Iowa Area Education Agencies

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Iowa Area Education Agencies
State AEA Accreditation Reporting ESA
Employee Standards
Impacting Lives, Building Futures Joe Crozier,
Chief Administrator Area Education Agencies 15
and 16 Bonnie Boothroy, Associate Director Area
Education Agency 10
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Iowa AEA History

• In 1974, the Iowa Legislature created 15 Area
  Education Agencies to provide programs and
  services for local school districts to ensure all
  Iowa children have equal educational
  opportunities.
• Voluntary mergers reduced this number to 12 in
  2003.

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What Are The Standards for Service?

• AEAs are required to provide services in nine
  areas. The code provides descriptors that
  indicate what must be provided, but AEAs are not
  limited to these descriptors.
• School-Community Planning
• Professional Development
• Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
• Multicultural Gender-fair

• Diverse Learning
• Instructional Media Services
• School Technology
• Leadership
• Management Services

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What are the major components of AEA
accreditation?

• Chapter 72 of the Iowa Code states that to be
  accredited by the State Board of Education and
  maintain accreditation status, an area education
  agency shall
• provide services that meet the standards
• establish a comprehensive improvement plan
• submit a board approved annual budget
• annually provide a progress report

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What information are Iowa AEAs required to report
annually to their schools and the state?

• AEAs must report progress on agency wide goals
  including baseline data and change in data.
• Additionally they report on indicators of
  quality
• baseline data and trends on state indicators
• statewide customer service survey
• comprehensive school improvement plans
• school annual progress reports.

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One Iowa AEA, Southern Prairie Area Education
Agency 15, has aligned its CIP Framework with
Local Schools Plans

• Four Constant Conversation Questions
• 1 What does the data tell us about our
• schools student learning needs?
• 2 What will we do to meet our
• schools student learning needs?
• 3 How will we know that our
• schools student learning has
• changed?
• 4 How will we evaluate our programs
• and services to ensure improved
• student learning?

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What information are Iowa AEAs required to report
annually to their schools and the state?

• AEAs also report on the targeted assistance they
  provide to districts, their assistance to schools
  in improving student learning and teaching, and
  their assistance with resource
  management.
• To access AEA 15s annual progress report, please
  visit
• http//www.aea15.k12.ia.us/apr.php

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AEA 15s CIP Questions 1 and 4

• Question 1 What does the data tell us about our
  schools (and our agency) student learning needs?
• What data do we collect?
• How do we collect data to determine schools (and
  our agencys) prioritized needs?
• From the data analysis, what are the needs?
• How will we develop goals actions?

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AEA 15Comprehensive Improvement Plan

• To view this area education agencys entire
  improvement plan and find many examples of data
  collection presentation, please visit
• http//www.aea15.k12.ia.us/cip02-04.php

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Why is evaluation (both formative summative
data) of AEA services so important?

• To determine the effectiveness for
  customers/participants.
• To document meeting goals and objectives.
• To provide information about service delivery
  that will be useful to staff and other audiences.
• To enable staff to make changes that improve
  effectiveness.

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How do Iowa AEAs measure the success of their
services?

• 281IAC 72.9(1)(e)(6) requires each Iowa AEA to
  have a system for measuring the efficiency and
  effectiveness of services.
• However, each AEA determines its own system.

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Simply Put, We Need to Ask . . .

• Questions which do not always have simple
  answers

What did we expect?
What did we get?
Why did we get it?
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Around what three assumptions is program/service
evaluation for AEA 15 designed?

• Not everything that counts can be counted, and
  not everything that can be counted, counts.
• Evaluation is more than just a collection of
  facts. It is also making sense of those facts.

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Around what three assumptions is program/service
evaluation for AEA 15 designed?

• 3. Improvement efforts must focus on building
  and mobilizing the capacity of school and agency
  staff to do the right work right, rather than on
  monitoring, compliance, and regulatory issues.

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How will AEA 15 evaluate its programs and
services to ensure improved student learning in
its schools?

• Through summative and formative long-term targets
  and performance indicators.
• Some targets align with state reporting data
  requirements.
• Some targets are agency- determined.

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How will AEA 15 evaluate its programs and
services to ensure improved student learning in
its schools?

• Targets and performance indicators focus on
  customer outputs, not agency inputs.

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Iowa Examples of Services Evaluation

• The following slides contain a few examples of
  long-term targets and performance indicators from
  Southern Prairie Area Education Agency 15.
• The agency is in the process of creating a
  comprehensive data system to track results
  long-term for its services.

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Examples of Agency-Determined Long-Term Targets
and Performance Indicators

• AEA 15Summative Long-Term Target
• 100 of participants in Learning Supports (i.e.,
  Teen Screen, Positive Behavioral Supports, and
  Bullying) that decrease dropout rates and
  increase attendance at higher levels compared
  with those buildings not participating in
  Learning Supports.

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Examples of Agency-Determined Long-Term Targets
and Performance Indicators

• AEA 15-Summative Performance Indicator
• and of participants in Learning Supports
  (i.e., Teen Screen, Positive Behavioral Supports,
  and Bullying) that decrease dropout rates and
  increase attendance at higher levels compared
  with those buildings not participating in
  Learning Supports.

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Examples of Agency-Determined Long-Term Targets
and Performance Indicators

• AEA 15Formative Long-Term Target
• 100 of buildings participating in Learning
  Supports (i.e., Teen Screen, Positive Behavioral
  Supports, and Bullying) will be high implementers.

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Examples of Agency-Determined Long-Term Targets
and Performance Indicators

• AEA 15Formative Performance Indicator
• and of buildings participating in Learning
  Supports (i.e., Teen Screen, Positive Behavioral
  Supports, and Bullying) disaggregated by the
  following a) high implementers, b) moderate
  implementers, and c) low implementers.

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AEA 15Summative Performance Questions
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AEA 15Formative Performance Questions
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Leadership

• What are your agency leadership responsibilities
  for collecting, analyzing, and displaying data to
  improve your organization and your services to
  your schools?

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Grant Wood Area Education Agency(AEA 10)Cedar
Rapids, Iowa

• Improved Accountability Through Employee
  Performance Standards
• Dr. Bonnie Boothroy
• Associate Administrator

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One Agencys Journey
Partnering for Improvement
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Iowa Context

• AEA Accreditation Standards
• LEA Accreditation Standards
• Teaching Standards

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Grant Wood AEA Context

• Employees cited need for clear expectations
• Standardization of processes was needed for
  continuous improvement and customer service
• Leadership committed to accountability

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2001-2003Focus Management Staff

• Developed performance standards for 30 management
  employees
• Developed management evaluation process
  reflecting standards
• Piloted evaluation system
• Evaluated and refined standards and evaluation
  system

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2003-2004 Focus Professional Staff (Development)

• Developed standards for 320 professional
  employees in 25 job categories
• Revised job descriptions to reflect standards
• Developed evaluation system to reflect standards
• Informed professional and management employees
• Iterative development process
• Orientation and education
• Created infrastructure for implementation

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2004-2005Focus Professional Staff
(Implementation)

• Summer training and on-going dialogue for
  management staff
• Orientation and on-going education for
  professional staff
• Implementation of evaluation system based on
  performance standards
• Evaluation/revision of system

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Employee Performance StandardsAEA 10

• Are aligned with state context
• Reflect behavioral expectations
• Serve as basis for evaluation decisions

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Professional Staff Performance Standards

• Supports the implementation of AEA and LEA goals
  to enhance student learning. (Awareness and
  Support of AEA and LEA Goals)
• Demonstrates competence in skills and knowledge
  appropriate to the AEA professionals roles and
  responsibilities. (Discipline and Professional
  Knowledge)
• Demonstrates competence in planning and preparing
  for professional services. (Planning and
  Organization)
• Provides services that meet the multiple needs of
  students/clients. (Aligning Services with
  Multiple Needs)

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Professional Staff Performance Standards

• Uses a variety of methods to monitor
  student/client learning and the effectiveness of
  services. (Data Collection and Monitoring)
• Demonstrates competence in interpersonal
  relationships and promotes positive learning
  environments. (Interpersonal Skills)
• Engages in professional growth. (Ongoing
  Professional Growth)
• Fulfills professional responsibilities.
  (Professional Conduct)

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Management Performance StandardsAn AEA manager
is an educational leader who promotes the
success of all students by

• facilitating the development, articulation,
  implementation and stewardship of a vision of
  learning that is shared and supported by the
  agency's stakeholders. (Visionary Leadership)
• advocating, nurturing and sustaining a school
  culture and instructional program conducive to
  student learning and staff professional
  development. (Instructional Leadership)
• ensuring management of the organization,
  operations and resources for a safe, efficient
  and effective working environment.
  (Organizational Leadership)

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Management Performance StandardsAn AEA manager
is an educational leader who promotes the
success of all students by

• collaborating with families and community
  members, responding to diverse community
  interests and needs and mobilizing community
  resources. (Collaborative Leadership)
• acting with integrity, fairness and in an ethical
  manner. (Ethical Leadership)
• understanding, responding to and influencing the
  larger political, social, economic, legal and
  cultural context. (Political Leadership)

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AEA 10Evaluation System Features

• Broad participation
• Staff and management involved in development
• Differentiated approach
• Induction, Development and Assistance Cycles
• Collaborative process
• Supervisor/employee planning and reflection
  professional development emphasis assessment by
  self and others
• Evaluator training
• Purpose integrity of implementation
• standardization of process

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For More InformationGrant Wood AEA 10

• www.aea10.k12.ia.us
• Staff Info
• Information
• Standards Committee
• Documents

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AEA 10Preliminary Outcomes

• Data sources document review employee
  interviews, focus groups and surveys
• Performance expectations are clarified
• Personal reflection is encouraged
• Employee/supervisor collaboration is increased
  and relationships strengthened
• Performance problems are addressed more quickly
  and effectively
• Improvement is needed in supervisor consistency

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AEA 10Success Elements

• Employee leadership and involvement
• Association (union) involvement/sanction
• Board expectations/sanction
• Use of best practice and data vs. opinions
• Administrative support
• Clear expectations
• On-going involvement
• Respect for process
• Resource allocation
• On-going systematic communication
• Management modeled the way for
• professional staff

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