IASB Convention 2024

How often do you revisit your district's mission? Marion Independent Schools set out on a journey to live out their mission “Foster a community of learners in developing the knowledge and skills to be Future Ready.” in everything they do. For all students to achieve at the highest level, Marion's board team recognized the importance of supporting learning, protecting time and resources for learning, and engaging as learners. In this session, learn how the board and superintendent fostered their role in the learning process by modeling their district’s mission for their students. Reflect on your current practice in leading learning, and take away actionable steps to foster a community of learners in your district!

In this session, Council Bluffs Community Schools will explore the critical role school boards play in keeping schools at the heart of our work, with a focused commitment to improving student achievement and outcomes. You'll discuss actionable strategies that align board decisions with educational priorities, ensuring that every policy and initiative supports the success of our students. Join the Council Bluffs governance team to learn how to strengthen your board’s impact by centering your work on the most important stakeholders—our students.

Looking to raise the bar for your students? From supporting sustainable organizational systems to designing tools that support effective decision-making, school boards play an important role in leading continuous academic improvement. Hear from Ankeny Schools as they highlight key strategies and practices that the school board and district administration implemented to support continuous improvement opportunities and student performance outcomes. Attendees will learn about the importance of effective leadership in providing data, resources, and professional learning to inform effective decision-making. By the end of this session, participants will leave with practical ideas and actionable steps to strengthen core instruction in their own districts, ultimately leading to improved academic success for all students.

Every student deserves access to safe and supportive learning environments, so what does this look like for students in your community? During this session, hear how Bettendorf Schools developed a Therapeutic Learning Classroom through community collaboration using the Multi-Tiered System of Supports framework (MTSS). With staff capacity of implementation in mind, the district created a community of educational leaders responsible for facilitating teams that support students with behavioral health concerns. By focusing on Tier Three Interventions, Bettendorf has increased staff members' capacity to reduce dysregulation and minimize classroom disruptions. By the end of this session, you'll have exclusive access to the tools Bettendorf used to develop their Therapeutic Learning Classroom to use as you envision what access to safe and supportive learning environments looks like in your community!

Across the state, districts have seen a sharp rise in mental illness, diverse philosophies regarding behavior among staff and community, and inequitable disciplinary practices that make this work more important than ever. During the 2019–2020 school year, College Community Schools set out on a year-long project to develop a consistent response to challenging behavior across the district. The product of this work was a matrix that clearly defines behavior incident types, outlines both required and optional ways to respond to behavior incidents, and establishes a common language districtwide. College Community Schools will not only walk you through how they launched their districtwide behavior prevention and response plan, but will demonstrate how this matrix has made a positive impact on student behavior after five years!

While measuring academic performance is the standard practice across all districts, Alburnett Schools is going beyond the test scores by identifying data-driven metrics for student success attributes. Tracking whether students are community-minded citizens, emotionally intelligent, effective communicators, lifelong learners, and student leaders eliminates reliance on intuition and provides a holistic picture of student achievement. In this session, learn what Alburnett has uncovered about the strong correlation between academic performance and attributes of student success that lead to greater success for all students, and gain insight on how you can support lifelong learners in your district!