281—79.2(256) Definitions. For purposes of clarity, the following definitions are used throughout the chapter:
“Administrator candidates” means individuals who are enrolled in practitioner preparation programs leading to administrator licensure.
“Administrator preparation programs” means the programs of practitioner preparation leading to licensure of administrators.
“Area education agency” or “AEA” means a regional service agency that provides school improvement services for students, families, teachers, administrators and the community.
“BOEE” means the board of educational examiners, the board responsible for establishing licensure requirements and issuing licenses.
“Candidates” means individuals who are preparing to become educational practitioners through a practitioner preparation program.
“Clinical experiences” means a candidate’s direct experiences in PK-12 schools. “Clinical experiences” includes field experiences and student teaching or internships.
“College/university supervisors” means qualified employees or individuals contracted by the college or university offering educator preparation who provide guidance and supervision to candidates during the candidates’ clinical experiences in the schools.
“Cooperating administrators” means school administrators who provide guidance and supervision to administrator candidates during the candidates’ clinical experiences in the schools.
“Cooperating teachers” means appropriately licensed classroom teachers of record who provide guidance and supervision to teacher candidates in the cooperating teachers’ classrooms during the candidates’ field experiences in the schools.
“Delivery model” means the form in which the educator preparation program is delivered to candidates and may include conventional campus-based, face-to-face models, distance learning models, off-campus models, programs delivered through consortia arrangements, and programs or elements delivered by contracted outside providers.
“Department” means the department of education.
“Director” means director of the department.
“Distance learning” means a formal education process in which the major portion of the instruction occurs when the learner and the instructor are not in the same place at the same time and occurs through virtually any media, including printed or digital materials, a learning management system (LMS) or online communications.
“Distance learning program” means a program in which over half of the required courses in the program occur when the learner and the instructor are not in the same place at the same time (more information is contained in the definition of “distance learning”). These programs include those offered by the professional educational unit through a contract with an outside vendor or in a consortium arrangement with other higher education institutions, area education agencies, or other entities.
“Diverse groups” means one or more groups of individuals possessing certain traits or characteristics, including age, color, creed, national origin, race, religion, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical attributes, physical or mental ability or disability, ancestry, political party preference, political belief, socioeconomic status or familial status.
“Educator preparation program” means practitioner preparation program.
“Facility” means a residential or other setting for a child in which the child receives an appropriate educational program. “Facility” includes a foster care facility as defined in Iowa Code section 237.1, a facility that provides residential treatment pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 125, an approved or licensed shelter care home as defined in Iowa Code section 232.2(34), an approved juvenile detention home as defined in Iowa Code section 232.2(32)and a psychiatric medical institution for children as defined in Iowa Code section 135H.1.
“Faculty” means the teaching and supervising staff of a university or college responsible for delivering instruction or providing supervision and feedback to the candidates.
“Institution” means a college or university in Iowa offering practitioner preparation or an educational organization offering administrator preparation and seeking state board approval of its practitioner preparation program.
“Institutional accrediting agency” means an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Agencies include regional and national accreditors. The department will maintain a web link to a list of currently approved accreditors on the department’s practitioner preparation web page.
“InTASC” means Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium, the source of national standards for teachers.
“Intern” means an individual who is enrolled in a teacher intern preparation program and is currently employed as an intern by an Iowa school district.
“Iowa core” means a legislatively mandated state initiative that provides local school districts and nonpublic schools a guide to delivering instruction to students based on consistent, challenging and meaningful content.
“Iowa teaching standards” represents a set of knowledge and skills that reflect evidence of best practices regarding effective teaching as listed in rule 281—83.4(284). The standards serve as the basis for comprehensive evaluations of teachers and professional development plans.
“Leadership preparation program” means an administrator preparation program.
“Mentor” means an experienced educator who provides guidance to a practitioner, administrator candidate or novice educator. For intern programs, “mentor” means an individual employed by a school district or area education agency as a classroom teacher, or a retired teacher, who holds a valid license issued under Iowa Code chapter 272. The individual must have a four-year record of successful teaching practice with at least two of the four years on a nonprobationary basis and demonstrate professional commitment to both the improvement of teaching and learning and the development of beginning teachers or teacher interns.
“National professional standards” means standards developed by nationally recognized organizations that establish best practices for education.
“NELP standards” means the National Educational Leadership Preparation standards for administrator preparation.
“Novice” means an individual in an educational position who has no previous experience in the role of that position or who is newly licensed by the BOEE.
“Off-campus program” means a program offered by a unit on a site other than the main campus. Off-campus programs may be offered in the same state, in other states, or in countries other than the United States.
“Practitioner” means a teacher, administrator or other school personnel holding a license issued by the BOEE.
“Practitioner candidates” means individuals who are enrolled in practitioner preparation programs leading to licensure as teachers, as administrators or as other professional school personnel in professions that require a license issued by the BOEE.
“Practitioner preparation programs” means the programs of practitioner preparation leading to licensure of teachers, administrators and other professional school personnel.
“Program” means a specific field of specialization leading to a specific endorsement.
“School district” means a school corporation as defined in Iowa Code chapter 290. A school district is also referred to as a “local education agency” or “LEA.”
“State board” means Iowa state board of education.
“Students” means PK-12 pupils.
“Teacher candidate” means an individual who is enrolled in a practitioner preparation program leading to teacher licensure.
“Teacher intern candidate” means an individual who is enrolled in a teacher intern preparation program leading to teacher intern licensure and who has not yet begun employment as an intern.
“Teacher intern preparation program” means the program for teacher intern preparation at colleges and universities leading to licensure of teacher interns.
“Unit” means the organizational entity within an institution with the responsibility of administering and delivering all practitioner preparation programs.
[ARC 8050C, IAB 6/12/24, effective 7/17/24]