Unfortunately, the original February 4 session with Brandon Busteed, Executive Director at Gallup Education, was snowed out. Fortunately, we were able to book Busteed later this spring!
We will hold a presentation for superintendents during the Heartland Administrators’ Association Meeting on Tuesday, May 6, and an additional session for principals, district administrators and curriculum directors will be held that afternoon from 1:00-3:00 p.m. Busteed will share research findings of how schools are increasing student engagement, hope and well-being and why these measures are more important than tests and grades. It will be a great opportunity for superintendents or principals to bring in school teams.
Click here to register. Use the sharing functions below to email this post to interested teachers or post on your professional blog, Twitter, Facebook or Google+ pages.
Iowa’s school districts are expected to promote effective evidence-based programming, instruction and assessment practices to support all students to become proficient readers by the end of the third grade. As one step toward meeting these expectations, most districts have indicated a plan to implement the Iowa TIER system and its related assessments, FAST and IGDI, for the 2014-15 school year. This is the system currently being piloted by 10% of Iowa's elementary schools.
Regional trainings for the Iowa TIER system are coming, and training dates and signup procedures will be distributed in the near future. Please consult among your administrative and leadership teams, including the technology and curriculum directors, to determine if your district will use this system next year. Districts that wish to participate in this training must be able to meet a list of technical requirements for implementing the Iowa TIER system.
To help confirm implementation plans and ensure and support district technology infrastructure, Lance Wilhelm, Heartland AEA Director of Technology, and/or members of the agency’s technology department, will be in contact with all area districts in March. If you have questions, Lance can be reached at lwhilhelm@heartlandaea.org or (515) 270-9030.
More detailed information about the new expectations and requirements, the Iowa TIER system and other approved literacy assessments that districts may use is available on the Iowa Department of Education website at: https://www.educateiowa.gov/early-literacy-implementation
Congratulations to the following awardees of the Teacher Leadership and Compensation grant announced earlier this week be the Iowa Department of Education.
Colo-NESCO
Earlham
Gilbert
Johnston
North Polk
Norwalk
Panorama
Pella
Roland-Story
Saydel
Southeast Polk
Van Meter
West Des Moines
Winterset
To read the full Department press release, click here.
Heartland AEA is beginning to post some of the TLC grants that were funded in Year 1 on the TLC Google Site.
Remember crawling into a STARLAB portable dome to learn about astronomy and other things? We have Classic and Digital STARLAB portable domes available for checkout at Heartland AEA! To use the domes, teachers must receive training. Our next class is March 31 at our West Des Moines Campus. More details are below. Click here to learn more about our STARLABs.
Classic STARLAB Training
Date: March 31, 2014
Time: 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Location: Room 117, Sanctuary of Heartland AEA West Des Moines Campus (815 8th Street, West Des Moines)
Activity Number: SC009792111401
Description: This workshop addresses the care and use of the Classic STARLAB portable planetarium. The Classic STARLAB is the “traditional” STARLAB that uses various cylinders to project celestial bodies, etc. onto the planetarium dome.
Digital STARLAB Training
Date: March 31, 2014
Time: 8:30-11:30 a.m.
Location: Room 117, Sanctuary of Heartland AEA West Des Moines Campus (815 8th Street, West Des Moines)
Activity Number: SC009892111401
Description: This workshop addresses the care and use of the Digital STARLAB portable planetarium. Participants will learn how to setup and take down the STARLAB, as well as learn the basic functions of the software (Starry Night Small Dome) that powers the Digital STARLAB. A MacBook Pro computer that comes with the kit operates the planetarium software.
Use the sharing functions below to email this post to interested teachers or post on your professional blog, Twitter, Facebook or Google+ pages.
The Agency has successfully made it through the first month of the Johnston REC HVAC remodeling project, and things are progressing largely on schedule. As was previously communicated, our Johnston REC building will be completely closed the week of March 15-22. No one will be allowed in the building during this week, and there will be no van delivery to schools. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but tried to schedule this interruption when many schools are on spring break.
We would appreciate it if you would pass this message on to everyone in your district/school.
Click here to download the March 2014 issue of the School Leader Update from the Iowa Department of Education. In this month’s issue, Department Director Brad Buck writes about the Teacher Leadership and Compensation roll out, while Department Attorney Nicole Proesch outlines the specifics of the law regarding snow days. And Department Policy Liaison Mike Cormack writes about how emotion can enter into the ongoing debate over education issues.
The Jacobson Institute for Youth Entrepreneurship is running a Quick Pitch Biz Competition for high school students in grades 9-12. Students don't need a business background or existing business. All they need is an idea to compete!
Competitors need:
• Motivation
• Passion
• Good idea
Students can compete using a new or existing business/invention/innovation idea OR build off an innovation developed from an existing program.
Click here for more information. Deadline to submit Application and 1-page Executive Summary is Friday, April 11.
The dissemination of information from external organizations by Heartland AEA does not imply sponsorship or endorsement of the information. It is being passed on to our stakeholders for its educational value.
