Times have changed

2. Times have changed • Iowa has slipped from number 1 or 2 in the nation. • Worse… when we compare achievement of students with IEPs to those without, Iowa ranks dead last. (Rising to Greatness, Iowa Department of Education, 2011)

3. Today, student achievementis our business • Measuring our collective efforts is vitally important.

4. An Expanded Mission • Huge socioeconomic, political and educational tidal waves are underway which will impact all levels of government including: • Support for competition and choice in how public services are developed, produced and delivered. • An insistence on more rigorous accountability and transparency. • The greater use of appropriate performance and quality management systems.

5. An Expanded Mission • Iowa’s AEA State System has recently been faced with increasing challenges related to categorical funding. • Iowa’s changing demographics have increased demand for AEA services. • Stagnant state and federal student performance indicators along with societal pressures for reform demand a more cohesive, focused AEA system.

6. One Overarching Goal By 2018 every child who graduates from an Iowa pre-k 12 public or non-public, accredited school will be prepared for success in post-secondary studies, a career, and citizenship.

7. Four Vital Measures • Every Iowa child will be proficient in reading by the end of third grade. • A numeracy goal will be determined after sufficient progress has been made in reaching the literacy goal identified above.

8. Four Vital Measures • The learning gaps between students with IEPs and those without and for those students in disaggregated sub-groups will be reduced by half by 2018. • A post-secondary readiness goal will be established by 2014 that most accurately identifies and tracks post-secondary success.

9. Connection to DE Goals • New Report – Overcoming the Achievement Divide – mid-November 2012 • Identified problem – significant and increasing achievement gaps for students who face additional challenges • Solution – Iowa’s Response to Intervention

10. System Commitments We will… • Provide supports and accountability for implementation of evidence-based, internationally benchmarked, scalable best practices in Iowa schools. • Advocate that the current AEA accreditation standards be revised so that they are consistent with the New Compact.

11. System Commitments We will… • Deliver specialized, quality services based on individual student, building, and district needs through a learning contract with each LEA. • Re-purpose resources from programs that are not aligned with our overarching goal and vital few measures and/or not delivering consistent student learning results.

12. System Commitments We will… • Build the collective, organizational capacity of AEA personnel to deliver quality services as co-owners of every student’s learning and to decrease variability between AEAs. • Maximize our resources. • Advocate for efforts and remove policy, structural and statutory barriers that stand in the way of using resources in service to student learning.

13. System Commitments We will… • Constantly and consistently use formative and summative data to inform our progress towards our goal. • Meet all statutory requirements at both the state and federal levels. • Benchmark our progress against a common dashboard and against standards identified in the research about highly reliable organizations.

14. Selection Criteria Commitments must… • Articulate ways the AEA State System continues its charter responsibility to serve the needs of special education populations. • Focus on the requirement that the AEA State System’s services and programs consistently raise student achievement.

15. Selection Criteria Commitments must… • Acknowledge the need for the AEA State System’s to strengthen its collective organizational capacity as well as the capacity of each individual AEA. • Help districts and the state provide for ways to find efficiencies in non-instructional services in order to maximize resources for instructional goals.

16. Selection Criteria Commitments must… • Emphasize the goal of holding the AEA State System accountable to co-ownership of student learning goals with its principal stakeholders: LEAs, non-public accredited schools, and the Department of Education. • Be administratively, economically, legally, and politically responsible.

17. Selection Criteria Commitments must… • Maintain the ability of the AEA to be responsive to the needs and interests of local districts and accredited non-public schools in their catchment area. • Represent the best to which human behavior should aspire.

18. Accountability Measures During the 2012-13 school year, the AEA system, in collaboration with the DE, will install a performance management system that will define the goals, tactics, timelines, metrics and a tracking mechanism that will provide timely reporting to stakeholders.

19. Possible Data Sets • Healthy Indicators Matrix • Iowa Assessments (third grade literacy rates) • USDE’s calculation formula for graduate rates • Reports detailing the percentage of students requiring post-secondary remediation

20. A New Compact “The test of the morality of society is what it does for its children.” --Dietrich Bonhoeffer