272.1  Definitions.
  1.  “Administrator” means a person who is licensed to coordinate, supervise, or direct an educational program or the activities of other practitioners.
  2.  “Board” means the board of educational examiners.
  3.  “Certificate” means limited recognition to perform instruction and instruction-related duties in school, other than those duties for which practitioners are licensed. A certificate is nonexclusive recognition and does not confer the exclusive authority of a license.
  4.  “Department” means the state department of education.
  5.  “License” means the authority that is given to allow a person to legally serve as a practitioner, a school, an institution, or a course of study to legally offer professional development programs, other than those programs offered by practitioner preparation schools, institutions, courses of study, or area education agencies. A license is the exclusive authority to perform these functions.
  6.  “Para-educator” means a person who is certified to assist a teacher in the performance of instructional tasks to support and assist classroom instruction and related school activities.
  7.  “Practitioner” means an administrator, teacher, or other licensed professional, including an individual who holds a statement of professional recognition, who provides educational assistance to students.
  8.  “Practitioner preparation program” means a program approved by the state board of education which prepares a person to obtain a license as a practitioner.
  9.  “Principal” means a licensed member of a school’s instructional staff who serves as an instructional leader, coordinates the process and substance of educational and instructional programs, coordinates the budget of the school, provides formative evaluation for all practitioners and other persons in the school, recommends or has effective authority to appoint, assign, promote, or transfer personnel in a school building, implements the local school board’s policy in a manner consistent with professional practice and ethics, and assists in the development and supervision of a school’s student activities program.
  10.  “Professional development program” means a course or program which is offered by a person or agency for the purpose of providing continuing education for the renewal or upgrading of a practitioner’s license.
  11.  “School” means a school under section 280.2, an area education agency, and a school operated by a state agency for special purposes.
  12.  “School administration manager” means a person who is authorized to assist a school principal in performing noninstructional administrative duties.
  13.  “School service personnel” means those persons holding a practitioner’s license who provide support services for a student enrolled in school or to practitioners employed in a school.
  14.  “Student” means a person who is enrolled in a course of study at a school or practitioner preparation program, or who is receiving direct or indirect assistance from a practitioner.
  15.  “Superintendent” means an administrator who promotes, demotes, transfers, assigns, or evaluates practitioners or other personnel, and carries out the policies of a governing board in a manner consistent with professional practice and ethics.
  16.  “Teacher” means a licensed member of a school’s instructional staff who diagnoses, prescribes, evaluates, and directs student learning in a manner which is consistent with professional practice and school objectives, shares responsibility for the development of an instructional program and any coordinating activities, evaluates or assesses student progress before and after instruction, and who uses the student evaluation or assessment information to promote additional student learning.
[C97, §2628; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §3858; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §260.1]
89 Acts, ch 265, §1; 90 Acts, ch 1249, §4

98 Acts, ch 1216, §22; 2000 Acts, ch 1098, §2, 3; 2002 Acts, ch 1047, §10, 20; 2008 Acts, ch 1008, §1; 2012 Acts, ch 1119, §25