Plan to address school leadership structure change

Classes may have dismissed for the summer, but some Iowa school officials still find themselves working to develop and approve new leadership structures for their districts. As requested by the Department of Education, the move marks one of the first requirements for the eventual statewide implementation of the Iowa Core Curriculum.

The Iowa Core Curriculum is a set of essential concepts and skills in literacy, math, science, social studies and 21st century learning skills -- civic literacy, financial literacy, technology literacy, health literacy and employability skills -- that all students must know by the time they graduate from high school. When state officials refer to "core curriculum" now, they're meaning the content being taught to students, the instructional strategies teachers are using to relay it, and the assessment of all the required components embedded throughout. Each of these must be documented in the Iowa Core Curriculum.

Iowa school districts, meanwhile, have worked this past school year to build their leadership capacities.

While the Department of Education is encouraging districtwide core curriculum implementation plans be developed and approved by July 1, plans on implementing it are due for Iowa high schools by July 1, 2010. Kindergarten-through-eighth grade plans are not due until July 1, 2012.

Full implementation of the Iowa Core Curriculum is scheduled to occur by July 1, 2012, at the high school level. Kindergarten-through-eighth grade implementation is to happen by the 2014-15 school year.

As part of the district's building of its leadership capacity, Spencer district leadership team members have designed a new leadership structure set to appear before school board members for their approval later this month. According to Kathy Elliott, the district's former assistant superintendent who recently accepted a superintendent position at Panorama Community School District, the new leadership structure reflects how Spencer has operated for quite some time.

As it's currently fashioned, the new structure being proposed would require shared leadership across the district's representatives.

A kindergarten-through-sixth grade and a middle school-through-high school professional development team will answer to Spencer's district leadership team, which is set to include two to three teachers per building, a principal, two district administrators and an AEA representative. In turn, this team will answer to the district's School Improvement Advisory Committee, which reports to the board of education.

As the new school improvement leadership structure is designed, Spencer's administrative team will serve as a conduit between all of these leadership groups, a newly-formed teacher council and core curriculum teams.

The purpose behind the teacher council, which will include representatives from the K-2, 3-6, 7-8 and 9-12 grades, will be to address culture and climate issues in the district's buildings. The core curriculum teams, as proposed, will be teachers within the district's buildings who would address Iowa Core Curriculum implementation issues at the K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12 grade span and district levels.