For prior drafts, and a description and history of the Board's "governance policy" efforts see http://www.uiowa.edu/~cyberlaw/governance.

Summary of modifications. The best source for precise comparisons of language are the prior documents themselves. What follows are summaries:

Prologue. Paragraph 8 was modified to make "literacy" not merely "a rational place to start" (as per the prior draft) but "the highest priority."

Ends Policies. Changes were primarily stylistic. The most extensive was that 2a.I.2. was changed from "to insure that the District and individual schools do what they say they are going to do" to "on the successful completion of the District and schools' action plans."

Literacy -- Reading. Changes were primarily sylistic. Roman I was moved to III. In what is now 2b.II.5.  "interventions provided" was changed to "interventions identified and provided."

Literacy -- Writing. Although not yet discussed by the Board, 2c. has been conformed to the revisions that have been applied by the Board to 2b (i.e., the reordering of I, II and III and conforming stylistic changes).

-- N.J., May 25, 2000

1. The ICCSD Board has been evolving new governance policies modeled on the ideas of John Carver as described in books such as Reinventing Your Board. It has already completed, and posted to its Web site, three of the four categories of policies he recommends (board governance, board-superintendent linkage, and executive limitations – along with a “prologue” of general explanation). Anyone who wants to pursue the matter of "ends" in greater depth may find it helpful to look at those policies and examine some of Carver’s writing.

The Board has now turned its attention to what Carver calls “ends policies,” and what most people would think of as “goals” for the District.

On January 18, 2000, it posted to its Web site a "Draft Illustrative Possible Academic Ends Policies." It requested response from District staff. Given the Board's focus on literacy and reading, it received a special presentation by the District's Language Arts Resource Specialists (LARS). On April 4, 2000, it summarized staff comments (including those from LARS), and provided Board responses to them, in a Web-posted document entitled, "ICCSD School Board Response to Staff Concerns Regarding Sample
Academic Ends Policies." This followed a presentation to the Board by Dr. H. D. Hoover, Director, Iowa Statewide Basic Skills Testing Program, and a professor at the University of Iowa College of Education. He spoke on March 21, 2000, and lengthy quotes from his presentation are available on the Web at "H. D. Hoover and 'Ends Policies.'" The Board's April 4 response to staff contains some references to Dr. Hoover's presentation.

This current version of the Board's academic ends policy clearly reflects its commitment to an ongoing dialogue and its willingness to change. There have been substantial modifications of the Board's January 18 document as a result of the responses from staff, LARS, Dr. Hoover and the Director of Instruction. Indeed, virtually all of the Board's original standards have been abandoned!

2. The Board wishes to make it expressly clear that:

(a) it does not intend to use test scores, or any other standards, as "high stakes" measures. ("High stakes," especially in the context of test scores, refers to the practice of some states and school districts to pay bonuses to schools and teachers, retain students in grade, or even close schools, on the basis of rising or falling standardized test scores.) It is the Board's expectation that the data obtained in the course of monitoring these ends may serve diagnostic purposes for the Board in highlighting areas of greatest need (for additional resources) and methods of greatest success.

(b) Although others are, of course, free to utilize the Board's data, its choice of a particular "end" or measure is not intended to limit in any way whatsoever the use of other assessments and measures found useful by students, parents, teachers, principals or Central Administration Office (CAO) personnel.

For example, each building may want to develop, within the building, its own academic goals and plans for achieving them – as, indeed, most already do. Regular reports on the building’s progress in carrying out its own plans – in a graphic form consistent throughout the District – could be quickly presented at Board meetings without even imposing on anyone the obligation to attend (although, of course, all who would want to be present would be more than welcome).

(c) It is the Board's intention to minimize any additional burden on the CAO or other staff. Although the Board's responsibilities, need for and use of data are somewhat unique, it will, for the most part, use data that are already being collected and analyzed. Some of what it may use in the future will be similar to that assembled by the CAO as part of the District's "Comprehensive School Improvement Plan" now mandated by the State of Iowa.

4. The Board does not intend for its ends policies to become “desk drawer documents” – prepared, put away, and forgotten. The ends, and the charts used to monitor their achievement, will regularly be reviewed by the Board as they relate to future Board policies or agenda items at its meetings.

5. It is worth noting that, even if the Board was not inclined to follow its governance policies that call for it to establish ends for the District, the Iowa Legislature now requires the District to do the equivalent anyway. All the Board is really doing is putting in place, for its own purposes, selected ends and data not unlike those the State now requires in the form of a “Comprehensive School Improvement Plan.”

6. As is obvious from the academic ends, and as is consistent with its governance policies, the Board does not intend to involve itself with “means.” How the ends are to be met is left entirely to administrators and
staff.

7. The Board assumes that in most academic areas, schools, and classrooms, most of the time, the ends policies will require no more than that staff continue doing what's already being done. Clearly, the ICCSD does not need to improve everything, and everywhere, let alone at once. Nor do we have the resources to do so if the need was there. The Board is fully aware that such improvements as may be desirable will only be possible over time. "Dramatic improvements" are even suspect. Besides, we have numerous
reasons for pride in our present accomplishments.

8. There are many categories of potential ends policies. “School safety” might be one. But the Board believes that academic ends are certainly among the most important. And of those academic ends it believes that literacy is the highest priority.

9. This end is encouraged with the District’s creation and execution of its own Iowa-mandated “Comprehensive School Improvement Plan,” the Board’s “academic ends policies,” and the monitoring and management information reporting systems that measure progress towards those ends.

10. Although in accordance with its governance policies the Board looks only to the Superintendent, references to "the Superintendent" in this document, as elsewhere, necessarily include anyone to whom the Superintendent may delegate his or her responsibilities.

1. Academic achievement is the highest priority of the Iowa City Community School District. As the District's "Second Strategic Plan 1996-2001" declares, the District will "ensure that students become responsible, independent, lifelong learners capable of making informed decisions in a democratic society as well as in the dynamic global community."

2a. Comprehensive School Improvement Plan and Management Information Reporting System Policy

I. The District will adopt goals designed to improve students' achievement. Progress toward those goals will be monitored, reviewed and assessed in accordance with the District's Comprehensive School Improvement Plan, as mandated by the State of Iowa. The results will be reported to the community; they will be reported to the Board as part of the District's management information reporting system.

1. Measurable goals, and action plans designed to achieve the goals, will be established annually for the District and each school. The goals will be approved by the Superintendent, presented to the Board and reported to the community. Progress toward the goals will be reported to the community no less often than annually.

2. Progress toward the action plans for the District, and each of its schools, will be reviewed periodically by the Superintendent and provided to the Board. The focus of the Board's action plan reviews will be on the successful completion of the District and schools' action plans.

3. The progress toward the goals and other key measures will be assessed no less often than annually by the Board, Superintendent, and such other District units as the Superintendent may designate, such as the Comprehensive School Improvement Plan Advisory Committee and Curriculum Review teams. The results of the assessments may determine if changes are necessary in policy, curriculum or standards.

2b. Students will over time read, independently, increasingly complex text with understanding.

I. There will be an annual increase in the percentage of students who make more than "average growth" (as defined in 3, below) in reading comprehension as they progress from one grade to the next.

1. Data will be reported to the Board, by each grade level for which it is available, but only on a District-wide basis (not by schools or classrooms).

2. It will be reported no less often than annually.

3. "Average growth" is defined as the numerical increase in national average test scores (on whatever tests the Superintendent has selected) from one grade level to the next.

To illustrate: The Superintendent will have been provided by (or will request from) the national testing service being used by the District the median reading comprehension score from, say, the national scores of third graders and fourth graders. The third grade median score will be subtracted from the fourth grade median score. The difference is "average growth" in reading comprehension from third to fourth grade. "More than average growth" for an ICCSD fourth grader is any increase larger than this national "average growth."

4. Each individual ICCSD student's "growth" (i.e., increase in his or her test scores) from one grade to the next will be compared with "average growth." The percentage of students exceeding "average growth" will then be reported to the Board District-wide by grade in school.

II. There will be an annual increase in the number of students (a) whose reading comprehension is above the level of “proficient” (as defined by the Superintendent and reported to the Board), and (b) who make “average growth,” as defined in 2b.I.3, above.

1. The Superintendent will utilize means of his or her choice to evaluate and identify those students (a) whose reading comprehension is below the level of “proficient” or (b) who are not making “average growth.”

2. Appropriate interventions will be identified to assist students who are in need of additional academic support.

3. The Superintendent will provide students so identified such additional academic support as in his or her judgment such students need in order to reach a level of “proficient” or otherwise reach their potential.

4. The Superintendent will report to the Board the number of students so identified, the program or programs utilized to improve their performance, and the relative success of each such program. The report will be by grade (District wide, not by school) and no less often than annually. The Superintendent will also provide such additional information and recommendations as he or she may choose regarding proposals for shifts in, or additional provision of, the District resources necessary to achieve this end.

5. Every student’s reading achievement will be reviewed by school staff with the student’s parent/s or guardian/s. This review shall include, among other things, whether the student performs at a level of “proficient,” the additional academic support and interventions identified and provided, if any, and recommendations for parental participation.

III. The Superintendent is responsible for selecting, or designing, the methods for measuring the achievement of the Board's academic (literacy – reading) ends in accordance with the following guidelines.

1. The measurements will be quantifiable.

2. The measurements will be multiple, but at least one will be a national standardized test such as (but not limited to) the ITBS and ITED (which are tests currently used by the District).

3. Student achievement will be measured at various grade levels.

4. The measurements will provide data that enables the Board to evaluate trends.
 

2c. Students will over time write, independently, increasingly complex text with meaning, clarity, purpose and application of standard conventions (as defined below).

I. There will be an annual increase in (a) the percentage of students who make more than "average growth" (as defined in 3, below) in their mastery of standard conventions in writing as they progress from one grade to the next, and (b) the percentage of students whose writing quality shows improvement from year to year.

1. Data will be reported to the Board, by each grade level for which it is available, but only on a District-wide basis (not by schools or classrooms).

2. It will be reported no less often than annually.

3. "Average growth" is defined as the numerical increase in national average test scores (on whatever tests the Superintendent has selected) from one grade level to the next.

To illustrate: The Superintendent will have been provided by (or will request from) the national testing service being used by the District the median writing standard conventions score from, say, the national scores of third graders and fourth graders. The third grade median score will be subtracted from the fourth grade median score. The difference is "average growth" in written language from third to fourth grade. "More than average growth" for an ICCSD fourth grader is any increase larger than this national "average growth."

4. Each individual ICCSD student's growth in standard conventions from one grade to the next will be compared with "average growth." The percentage of students exceeding "average growth" will then be reported to the Board District-wide by grade in school.

5. The improvement in writing quality of each student, or a randomly selected sample of students, from year to year will be measured and the percentage of students whose writing quality has improved will be reported to the Board District-wide by grade in school.

II. There will be an annual increase in the number of students (a) whose mastery of writing standard conventions is above the level of "proficient" (as defined by the Superintendent), (b) who make "average growth," as defined in 2b.I.3, above, and (c) whose writing quality, as defined in 2c.III.6., below, improves over the course of a year.

1. The Superintendent will utilize means of his or her choice to evaluate and identify those students (a) whose mastery of writing standards conventions is below the level of "proficient," (b) who are not making "average growth," or (c) whose writing quality does not improve.

2. Every student's writing quality and mastery of writing standard conventions will be reviewed by school staff with the student's parent/s or guardian/s. This review shall include, among other things, whether the student performs at a level of "proficient," the additional academic support and interventions provided, if any, and recommendations for parental participation.

III. The Superintendent is responsible for selecting, or designing, the methods for measuring the achievement of the Board's academic (literacy – writing) ends in accordance with the following guidelines.

1.  Quantifiable measures will be used for both students' mastery of standard conventions and writing quality, as both are defined, below.

2. The measurements will be multiple, but at least one will be a national, standardized test such as (but not limited to) the ITBS and ITED (which are tests currently used by the District and measure standard conventions).

3. Student achievement will be measured at various grade levels.

4. The measurements will provide data that enables the Board to evaluate trends.

5. "Standard conventions" refers to such technical aspects of writing as spelling, grammar, mechanics and usage.

6. "Writing quality" refers to such elements of writing as clarity of purpose and expression, organization, analysis, use of examples and transitions.