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Assessing Academic Rigor (Iowa Evaluator Approval Training Program III) is one of three evaluator approval license renewal options for Iowa administrators/evaluators. The content of the course focuses on participants’ using their leadership assets and resources to develop a vision and personal action plan for rigorous learning in their building(s) or district supported by reflection and collaboration with peers. Participants will become familiar with various learning taxonomies and use assessment rubrics to identify important components and phases in the learning improvement process and peer feedback is provided. Reading and resource materials have been updated.

By completing this course, leaders of learning will:
• Be able to define and recognize rigor in the classroom
• Understand the connection of rigor to the Iowa Teaching Standards (ITS) and the Iowa Standards for School Leaders (ISSL) as well as the Iowa Core
• Understand the Revised Blooms’ Taxonomy (RBT) and its importance in a comprehensive system of assessment and evaluation
• Analyze cognitive demand using the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy
• Assess where they are now with rigor in their building/district using Iowa Core examples
• Analyze unit plans using Iowa Core Unit in terms of rigor, alignment, and assessment
• Determine a plan to gather a school or district-wide picture of rigor, including next steps for systematic monitoring of rigor
• Use a structured reflective process to analyze and evaluate units that increase rigor at the classroom level
• Understand the role of assessing rigor in the formal evaluation process as it pertains to the Iowa Core and the ITS/ISSL
• Develop a plan to communicate and implement a systematic and system-wide monitoring of rigor in schools/districts

With the focus on the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy and the assessment of academic rigor in our classrooms, leaders of learning will build their capacity to understand what to look for and support in classrooms as they seek to increase student learning in their buildings. The use of the RBT in assessing rigor will deepen the skills and context of leaders of learning in the areas of coaching and evaluation as they work to implement the Iowa Core and other statewide initiatives as connected to the ITS and ISSL.

A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing is recommended, but not required. It is available at bookstores or online at Amazon.com.

For more information renewing an administrator license or evaluator endorsement, click here

Two repeat sessions will be offered.

Instructor: Sally Rigeman

Dates: 6/7/17, 6/8/17, 6/20/17, 6/29/17
Time: 8:00 - 4:30
Lunch is provided.
Location: Miss. Bend AEA, Muscatine (location changed from MCSD Admin Office.)
Registration closes 5/30/17.

Dates: 8/7/17, 8/8/17, 9/19/17, 10/10/17
Time: 8:00 - 4:30
Lunch is provided.
Location: Bettendorf AEA
Registration closes 8/1/17.

Cost for all sessions:
$285 for 2 SAI relicensure credits
(This course is not offered for Drake grad credit.)

Note: An evaluator course (Eval III, iEvaluate, or Fierce Conversations fulfills this requirement) plus two additional credits are needed to renew a professional administrator license. This course must be taken for credit, not audit, to meet this requirement. For more information renewing a professional admin license or evaluator endorsement, click here.

If you have an initial admin license, you do not need to take this course; you only need 2 years experience to convert an initial license to a professional admin license.