The following message comes to us from the desk of Thomas A. Mayes, Legal Consultant for the Bureau of Student & Family Support Services, Iowa Department of Education.
At its January meeting, Iowa’s State Board of Education adopted amendments to Iowa’s administrative rules of special education, which are effective on March 30, 2011. Those amendments:
- Make the Department’s enforcement actions associated with LEA/AEA determinations mandatory (“shall”), rather than discretionary (“may”). This is a requirement of federal law.
- Remove the term “preappeal,” and substitute “mediation” in its place. This is not a substantive change. The procedures associated with preappeal conferences will remain the same. The Department will still accept documents labeled as “preappeal requests.”
- Substitute the term “intellectual disability” for “mental disability.” This non-substantive change is authorized by recent federal legislation.
Since these rules changes are not large in number, the Department will prepare an insert sheet for the current (orange-covered) rules. That insert sheet will be available on or before the effective date of the rules. Questions can be directed to Thomas A. Mayes at Thomas.Mayes@iowa.gov or (515) 242-5614.
The Iowa College Student Aid Commission (Iowa College Aid) would like to announce an exciting new online financial literacy platform that will complement current curriculum. Iowa College Aid has partnered with EverFi, Inc., the industry leader in web-based financial literacy programs, to bring financial education to every high school in Iowa. The Iowa Financial Literacy Program is the latest enhancement to the statewide community web portal, www.IHaveAPlanIowa.gov.
The EverFi program is an award-winning 3D learning platform that teaches students over 600 core concepts of financial literacy. The six-hour, performance-based course is both interactive and engaging to students and aligns with the Iowa Core. The program allows students to work at their own speed while teachers have the ability to track their progress on an individual basis. The curriculum, which is best suited for students in the 11th or 12th grade, is a great capstone for a comprehensive K-12 program in financial literacy as outlined in the essential concepts and skills in Iowa Core. Although participation is voluntary, we urge you to take full advantage of this resource in your school.
Iowa College Aid and EverFi will be hosting four training webinars on February 8th, 9th, and 10th to demonstrate how teachers can begin using the Iowa Financial Literacy Program in the classroom. Register for one of the webinars by going to the following website:http://www.iowacollegeaid.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=62&Itemid=266
For more information, please contact Iowa College Aid at (877) 272-4456 or visit their financial literacy information page.
Principals Center Summer Institute: June 22-23
Lynn Erickson (back by popular demand) will be the speaker for the 2011 Principals Center Summer Institute which will be held June 22-23 at the West Des Moines Sheraton. The focus for the institute will be to discuss the principal's role in understanding and providing leadership for deep learning. Participants will also refine their Individual Administrator Professional Development Plans. Dr. Erickson will be joined on the second day with the 2010 National Teacher of the Year, Sarah Brown Wessling.Registration is $170 (which includes meals) and can be done at http://www.sai-iowa.org/ilapcreg/. For more information, click here.SAI Annual Conference: August 3-4
SAI’s Annual Conference will be held August 3-4, 2011 with a pre-conference on August 2. The pre-conference is intended for school administrators with teams of teachers and will focus on thinking to deeper levels, developing guiding questions and designing units of instruction for deep learning. More information about the conference and pre-conference will come later this spring.
The Urbandale Community School District will host the Langford Four-Day Quality Learning Seminar from June 13-16, 2011 in the Media Center at Urbandale High School. This intensive seminar will introduce you to Quality Learning principles, history, tools and applications to learning. Gain the vision, purpose and direction for quality implementation in your organization. For more information, click here to download a brochure for the event or visit the following website: http://www.langfordlearning.com/events/2011-urbandale-iowa-4-day-quality-learning-seminar/
A new reality is beginning to sweep across Iowa and the nation. There's a growing understanding that big changes are going to be needed in education for Iowa students to be successful learners, earners and citizens in the 21st Century.
"It's not just the rest of the nation that Iowa's kids have to compete with now. It's the rest of the world," said Iowa's incoming Director of Education, Jason Glass, when Governor Terry Branstad introduced him to the state recently.
To keep Iowa's education stakeholders up-to-date with this new reality, a new website is here to help. It's Iowa Future at http://iowafuture.org. You can also follow Iowa Future on Twitter at http://twitter.com/iowafuture.
Iowa Future is promoting the need for innovation — a willingness to abandon some of the ways of the past and try new things to provide a 21st Century education Iowa students need.The site is a forum for sharing ideas from across the state and nation, and highlighting work underway to prepare students for the future — the Iowa Future. The website will provide videos, discussion guides, presentation templates, testimonials, links to great resources and more. In addition visitors can offer fresh ideas of their own.
Five state education groups are collaborators on the site: Iowa Area Education Agencies, Iowa Association of School Boards, Iowa Department of Education, Iowa State Education Association and School Administrators of Iowa. The work is supported by a grant from The Wallace Foundation.
