Iowa Affirmative Action Report - Parents Defending Education

Key Takeaways

Des Moines Public Schools’ Affirmative Action Plan features a program for new teachers to earn a Masters degree in Culturally Responsive Leadership “free of charge” and includes a “higher starting salary.” The district also has a program that works with minority students to introduce them to the education profession through a “social justice lens.”
Grant Wood Area Education Agency’s Equal Employment Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Plan states that “under-representation may be one of several factors considered when making employment decisions among qualified individuals, but this is not the only factor.”
Pella Community School District’s Affirmative Action Plan includes adding a “plus factor” in the job application process, and directs administration to “screen [the] candidate pool” for the desired underrepresented candidates.
Sioux City Community School District’s Affirmative Action Plan states that from 2019-2021 the district “increased the number of minority elementary classroom teachers from 29 to 59.” Additionally, as part of progress towards reaching district goals, the plan includes “supporting professional development activities related to diversity, equity, and inclusivity” and “supporting multiple committees and teams devoted to diversity, equity, and inclusivity.”
Waterloo Community School District’s 2020 Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Plan includes a program titled Teach Waterloo which “provides financial resources and resilience support for Waterloo staff of color seeking a teaching certification.” In collaboration with the University of Northern Iowa College of Education, Waterloo Schools “contributes textbooks” and a “district liaison” while “McElroy Trust supports student tuition and fees.”
West Des Moines Community Schools’ Equal Employment Opportunity Affirmative Action Plan includes goals such as hiring “two secondary teachers who identify as a race/ethnicity that is underrepresented” and supporting staff affinity groups.

SUMMARY

Throughout the state of Iowa, school districts are required to create affirmative action plans which include numerical goals and progress updates which focus on remedying past and present practices that have lead to barriers in employment. Plans included in this report also serve a secondary purpose of promoting and advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion measures and ideology.

Most district affirmative action plans state a variation of the following introduction from the Des Moines Public Schools’ Affirmative Action Program:

[The plan] “has been developed to meet the requirements of Iowa Code Section 19B.11 and Department of Education rules in the Iowa Administrative Code, 281-Chapter 95 ‘Affirmative Action’ is defined as ‘action appropriate to overcome the effects of past or present practices, policies, or other barriers to equal employment opportunity.’ Thus, anti-discrimination law regulates what shall not be done and affirmative action law regulates what shall be done.”
“The goals are not to be treated or understood as rigid and inflexible quotas that must be met, but as reasonable aspirations toward correcting imbalance in the work force. Change can occur only when vacancies occur. In the selection process for filling vacancies in job groups where underrepresentation exists, race, sex or disability will serve as a selection criteria but will not be the sole criteria. Such elements, among other “job-related criteria”, will serve as a “plus” factor for individuals from an underrepresented group who are qualified for the position to be filled.”

To develop these goals, districts are to use the “relevant labor market” to determine “under-represented” status.

DISTRICT EXAMPLES

Des Moines Public Schools

Des Moines Public Schools’ Affirmative Action Program states that the district is committed to diversity, inclusion, and equity and views it as “fundamental and essential to the success of the Des Moines Public School District.” The district plan is “designed to further align the District with a culture that is reflective of our greater society by setting and achieving goals to further improve our workforce.”

The board establishes goals for the district which include the “percent of black male third grade students on track in reading will increase from 35% to 72% by June 2023, as measured by FAST” and the “percent of black male students earning a ‘B’ or higher in Algebra 1 by the end of 9th grade will increase from 17% to 35% by August 2023.”

The affirmative action plan includes “recruitment goals” such as the “increase in the number of teachers of color in kindergarten by 8%,” to “increase the number of teachers of color in First Grade by 8%,” to “increase the number of teachers of color in Second Grade by 5%,” to “increase the number of teachers of color in Third Grade by 5%,” to “increase the number of teachers of color in Fourth Grade by 5%,” and to “increase the number of teachers of color in Fifth Grade by 5%.”

Other recruitment goals in the program include what the district refers to as “Blue Contract,” a partnership between the district and Drake University for developing and promoting a Masters of Science in Education degree in Culturally Responsive Leadership and Instruction. The degree is available either for “new teachers who join DMPS on our BLUE contract are eligible to earn the degree – free of charge – through the additional professional development and training they will receive” or for ” veteran teachers may also earn the degree through Drake at a greatly reduced tuition rate.”

The degree program states that if “focuses on building a strong foundation in equity and cultural proficiency. Courses include “Culturally Responsive Teaching,” “Urban Education,” and “Equity in Mathematics.”

According to the plan, “new teachers on the BLUE contract earn a higher starting salary.”

The affirmative action program also includes what it calls “Dream to Teach,” which is “an extracurricular activity that aims to establish a supply line of minorities into a profession where they are underrepresented.”

The “extracurricular activity” includes the students taking courses that “introduce students to the profession of teaching and working in the field of education.” Course topics include examining “the history of education through a social justice lens” and “asks students to critique their own educational experiences and then offer equitable solutions for all students.” Another course has students examining “systemic injustices and the laws and policies that influence education today” and “the impacts of race, socioeconomic status, social/emotional health, language, and ways to become trans-formative educators in the future.”

District Strategic Plan

DMPS-Strategic-Plan Download

College Community School District

College Community School District’s Affirmative Action Plan states that the plan was developed to “assist the agency’s efforts to…actively work to overcome the effects of past or present practices, policies, or other barriers to equal employment opportunity.”

Included in the plan are “Numerical Goals” such as a “focus on increasing the hiring of qualified applicants who represent the BIPOC population of the Cedar Rapids area to bring the staff representation to a minimum of 11% BIPOC.”

The same goal of a “minimum of 11% BIPOC” representation applies to other job categories such as elementary and secondary classroom teachers.

Grant Wood Area Education Agency

The Grant Wood Area Education Agency’s Equal Employment Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Plan states that “numerical hiring goals are to be established for each major job category where under-representation exists” and that the “goals are not treated as quotas to be met but are considered reasonable objectives where efforts are made for the agency’s workforce to reflect a comparable balance with area demographics.”

The plan also states that “under-representation may be one of several factors considered when making employment decisions among qualified individuals, but this is not the only factor.”

The Agency’s 2024-2026 proposed numerical goals include hiring at least three individuals from “under-represented groups” for the job category of “professional.”

A review of the Agency’s “progress toward Qualitative Goals for 2022-2024 EEO/AA Plan” states that “visible professional development opportunities” meant to “build cultural awareness and support a cultural proficiency” included topics such as “Using PBIS to Increase Equity in Schools” and “Teach Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Through (not instead of) Academics.”

The Agency also offered “microcredentials” such as “Building a Foundation of Community and Belonging” and “Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in the Classroom.”

The review also states that Agency “participated in a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion assessment that was available to area employers through Inclusive ICR, a local coalition with a mission to grow diversity and inclusion in the workforce throughout the region.” The “DEI Index” was used to evaluate the Agency “through the lens of five DEI pillars: CEO Commitment, Diverse Suppliers, Diverse People, Internal Policy and Community Outreach” and “highlighted where an employer is thriving in the DEI space and identified areas in need of attention and opportunities to grow.”

Pella Community School District

Pella Community School District’s Affirmative Action Plan states that the district hiring goals and strategies center around hiring staff based on sex, minority, and/or disability status. The plan includes adding a “plus factor” in the job application process, and directs administration to “screen [the] candidate pool” for the desired underrepresented candidates.

The program lays out how the district will “increase the participation of women, minorities and persons with disabilities in positions in which those groups are underrepresented.”

The plan states that the “following goals are not intended to be quotas” but rather “represent hiring targets in underrepresented groups.” It then lays out “hiring targets” and strategies to reach those targets. For example, one strategy is to “screen [the] candidate pool with special attention to female and minority applicants.”

According to the document, “affirmative action” law “regulates what will be done.” This includes developing “objectives” to “attempt to eradicate the underrepresentation.” It also claims that the “objectives are not to be treated or understood as rigid and inflexible quotas that must be met, but as reasonable aspirations toward correcting imbalance in the workforce.” It continues: “Change can occur only when vacancies in job groups were underrepresentation exists, race, sex or disability will serve as selection criteria but will not be the sole criteria; such elements will serve as a ‘plus’ factor for individuals from an underrepresented group who are equally qualified for the position to be filled.”

West Des Moines Community Schools

West Des Moines Community Schools’ Equal Employment Opportunity Affirmative Action Plan states that the purpose of the plan is to “ensure that equal opportunity is provided for all individuals in all aspects of employment within the West Des Moines Community Schools.” It also states that “goals” for “underrepresented” groups such as “women or minorities” are “determined by the availability of qualified people in the relevant labor market and the race or gender composition of those qualified individuals.”

District numerical goals for 2024-2026 include hiring “two administrative leaders who identify as a race/ethnicity that is underrepresented,” hiring “three male elementary teachers,” and hiring “two secondary teachers who identify as a race/ethnicity that is underrepresented.”

Qualitative goals include providing “continuous professional learning opportunities/resources/communities on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion subjects, education and employment laws, data, and strategies” and providing “spaces that support staff affinity groups, healing, and mentorship.”

DISTRICTS

The following is not a comprehensive list of all districts that have affirmative action plans. The districts listed here have been vetted for containing “numerical goals” as it pertains to hiring based on “underrepresented” status. The linked plans are the most current ones available on the district websites.

Adel DeSoto Minburn Community Schools

Bondurant-Farrar Community School District

Center Point-Urbana Community School District

Cherokee Community School District

Clinton Community School District

College Community School District

Davenport Community Schools

Davis County Community School District

Des Moines Public Schools

Grant Wood Area Education Agency

Great Prairie Area Education Agency

Hampton-Dumont Community School District