Administrator Connection to Go on Summer Break

As the school year winds down, so do our weekly Administrator Connection updates. Today is our last planned weekly update. We will communicate any important information via email during the summer. The blog will start up again around the middle of August. 

If you are leaving your district, please contact the Heartland AEA Communications Department at comms@aea11.k12.ia.us with your successor's name and e-mail address (if known). We won't take your e-mail address out of our e-mail distribution list until after July 1.

Reminder: Heartland AEA to Get New Website and Emails

We are very excited to announce new agency website which will go live in early June. Based on customer survey feedback and our usage data, the Agency decided to build a new website. Our communications department has done their best to make the new site more user-friendly with improved navigation and updated information. We appreciate your patience as we continue to add content in our new site throughout the summer.

With this new website, we will also get a new URL, www.heartlandaea.org. Users who try to access our old site (www.aea11.k12.ia.us) will be redirected to our new front page. If your district/school links to our website, thank you for your support and please redirect your link to www.heartlandaea.org before school starts in the fall.

We are also excited to announce that our staff email will also change over the summer to end with "@heartlandaea.org." Our current email addresses will continue to work for another year. We will have more information in the fall about the impact of our email changes for area schools.

We are committed to excellent service and believe our new website will help keep you aware of our services and activities. Please contact the Heartland AEA Communications Department at comms@aea11.k12.ia.us if you have any questions about the new website or agency emails.

Reminder: Paraeducator Updates

The paraeducator competency re-write is in progress, and the updated competencies for the paraeducator generalist and concentration areas such as special needs and early childhood will be going to the state board for review sometime in this fall. The online program for paras currently employed by Heartland area districts and schools will continue for 2013-14. Please make arrangements with your regional director if you need this training offered in your area.

As you consider the needs for paraeducators in your district and building, please be reminded of the Iowa Code requirement for cultivating diversity:

281—80.10(272)  Diversity.
80.10(1) Efforts toward racial, ethnic, and gender diversity among paraeducator candidates and unit faculty shall be documented.  In addition, diversity efforts shall include persons with disabilities, persons from different language and socioeconomic backgrounds, and persons from different regions of the country and world.
80.10(2) Unit efforts in increasing or maintaining diversity shall be reflected in plans, monitoring of plans, and results.

For questions regarding the paraeducator program at Heartland AEA, please contact Sue Schirmer at sschirmer@aea.k12.ia.us.

Title III Stipends for Our Kids Summer Institute

Title III will provide a stipend of $300 for up to 150 K-12 educators currently employed by schools in the Heartland region who participate in two full days of the Our Kids Summer Institute on June 18 and 19, 2013 at Waukee High School. (Des Moines Public Schools are not eligible to receive Title III funds though Heartland AEA.) Click here to register.

STEM Inquiry - IMPACT Summer Workshop

The University of Northern Iowa has again received funding to work with PreK-12 teachers to advance math and science instruction through a professional development program called IMPACT (IMPacting Achievement with Collaborations and Technology). This Title II program follows the Iowa Professional Development Model with a two week Summer Institute at UNI and ongoing education and support throughout the school year. Science and math teachers will be brought together with scientists through the GLOBE and STORM programs. Teachers will also integrate educational technology in their classroom units.


Participants are paid for their time and implementation. The workshop is free and housing/meals are provided. There is a credit option, including an earth science endorsement credits option from UNI and reaccreditation credits from the AEA. Click here for more information.