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
In May 2016, the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Redesign initiative was signed into Iowa law in an effort to be in line with Future Ready Iowa, an effort launched by former Gov. Branstad and current Gov. Reynolds. The purpose of the CTE Redesign is to:
- Improve access to high-quality CTE through a statewide system of regional planning partnerships to assist school districts in providing an effective, efficient and economical means of delivering programs.
- Encourage alignment of secondary CTE offerings to in-demand occupations to meet the needs of employers.
- Reform career and academic planning and CTE programming to encourage students to explore opportunities aligned to their interests through holistic career guidance, exploratory CTE coursework and work-based learning opportunities.
As part of the CTE Redesign, the state was divided into sections associated with AEAs and community colleges. All the schools served by Heartland AEA and Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) is considered to be in the Region 11 CTE Partnership. The partnership is led by the Executive Partnership consisting of at least one representative of the Heartland AEA regions.
For the 2017-18 school year, the CTE focus will be on planning and providing information to the regional groups. The regional groups consist of at least one member from each school district within that region; names to be on the regional groups were provided by superintendents at the end of last year. The plan is for the regional groups to meet twice this school year - once in the fall and once in the spring. These meetings will provide information about the CTE Redesign and will work to get the regional CTE groups up and running before the next school year. The names from each school district provided to the partnership will receive an email in the next couple of weeks related to the specifics of the meeting. If the staff member cannot attend the regional meeting, someone else from the district may attend in their place. Below are the districts by region and the date and time of the meetings. If you have questions regarding the CTE Redesign please contact T.J. Jumper, Heartland AEA Regional Director, at tjumper@heartlandaea.org.
Region 1: Oct. 25, 2017 at Panorama School District, 1 – 3:30 p.m.
Districts: Adair-Casey, Audubon, Carroll, Coon Rapids-Bayard, Earlham, Exira-EHK, Glidden-Ralston, Guthrie Center, Interstate 35, Panorama, West Central Valley, Winterset
Region 2: Nov. 1, 2017 at Van Meter School District, 1 – 3:30 p.m.
Districts: Adel-Desoto-Minburn, Dallas Center-Grimes, Perry, Van Meter, Waukee, Woodward-Granger
Region 3: Nov. 1, 2017 at Indianola School District, 9 – 11:30 a.m.
Districts: Carlisle, Indianola, Knoxville, Martensdale-St. Marys, Melcher-Dallas, Norwalk, Pella, Pleasantville, Southeast Warren, Twin Cedars
Des Moines Metro Region: Oct. 18, 2017 at Heartland AEA Johnston Regional Education Center, 1 – 3:30 p.m.
Districts: Ankeny, Bondurant-Farrar, Des Moines, Johnston, North Polk, Saydel, Southeast Polk, Urbandale, West Des Moines
Region 7: Oct. 18, 2017 at Oakwood Rd. Church in Ames, 9 – 11:30 a.m.
Districts: Ames, Ballard, Boone, Collins-Maxwell, Colo-Nesco, Gilbert, Madrid, Nevada, Ogden, Roland-Story, United
Region 8: Oct. 31, 2017 at DMACC-Newton Campus, 1 – 3:30 p.m.
Districts: Baxter, Colfax-Mingo, Lynnville-Sully, Newton, PCM
FastBridge Learning 2018-19
Through an agreement with FastBridge Learning, districts will now be able to access the full FastBridge suite of resources for mathematics and behavior assessment, reporting and analysis, and will include additional aspects of literacy that were not available through the current module. Districts that sign up for 2018-19, will have access to the system for spring screening in 2018 for free. The next step is to develop a training plan for the AEA system.
AEA Prep
Iowa’s AEAs have created a statewide partnership and resource center to improve postsecondary readiness and education attainment. This newly established entity is AEA PREP (Postsecondary Readiness & Equity Partnership), and will focus on building equitable capacity throughout Iowa, across the AEAs and schools. AEA PREP operates out of Mississippi Bend AEA in Bettendorf and is being coordinated by David Ford.
2018 Legislative Advocacy Event
Mark your calendar for the Joint AEA Legislative Advocacy Event to be held on Jan. 30-31, 2018 at Prairie Meadows. The inaugural event hosted by Iowa’s AEAs in 2017 drew over 200 school administrators from across Iowa. The 2018 event begins with an update from members of the education lobby and preparation for conversations with legislators that will take place the following morning. Registration and more details are at this link.
For more information about these three initiatives, refer to this AEA System Communication that was presented to superintendents across Iowa during the past week.
Early bird registration ends on Oct. 15 for the annual Iowa Culture and Language Conference. The conference will be held on Nov. 7-8, 2017 at the Coralville Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Coralville with a pre-conference on Nov. 6. All current information about this conference is posted at the ICLC website. Title III support is available for districts in the Heartland AEA service area who send individuals/teams to reimburse registration and sub costs and partial travel expenses. See the 2017 ICLC Flyer for further details related to the schedule, registration and Title III support for districts.
The BoEE Oct. 2017 Newsletter contains important news about the new CTE Information Technology endorsement, BEDS common issues, conditional licensure, new online licensure system, and STEM award deadline.
Student loan debt is greater than ever, burdening educators with the high cost of repayment or worse, incurring more debt for advanced degrees. But now there’s a way to help! The national Association for Educational Service Agencies (AESA) of which Heartland AEA is a member, and Innovative Student Loan Solutions (ISLoan) have partnered to provide a new benefit for staff in your district.
ISLoan Solutions is a student loan advisory firm (not debt consolidator), that offers a voluntary student loan relief benefit that may be able to help any of your school employees with federal student loans, including Parent Plus Loans, reduce their monthly student loan payment and overall obligation. This benefit provides information to your employees about their potential for significant savings on student loan debt. This is a free, voluntary, no obligation review and consultation for your staff. If the employee wants to take the relationship further and utilize ISLoan Solutions to implement a loan relief program on their behalf, there will be a fee to implement all of the necessary steps. The fee is based on the complexity of the student loan forgiveness strategy.
This program was first introduced to educational service agencies, such as AEAs, across the country through the AESA national consortium. Grant Wood AEA piloted the program in Iowa in 2016 and has reported positive reviews. In April 2017, superintendents in the Heartland AEA service area reviewed the program and suggested moving forward by disseminating the offer to districts.
The attached document has information that you may share with your staff. To start the process, visit https://Heartlandaea.myisls.com/register and enter code AEA11 to learn more.
For any questions, contact Rachel Jackson, ISLoan Solutions Program Manager for districts in the Heartland AEA service area, at (513) 645-1192 or Rachel.jackson@isloansolutions.com.
The Iowa Department of Education recently filed in district court an appeal of the A.W. administrative law judge decision. In the appeal, the Department is seeking clarity on decisions that affect policies and practices for the identification of individuals eligible for special education services in Iowa. The administrative decisions made in the A.W. case are in effect until an appeal decision is made or the case is otherwise resolved. This linked memo from the DE is intended to provide guidance for addressing two of the administrative decisions that most pertain to the identification of individuals eligible for special education.
