TQP Advisory Board Meeting

On Tuesday, December 7, our UNI TQP Staff (Dan, Leanne, Mary, Nadene and I) along with Dean Dwight Watson travelled to Des Moines for the first TQP Advisory Board meeting at the Grimes State Office Building. I marveled at the Memorial that adorns the sidewalk leading to the building from the north where we parked. It was a bit unnerving to get close to the memorial and read that it was dedicated to those Iowans that died at Pearl Harbor, the day of infamy. . . coincidentally almost exactly 69 years ago to the hour of the attack that I stood there. Hard to not have tears well up in your eyes. The sidewalk is described as "Victory Walk" and proceeds through the years of World War II.

Attending members of the Advisory Board:
Salvador Aguirre (Meredith MS-DMPS, 1st year teacher)
Isbelia Arzola (DMPS)
Molly Boyle (2011 Iowa Teacher of the Year)
Mary Jane Cobb (ISEA)
Mary Delagardelle (IASB)
Kevin Fangman
Jessica Gogerty (North HS-DMPS)
Deborah Humpal
Dara Lothi-Phaisith (Garton Elementary-DMPS)
Bill Lynch (Superintendent Partner School, HLV)
George Maurer
Terry Rhinehart (Superintendent Partner School, Springville)
Connie Richardson (Green Hills AEA)
Dan Smith (SAI)
Kim Swartz (AEA 267)
Dwight Watson (UNI)
Gail Wortman (2001 Iowa Teacher of the Year and Online Learning)
Others in attendance to listen included UNI TQP Staff and DoE staff including: Mary Beth Schroeder Fracek, Sue Swartz, Colleen Anderson, Kris Crabtree-Groff, Rosanne Malek, Connie Maxson, Geri McMahon, Jay Pennington as well as Julie Kearney as evaluator from the UofI.

The morning included introductions and setting the state and national context by Kevin Fangman. This was followed by the overview of the grant. Mary and Nadene overviewed Goals 1 & 2; Mary Beth did Goal 3; Jay Pennington talked about the role of integrated technology platform; Julie Kearney added grant evaluation information.

Lunch was delightful and included baked chicken breast with stuffing, tossed salad, winter mix vegetables, diced roasted potatoes, rolls and a caramel brownie (that was evidently heavenly, of course those that know me realize I don't care for chocolate so cannot speak directly to its merits).

After lunch Eric Docter and Ameetha Palanki of Show Evidence (from California) overviewed the platform they are creating for online storage of performance assessment data. She is an educator and is certainly well-versed in the needs of allowing evidence-based documentation about teacher effectiveness. They are very much interested in partnering with this process and feel that Iowa is on the right track and ahead of many others in the nation.

Ameetha sat at our lunch table with us and talked about coming with the only coat she had. Who knew I would already be this cold in December (teen and 20s). When we went back in to the meeting room after lunch, Eric Docter greeted me with "thanks for following us on Twitter". Wow! I was floored! I have actually been recognized in the Twitterverse! I asked how he knew I was following him and he said he recognized my picture. Then I asked him to vote for our football video and he said he would. Gosh, it is fun to meet new people!

All in all it was a good day. It feels great to have the process starting and some people in place to guide the process. Interestingly many of those in attendance were concerned that the model we create in small schools may not transfer readily to larger districts. I wonder how often small schools are represented at "think tanks" like this and if the concern is ever the other way?