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hing."
the courses they want. Now whether or not are can continue to du llral IS
The secondary prlnclpal a~orned about the time school improvement mandates would
divert from teacher planning time and individual assistance for students. He believed his
teacher5 arere still sacrificing much of their own personal time to meet the needs of students,
ILI~ sa\v difficulties on the horizon as they balanced the need to meet their own curricular
re\ponsibilities and still be meaningfully engaged with students. He concluded his comments
~y adding. "I do worry about it, but I don't think it's been a real negative. It's been more of a
3ositi1.e o\:er all growth. I think the positives outweigh the little negatives that might be
occurring." ,
The guidance/assessment coordinator also voiced concerns over the loss of
11311 uctional time. With all of the standardized assessments the district nras already engaged
n. she worried whether or not these multiple assessments might still be enough to meet the
rccluirement\ of HF 2272. The district had already taken instructional time anray and replaced
11 \i.ith a\\e\\nienrs. and she feared more misht be on the \yay. As a participant in the
cIcvelopnient of 1CAM (Jowa Curriculum Assessment 34odules) she ~vondered, "I understand
uVhy it u3a\ done. hut I don't know how many schools are really going to do it."
She also mentioned character de\.elopment programming and discipline issues as areas
of concern not just for educators. hut as values expressed by the cornmunip at town meeting
[ha[ lnipht po un-addressed or certainly not get the attention they had earlier warranted prior to
the increased precsure to assess. She added. "I do get concerned that there's eoing to be too
much emphasis on [he accountability and the achievement and the impmjVement initiatives