Over the course of this school year, Iowa's statewide AEA system will partner with the Hanover Research company to conduct a research study to determine how much our stakeholders know about AEA services. The study will ask not only how much people know about our services, but how much they rely on them and how helpful they perceive those services to be. This is being done as a follow-up to the efficiency study conducted last year and also as a response to the Iowa Legislature's serious consideration of reducing the number of AEAs during the 2018 session.
Chapter 273 of the Iowa Code states that AEAs were created to provide effective, efficient and economical educational services to Iowa's children and students. AEA leadership has always referred to these as the "three E's." We feel like last year's study identified many of the efficiencies our agencies create for school districts, and we plan to continue to point those out to our stakeholders at every opportunity.
The desire of Iowa's AEAs this year is to research and better understand where our system stands on what I believe is the most import of the three "E's": equity. We continually find optimal ways to provide new and innovative services across our state. The problem we experience in our self-advocacy, though, is that our stakeholders and legislators can have a tendency to view variance as a weakness. Our AEAs tirelessly promote our many successes to stakeholders every year, but we frequently hear responses such as, "It's great that people in that region or that AEA receive such a great service, but I hear it's not available here."
Unfortunately, we live in a time when many want to typify the health of any public system by its perceived weaknesses and not its strengths. The goal of this year's study is not to rank or evaluate the nine agencies, it's to identify how much various stakeholders across the state know about our services and how likely they are to rely on them. This will hopefully help us better clarify our core services and allow us to build the new partnerships necessary to make sure that every stakeholder, no matter where they live, has equitable access to our services.
I believe we're going to learn that our nine agencies are surprisingly consistent in providing what stakeholders have grown to consider core services. That's the good news. We're going to be able to show that regardless of zip code, quality core service is being provided to stakeholders by every AEA. I also hope we learn how various AEAs are excelling in specific service areas and how other AEAs are providing unique value-added services that perhaps aren't universally available. If we can achieve this higher level of awareness as an AEA system, we can begin the important work of enhancing both efficiency and equity for all our stakeholders. We'll continue to share more information about the study with you as it develops.
For your action....
How can you as an AEA staff member help prepare for this study? First, I would ask you to become even more familiar with the services our agency provides so you can be an ambassador for your colleagues and Iowa's AEAs. We are complex organizations, and most of us are involved in highly specialized work. Even so, we need to know enough about the work being done outside our areas of expertise to help stakeholders make connections to other service areas already available. We don't all need to be experts about every service area, but we do need to be informed. (If you are new to the Agency (or even not-so-new), I would direct you to our agency website to review our service areas or to YouTube to view some of our videos.)
Second, let's remember to resist the urge to complain about or criticize our colleagues and customers. We are here to serve and support, not judge and criticize. People have heard me talk about this before, but it continues to be vitally important that we stay positive when talking about our colleagues and customers. The next time we're tempted to point out someone's shortcomings, let's step back and see if we can substitute curiosity for judgment. Judgment leads to division. Curiosity leads to collegiality, empathy and solution. When we encounter a new challenge, our first inclination should be to reach out and collaborate, not complain about the problem. All of us feel honored when a colleague reaches out for help or advice--it can be energizing for both parties. Complaining, on the other hand, is an energy drain and has the opposite effect on a relationship.
And lastly, continue to work hard to do your very best. I couldn't be prouder of the quality of work I see on a daily basis. Keep it up! You are doing important work, and you are appreciated. Thank you for what you do and for making central Iowa a better place for children.
- Jon
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