General Education Workshops being held through April

"Supporting All Learners Through General Education Interventions" workshops will be held on various dates in April. These workshops will update participants on new rules about general education interventions and will provide an opportunity for building leaders to develop capacity to provide professional learning about general education interventions for their teaching staff. Click here for more information.

"How To Stay Focused on Teaching and Learning in Tough Economic Times" Workshop to be offered in May

As school leaders face difficult budget decisions, focusing on teaching and learning is even more challenging. Click here for information on a one-day workshop with Dr. Allan Odden who will offer strategies to assist in squeezing the most out of your education dollars.

The workshop will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on May 12 for 1A-3A districts and May 13 for 4A districts. Register online at http://www.sai-iowa.org/stayfocused/.

Short Videos: "A 21st Century Education"

Go to the Mobile Learning Institute's website to view a series of short videos on school reform. The videos may be used with staff, school boards or community members to start, extend or nudge the conversation about how to make change in education happen. Videos can be viewed online or downloaded by going to the below URL address.

http://www.mobilelearninginstitute.org/21stcenturyeducation/

Iowa Reading Association sets date for 2011 Reading Conference

Next year's Iowa Reading Conference will be held on April 7-8, 2011. The Association hopes to boost their attendance by asking schools if they would be willing to plan an in-service day on one of the Iowa Reading Conference days next year. Your district can save money on hiring substitute teachers and will get a quality professional development day as well.

There are many highly respected speakers already confirmed for next year's event. Patrick Allen, who recently wrote a book on conferring, will be one of the Keynote speakers. Valerie Ellery will also be attending and will share her ideas on creating strategic readers.

Other great speakers for 2011
David Schwartz: How Much is a Million?
Donalyn Miller: Book Whisperer/Middle School level
Aimee Buckner: Notebook Know How/Middle School level
Mike Artell: Fun speaker and author
David Nieves: Writing with Reptiles
...and possibly Frances Kennedy, an Iowa author

If you would like further information on next year's conference you may contact Julie Neal, Vice President of the Iowa Reading Association, at jneal@jefferson-scranton.k12.ia.us.

Iowa AEA Customer Satisfaction Survey open until April 9

This is a gentle reminder that the AEA Customer Satisfaction Survey will remain open until Friday, April 9. The survey provides us with your insight on how to improve our services to your school(s), staff and students.

We recently sent a reminder email this week and will continue to send reminders through early April to insure that all district staff have a chance to participate. Since the survey is anonymous, we have no way of knowing who has contributed and who has not. You and each of your staff members are only asked to fill out the survey once. After you complete the survey, you may disregard the reminder notices.

The survey can be accessed at http://survey.aea267.k12.ia.us/survey/5558/1299/.

Please encourage all of your staff to participate. If you have already completed the survey, we thank you for your support!

Iowa Core Curriculum Update

Leadership for the Iowa Core Year Two, Day Three sessions are quickly approaching. There are still opportunities to register if you have not already done so. The session will focus on updates for the six outcomes, future plans, information about collaborative teams and their role in outcome 6, and time for teams to engage in implementation planning. A team needs to register for and attend just one Day Three session, as the content will be repeated at each location. Please note each is a full day session.

Participants must register for the session they plan to attend using the online registration on Heartland’s website, www.aea11.k12.ia.us. Click on Course Catalog in the Quick Links on the lower left hand side, enter the appropriate activity number and continue with your registration information.

Date: Thursday, April 8, 2010
Time: 8:30 a.m.‐3:30 p.m. with lunch on your own
Locations:
1. Third Reformed Church, 708 East 13th Street, Pella
Activity number: DR287099991013

2. First United Methodist Church, 307 W Ashland Ave, Indianola
Activity number: DR287099991014

3. Botanical Center, 909 Robert D. Ray Drive, Des Moines
Activity number: DR287099991015

OR

Date: Monday, April 12, 2010
Time: 8:30 a.m.‐3:30 p.m. with lunch on your own
Location: Zion Lutheran Church, 4300 Beaver Ave, Des Moines
Activity number: DR287099991016

OR

Date: Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Time: 8:30 a.m.‐3:30 p.m. with lunch on your own
Locations:
1. Carrollton Inn, 1730 US Highway 71 North, Carroll
Activity number: DR287099991017

2. Oakwood Road Church, 2400 Oakwood Road, Ames
Activity number: DR287099991018

3. Zion Lutheran Church, 4300 Beaver Ave, Des Moines
Activity number: DR287099991019

If you have questions or need assistance, please contact: Linda Biermann Hoobin, Teaching and Learning Consultant for the Iowa Core, lhoobin@aea11.k12.ia.us, 515-270-0405 extension 14327.

Workshop to help link Iowa schools to healthy, local food sources

School food-service directors play a crucial role in the health of Iowa's children, according to Andrea Geary coordinator of the Northern Iowa Food & Farm Partnership (NIFFP) housed at the University of Northern Iowa's Center for Energy & Environmental Education.

NIFFP is sponsoring an educational workshop for food-service directors, farmers, community members and interested individuals to show how food service directors can serve healthy, fresh food to students through a farm-to-school food program. The workshop will be from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Thursday, April 15, at UNI's Malcolm Price Lab School.

Click here to download a flyer for the workshop. The event is open to the public. Registration is required; the $30 registration fee includes lunch. To register contact Geary at andrea.geary@uni.edu or (319) 273-7883.

NIFFP is the co-lead agency for the Midwest National Farm to School Network (NFTSN) and works with farm-to-school programs in the Waterloo Community School, Independence Community School District, and UNI's Price Laboratory School. Find more information at www.niffp.org.

Grant Wood AEA to host Suicide Prevention Workshop

Grant Wood Area Education Agency is hosting a conference on suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention. Click here for a flyer that describes the conference which will be held in Cedar Rapids on April 12, 2010.

Redesigned Heartland AEA Website to Launch March 16

After many months of hard work and collaboration, Heartland AEA is pleased to announce that the Agency will launch its redesigned website by the end of the day on Tuesday, March 16. We are confident that the new site will improve communication between the Agency and our clients and partners.

The redesigned site is the culmination of the work of Heartland's Web Redesign Committee and many staff members who have updated and enhanced the site’s content to better reflect the myriad of programs and services that the Agency offers. The new site is designed to reflect a more modern website by representing everything an organization has to offer, answering clients’ questions and providing timely and accurate information. The redesign was created with input from our stakeholders and was designed with the end-user in mind. You should find the arrangement of content and navigation much more user-friendly. Major content areas are arranged by audience, namely Parents, Educators, Leaders, Job Seekers and Partners. These areas should guide site visitors to the content they need in a much easier way.

The URL of the site hasn’t changed; it is still http://www.aea11.k2.ia.us. Please take some time to look through the site to see what is new and improved. When talking with your staff members and parents or anyone who may be interested, we’d appreciate if you would make it a point to let them know about our redesigned site.

If you find any areas that you have concerns about, please send an e-mail to comms@aea11.k12.ia.us, and we will do our best to address your concern. We’d also appreciate hearing your positive feedback about the site. If you find it more user-friendly and helpful, let us know!

Superintendents: March HAA Minutes

Click here for the minutes from the March Heartland Administrators Association meeting. The next meeting will be April 6 at the West Des Moines Learning Center.

I-CASE to host PBIS Session April 29

The Iowa Council of Administrators of Special Education (I-CASE) will host a Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS) framework session on April 29, 2010 at the Holiday Inn on Fleur Drive in Des Moines. Participants will learn about current research about PBIS practices and receive support on implementing procedures for establishing a proactive school-wide behavior management plan. Click here for an informational brochure and registration form.

Iowa Department of Education to Launch Iowa Transcript Center

In May, the Iowa Department of Education will launch the Iowa Transcript Center, a statewide electronic student record and transcript exchange system free to public school districts, colleges and universities. In preparation, workshops to introduce the electronic transcript initiative have been scheduled as follows:

• March 31 Green Valley AEA, 1405 North Lincoln, Icaria & Nishnabotna Rooms, Creston
• April 1 Indian Hills Community College, 623 Indian Hills Drive, Bennett Student Services Center, Room 100, Ottumwa
• April 5 AEA 267, 3712 Cedar Heights Drive, Rooms B/C, Cedar Falls
• April 6 Des Moines Area Community College, 2006 South Ankeny Blvd., Conference Center/IA Culinary

The workshop will be offered twice at each site. Participants can register to attend either a morning session (9:00-11:00 a.m.) or an afternoon session (1:00 pm-3:00 p.m.).

In addition to a demonstration of the Iowa Transcript Center, the workshop will also include discussion of security, timeline, and opportunities for training as well as an update on several other Department of Education initiatives. The data elements to be included in the transcripts will be discussed in detail.

For more information about the Iowa Transcript Center, go to the DE's website. To register for one of the workshop sessions, go to the DE Calendar at http://www.iowa.gov/educate/calendar/calendar.html. Registration will close one week prior to the event.

Questions about the workshop can be addressed to Coleen McClanahan at (515) 233-1074 or c_mcclanahan@msn.com.

Midwest Educational Leadership Conference scheduled for June 21-23

The 27th Annual Midwest Educational Leadership Conference (MELC) is scheduled for June 21-23, 2010 at the Mountain Thunder Lodge in Breckenridge, Colorado. The conference will include a session on Response to Intervention Model of Positive Behavior Interventions, a tutorial on understanding and implementing IDEA and an update on federal policy issues. Click here for an informational pamphlet and registration form.

AEA Customer Satisfaction Survey to Launch March 8

The melting snow and warming weather brings another spring tradition – it’s that time of year again when we ask that you fill out the AEA Customer Satisfaction survey. Next Monday, March 8 you and your staff will receive an email asking that you complete the 2010 AEA Customer Satisfaction survey. The Subject line of the email will read “AEA Customer Satisfaction Survey.” The survey will be available March 8 through April 9.

The survey provides us with your insight on how to improve our services to your school(s) and students. Last year, we were delighted of our high response rate and hope that we can achieve those souring numbers (or higher) this year.

We will be sending reminders throughout the month of March and early April. Since the survey is anonymous, we have no way of knowing who has contributed and who has not. You are only asked to fill out the survey once. After you complete the survey, you may disregard the reminder notices.

Please remind all your staff to participate. We look forward to your input!

IEP and Medicaid Basics for School Nurses

Please notify your school nurse of the upcoming IEP and Medicaid Basics training on April 14, 2010. The purpose of the program is to provide education for school nurses on the individualized educational plan (IEP), the Medicaid reimbursement program, and the individualized health plan (IHP). Given all the budget shortfalls, more schools are electing to bill Medicaid.

This workshop will prepare school nurses to be an active and knowledgeable participant in the billing process. Click here for an agenda and registration form. Participants may also register by going to the Heartland Professional Development catalog on our home page. They then can copy activity number: NU001692111001 and paste it into the search box on the registration page in the browser.

Special Education Administrative Rules of Special Education Manual

You may access the 2010 Special Education Administrative Rules of the Special Education Manual by clicking here. There is also a supplement found here containing some changes since the original writing, dated January 20, 2010.

Cool Apps for Your iTouch

Heartland AEA supports the Department of Education’s eWalk initiative through training and issuing iPod Touches to administrators. The eWalk software is intended to assist school leaders in gathering data while conducting classroom walk-throughs. It is a free application for Iowa administrators and collects, analyzes and stores teacher observation data. The results are uploaded to the web for instant data analysis for creating reports.

Heartland now has a fresh supply of iPod Touches for administrators. The cost continues to be $100 each. If interested in eWalk training and/or for obtaining iPod Touches, please contact:
Toy Waterman at ext. 14541 or twaterman@aea11.k12.ia.us
Mary Johnson (515) 270-0405 ext. 14528 or mjohnson@aea11.k12.ia.us

When you get your iTouch, make sure to check out Connect Pro Mobile. The AEAs often use Adobe Connect Pro to produce webinars. There is now an app so you can participate in those unique situations when a desktop or laptop computer is not available.

To learn more about Connect Pro Mobile, go to http://www.connectusers.com/tutorials/2010/02/connectpromobile/. Download the app from the App Store or go to http://itunes.com/apps/AdobeAcrobatConnectProMobile. Webex is another commonly used webinar platform--there's also an app for that.

ISU AMS Severe Weather Poster Contest

Iowa State University Student Chapter of the American Meteorological Society (ISU AMS)is sponsoring a Severe Weather Awareness Poster Contest. They are looking for posters that illustrate ways to prepare for severe weather in Iowa (floods, tornadoes, lightning, etc). Winners and honorable mentions will be chosen for two age groups, K-3 and 4-6. Prizes for the winners may include certificates, weather calendars, window clings, NOAA weather radios and more. The posters must be postmarked by April 2nd and arrive by April 6th (the Tuesday of Iowa's Severe Weather Awareness Week).

Additional information, such as where to mail the posters, is available on their website at http://www.geology.iastate.edu/ams/community/posters.php. You may also click here for a flyer for distribution to your teacher and students with contest information. Any questions can be directed to Shannon Rabideau at posters.isuams@iastate.edu.