The Iowa Judicial Branch's mission calls all of us, no matter our educational background or job responsibilities, to ensure that our courts are accessible and administer the law equally to all persons. Preparing our judicial officers and court staff for this critical work expands beyond attending an annual conference or a work-related task training.
During the last few years, Judicial Branch Education has grown its roles and responsibilities from solely offering substantive education to a limited group of individuals. Now, we are educating and training everyone within the judicial branch. This responsibility comes with a growing emphasis on strategically developing the leadership and professional development skills of all court staff and judicial officers using effective, data-supported best practices.
With expanded responsibilities comes an expanded name. As such, the newly-named Judicial Branch Education and Human Capital Development continues to cultivate all judicial officers and court staff's knowledge, skills, and abilities to deliver the Iowa Judicial Branch's shared mission. Each individual working for the courts is part of our “Human Capital.” Your experience and knowledge is an asset to the courts and your success is important to the success of the entire branch.
We achieve our goal in three key ways. First, we support the organization through Education Development, Implementation, Evaluation & Support by creating effective, relevant, and evidence-based instructional content. We are able to deliver more than our in-person trainings and statewide conferences by expanding our capacity to create digital instructional materials, offer self-paced online training and webinars, develop certification programs, and plan to procure a new learning management system at the end of the year.
Second, we provide Project Oversight support for various judicial branch committees and workgroups by leading effective educational programs that will benefit you and the branch. We provide technical education support to our Development and Unification Committees, lead educational product selection and evaluation efforts, and develop effective project managers from our dedicated workforce.
Third, we lead Human Capital Development by leveraging systematic and data-driven approaches to expanding the potential of every employee in the Iowa Judicial Branch. We are developing a holistic approach to leadership development and support the branch through organizational strategic planning, profession-specific needs assessments, and cultivating our workforce's understanding of diversity, inclusion, equity, and access to justice. In the last year, we have conducted needs assessments for our magistrates and juvenile court officers, partnered with a national leader in implicit bias and organizational culture assessment, and provided implicit bias and procedural fairness training to our new employees across the state.
The judicial branch is very fortunate to have creative and productive people working in courthouses across the state. As we continue to invest in our workforce to meet our citizens' needs and provide equitable and fair access to our institution, Judicial Branch Education & Human Capital Development is positioning itself to support and deliver on that important work.