Our Mission
To improve the learning outcomes and well-being of all children and youth by providing services and leadership in partnership with families, schools and communities.
Our Goals
- Increase learning growth for students
- Decrease the gap in achievement
- Increase annual graduation rates
- Increase gateways to post-secondary success
Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, all Heartland AEA offices will be closed Nov. 24 and 25. Our van delivery schedule will be as follows:
- Regular delivery Nov. 21-22
Regular delivery resumes Nov. 28. Additionally, there will be no Administrator Connection on Nov. 25.
The Heartland Administrators’ Association (HAA) will meet Dec. 6 from Noon - 1:00 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn Conference Center, 8600 Northpark Dr., Johnston, IA. For up-to-date meeting information and agenda, refer to the HAA Google Site.
The 2017 ELPA21 dates for testing, launch, paper and pencil, training and missing materials were shared at the Iowa Culture and Language Conference this week. Disseminate these slides widely within your districts as needed.
Iowa’s nine AEAs and AEA PD Online are collaborating to move our individual professional development/licensure programs to a statewide PD system, the benefits of which include:
- Access to PD opportunities through a statewide course catalog in a shared registration system.
- Greater equity and consistency to programming while reinforcing the value of learning and credit.
- Generating resources to help support quality PD/licensure programming.
Each AEA will be adjusting to the same participant fee structure to align with the statewide system. Changes for Heartland AEA participants will be effective Jan. 1, 2017. Heartland, as well as the statewide system, will also be increasing the instructor compensation.
For more information you can read the complete program details here or contact Brandie Gean at (515) 270-9030 Ext. 14459 or bgean@heartlandaea.org.
PRESS (Path to Reading Excellence in School Sites) Trainings are two-day learning opportunities for training cadre members, agency consultants and school leadership teams. The goal for PRESS and C4K is to train district and nonpublic school staff to use PRESS interventions for literacy at the targeted levels in grades K-6 while developing AEA and state capacity to support implementation within the Universal Instruction and Intervention System facilitation guides.
PRESS is integrating with the C4K statewide system and a variety of learning opportunities and resources for Iowa educators will be available to help establish a school-based system and practices for all K-6 students in order to become capable readers.
Registration Links:
Closing date for registration will be one week prior to the PRESS event.
Storm Lake
Jan. 12-13, 2017
Buena Vista University
Registration Link
Des MoinesJan. 25-26, 2017
Plymouth Congregational Church
Registration Link
The Nov. 2016 AEA Purchasing Foodservice Newsletter is available and includes topics such as cafeteria furniture trends and school lunch.
Keep Iowa Beautiful will award five $1,000 scholarships to Iowa high school seniors in 2017 in memory of Robert Byers, teacher and environmentalist. Students who plan to enroll in an Iowa college or university to study environmental science, community development, landscape architecture or architecture (historical emphasis) or community planning and sustainability are eligible to apply. For more information and to apply go to www.keepiowabeautiful.com/grants/byers. Applications are due Jan. 6, 2017.
America's Farmers Grow Ag Leaders, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund, is giving students the chance to earn a $1,500 scholarship in an ag-related field of study, with more than a half-million dollars in scholarships available. The Scholarship program is managed by the National FFA Scholarship Program but applicants are not required to be FFA members. For more information, visit www.GrowAgLeaders.com. Applications are due Feb. 1, 2017.
