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
Heartland AEA would like to thank you for your participation in Tuesday’s Crisis Management & Communication Workshop at the Hilton Garden Inn. We invite you to take a moment to complete our post-event survey. Your feedback will enable us to better meet your needs for future presentations. Thank you for your collaboration.
Heartland AEA is again considering offering Collaborative Leadership as an option for Evaluator Approval Renewal. We’re interested in knowing if your educational leaders would like this offered again. As you may recall, the two-credit hour course that we offered in 2017 consisted of four days of instruction facilitated by Peter Dewitt Ed.D, who unpacked six leadership factors in Collaborative Leadership, all framed through the lens of John Hattie’s Visible Learning research. Tell us what you’d like. Take our short survey. The survey remains open until Jan. 19, 2018.
There have been some changes to the Heartland Administrators' Association (HAA) and Superintendents Advisory Council (SAC) meetings for Feb. and March. Mark your calendars with this information and be sure to stay tuned into meeting dates, agendas and materials on the HAA Google Site.
February
There will be NO Superintendents’ Advisory Council or Heartland Administrators’ Association meetings
March 6
Superintendents Advisory Council (SAC)
Heartland AEA, 6500 Corporate Drive, Johnston
Rooms 107A/B
8:00 – 8:45 a.m.
Heartland Administrators’ Association (HAA)
Heartland AEA, 6500 Corporate Drive, Johnston
Rooms 107A/B
9:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Each year, ISFIS partners with Piper Jaffray and Iowa's Area Education Agencies to provide face-to-face budget workshops for business managers and superintendents. These hands-on workshops are an opportunity for leaders from each district to prepare their individual budgets in one highly productive day. Workshops are scheduled at Heartland AEA on Jan. 29 and Feb. 19. Register online
ISFIS Budget Workshops at Heartland AEA
Dates: Jan. 29 or Feb. 19
Location: Heartland AEA, 6500 Corporate Drive in Johnston
Registration: Register online
For more information, contact Marissa Gaal at marissa@iowaschoolfinance.com or (515) 251-5970 ext. 4.
Additional Budget Offerings
IASB also offers certified budget workshops for superintendents and school business officials, and two of them are held at the IASB office in Des Moines on Feb. 6 and Feb. 26. Workshops are free for IASB members. For more information, visit the IASB website.
Date: March 7, 2018
Time: 2:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Location: Heartland AEA, Johnston Regional Education Center
, 6500 Corporate Drive,
Johnston
This will be an opportunity for you to recruit quality candidates to your district, as well as a chance to help keep quality teaching talent in Iowa!
To register your district/school, complete this form by Jan. 25, 2018. More information will follow.
If you have any questions, contact Tony Chiaramonte, Heartland AEA Human Resources Manager. We look forward to this opportunity to serve you and hope your district will be able to attend this exciting event!
Heartland AEA is pleased to invite you to participate in a new comprehensive leadership development experience. We are proud to announce the launch of the Heartland AEA Leadership Series. This new opportunity will give educational leaders and their teams the opportunity to learn and interact with national recognized leaders in education. Each session is designed to be highly interactive and provide participants an opportunity to draw upon the speaker’s expertise.
Morning sessions will be held for superintendents and afternoon sessions will be opened up to include building leaders, curriculum directors, teacher leaders, instructional leaders and teachers. It is recommended that districts consider bringing a team to the experience.
By attending the Heartland AEA Leadership Series you’ll join others from all sectors and levels of leadership with a common aspiration: to move forward on what you care about most.
Learn more about the speakers and schedule in this flyer. More information will be coming but if you have questions now, contact Jim Verlengia, Ed.D., Director of Leadership Supports at Heartland AEA, jverlengia@heartlandaea.org or (515) 270-0405 ext. 14388.
Many districts have already expressed interest to their respective AEA about using this suite of assessments. There are two different window available, thus two potential deadlines are listed below. FastBridge will include the Spring 2018 assessment window for districts/schools who commit to 2018-19 participation, at no additional charge.
Option 1: If your district would like to commit to participation in 2018-19, but start using the assessment in the spring 2018 at no additional charge, complete this complete this formal interest survey by Jan. 15, 2018.
Option 2: If you don't want to use tools for free during the spring 2018 screening window, but plan to use them beginning in the fall of 2018, then you have until June 15, 2018 to commit and complete this formal interest survey.
This one-hour webinar recording provides an overview of the FastBridge suite of formative assessment tools available for K-6 students in math and was presented during the Statewide Curriculum Network last December. These are the slides used during the webinar.
This is information shared by the AEAs regarding the pricing structure negotiated with FastBridge Learning by the AEAs, and deadlines for notifying your AEA if your school plans to participate in 2018-19.
This is a FAQ document that was created to capture questions related to the FastBridge formative assessment tools for behavior and math.
If you are a school in the Heartland AEA service area and have any questions, contact Kevin Fangman, Chief Academic Officer with Heartland AEA, at kfangman@heartlandaea.org or (515) 270-9030 ext. 14374.
Do you know someone who has made outstanding contributions to education and Iowa’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs)? Please take a few minutes to nominate this person for recognition by Iowa’s AEAs. The AEA awards -- the Friend of the AEA Award, the E. Robert Stephens Award and the Innovative Creator Award -- recognize outstanding candidates for their contributions to education and the AEA system.
To submit a nomination, complete this application by Feb. 2, 2018. Anyone is welcome to submit a nomination. The nominations will be reviewed by a selected group of AEA personnel in February. Both the nominating individual and the person who is selected to be recognized will be notified the first week in March. The awards will be presented at the Iowa AEA Boards of Directors’ Conference on April 5, 2018 in Johnston.
More information about the awards can be found on the Iowa AEA website.
Iowa’s AEAs are bringing school administrators from across Iowa together to learn the most up-to-date legislative insight and meet with legislators face-to-face at the Capitol. Learn more about the event and register to attend by Jan. 23 at this link.
Legislative Update
Date: Jan. 30, 2018
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Prairie Meadows Hotel
Visits with Legislators
Date: Jan. 31, 2018
Time: 7:30 - 9 a.m.
Location: Iowa State Capitol
Registration is open until Jan. 23 at this link.
The registration for Jim Knight's High Impact training on Feb. 5-6, 2018 closes on Jan. 15. The High Impact Instruction workshop provides coaches a framework to use with teachers and is focused around content planning, instruction, community building and assessment for learning. Participants will develop a deeper understanding of the high impact instructional strategies and how principals and instructional coaches can support implementation of those practices.
High Impact Instruction
Date: Feb. 5-6, 2018
Time: 8:oo a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Location: The workshop location is now in Ames at Heartland AEA, 511 S. 17th Street.
Target audience: Classroom teachers, instructional coaches, teacher leaders and administrators
Linking Alternate Assessment, Essential Elements, and Quality IEPs for Literacy is a 2-day course that will help teachers, related service providers and AEA staff who support students with significant intellectual disabilities make connections between assessment, curriculum and instruction.
Participants will learn about the alternate assessment tools and resources that help match instruction to student need; how to unpack and apply essential elements to establish present levels of performance; and ways to write ambitious IEP goals, align services to needs, monitor progress and meet requirements of both alternate assessments. The five routines of literacy will be reviewed, but not explored in depth.
Linking Alternate Assessment, Essential Elements and Quality IEPs for Literacy
Dates: April 23 and 30, 2018
Time: 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Location: Heartland AEA Johnston Regional Education Center, 6500 Corporate Dr., Johnston
Registration: Register at this link
Topics in the Jan. 2018 BoEE Superintendent Update include information about substitute teachers, 2018 proposed legislation, checking on coursework progress, new applications, hiring new graduates, and the CTE Information Technology endorsement.
Are you looking for ways to increase the knowledge and skills of your staff and yourself regarding college and career readiness? Iowa Go Alliance Academy and AEA Learning Online have set up a number of online courses to help enhance your knowledge and save you time and money!
Building a College-Going Culture for All Students
How to remove barriers to higher education, especially for low-income, first-generation and minority students.
January 22-March 16, 2018
March 2-April 20, 2018
June 11-July 27, 2018
College, Career and Academic Planning
(Prerequisite: Building a College-Going Culture for All Students)
How to engage students in early college and career awareness, and support students in postsecondary and career planning.
January 22-March 16, 2018
March 2-April 20, 2018
June 11-July 27, 2018
Financial Aid and College Applications
(Prerequisite: Building a College-Going Culture for All Students)
How to support students and families navigating the complexities of filing the FAFSA and other financial aid and college applications.
January 22-March 16, 2018
March 2-April 20, 2018
June 11-July 27, 2018
Maximizing Counselor Impact: Module for Administrators
How school leaders can engage effectively with school counselors. Developed in collaboration with the National Association of Secondary School Principals.
January 22-March 16, 2018
March 2-April 20, 2018
June 11-July 27, 2018
Iowa Go Alliance Academy is a college and career counseling training program provided by Iowa College Aid in partnership with Southern Regional Education Board and AEA Learning Online. See best practices in action and gain knowledge and resources that can be incorporated in your work with students immediately. Courses are offered for license renewal or graduate credit through Drake University, Morningside University and Viterbo University. Space is limited, so register today. For more information about Iowa Go Alliance Academy and course availability, contact Ashley McKenna at ashley.mckenna@iowa.gov.
