School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC)

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School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC)

District Wide Needs Assessment Data
Attached below are several documents that show the results from the District Wide Needs Assessment that took place in February. This data has been shared with the School Improvement Advisory Committee and along with data from the Iowa Assessments is being used to develop recommendations for Annual Progress Goals for 2013-14.

Community Involvement and the School Improvement Advisory Committee

Earlham Community Schools seeks the active participation of all stakeholder groups in its comprehensive school improvement efforts. The local School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC), representative of the diversity in the community, plays a significant role in establishing a close relationship between the school and community members. Having a strong SIAC promotes the community’s sense of ownership in the school system and gives valuable direction to the school district on educational priorities. Its primary purposes are to determine major educational needs and to make recommendations to the school board on prioritized student learning goals based on these needs.

As a board-appointed advisory committee, meetings of the SIAC are open to the public. Members of the community are welcome as interested observers. Anyone present who is not a committee member is an observer, not a participant, at the meeting. Any communication about topics addressed at the meeting can be arranged with one of the administrators at a later time or may be brought up at the public comment time at a regular school board meeting.

Roles of the School Improvement Advisory Committee

At five-year intervals, the SIAC analyzes needs assessment data and makes recommendations to the school board about the following:
1. Major educational needs
2. Student learning goals
3. Long-range goals including, but not necessarily limited to, the state indicators that address reading, mathematics, and science achievement
At least annually, the SIAC makes recommendations to the school board about the following:
1. Progress toward annual improvement goals on state indicators addressing reading, mathematics, and science achievement
2. Progress toward goals related to other locally determined indicators
3. Formulation of the next year’s annual improvement goals for the state indicators that address reading, mathematics, and science achievement
On an ongoing basis, the SIAC will monitor progress on student learning goals and provide feedback on educational needs.
The SIAC will be integrally involved in implementing the Iowa Core Curriculum, with particular emphasis on integrating the 21st Century Skills into the school curriculum.

Membership in the School Improvement Advisory Committee

As much as possible, membership on the School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC) should be a cross-section of the community and reflect its diversity in terms of socio-economic status, racial and ethnic groups, gender, disability status, age, local businesses, and agencies (clubs, organiz-ations, the faith community, local govern-ment, etc.). In order to gain diverse community input on specific topics of interest, the school district and/or School Improvement Advisory Committee may use ad hoc groups to explore separate initiatives.

In order to ensure the effective functioning of the committee, the following qualities will be sought when selecting members for the SIAC: collaboration; open-mindedness; a willingness to express diverse points of view; respecting the opinions of others; the ability to work to reach consensus; a willingness to support group decisions; being a good listener; a willingness to abide by the majority decisions of the committee; the ability to offer constructive solutions; staying focused on the tasks at hand; and supporting the direction of the school district and the Board of Education.

Appointment to the School Improvement Advisory Committee

The Earlham School Board will appoint members to the SIAC based on recommendations from the superintendent at the beginning of each school year. Committee members will serve for a three-year term and are eligible to serve a second three-year term if recommended by the superintendent and appointed by the board. After two consecutive three-year terms, another community representative will fill the open position in order to increase the number of stakeholders having a voice in the educational direction of the district. If a member resigns prior to the end of his/her three-year term, the same procedures outlined above will be used to fill the vacancy. The district will strive to have fifteen parents or community members and three teachers (Elem, MS, HS) serving three-year terms. Four students will be appointed each year from the high school to serve a two-year term. Whenever possible, the students selected will not have parents employed in the district or on the school board. The Superintendent, School Improvement Coordinator, Counselor, and Principals will serve on a continuing basis.

Meeting Times

As a usual practice, SIAC meetings will be held up to four times a year. These meetings will typically be held at 7:00 p.m. unless other activities or needs necessitate a change in time. The meetings will last approximately 1½ to 2 hours. Additional meetings may be scheduled on an as-needed basis.

Tentative Meeting Dates 2016-17

Current Members

Parents: Ann Presler, Connie Terry, Lynn Boyle, Keith Williamson, and Shannon Payne.

Students: Sara Balch (Class of 2018) and Grant Becker (Class of 2018), Maddie Young (Class of 2019), Dane Rasmussen (Class of 2019)

Community: Kevin Curran, Grant Detrick, David Morford and Hannah Yetter.

School Staff: Jody Dvorak (1st Grade Teacher), Brian Pabich (3rd Grade Teacher), Kayla Selby (Secondary Guidance Counselor), Donielle O'Brien (MS Social Studies Teacher), Mike Rogers (Secondary Vocational Teacher), Jon Peterson (TLC Instructional Coach), Jen Knight (Administrator), Jason Hammen (Administrator), Michael Wright (Administrator), Kasey Henke (School Board Member), Kathy Woolcott (School Board Member) and Tinna Walberg (AEA Regional Director).