A Legislature improvement plan is needed in Iowa

During my 27 years representing teachers, I encountered a variety of teacher assistance plans. The intended purpose was to provide more detail than just having an evaluator sit in a classroom for 30 minutes and then check the “Needs Improvement” box on the evaluation form.

Some evaluators recognized legitimate teaching deficiencies and tried to provide constructive assistance. The most beneficial plans were written together with the teacher being evaluated.

Many times, assistance plans were long on critique and short on assistance. Too often, it was a veteran teacher that challenged the leadership of a younger administrator, who suddenly “needed assistance.”

I’d ask the evaluator to come and model the teaching behavior they desired. Many times, the evaluator suddenly remembered they had important “administrating” to do and couldn’t spare the time.

As I think back, plans of assistance could have been a useful growth tool, but a lot of the time, the goal wasn’t to improve teaching but to change the teacher being evaluated into a clone of the evaluator, or even punish them.

Based on the recent sessions of the Iowa Legislature, I thought the majority party might benefit from a plan of assistance.

Areas of Strength to build upon:

You did a wonderful job on passing a ban on handheld cellphones while driving. This could save countless lives. You showed compassion by passing a law allowing young abuse victims the option to testify in court remotely.

Your school cellphone ban threaded the needle so local school boards maintained some local control.

When you pass bipartisan legislation, it survives even after you’re no longer in the majority.

Areas of Improvement:

Iowans want strong public schools. You struggled this year to agree on the amount of increased school funding. You should tie State Supplemental Aide to a formula that is both predictable and bipartisan. For years, allowable growth was tied to economic indicators.

You’ve created a publicly funded private school system. Let the state auditor provide a report on how private schools use tax dollars.

There’s a tendency to get involved in curriculum when people yell about something they don’t like. Take a beat before you write legislation correcting a problem that might not exist.

When an outside consultant comes peddling ideas, remember they don’t live with the idea. You do.

Strategies to improve:

The legislative session should be limited it to four weeks. If there’s an emergency, call a special session. A vacuum is always filled and most often it’s filled with fringe proposals that make people question your seriousness.

Attend and participate in local forums. Listen more than talk. Tough questions help hone your own arguments. Answer even the mean emails.

Sometimes you need to tell the governor from your own party “No.” Even if they disagree, People respect independent thought.

Here’s the hardest and strongest strategy. After you’ve accomplished these strategies, term limit yourself and go home knowing you made a difference.

Bruce Lear taught for 11 years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association Regional Director for 27 years until he retired. BruceLear2419@gmail.com