The "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" examines what is arguably the single most powerful authority over the teaching profession: state government. This Iowa edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's (NCTQ's) "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" is the first of what will be an annual look at the status of state policies impacting the teaching profession. It is hoped that this report will help focus attention on areas where state policymakers could make improvements to benefit both students and teachers. This policy evaluation is broken down into six areas that include a total of 27 goals. Broadly, these goals examine the impact of state policy on the preparation, certification, licensure, compensation and effectiveness of teachers across the elementary, secondary and special education spectra. Iowa's progress toward meeting these goals is summarized here. While Iowa has met some of NCTQ's goals, there is significant room for improvement in all areas. Iowa completely missed 10 goals, met a small portion of nine, partially met six and fully met two. The state's best performance is in Area 3, "Teacher Evaluation and Compensation," due to its support for differential pay and its plans to pilot a performance pay program. Iowa has the most work to do in Area 5, "Alternate Routes to Certification." Iowa has demonstrated its support for differential pay by providing financial incentives for teacher recruitment and retention in shortage subject areas. The state will also pilot a teacher performance pay plan. The state, however, needs to improve the serious structural flaws and inflexible admissions standards in its alternate route to certification. The body of the report provides a more detailed breakdown of the state's strengths and weaknesses in each area. Detailed rationale and "Food for Thought" for each area and corresponding goal are appended. (Contains 72 figures.) [Additional funding for this first edition of the "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" was provided by provided by the Achelis Foundation, Bodman Foundation, Daniel's Fund, Fisher Family Foundation, Gleason Foundation, and The Teaching Commission. This state report is part of NCTQ's State Teacher Policy Yearbook series. For the national summary, see ED506661.]