School Leader Update, January 2006

Monthly newsletter produced by Iowa Department of Education

School Leader Update, February 2006

Monthly newsletter produced by Iowa Department of Education

School Leader Update, March 2006

Monthly newsletter produced by Iowa Department of Education

School Leader Update, April 2006

Monthly newsletter produced by Iowa Department of Education

School Leader Update, May 2006

Monthly newsletter produced by Iowa Department of Education

Is a Combined School/Public Library Right for Your Community?

This document is intended to assist Iowa communities in making informed decisions on combining school and public library services. It provides decision-makers with a means of assessing the feasibility of establishing a combined library and, if the decision is made to proceed, with a Planning Guide that addresses the many areas of library operations that need to be considered if the combined library is to be successful. Alternatives to combining libraries exist. Contracted services provide one such option. There are many areas where school and public libraries can and should collaborate in order to provide better service to the community. These alternatives are also outlined in this document.

Report on Special Investigation of the Boone Community School District, For the Period July 1, 2001 through November 30, 2005

Other Audit Reports - Special Investigation

Mid-Iowa School Improvement Consortium, Independent Auditor's Reports, Basic Financial Statements and Schedule of Findings, June 30, 2005

Other Audit Reports - 28E Organizations

Motivation, Test Scores, and Economic Success

This paper argues that low-stakes test scores, available in surveys, may be partially determined by test-taking motivation, which is associated with personality traits but not with cognitive ability. Therefore, such test score distributions may not be informative regarding cognitive ability distributions. Moreover, correlations, found in survey data, between high test scores and economic success may be partially caused by favorable personality traits. To demonstrate these points, I use the coding speed test that was administered without incentives to National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY) participants. I suggest that due to its simplicity its scores may especially depend on individuals' test-taking motivation. I show that controlling for conventional measures of cognitive skills, the coding speed scores are correlated with future earnings of male NLSY participants. Moreover, the coding speed scores of highly motivated, though less educated, population (potential enlists to the armed forces) are higher than NLSY participants' scores. I then use controlled experiments to show that when no performance-based incentives are provided, participants' characteristics, but not their cognitive skills, affect effort invested in the coding speed test. Thus, participants with the same ability (measured by their scores on an incentivized test) have significantly different scores on tests without performance- based incentives.

Report of Recommendations to the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School, June 30, 2005

Other Audit Reports - Regent Institutions

School Leader Update, September 2006

Monthly newsletter produced by Iowa Department of Education

Report of Recommendations to the Iowa School for the Deaf, June 30, 2005

Other Audit Reports - Regent Institutions

Boone Community School District, Independent Auditor's Reports, Basic Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, June 30, 2005

Community School District Audit Report

Report on the Special Investigation of the Nutrition Department of the Boone Community School District, For the Period August 30, 2004 through March 31, 2006 and Selected Activity for the period February 28, 2000 through March 31, 2006

Community School District Audit Report - Special Investigation