View/Open - Drake University

questioned hy patrons ahour [he number of staff leaving and how that was impacting the
distsict. "T'\le had five rcsoul.ce room teachers in five years," reported the elementary
principal. So it lack of continuity aras mentioned as a real barrier to continued improvement.
The hish school PI-incipal helieired that the district's proximity to Des Moines allonfed them to
attract canclid~~tes for jobs that orher sniall districts in more remote rural areas of the state
tnifht not he able to hie. He saw this as a real advantage for the district.
Tho last piece of the support system for inlplen~entation of new mandates was the
assistance recri\.ed f-rom the Heartland Area Education Agency in Johnston, Iowa. In
particula~-. the dis~rict's assisned partner from the AEA had a strong reputation with study
particip~tnrs as someone who n.as knowledgeable. and as someone n,ho was always ivilling to
.jump in thc rrcnchcs \x.ith thorn. The earlier n.ork the district had done as part of a consortiurn
in the de\.elopment of district-\{.ide achie\.ement Ie\.el testing (ALT) u:as a good fit for the
rnnndittei of t4F 2271. and homethins that the AEA had heen in on n.ith the district since it's
ilic.c*l3tiori. .l'llc C .~II.S~C~I~L~I~~ ~l~~-cc.tor \ic\\cd ~llc AE.4 in [his way: "Ii-e'\.e been prcrty blessed
\\ irll go011 .\I:.\ ~ ~ L - ~ I ~ I'Ilc.! ~ I C . I~;I\ c. hcc11 \.itill p;irrner\ in our stafi de\.elopnirnt effort\."
( )ri~( I. I);\r~-;(.f{ (/I.(, "./~ltr (;~,I~III,~ fi\ "
Sc.\ L.I-;I~ 01. I he, irilc.s\-ir.u cc\ \\c~r~~lc.re~i ~iloud h(~\\- other small school disrricts that had
rior I~c.c*ri ;IL.II\ c-I! c~rl;;~~~*ll ill \illO()l rtilpro\.crllcnl ini~ia~i\.c\ coulci be copins u.ith a11 of the
II~;II~~~;II~*\. \\'III~L, 110 or^^ ill 11iik \~~l,ill \L-IIOOI di\tri~.~ c~p~~c~scd an!, concern\ ~1bc3~1t [he neu.I!.
~~,lpo\c-tI ri1;111tl;t1~*\ L.;I\I\~II; IIIL~III to ;IC~-SL-L!~I;I~~OI~ os 10 t1;1\ c to ~lltit~~;~teI!~ consolidate or
~ticr dis~sicts.
.[.IlL- L - l ~ b r ~ 1 ~ ~ I.IIIC.I~;II
c ~ ~ ~ ~ \I , ,I\ ~ ~ L ~ \ ~ ~ * L ~ I ; I I I \.~bc.;il \ . 111 \;I!.~IIS. "1 \cc oltlcl. distric