals and student needs.
Common processes are especially beneficial when working and communicating with the public. These standards of action create structures and partnerships for meaningful and respectful parent and community involvement in your schools. Parents know what is expected of them and what they can expect from educators when standardized processes and procedures for their involvement are implemented with fidelity. For example, when the parent of a child with special needs knows the process for the meetings to develop or evaluate progress with the individual educational plan (IEP) of the child, they are more comfortable taking part in the meeting. They understand their role and the roles of the educators in attendance; they know how to come prepared for the meeting, and they know what and how they will learn about their child at school.
Our work as leaders of processes requires that we select, design, and work collaboratively with other educators within the district to provide tools to guide the processes and common practices. These will often be in the form of handbooks, templates, configuration maps, rubrics, or evaluation protocols. When educators know the processes for the use of data, for providing input, for making decisions, for facilitating meetings, and even for monitoring and evaluating progress, their level of trust increases as they see fairness in the process. Added benefits include a shared understanding of a common language, common routines and practice, and regular, ongoing capacity building of networks for learning and achievement.
The system must be on the side of the principal if we are to increase students' success beyond "pockets of excellence." We must assure them the organizational structure and support to achieve the expected. For example, if we want our principals to collect information for the system through learning walks, we must establish a process with specific criteria and expectations. We must also complete structured learning walks with them - modeling the procedure, coaching their own actions, providing feedback that will allow them to increase the quality of the walks as well as provide consistent data to their building and to the district.
Just as helpful to principals are specific common approaches for improvement plans. Sustainability is linked to planning and goal setting that begins at the district level and is enacted at the school level. It is our responsibility to assure the building leaders have the capacity to plan for and accomplish the goals for the building. To achieve this with consistency and positive impact, the leaders of central office, including curriculum leads, must model the planning and then provide the structures and coaching for the principals to "make it happen" in their own buildings. Data consults, based on a standardized process that accurately monitors implementation, around each school's plan and portfolio throughout the year allow the building and district leaders to address barriers and celebrate accomplishments as well as increase the capacity of each individual building leader and the leaders across the district to create a system of success. It is the pressure and the support of the central office leaders, using common approaches and procedures and ongoing coaching, that build the capacity of these instructional leaders to achieve the expectations.
As leaders of processes, we orient the culture, the resources, and the sets of actions around the learning agenda. We gain more traction when capacity is shared. We accomplish this through standardized processes, the "connective tissue" in keeping the moving parts all headed in the same direction. These wrap-around supports and directions allow those pockets of excellence to become a system of quality learning.
Processes - a must if we are to get the work done, achieve a common purpose, and build the capacity of the system to improve instructional practice and performance.
Descriptors of Leaders of Processes Aligned with
Iowa Standards for School Leaders
- Promotes collaborative processes with staff and is involved in reciprocal relationships with principals and other leaders to learn together. (ISSL 1b)
- Utilizes theory, demonstration, practice, and feedback for professional development that substantiates the improvement initiative. (ISSL 1b)
- Develops capacity in others to understand and increase knowledge of content and research-based best practices. (ISSL 1b)
- Collaboratively develops and builds the capacity of others to develop performance foundations, including mission, vision, values, and beliefs in the district. (ISSL 1d)
- Eliminates initiatives that are not aligned with district goals or student learning needs and/or are ineffective in meeting those goals or needs. (ISSL 1d)
- Effectively and efficiently organizes and sustains resources, and implements processes and systems to support teaching, learning, and organizational effectiveness consistent with the district's vision and goals and student needs. (ISSL 1d)
- Ensures accountability for implementation with fidelity and consistency of processes and plans. (ISSL 2c)
- Ensures the evaluation of all programs and initiative for both efficiency and effectiveness. (ISSL 2c)
- Creates structures and partnerships for meaningful and respectful parent and community involvement in schools. (ISSL 4b)
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Ensures accountability for implementation with fidelity and consistency of standardized processes and procedures for family and community involvement. (ISSL 4b)
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Designs/Selects/Provides tools to guide processes (e.g., use of data, input opportunities, decision-making strategies, facilitation, negotiating, presentation, monitoring and evaluation strategies). (ISSL 6c)
Be sure to check out Iowa ASCD's web page especially for curriculum leaders. New resources are added often.
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Iowa ASCD Members and ASCD Emerging Leaders Matt and Eric Townsley Share 5th Podcast: Role of Homework in Standards-Based Grading
Be sure to take time to access the fifth Iowa ASCD Podcast on Standards-Based Grading created by Eric and Matt Townsley, both members of Iowa ASCD and selected as ASCD Emerging Leaders of 2014 - 2016. There will be a total of 12 podcasts over time, so be sure to follow these to increase your own understanding of SBG. Their fifth podcast features homework and standards-based grading.*****************************************************  Matt Townsley is Director of of Instruction and Technology in the Solon Community School District. You can follow him on Twitter @mctownsley. Eric Townsley is Principal at Prairie Creek in the College Community School District. You may follow him on Twitter @EricTownsley. Be sure to check out Iowa ASCD webpage on standards-based grading. |
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Leadership Tip: Do You Use RACI in Your System?
R.A.C.I. represents a process that each person assigned a major action or task should consider undertaking in the development and implementation of that action or task.
Responsibility: In the assignment of an action or task, it should be clearly understood who is responsible for seeing that action or task to completion. Authority: In the operational development of an action or task, it might be important to identify if someone in the hierarchy of authority needs to give approval. Here is the step where one check with the person in authority to acquire their awareness and possibly approval.
Consult: In the operational development of an action or task, it might be important to consult with others who might provide the information or expertise for that action or task to be carried out more effectively. One is not seeking the approval of the person, but seeking new perspectives or ideas that enrich the final action or task as developed and implemented.
Inform: In the operational development of an action or task, it might be important to keep individuals (particularly those to be impacted) informed. Again, one is not seeking the approval of those individuals, but is preparing people for an action or decision that will impact them.
All four of these steps are important. Oftentimes, when an action or  task is shot down, it can be traced back to the failure of one of these steps not undertaken. Some ideas never reach fruition because it was unclear as to who was responsible (Responsibility). Some ideas are developed but nixed by an authority figure that had a final decision on those ideas (Authority). Some ideas could have been better developed only if some others with the information or expertise has be contacted (Consult). Some ideas are never implemented because they are resisted by individuals who were not properly informed (Inform).
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30 Books Available to You 24/7 - Review of Teacher Evaluation That Makes a Difference
A special thank you to Iowa ASCD Member Sandy Merritt, who has reviewed one of the books available to you 24/7.
Teacher Evaluation That Makes a Difference: A New Model for Teacher Growth and Student Achievement by Robert J. Marzano and Michael D. Toth
Teacher Evaluation That Makes a Difference discusses a current topic, using state assessment data to evaluate teacher effectiveness. The book introduces a framework for teacher evaluation that focuses on not only teacher competence but also teacher development and student achievement:
- "Increasing teachers' active participation in the evaluation process.
- Increasing the validity and reliability of measures of student growth.
- Increasing the precision of observational scores of teachers in their classrooms.
- Incorporating teacher growth related to pedagogical skills into the evaluation process.
- Providing systematic support for teacher development that is intimately tied to the evaluation process.
- Evaluating district leaders, school leaders, and teachers on criteria and standards that make for an aligned system."
The current teacher evaluation process has been studied by various groups with the following results-"The National Bureau of Economic Research in 2001 reported that "Students assigned to... teachers  [with high value-added scores] are more likely to attend college, attend higher-ranked colleges, earn higher salaries, live in higher [socioeconomic status] neighborhoods, and save more for retirement. They are also less likely to have children as teenagers. Teachers have large impacts in all grades from 4 to 8. On average, a one standard deviation improvement in teacher [value-added scores] in a single grade raises earnings by about 1% at age 28."
In 2009, President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the $4.35 billion education initiative Race to the Top (RTT) for the purpose of reforming teacher evaluation. The program offered funding to districts willing to overhaul their evaluation systems. States had to agree to include student achievement gains in their evaluation systems and to implement performance-based standards for teachers and principals. The current changes being discussed and implemented in the area of teacher evaluation are directly related to RTT.
A 2012 report from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation entitled Gathering Feedback for Teaching summarized the failings of teacher evaluation systems. "The nation's collective failure to invest in high-quality professional feedback to teachers is inconsistent with decades of research reporting large disparities in student learning gains in different teachers' classrooms (even within the same schools). The quality of instruction matters. And our schools pay too little attention to it."
Darling-Hammond, Amrein-Beardsley, Haertel, and Rothstein (2012) discussed the assumptions of using value-added measurements (VAM) in evaluating teachers. The belief that student achievement data reflects the effectiveness of a teacher assumes that student learning can be measured by a given test and that these data are influenced by the teacher alone, independent from any other factors. None of this is supported in current research. The authors refute the use of VAM with the following criticisms: 1) "VAMs of teacher effectiveness are inconsistent. Research indicates that a teacher's VAM score can change rather dramatically from year to year;2) VAM scores differ significantly when different methods are used to compute them and when different tests are used; 3) Ratings based on VAMs can't disentangle the many influences on student progress."
In the report Gathering Feedback for Teaching (2012), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation indicates that "Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) have very little relationship with teacher observation scores and student growth. In effect, one would have to conclude that observation scores are inaccurate measures of teacher effectiveness. The MET study paints a very disturbing picture of the future of teacher classroom observations as an indicator of a teacher's competence."
The authors state they do believe that what teachers do in the classroom has an effect on student learning but should not be the sole measure of teacher effectiveness because with the current process there are not enough teacher observations done to provide valid data. In this book, they describe a system that fits within the current process and better evaluates teacher effectiveness. They recommend:
- Student growth should be measured in multiple ways and aggregated across these multiple measures (data more closely related to the day-to-day learning such as data from teaching units collected over the course of the year).
- Data regarding the classroom practices of teachers should come from multiple sources collected over multiple points in time.
- Teaching behaviors outside of the classroom should be considered in teacher evaluation (planning and reflection time).
- Teacher evaluation should provide an accurate representation of the distribution of abilities among teachers. There is a growing consensus that teacher evaluation in the United States is fundamentally broken. "Few would argue that a system that tells 98 percent of teachers they are 'satisfactory' benefits anyone-including teachers. A system that rates every teacher highly makes little sense and does little if anything to help struggling teachers get better." Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Districts and schools should use the teacher evaluation process to enhance teachers' pedagogical skill. An effective system should help teachers teach better.
- Evaluation systems for teachers, school leaders, and district leaders should be hierarchical. Most current discussions of educator evaluation focus on the teacher. However, teachers do not work in isolation; rather, their actions are embedded in those of school leaders, and the actions of school leaders are embedded in the actions of district leaders. This implies that school leaders should be evaluated on the extent to which their actions support teacher development, and district leaders should be evaluated on the extent to which their actions help schools improve.
A 2012 survey of over 10,000 teachers entitled "Primary Sources" conducted by Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, suggest the following as measures of teacher performance:
- Student growth over the course of the academic year (85 percent said this should be given either moderate or substantial weight)
- Assessment of a teacher's content knowledge (75 percent said this should be given either moderate or substantial weight)
- Student performance on class assignments (63 percent said this should be given either moderate or substantial weight)
- Student scores on standardized tests (36 percent said this should be given either moderate or substantial weight)
- Principal observation and review (82 percent said this should be given either moderate or substantial weight)
- Formal self-evaluation (70 percent said this should be given either moderate or substantial weight)
- Teacher/peer observation and review (64 percent said this should be given either moderate or substantial weight)
- Department chair/team leader observation and review (59 percent said this should be given either moderate or substantial weight)
- Student surveys (34 percent said this should be given either moderate or substantial weight)
- Parent surveys (32 percent said this should be given either moderate or substantial weight)"
The authors recommend using a variety of assessments including state assessments, end-of-course and benchmark assessments, common assessments, learning objectives, proficiency scales, and student surveys. Using a variety of assessments aligns with the purpose of evaluation-measurement and development. Marzano, 2012, identifies 3 characteristics of such a system:
1. A comprehensive and specific model - It includes three general categories of classroom strategies and behaviors: routines, content strategies, and strategies enacted on the spot.
2. A developmental scale that articulates the stages of skill development. This scale includes five levels: not using, beginning, developing, applying, and innovating.
3 Acknowledging and rewarding teacher growth - each year teachers identify specific elements on which to improve and then chart their progress throughout the year.
The biggest area in which there are problems is the teacher observation. The authors recognize that classrooms change throughout the day and over the course of the year. They understand that teachers may not use a specific strategy during a specific observation or that it isn't easily observed during a specific class/period, that different lessons require different strategies, and that a specific strategy may not be evident until the end of the lesson. For these reasons, tests of teachers' pedagogical knowledge and student surveys should be used in addition to classroom observations. They recommend a model of teacher evaluation that includes 4 domains - classroom strategies and behaviors, planning and preparing, reflecting on teaching, and collegiality and professionalism. Evidence should be gathered through observation and teacher artifacts and recorded in proficiency levels. At the end of the school year the teacher will have three types of scores: VAM scores based on student growth, performance scores from the 4 domains, and growth scores from domain 1. Scores can be combined using either a weighted average or cut scores.
When districts focus on teacher development, they must provide teacher support. Teachers should conduct a self-audit, set goals based on the audit, and track progress throughout the year with data and self-reflection. Instructional rounds are seen as a positive element in the process and should be done at least once a semester. Rounds consist of 3-5 teachers with a lead teacher. When the rounds are completed, there is time for reflection. Observers reflect on these questions: As a result of what I saw today, which aspects of my teaching do I feel were validated?As a result of what I saw today, what questions do I have about my own teaching?As a result of what I saw today, what new ideas do I have?
Teachers who require additional support can receive it through coaching. Atul Gawande (2011) states, "No matter how well trained people are, few can sustain their best performance on their own. That's where coaching comes in." Gawande further states that "coaching done well may be the most effective intervention designed for human performance."
The authors go further with the evaluation process, stating that both school and district leadership influence school achievement. They suggest an evaluation system in which district leader evaluations support the work of principals and principal evaluations support the work of teachers, which supports student achievement. In such a system all evaluations are aligned and rubrics used for evaluations have similar structures. With such a system in place there is a common goal, continuous improvement of teaching and learning. The authors present an evaluation model and implementation plan that includes planning, initial implementation, fidelity, efficacy, sustainability and a human capital continuum.
The process presented by the authors makes sense and provides a viable manner to evaluate teachers using a variety of sources and data points. With this process, student achievement data is used, but it is only one source.
************************************ All Iowa ASCD members have access to these books 24/7 in 2015 and 2016. If you have forgotten your password to these resources, please contact Lou Howell at LouHowell@mediacombb.net.
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Second Chance If You Missed the Webinar on How to Use the Iowa ASCD Collection of Books Available to You 24/7!
Iowa ASCD ebooks have been made available to you as a members of Iowa ASCD. These books, through the Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL), span a wide range of popular titles and new favorites that address the ongoing professional development needs of today  's educators. Upon completion of your review of the recorded webinar, you will be able to:
* recognize the general content available in your Iowa ASCD ebook collection
* navigate and construct search strategies for information retrieval
* use filtering tools to narrow search results
* manage documents found within the database
* create bookmarks as a way to manage and organize information found within the database
* create highlights, notes, and citations
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Decreasing Your Drop Out Rate Through a Comprehensive Learning Program
In 2013, 4,167 Iowa high school students dropped out. The state cost ("one-time") to educate these young men and women to high school completion is $56.11 million. The potential net increase in state treasury over 45-year lifetime of work of current dropouts associated with educating them to the status of graduates is $105.02 million or about $2.3 million per year. ("The Costs of Dropping Out of School in Iowa: 2014 Update" presentation, James R. Veale, Ph.D.)
Iowa NET High Academy partners with Iowa high schools to help students who have found the traditional route to a high school diploma unfeasible. Our program is offered within the continuum of services provided by your district's comprehensive high school to serve students at risk of or who have dropped out of high school.
 Dr. Cynthia Knight, Director of NET High Academy, shares, "We are a local option to increase the graduation rate in your district. We provide the curriculum and highly qualified Iowa teachers for a blended learning environment that directly addresses the needs of your students who just won't come to school. Our competency-based program is highly differentiated and connects the passions and interests of each student to the Common Core and 21st Century Skills."
If you have students who struggle to find success in a traditional high school setting, NET High Academy is there for you and for them. Students receive timely, differentiated support tailored to their individual learning needs. Learning outcomes include the application and creation of knowledge, along with the development of important skills and dispositions. In addition, we make our coursework flexible for students who have demanding work schedules and/or family responsibilities and regularly schedule teacher/student interactions including individualized assistance for students who need additional help.
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Personalized Learning: Structures and Policies
James Rickabaugh has been a featured speaker the past three years at the Iowa Summer Institute, helping all of us better understand competency-based learning and the role of personalized learning in our learners' success. The "learner" could be students in your classrooms or the adults in their own professional learning.
In September we shared the core of his "honeycomb," emphasizing the importance of "the core," which includes learner profiles, customized learning paths, and proficiency-based progress. We also looked at in October "the cells" of learning and teaching in the personalized learning environment - personal learning goals, learner voice infused, learner choice incorporated, multiple instructional methods/modes, cultural responsiveness, rapid cycle feedback, customized responsive instruction, assessment of learning  , assessment for learning, and assessment as learning, as well as progressions toward deeper learning, and standards-guided learning. In our last issue, we explored the "cells" of relationships and roles: learner independence, learner as resource, community engagement, co-designers of learning, educator collaboration, family engagement, and shared commitment to success. This month we look at the outer cells of the honey comb: the structures and policies needed to assure a legacy of personalized learning practices:
- Recognition of Anytime/Anywhere Learning: Do you recognize standards-based proficiency of your students no matter where or when the learning occurs - or is "the credit" still confined to learning that is associated with formal instruction?
- Learning Aligned Technology: Is your technology used as a tool to modify or redesign learning tasks? How does your technology enhance, deepen or accelerate understanding and mastery of content?
- Learner-Centered Staffing: How flexible is your staffing in responding to the needs of individual learners or groups of various sizes.
- Flexible Learning Spaces: How have you assured comfortable physical spaces that are conducive to collaborative learning, responsive to the needs of learners, and support individual, small-group, and large-group instruction?
- Flexible Time and Pace: In what ways do you assure that your learners have the flexibility to progress at their own pace and to adjust time allocations based on their learning objectives. Is learning the constant and time the variable in your district?
- Integrated Data Management System: Have you implemented a sophisticated data management system that is real time? integrated? easily accessible by learners, educators, and parents? Does your system include progress data? Does it suggest next steps along a learner's path?
- Learning Aligned Grouping Options: How are your learners grouped - flexibly, based on readiness, needs, and interests?
Be sure to revisit the resources Rickabaugh has shared with all of us at the Summer Institute (2015).
Need help in better understanding personalized learning vs individualized learning vs differentiated learning? Check out these resources: |
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Webinars for Your Learning
Iowa ASCD seeks to keep you informed about webinars for your learning and the learning of those with whom you work. Check out the following; many of these support the work in your collaborative time and definitely help with implementation of The Core!
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- Presenters: Donalyn Miller and Anne E. Cunningham
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Providers: ASCD and Scholastic
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Date: November 9 at 6:00 P.M. CT
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- Title: Introduction to Competency-Based Systems
- Presenter: Robert Marzano and Michelle Finn
- Provider: Marzano Research Center
- Date: November 13, 2015 at 2:00 P.M. CT
- Register Here
- Title: Teaching Students to Reflect on Personal Learning
- Presenter: Starr Sackstein
- Provider: ASCD
- Date: November 19 at 2:00 P.M. CT
- Register Here
- Presenters: Donalyn Miller and Kwame Alexander:
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Providers: ASCD and Scholastic
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Date: November 30 at 6:00 P.M. CT
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Check It Out!
Check out the following:
- Save the date, January 13, for Literacy Intervention Conference in Des Moines. The focus will be sharing research-based interventions that help achieve ou
 r goals of all learners becoming successful readers by the end of third grade. The event will feature a keynote by Amanda VanDerHeyden, a national expert who will be talking to district teams about Return on Investment in Education. Sign up now!
- If you couldn't attend the Iowa Science Standards Kick Off, we're bringing it to you - in the form of videos. Presentations are available for most of the videos by clicking on the "Download Attachments" button at the bottom of the description for each video.
- Meet the five Iowa teachers who have been named finalists in the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) - 2015. The Iowa finalists' applications have been submitted to the national selection committee. Two award-winners may be selected to represent Iowa. Award-winners receive $10,000 and a trip to Washington, D.C., where they will participate in recognition events and professional development programs. The nominations for 2016 focus on K-6 teachers. The 2016 Awards will honor mathematics and science (including computer science) teachers working in grades K-6. Nominations close on April 1, 2016. Go here to nominate a K-6 teacher of math and/or science, including computer science for 2016 recognition.
- Remember to renew your membership for 2015 - 2016. Beginning January 1, 2015, all Iowa ASCD members have had access to 30 on-line books 24/7 for the entire year and next year, too!
- Consider an institutional membership for your building, district, or AEA. The fee is $25 per person when you enroll at least 20 people at one time. Great benefits! Contact Lou Howell for more information.
- Are you a student in a graduate program? If so, you may get a membership for three years for $45. Contact Lou Howell for more information.
- Are you a student in a pre-service program? If so, you may get a one-year membership for $15. Contact Lou Howell for more information.
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 Stay current with learning! Follow Iowa ASCD on Twitter! We would like to follow you on Twitter as well. If you are willing to share your "Twitter Handle" with us, please leave your information on this site. |
 Iowa ASCD is the source for developing instructional leadership and translating research into daily practice. Serving more than 1500 educators - teachers, principals, superintendents, directors of curriculum, technology specialists, college professors, AEA staff - Iowa ASCD strives to develop the collaborative capacity to impact the learning of each and every student in Iowa. |
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featured on the ASCD web site. It's all about 