Sturgis Named Director of Assessment, Data and Evaluation

Josie Sturgis is the Director of Assessment, Data and Evaluation at Des Moines Public Schools.

After spending the past several months in an interim role, Des Moines Public Schools is pleased to announce that Jocelyn Sturgis will serve as the district’s Director of Assessment, Data and Evaluation.

In this position Sturgis oversees the team that maintains monitoring of School Board goals and guardrails; supports assessment in schools and evaluation of district programs; monitors and facilitates integration of multiple federal programs; serves as the accountability officer for state compliance and school improvement; ensures data system compliance with federal and state laws; and serves on the district’s executive cabinet.

“I look forward to working with teams across the district to provide high quality data access and support and create meaningful opportunities for continuous improvement,” said Sturgis. “I am so grateful for this opportunity to continue my own journey of becoming here at DMPS.”

“Josie is an important member of our leadership team at DMPS, providing critical data and information on the progress being made throughout our schools while reminding us that each data point represents a student who we are supporting in their education and growth,” noted Dr. Ian Roberts, superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools.

Sturgis first joined Des Moines Public Schools in October 2018 as a program evaluator on the assessment and data team. Prior to that she was a fiscal analysist for the non-partisan Iowa Legislative Services Agency where she focused on school state aid and education policy.

Sturgis earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Grinnell College and a Masters of Science in early childhood education from the University of Rochester.