Iowa Principal Leadership Academy

This program is offered through a partnership between Keystone AEA and Prairie Lakes AEA.

The Iowa Principal Leadership Academy (IPLA) provides a comprehensive framework for PK-12 principal certification in the state of Iowa and is licensed in other states on an individual basis. Requirement to enter the program is a master’s degree and a minimum of four years successful teaching.

The program is a dynamic design based on six problem-centered learning themes, predominantly field-based, related to the Iowa Standards for School Leaders. Each theme includes seminars, action research studies, action plans, portfolios, log of activities, toolbox activities, study of theory and research, and mentoring. Students engage in cohort groups over a two-year period. Faculty of the program is selected primarily from practitioners with expertise in the selected areas. Participants show evidence to meet the standards and criteria of the Iowa Standards for School Leaders and acquire necessary skills to become instructional leaders

Upon successful completion of this program, all students will need to complete and file an application for a conditional administrator license with the Board of Educational Examiners.