Iowa Department of Education

• In this article...

• Information About Local School Districts
• Information About AEAs
• Information About Iowa's Community Colleges
• History of Iowa's Department of Education

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Iowa's public education system includes local school districts serving students in pre-kindergarten through 12^th grade; Area Education Agencies (AEAs) that provide support and assistance to the districts in a given region; community colleges that provide a wide range of coursework to students of all ages; and four-year colleges and universities.

The Iowa Department of Education and State Board of Education are responsible for the local schools, AEAs, and community colleges , while the Iowa Board of Regents is responsible for the public four-year colleges.

Local School Districts

Each local district in Iowa must offer a complete education in all grades from kindergarten through 12^th grade. All state residents are entitled to free public education up to age 18, and state law requires that all youngsters between the ages of 6-16 attend school either in their assigned "resident" district, through open enrollment to another district, or through home-schooling (competent private instruction ).

Quick Facts About Iowa Public Schools: 2005-06

While local districts are governed by state and federal laws that set broad parameters regarding coursework requirements, assessments, and teacher qualifications, each has its own locally elected board of directors that sets specific policy, defines academic requirements and approves the local budget.
 
All districts must be accredited by the state Department of Education in order to remain in operation. Accreditation reviews occur every five years and seek to ensure the district is meeting all state and federal requirements and maintains a quality education system for all students.

Curriculum requirements in Iowa Schools
Iowa has established state content standards for curriculum, and each district is required to develop their own content standards that incorporate the state standards.

All districts are required to "offer and teach" certain types and numbers of courses, although each district administration selects its own curriculum, textbooks, and other classroom materials. The "offer and teach" requirements are outlined in Iowa Administrative Rule 281 Chapter 12 .

Generally, elementary grades 1-6 must teach language arts, math, science, health, physical education, traffic safety, music and visual arts.
Junior high grades 7-8 must teach language arts, social studies, math, science, health, human growth and development, physical education, music, visual art, family and consumer education, career education, and technology education.
High school grades 9-12 must offer at a minimum six units of language arts, five units of social studies, six units of math, five units of science, one unit of health, one unit of physical education, three units of ine arts, four units of foreign language, and 12 units of vocational education.

Instruction must include the contributions and perspectives of persons with disabilities, both men and women, and persons from diverse racial and ethnic groups, and shall be designed to eliminate career and employment stereotypes.

Graduation requirements
Currently the state does not designate a minimum number of courses needed to graduate, but does require that students take US history and Iowa government and physical education in order to graduate. Districts are required to establish their own graduation requirements that include the types of courses and number of credits.

Under state law passed in 2006, beginning with the graduating class of 2010 students must earn four credits in English language arts, three credits in math, three credits in science, and three credits in social studies to earn their high school diploma.

Teacher qualifications
All classroom teachers must be properly licensed and certified in their subject area. Licensure requirements are set by the Board of Educational Examiners .

Area Education Agencies (AEAs)

Iowa Area Education Agencies are regional service agencies that provide school improvement services for students, families, teachers, administrators and their communities. Each AEA is governed by a locally elected Board of Directors of between five and nine members, responsible for ensuring the AEA operates in the best interests of the students in accordance with state law.

The AEAs work as educational partners with public and accredited private schools. Agency staff members, school staff and families work together to help all children reach their highest potential.

As intermediate agencies, AEAs offer the kinds of services that can be most efficiently and economically provided on a regional or cooperative basis among school districts. The Iowa system is widely regarded as one of the foremost regional service systems in the country.

AEA programs and services fall into nine areas (below) that are defined by state AEA accreditation standards. Specific programs are outlined in each agency's Comprehensive Improvement Plan.

• School-Community Planning
• Professional Development
• Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
• Diverse Learning Needs
• Multicultural, Gender-Fair
• Media
• School Technology
• Leadership
• Management

Community Colleges

Community colleges are governed by locally elected boards of directors that consist of from five to nine members who are elected for terms of three years. Each community college offers a comprehensive educational program. All Iowans of postsecondary school age are eligible to attend any of the community colleges. Community colleges also offer special programs for students who attend local secondary schools.

Community colleges have an "open-door" admission policy that guarantees Iowans an opportunity for educational assistance and career development regardless of previous educational attainment. To implement this policy, community colleges offer: assistance in developing skills necessary for success in preparatory career and college parallel programs; supplementary services to disabled and disadvantaged students; and a variety of other support services designed to help students succeed.

The state's community colleges have an "open-door" admission policy that guarantees Iowans an opportunity for educational assistance and career development regardless of previous educational attainment. Each community college offers a comprehensive educational program in three major areas of instruction:

• Adult education, including adult basic education programs for adults who have less than an eighth grade education; high school completion programs leading to adult high school diplomas and high school equivalency diploma; supplementary career programs of vocational and technical education; and continuing education programs.
• Preparatory career programs of vocational and technical education, to provide preparation for immediate employment in a wide variety of careers. Those training programs ordinarily require full-time instruction of four weeks to two years.
• College parallel coursework, which provides arts and sciences courses that may be transferred to other colleges and universities as the equivalent of the first two years of a four-year baccalaureate program.

Community colleges also offer unique educational programs and opportunities such as programs for incarcerated individuals in correctional facilities; evaluation and assessment centers; developmental education programs and services for underprepared students; special programs for the disabled, including sheltered workshops; customized training programs for business and industry; incubation centers to assist the development of small businesses; and the administration of service delivery areas for the Federal Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA).

The Iowa Community College Council, established in law, assists the State Board of Education with substantial issues directly related to the community college system. The Council also prepares a five-year statewide strategic plan at least once every five years for Iowa's community colleges in consultation with a working group of stakeholders.

Iowa DE History 

The Department of Education was created by the 35th General Assembly in 1913 and was originally called the Department of Public Instruction. The current name was adopted in 1986. In its early years, the department was charged with working with the many small, isolated school buildings to build a formal system of public education that included organized districts with defined duties and boundaries, as well as specific qualifications for teachers. While the state department was established to provide oversight, local schools maintained the authority to set many of the rules and requirements for their own students. This system of "local responsibility" - based on the belief that local residents have the greatest interest in assuring their children's success - continues today. As the state progressed over the decades with greater diversity in business, industry and population, the public education system evolved to reflect and encompass those changes. In the mid-1960s, a system of 15 public, two-year community colleges was established to provide more students the opportunity for continued education and training beyond high school.
In the mid-1970s, the system of Area Education Agencies (AEAs) was developed to provide regional support for local schools and their teachers. Originally, the AEAs and community colleges shared the same service area boundaries. In recent years, however, several AEAs have merged to provide greater efficiency in regions with declining population.