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
We're having a book give away at Heartland AEA this summer! You can choose from over 2,000 gently used professional and PK-12 books … for FREE!
Our kickoff is June 18-19, 2018 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Heartland AEA, 6500 Corporate Drive in Johnston. After that, books will be available in our library at that same location all summer until they’re gone. So come see us and pick up some awesome books for your classroom!
“Speaking for All Learners” will be held on June 12-13, 2018 at North Polk High School. PK-12 educators will have the opportunity to network with other educational professionals, discover new strategies for working with English language learners in Iowa and meet national and local experts to enrich practices for increasing EL achievement.
Conference topics include:
- Strategies for addressing barriers to academic and language learning for English Learners in the classroom
- Best practices for supporting early childhood language acquisition for preschool English Learners
- Instructional leadership strategies for English language learning programs
- Connecting and collaborating with other educators responsible for the success of English Learners
- And many more learning opportunities and topics from experts in educating English Learners!
Featured Speakers
Ayanna Cooper, Ed.D
ELL specialist with extensive and diverse experience teaching educators how to enhance instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse learners.
David Edward Garcia
Grew up on the Mexican border in Texas, two worlds-linguistically and culturally. Successful speaker of five languages, teacher, entrepreneur, comedian.
Anita Pandey, Ph.D.Professor of Linguistics and Coordinator of Professional Development and Communication at Morgan State University in Baltimore.
Ryan Wise, Ed.D.
Director of the Iowa Department of education
Plus, our amazing local experts and students!
Information and Registration
Learn more at the conference website and register at this link by June 5.
Incentive
Heartland AEA Title III will refund the cost of registration ($150), plus provide an honorarium of $200 to off-contract public and non-public educators for full attendance and participation. This funding is not available to public or non-public districts served by the Des Moines Public Schools.
Secondary science teachers in the Perry Community School District are once again hosting a secondary science unit writing summer camp on June 13. This workshop is open to all secondary science teachers in grades 6-12. Teachers will meet in the Perry High School library and then break into grade level / subject-based teams and create a NGSS Unit to use in the 2018-19 school year. Participants will have access to all units created. Heartland AEA will also share some of the many instructional resources available through the AEA. To register, contact Kevin Vidergar, Perry CSD Director of Teaching and Learning, at kevin.vidergar@perry.k12.ia.us or (515) 608-2866.
Carol Commodore, Ed.D. will address key items that speak to the need for a full, robust systems approach to implementing standards-based learning, including grading and reporting. She will lead learning on possible components such as having a guiding team or task force of some kind, mapping out a communication plan, and building consensus.
Strand of Standards-Based Learning Framework: Internal/External Capacity Building
Date: June 14, 2018
Time: 8:30 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.
Location: FFA Enrichment Center, 1055 SW Prairie Trail Pkwy, Ankeny, IA
Registration
Registration fee $60
Register at this link
Target Audience
District Leaders, Teachers, Building Leadership Teams, Instructional Coaches
Presenter
Dr. Carol Commodore is the founding member of Leadership, Learning and Assessment, LLC. Carol is also one of the founding members of the Wisconsin Assessment Consortium and an independent consultant with Pearson's Assessment Training Institute of Portland, Oregon. She was a classroom teacher for over 20 years and was a district-level administrator for eleven years. Carol’s research interests focus on the impact of assessment and instruction on learners and their learning. She strives to provide meaningful ways to assist educators in their reflective practice and in the acquisition of tools that will bring insight and joy to them and their students in the educational process.
Save the Dates!
For these additional Heartland AEA-hosted Standards-Based Learning Opportunities:
Strand of SBL Framework: Belief System and Implementation Considerations
Presenter: Tom Schimmer, Sept. 27, 2018
Strand of SBL Framework: Standards-Based Learning
Presenter: Jan Chappuis, Nov. 29, 2018
Strand of SBL Framework: Learning Targets, Scales & Rubrics
Presenter: Tammy Heflebower, Ed.D., Feb. 28, 2019
Strand of SBL Framework: TBD
Presenter: Myron Dueck, June 11, 2019
Are your students’ families really involved in their education? At this FREE event on June 18, participants will will learn the importance of family engagement in the academic lives and success of learners and discover how to create a culture that is conducive to engaging every family in the school and classroom.
Engaging Every Family to Support Student Achievement
June 18, 2018
8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Johnston Middle School Auditorium
6501 NW 62nd Ave., Johnston, IA
Register at this link by June 8
For more information, contact Terry Mendell, Heartland AEA Family & Educator Lead Coordinator, at (515) 270-0405 ext. 17135 or tmendell@heartlandaea.org.
Invited Audience: school administrators, teacher leaders, general and special education teachers
Presenter: Steve Constantino, Ed.D.
As a high school principal in 1995, Steve Constantino, Ed.D. became aware of research about the effects of family engagement on student learning and was convinced that this was the missing ingredient in helping all children learn. Using his high school as a laboratory, Dr. Constantino began to read more and more research and more importantly, figure out ways to apply it to his school.
Steve’s work has gained national prominence as he’s traveled the United States speaking and working with all types of educators, school board members and businesses to promote sound practices in family engagement that result in increased academic achievement for all students.
Today, he is the Acting State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commonwealth of Virginia and is an adjunct professor at the School of Education, College of William and Mary where he teaches courses in the Executive Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership.
Heartland AEA is pleased to once again offer an additional course option for administrators and/or evaluators who want to renew their evaluator license. The Collaborative Leadership Institute is a two credit hour course that will be held on June 28-29, Oct. 12 and Dec. 13, 2018 at Heartland AEA in Adel.
Heartland AEA and Corwin partnered in the design of the Evaluator Approval Training pilot last year with the assistance of Peter DeWitt, Ed.D., and his work on Collaborative Leadership, which is grounded in the Visible Learning research of education expert John Hattie, on the most influential and impactful leadership practices shown to accelerate student learning.
In the Institute, Dr. Dewitt will unpack six leadership factors of Collaborative Leadership, painting a powerful scheme to meet stakeholders where they are, motivate stakeholders to strive for improvement and model how to do it.
Registration
Register at this link
The course is open to anyone in Iowa. Seating is limited to 50 people.
Questions
For any other questions, contact Jim Verlengia, Ed.D., Director of Leadership Supports with Heartland AEA at jverlengia@heartlandaea.org or (515) 270-0405 ext. 14388.
The Heartland AEA 2018-19 Leadership Series is presented by some of today’s most intriguing, innovative and influential leaders from around the country who will share their background, insight and knowledge with you. Speakers will candidly share their experiences, discuss challenges that have impacted their work and provide a unique opportunity for you to learn from their hands-on experiences.
Registration is now open for the five-session series that begins this fall. Some sessions are designated for superintendents and some are open to any educator.
Sept. 4, 2018
Kevin Honeycutt - Midnight Run
Oct. 2, 2018
Brad Waid - Transforming the Classroom through Augmented Reality
Nov. 6, 2018
Shannon Suldo, Ph.D. - Positive Psychology Interventions in Schools
Jan. 8, 2019
Anthony Muhammad, Ph.D. - Transforming School Culture through PLCs
March 5, 2019
Trevor Ragan - Teaching a Growth Mindset to Achieve Success for All Learners
Leadership Series Location
DMACC
Student Center, Bldg 5
2006 S. Ankeny Blvd, Ankeny
Registration
Review all the session options and registration links in this flyer.
Questions?
Contact Jim Verlengia, Ed.D., Director of Leadership Supports jverlengia@heartlandaea.org, (515) 270-0405 ext. 14388
The May 2018 issue of the BoEE Quarterly Newsletter is now available. Topics include: Licensure Renewal Tips, Hiring New Graduates, Conditional Licensure, New Online System, Legislation News, Coaching, New Computer Science/CTE Information Technology Endorsements, Early Childhood Questions Answered and Recent Cases.
The May issue of the School Leader Update from the Iowa Department of Education is now available.
