CHAPTER 284A
ADMINISTRATOR QUALITY PROGRAM

  284A.1  Administrator quality program.
  An administrator quality program is established to promote high student achievement and enhanced educator quality. The program shall consist of the following three major components:
  1.  Mentoring and induction programs that provide support for administrators in accordance with section 284A.5.
  2.  Professional development designed to directly support best practices for leadership.
  3.  Evaluation of administrators against the Iowa standards for school administrators.
2007 Acts, ch 108, §54
Former §284A.1 transferred to §284A.2 pursuant to directive in 2007 Acts, ch 108, §60 

  284A.2  Definitions.
  As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
  1.  “Administrator” means an individual holding a professional administrator license issued under chapter 272 who is employed in a school district administrative position by a school district or area education agency pursuant to a contract issued by a board of directors under section 279.23 and is engaged in instructional leadership. An administrator may be employed in both an administrative and a nonadministrative position by a board of directors and shall be considered a part-time administrator for the portion of time that the individual is employed in an administrative position. “Administrator” does not include assistant principals or assistant superintendents.
  2.  “Beginning administrator” means an individual serving under an administrator license, issued by the board of educational examiners under chapter 272, who is assuming a position as a school district principal or superintendent for the first time.
  3.  “Comprehensive evaluation” means a summative evaluation of a beginning administrator conducted by an evaluator in accordance with section 284A.3 for purposes of determining a beginning administrator’s level of competency for recommendation for licensure based on the Iowa standards for school administrators adopted pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 27.
  4.  “Department” means the department of education.
  5.  “Director” means the director of the department of education.
  6.  “Evaluation” means a summative evaluation of an administrator used to determine whether the administrator’s practice meets school district expectations and the Iowa standards for school administrators adopted pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 27.
  7.  “Mentor” means an individual employed by a school district or area education agency as a school district administrator or a retired administrator who holds a valid license issued under chapter 272. The individual must have a record of four years of successful administrative experience and must demonstrate professional commitment to both the improvement of teaching and learning and the development of beginning administrators.
  8.  “School board” means the board of directors of a school district or a collaboration of boards of directors of school districts.
  9.  “State board” means the state board of education.
2006 Acts, ch 1182, §28

2007 Acts, ch 108, §50, 60

2009 Acts, ch 177, §43; 2010 Acts, ch 1183, §35
Former §284A.2 transferred to §284A.5 pursuant to directive in 2007 Acts, ch 108, §61 

  284A.3  Iowa standards for school administrators evaluations.
  By July 1, 2008, each school board shall provide for evaluations for administrators under individual professional development plans developed in accordance with section 279.23A, and the Iowa standards for school administrators and related criteria adopted by the state board in accordance with section 256.7, subsection 27. A local school board may establish additional administrator standards and related criteria.
2007 Acts, ch 108, §55
Referred to in 
Former §284A.3 transferred to §284A.8 pursuant to directive in 2007 Acts, ch 108, §62 

  284A.4  Participation.
  Effective July 1, 2007, each school district shall participate in the administrator quality program, and the board of directors of each school district shall do all of the following:
  1.  Implement a beginning administrator mentoring and induction program as provided in this chapter.
  2.  Adopt individual administrator professional development plans in accordance with this chapter.
  3.  Adopt an administrator evaluation plan that, at a minimum, requires an evaluation of administrators in the school district annually pursuant to section 279.23A and based upon the Iowa standards for school administrators and individual administrator professional development plans.
2007 Acts, ch 108, §56

  284A.5  Beginning administrator mentoring and induction program.
  1.  A beginning administrator mentoring and induction program is created to promote excellence in school leadership, improve classroom instruction, enhance student achievement, build a supportive environment within school districts, increase the retention of promising school leaders, and promote the personal and professional well-being of administrators.
  2.  The department, in collaboration with other educational partners, shall develop a model beginning administrator mentoring and induction program for all beginning administrators.
  3.  Each school board shall establish an administrator mentoring program for all beginning administrators. The school board may adopt the model program developed by the department pursuant to subsection 2. Each school board’s beginning administrator mentoring and induction program shall, at a minimum, provide for one year of programming to support the Iowa standards for school administrators adopted pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 27, and beginning administrators’ professional and personal needs. Each school board shall develop and implement a beginning administrator mentoring and induction plan. The plan shall describe the mentor selection process, describe supports for beginning administrators, describe program organizational and collaborative structures, provide a budget, provide for sustainability of the program, and provide for program evaluation. The school board employing an administrator shall determine the conditions and requirements of an administrator participating in a program established pursuant to this section. A school board shall include its plan in the school district’s comprehensive school improvement plan submitted pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 21.
  4.  A beginning administrator shall be informed by the school district or the area education agency, prior to the beginning administrator’s participation in a mentoring and induction program, of the criteria upon which the administrator will be evaluated and of the evaluation process utilized by the school district or area education agency.
  5.  By the end of a beginning administrator’s first year of employment, the beginning administrator may be comprehensively evaluated to determine if the administrator meets expectations to move to a professional administrator license, where appropriate. The school district or area education agency that employs a beginning administrator shall recommend the beginning administrator for a professional administrator license, where appropriate, if the beginning administrator is determined through a comprehensive evaluation to demonstrate competence in the Iowa standards for school administrators adopted pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 27. A school district or area education agency may allow a beginning administrator a second year to demonstrate competence in the Iowa standards for school administrators if, after conducting a comprehensive evaluation, the school district or area education agency determines that the administrator is likely to successfully demonstrate competence in the Iowa standards for school administrators by the end of the second year. Upon notification by the school district or area education agency, the board of educational examiners shall grant a beginning administrator who has been allowed a second year to demonstrate competence a one-year extension of the beginning administrator’s initial license. An administrator granted a second year to demonstrate competence shall undergo a comprehensive evaluation at the end of the second year.
2006 Acts, ch 1182, §29

2007 Acts, ch 108, §51 – 53, 61

2010 Acts, ch 1183, §36
Referred to in 

  284A.6  Administrator professional development.
  1.  Each school district shall be responsible for the provision of professional growth programming for individuals employed in a school district administrative position by the school district or area education agency as deemed appropriate by the board of directors of the school district or area education agency. School districts may collaborate with other educational stakeholders including other school districts, area education agencies, professional organizations, higher education institutions, and private providers regarding the provision of professional development for school district administrators. Professional development programming for school district administrators may include support that meets the professional development needs of individual administrators aligned to the Iowa standards for school administrators adopted pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 27, and meets individual administrator professional development plans.
  2.  In cooperation with the administrator’s evaluator, the administrator who has a professional administrator license issued by the board of educational examiners pursuant to chapter 272 and is employed by a school district or area education agency in a school district administrative position shall develop an individual administrator professional development plan. The purpose of the plan is to promote individual and group professional development. The individual plan shall be based, at a minimum, on the needs of the administrator, the Iowa standards for school administrators adopted pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 27, and the student achievement goals of the attendance center and the school district as outlined in the comprehensive school improvement plan.
  3.  The administrator’s evaluator shall meet annually as provided in section 279.23A with the administrator to review progress in meeting the goals in the administrator’s individual plan. The purpose of the meeting shall be to review collaborative work with other staff on student achievement goals and to modify as necessary the administrator’s individual plan to reflect the individual administrator’s and the school district’s needs and the individual’s progress in meeting the goals in the plan. The administrator shall present to the evaluator evidence of progress. The administrator’s supervisor and the evaluator shall review and the supervisor may modify the administrator’s individual plan.
2007 Acts, ch 108, §57; 2010 Acts, ch 1183, §37
Referred to in 

  284A.7  Evaluation requirements for administrators.
  A school district shall conduct an evaluation of an administrator who holds a professional administrator license issued under chapter 272 at least once every three years for purposes of assisting the administrator in making continuous improvement, documenting continued competence in the Iowa standards for school administrators adopted pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 27, or to determine whether the administrator’s practice meets school district expectations. The review shall include, at a minimum, an assessment of the administrator’s competence in meeting the Iowa standards for school administrators and the goals of the administrator’s individual professional development plan, including supporting documentation or artifacts aligned to the Iowa standards for school administrators and the individual administrator’s professional development plan.
2007 Acts, ch 108, §58; 2010 Acts, ch 1183, §38

  284A.8  Beginning administrator mentoring and induction program — program funds.
  1.  To the extent moneys are available, a school district shall receive one thousand five hundred dollars per beginning administrator participating in the program. Moneys received by a school district pursuant to this section shall be expended to provide each mentor with an award of five hundred dollars per semester, at a minimum, for participation in the school district’s beginning administrator mentoring and induction program; to implement the plan; and to pay any applicable costs of the employer’s share of contributions to federal social security and the Iowa public employees’ retirement system or a pension and annuity retirement system established under chapter 294, for such amounts paid by the district.
  2.  If the funds appropriated for the program are insufficient to pay mentors and school districts as provided in this section, the department shall prorate the amount distributed to school districts based upon the amount appropriated. A school district shall give priority to fully funding the obligation to principal mentors. Remaining moneys, if any, shall first be used to fund superintendent mentors and then to fund other program costs and applicable costs described in subsection 1.
2006 Acts, ch 1182, §30

2007 Acts, ch 108, §62; 2007 Acts, ch 214, §39

2010 Acts, ch 1183, §39