MINUTES OF MEETING
State Board of Education
March 17-18, 2005
The March meeting of the
Board of Education was held in the State Board Conference Room, Grimes State
Office Building, Des Moines. The
following Board members were present: Gene
Vincent, Sally Frudden, Charles Edwards, Sister Jude Fitzpatrick, Rosie Hussey
(telephonically), Wayne Kobberdahl, Greg McClain, Mary Jean Montgomery and
Megan Srinivas. Also present were
Director Judy Jeffrey and Department staff members, Gail Sullivan, Lee Tack,
Carol Greta, Kathi Slaughter, Jeff Berger, Jan Friedel, Jim Reese, Beverly
Bunker, Chris Evans, Pam Pfitzenmaier, Bill Silag, Judith Spitzli, Cynthia
Knight, John Hartwig, Marlene Dorenkamp and Beverlee Adams. Also present were Robert Vittengl, AEA 1;
Greg Nichols, Maryellen Becker, and Diana Gonzalez, Board of Regents; Lola
Lopes, University of Iowa; Philip Patton, University of Northern Iowa; Kathy
Jones and Lee Furbeck, Iowa State University; Faye Johnson, Des Moines Area
Community College; and Madelaine Jerousek, The Des Moines Register.
JOINT MEETING WITH THE IOWA ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE TRUSTEES
The State Board met jointly
with representatives of the Iowa Association of Community College Trustees on
the topic of On-line Consortium. The
Iowa Community College On-Line Consortium (ICCOC) was formed in 2002. The North Central Association granted
approval for consortium members to provide all coursework for an associate
degree on-line. Articulation agreements
have been finalized with several four-year colleges that allow community
college students who have completed programs delivered through the ICCOC to
earn their bachelor degree on-line.
A panel presentation was
given by Steve Rheinschmidt, Iowa Community College On-Line Consortium (ICCOC),
Coordinator of Distance Learning Services, Southeastern Community College;
Gretchen Bartelson, Lead Faculty Trainer, ICCOC, Director, Distance Education
and Instructional Technology, Northwest Iowa Community College; Terry Gaalswyk,
On-Line Instructor, ICCOC, Math Instructor, Western Iowa Tech Community
College; Theresa Ziegler, Web Administrator, ICCOC, Director, Distance
Education and Global Education, Iowa Lakes Community College and Jan Friedel,
Moderator, Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation. The panel provided an overview of the
On-Line Consortium, how it worked, and how it would benefit students to obtain
their bachelor degree on-line.
President Gene Vincent
called the business meeting to order at 1:45 p.m.
It was moved by Sally
Frudden and seconded by Mary Jean Montgomery to approve the agenda as written.
There was no public comment.
The minutes of the January
20, 2005 State Board of Education meeting were approved.
Chapter 1, “Organization and
Operation” rules were approved for Notice of Intended Action as presented.
Chapter 11, “Unsafe School
Choice Option” rules were approved for Notice of Intended Action as presented.
St. Francis of Assisi
Elementary School was approved for accreditation of grades K-6.
Carol Greta, the
Department’s administrative law judge, presented an overview of the proposed
appeal decision In re Board Policy.
Duane and Mary Dornath, Appellants, v. Fort Dodge Community School
District, 23 D.o.E. App. Dec. 90.
Greta indicated that the Appellants seek reversal of a decision of the
local Board of Directors of the District made on November 22, 2004, to approve
the District’s existing guest policy for high school dances. Greta said the policy requires guests to be
current students in good standing at any high school or students who graduated
within the past two years from Fort Dodge High School. Ms. Greta recommended approval of the
proposed decision as written.
Motion:
It was moved by Sister Jude Fitzpatrick and seconded by Sally Frudden to
approve the proposed decision In re Board Policy as written.
Vote: The motion carried with one dissenting vote
of Greg McClain.
Lee Tack, Administrator,
Division of Financial and Information Services gave a presentation about the
FY05-06 AEA annual budgets. He
indicated the Board may only approve budgets submitted by AEAs accredited by
the Board or that had been given conditional accreditation by the Board. All
AEAs were accredited for the 2005-2006 fiscal year. Dr. Tack recognized Marlene Dorenkamp, Consultant, Division of
Financial and Information Services for her role in the budget approval
process. Tack introduced Robert
Vittengl, Administrator, AEA 1.
Administrator Vittengl gave
a power point presentation reviewing the services provided to students,
educators, families and schools by Area Education Agency 1. He also discussed the costs for these
services.
Motion: It was moved by Sally Frudden and seconded by Wayne
Kobberdahl to approve the AEA budgets for fiscal year 2005-2006.
Vote: The motion
carried unanimously.
Lee Tack, Administrator,
Division of Financial and Information Services reported that the School Budget
Review Committee (SBRC) was required to report to the State Board the names of
districts with Negative Unspent Balances for the previous fiscal year and the
amounts by which these districts exceeded their budget authority. He indicated the districts are required to
prepare corrective action plans and present them to the SBRC. The SBRC also reports this information to
each board member of the districts. He
reported that four schools had exceeded their authorized budgets for the
2003-04 school year.
Judy Jeffrey, Director gave
a brief overview of this agenda item and introduced Maryellen Becker of the
Board of Regents for brief comments about the coordination of transition
efforts between community college students and regents institutions.
Janice Friedel,
Administrator, Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation stated
that Iowa had had a long history of voluntary articulation efforts between
public institutions of higher education.
Soon after the creation of Iowa’s community colleges in the early 1960’s
discussion of transfer issues began with the Regents universities. She felt that one of the most successful
committees to emerge out of these early meetings was LACTS, the Liaison
Advisory Committee on Transfer Students.
The LACTS Committee exists to help make the student transition among
Iowa public institutions of higher education as smooth and seamless as
possible.
The following presenters
provided information about the success of community college students that
transfer to the three Regents universities and the three principal committees
established for resolution of transfer issues:
Diana Gonzalez, Ph.D.
Assistant Director of Academic Affairs
Iowa State Board of Regents
Lee Furbeck, Ph.D.,
Associate Director of Admissions
Iowa State University
Faye Johnson, Director,
Student Development
Des Moines Area Community
College
Kathy Jones, Assistant Vice
President for Enrollment and
University Registrar
Iowa State University
Lola Lopes, Ph.D., Associate
Provost for Undergraduate Education
University of Iowa
Philip Patton, University
Registrar
University of Northern Iowa
These presenters also
highlighted a few of the specific activities implemented at each of the
institutions to ease the transition of community college students to the
university.
State Board of Education
members felt that the assistance given to students for a smooth transition was
extremely valuable in making a successful change to the university setting and
were appreciative of the information provided.
Update on Statewide Efforts to Improve Mathematics Achievement, K-12
Director Judy Jeffrey
introduced the following staff members presenting this agenda item: Jim Reese,
Chief, Judith Spitzli, Consultant and Cynthia Knight, Consultant, Division of
Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education; Bureau of Instructional
Services.
Mr. Reese noted this update
would provide information on statewide efforts to improve mathematics
achievement, K-12. He indicated that
initial efforts had been expanded from a single focus on middle schools to
include strategies for elementary and high schools. In developing statewide capacity in mathematics, K-12 school
districts would have access to quality professional development and technical
assistance in mathematics to help them meet their student achievement
goals. In improving achievement of K-12
students in mathematics it was important to build a learning community engaged
in the study of mathematics, mathematics instruction and student achievement in
mathematics through effective implementation of Iowa’s Professional Development
Model.
Cynthia Knight reviewed the
four primary sources of data used: 1) TIMMS, 2) NAEP, 3) ITBS/ITED, and 4)
State Survey for Math Initiative.
Judith Spitzli discussed the
research guiding the work for improving student achievement in
mathematics. She reviewed information
in the following areas:
· Meaningful Distributed Practice of Concepts, Skills, and Problem Solving
Spitzli indicated that Every Student Counts incorporates the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics content and process standards. She stated that Every Student Counts emphasizes teaching for understanding, problem-based instructional tasks, and meaningful distributed practice. In conclusion, Spitzli reviewed ways in which Every Student Counts was supported.
Iowa’s Adult Literacy Program Benchmark Report for Program Year 2004
John Hartwig, Educational
Program Consultant, Bureau of Community Colleges and Career and Technical
Education reviewed the 2004 Adult Literacy Benchmark Report. He commented the goals of the Adult
Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) 1) assist adults to become literate
and obtain the knowledge and skills necessary for employment and
self-sufficiency (Workplace Literacy); 2) assist adults who are parents obtain
the educational skills necessary to become full partners in the educational
development of their children (Family Literacy); and 3) assist adults in the
completion of a secondary school education.
Hartwig also indicated one
of the major intents of AEFLA was to establish performance measures and
benchmarks to demonstrate increased accountability. The 1998 reauthorization of AEFLA made accountability for results
a central focus of the new law, setting out performance accountability requirements
for states and local programs that measure program effectiveness on the basis
of student academic achievement and competency based outcomes.
Dr. Hartwig outlined
benchmark accomplishments achieved in the State of Iowa. He said the benchmark data could serve as
the basis for local and state program improvement for program year 2005. He announced that Iowa adults that took the
GED (General Educational Development) battery of tests during 2004 had a record
high pass rate of 98 percent. The
national average pass rate is about 70 percent. Hartwig said the benchmarks clearly demonstrate that Iowa’s Adult
Literacy Program makes a difference in the lives of those served.
Board members congratulated
Dr. Hartwig on the many successes of his work with the program.
Sally Frudden stated that while she was visiting in Florida the
state legislature had passed a universal preschool bill. She also indicated that Charles City would
be voting on an instructional levy in April.
The declining enrollment in the Charles City area was the topic of many
community discussions.
Wayne Kobberdahl reported he had attended a Community Conversation
meeting in Whiting. He felt the process
was positive in assisting districts to share ideas.
Mary Jean Montgomery indicated that declining enrollment was a statewide
concern. She said the Spencer
instructional levy had failed.
Montgomery felt that the importance of economic development and the
vitality of communities was a key factor in growing communities and schools.
Montgomery stated she had
attended the IPTV meeting. Topics
discussed were datacasting, budget dollars to complete conversion to meet
federal guidelines and a controversial show that had been aired. She also asked the Board to read the
response from Dan Miller, Administrator for IPTV, regarding importance of
maintaining public television.
Mary Jean Montgomery said
she had been a speaker at the SAI Women’s Annual Meeting. She was impressed with the turnout and
encouraged with the number of young women interested in school administration.
Mary Jean Montgomery
reported that she, Megan Srinivas, and Gene Vincent had selected three student
member applications to be sent to the Governor for final selection of the new
student State Board member. A time
would be chosen to recognize Megan Srinivas for her contributions and time
served on the Board.
On March 7 Montgomery
indicated she had attended a Community Conversation meeting at Sioux
Center. She felt it was a good
conversation and positive exchange of information.
Ms. Montgomery said she had
not been able to attend the SAELP (State Action for Education Leadership
Project) meeting, but planned to be in attendance for the April meeting.
Sister Jude Fitzpatrick stated she had attended several Iowa Braille and
Sight Saving Task Force meetings. The
preliminary recommendations would be released on March 29, 2005 for public
comment. Fitzpatrick said there was one
recommendation that may potentially affect the State Board with some type of
agreement to place all of the service providers for the visually impaired under
one agency for better coordination of the services. Another part of the discussion was taking advantage of the
program offered at University of Northern Iowa and for a multi-disabled student
using the program at the University of Iowa.
This would allow for more partnering with Regents institutions. Fitzpatrick also indicated there was a discussion
about changing the calendar to better take advantage of resources in public
schools. She said that an interim
director for the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School would be appointed as a
result of the director’s retirement.
Sister Fitzpatrick indicated
she had also spent a day with the Chancellor of Eastern Iowa Community College
and saw some of their programs.
Fitzpatrick attended the
Career and Technical Recognition Awards Ceremony. She related it was a wonderful experience of personal stories in
what a difference these programs make in people’s lives beyond employment.
Rosie Hussey had attended two superintendent’s meetings--one at
NIACC and one at the AEA. She felt this
time was valuable in visiting with superintendents and building a relationship
with them and listening to their issues.
Hussey had attended the
Council on Post High School Coordinating Council meeting. There was a report from the bylaw committee
and recommendation regarding a change in Council reducing the membership number
to half. She had contacted Bob Paxton,
Administrator, Iowa Central Community College and invited to him to attend a Community College Council meeting to
explain the rationale for lowering the number of members. She recommended the State Board discuss this
topic at the April meeting for feedback to the Coordinating Council.
Ms. Hussey reported that a
Colorado consulting firm had given an unbiased report on the profile of Iowa
and where we are today in the need for change and public policy. She reported that the report can be found on
the Department of Education website – community college section. The Coordinating Council discussed taking it
forward to get information out in the state and take it to Iowans for a Better
Future for a program or conference and she felt that the Department of
Education should be a partner in this proposed conference.
Charlie Edwards – No report
Megan Srinivas reported she had been a speaker at the Hoover
Wallace Dinner that had been held to raise money for the World Food Prize, the
Youth Institute as well as the Internship Program. The result was very encouraging raising $28,000. Also honored were former Governor Robert D.
Ray and Walter Mondel (sp). She
indicated former Director Stilwill was also in attendance.
Srinivas felt there were
great finalists for the new student board member. She indicated this would be her last meeting and she appreciated
the opportunity for being able to serve in this capacity and thanked Board
members and staff for their assistance.
Greg McClain stated he had attended the I-JAG meeting induction
ceremony in Waterloo. He stated he
would like to invite Laurie Phelan to present to this Board on the I-JAG
program. McClain had attended the
Waterloo School District Athletic Eligibility Subcommittee meeting and proposed
changes were being discussed for the school district.
McClain discussed
information he had reviewed on math graduation requirements for teacher
preparation programs in elementary and secondary education curriculum.
Gene Vincent thanked Megan Srinivas and Mary Jean Montgomery for
their work on the student selection committee in choosing three applications to
be submitted to the Governor’s Office for the new student State Board
member. Vincent thanked Megan for the
pride she had brought to the Board and the standard she had set for future student
board members. On behalf of the Board
he wished Megan a successful future.
Mr. Vincent stated he had
accompanied Director Jeffrey on two days of school district visits. He felt these meetings were rewarding and
positive and the school districts were appreciative of staff coming to their
site. He complimented Judy Jeffrey on
her fastidious approach to the school visits.
He encouraged Board member involvement in the school district meetings
and community conversations.
Vincent reported he had also
attended a Regents State Board committee meeting in Ames on State Board
policies and objectives and had provided information on the Iowa Learns
Council. Director Jeffrey had also been
in attendance.
Director Judy Jeffrey
reported on the following items:
The Board Development
work session was removed from the March agenda because of time
constraints. It was agreed to
reschedule this item for a future date.
Jeff Berger, Legislative Liaison,
presented an overview of the legislative activities affecting education.
Judy Jeffrey, Director,
handed out the proposed topics for the April 14-15, 2005 State Board meeting.
President Gene Vincent
adjourned the meeting.
_________________ _______________________
Gene E. Vincent Judy A. Jeffrey, Director
President and Executive Officer