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.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 284A.5

  • 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. See Iowa Code 284A.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. See Iowa Code 284A.2
  • Comprehensive evaluation: means a summative evaluation of a beginning administrator conducted by an evaluator in accordance with section 284A. See Iowa Code 284A.2
  • Department: means the department of education. See Iowa Code 284A.2
  • 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. See Iowa Code 284A.2
  • 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. See Iowa Code 284A.2
  • School: means an agency of the state or political subdivision of the state, individual, partnership, company, firm, society, trust, association, corporation, or any combination which meets any of the following criteria:
     a. See Iowa Code 261B.2
  • School board: means the board of directors of a school district or a collaboration of boards of directors of school districts. See Iowa Code 284A.2
  • Student: means a person who enrolls in or seeks to enroll in a course of instruction offered or conducted by a school. See Iowa Code 261B.2
  • year: means twelve consecutive months. See Iowa Code 4.1
 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.
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