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ELDON, IOWA -- The Cardinal School District did not need to search far for their new superintendent.

Joel Pedersen was right down the road, serving as a Davis County Principal.

Why did the award-winning principal choose Cardinal to start his superintendent-career?

“Personally, my family wanted to stay close in the area, so that was one of the things that got us thinking about being at Cardinal,” said Pedersen. “Also, it's a very innovative district with the one-to-one initiative, a laptop for every student, sixth grade - 12th. Also, just the teachers wanting to really improve instruction...that was very evident during my interview process, that people want to improve and so that's exciting.”

Pedersen says he has been welcomed with great respect and kindness, and the job is rewarding and exciting, both professionally and personally.

He explains his superintendent philosophy and what his plans for the district are.

“The bottom-line is continuous improvement. My thought is always going to be, ‘we're going to continue to get better,’ and that starts with me. Everyday, I need to work hard to get better and learn more about how I can support the district. So, continuous improvement and also to build quality relationships with everyone, from the community to the students, to staff... if we do that, good things will happen for Cardinal.”

What are the differences between his former principal-position, and his current?

“It’s really a different role, some of the same things you do as far as connecting with people, problem solving... it’s there, but it’s a little different as far as needing to focus on finance, keeping the school district fiscally sound, and also working to keep facilities in good working order.”

Pedersen says it’s no secret the district needs to improve student achievement.

“I think that's one of the areas we need to focus on, and really our focus needs to be on instruction. Everything that we've talked about with professional development will be about improving instruction. The great thing is there's lots of methods that are proven to help instruction-improvement and we just need to make sure we're using those in the classroom and giving our teachers the support that they need pre-K - 12, to improve instruction.”

He says the best part of his new job is meeting new students, giving students the tools they need to become successful, and meeting teachers who want to see good things happen for the district.

There are a few things he would like to improve upon.

“First of all, one of the things we're focusing on is improving school culture, and if we do that, we can improve instruction. We've started a new program of what we call intervention, where we identify students that need extra help with instruction, so we can provide them extra help during the school day, two days a week, so we really think that's going to provide a boost in our student achievement.”

Pedersen says the school board will soon meet with him to identify goals for him in regard to student achievement, fiscal principles and school culture. In the spring, they will meet again to follow-up on what is successful and what needs to be improved.