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

Reminder About March 3 HAA Event with Hamish Brewer, Superintendents: Stay for Partnership Updates

The March 3 Heartland Administrators' Association meeting will feature guest speaker, Hamish Brewer. This engagement was opened up to other educators who might also enjoy his "Be Relentless" presentation. Superintendents are encouraged to stay after Brewer’s session for AEA and other partnership updates. 

March 3 HAA Meeting Agenda

Be Relentless with Hamish Brewer
March 3, 2020
Des Moines Area Community College, Student Center, 2006 S. Ankeny Blvd. Ankeny, IA

9 - 10 a.m. Keynote Message
10 - 10:30 a.m. Q&A
10:30 - 11 a.m. Book Signing (Mr. Brewer will be personally autographing his book, Relentlesss: Changing Lives by Disrupting the Educational Norm. Be sure to purchase the book in advance to get your copy signed!)

Superintendent Session
10:30 - 11:30 a.m. Heartland Administrators’ Association Partnership Updates

Calling All Educators Who Would Like to Learn More About Iowa’s Gifted & Talented Program!

This workshop is designed for beginning gifted and talented teachers, K-12 general education teachers, instructional coaches and administrators who are interested in gaining background knowledge about Gifted and Talented (GT) programming in Iowa. Topics covered will include:

• Iowa Code requirements for GT programs
• Characteristics of gifted students
• Best practices and resources for educators, including an overview of the new MTSS Advanced Learner Facilitation Guide

Gifted & Talented 101: Gifted Students, Programming & MTSS for Advanced Learners
March 6, 2020
8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Heartland AEA Johnston Regional Education Center 6500 Corporate Drive, Johnston

Register at this link: http://bit.ly/2TLAmCO using Course #182218. There is no registration fee for this workshop.

Do You Have Your Teams Registered for Numeracy Project Training?

Numeracy Project training will introduce teachers, teacher leaders, consultants and administrators to the trajectory by which learners acquire a solid foundation in numeracy. Sessions provide training and materials around universal screeners, diagnostic tools, progress monitoring and intervention activities. Use this link to get you and your team registered and choose the section that works best for your team. Contact your Heartland AEA Math Consultant if you have any questions.

Two Academies Offered in March for Leadership Teams to Improve Academic and Behavior Outcomes for ALL Students

The following two academies are for elementary, middle and high school leadership teams who would like more supports around MTSS to create a systematic process to ensure all students learn at high levels. If you have any questions, contact Shannon Harken at sharken@heartlandaea.org or Sheila Fay at sfay@heartlandaea.org.

An Academy for Elementary Schools
Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS): Creating a systematic process to ensure all students learn at high levels

The Academy is designed to provide leadership teams with the knowledge and resources to improve academic and behavior outcomes for ALL students. Leadership teams will focus on developing action plans to support efficient and effective MTSS systems at the building level. Strong connections to current work in ELI (Early Literacy Implementation) and ESSA (Every Students Succeeds Act). These two days will assist building teams in developing or strengthening their leadership and infrastructure to successfully implement an MTSS system including all critical components. Ongoing supports and resources including the SAMI (Self-Assessment of MTSS Implementation) will be highlighted.

March 26 & April 3, 2020
8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Goodwill of Central Iowa, 5355 N.W. 86th St., Johnston, IA
Register at this link: http://bit.ly/2HJijWG (Course #182253)

Elementary leadership teams to include administrators, classroom teachers, teacher leaders, school counselors, interventionists, special education teachers.

An Academy for Middle Schools & High Schools
Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS): Creating a systematic process to ensure all students learn at high levels
Are you seeking clarity on how to be more efficient and effective in building a system of supports for all students and staff? The Academy is designed to provide leadership teams with the knowledge and resources to improve academic and behavior outcomes for ALL students. You will develop a common understanding of the Five Essential Components of a Multi-tiered System of Supports. In an era of accountability, Iowa schools need a school improvement framework to guide this work. Teams will focus on developing action plans to fully implement MTSS at the building level. Ongoing supports will be provided.

March 31 & April 21, 2020
8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Goodwill of Central Iowa, 5355 N.W. 86th St., Johnston, IA
Register at this link: http://bit.ly/37JrS2c (Course #181277)

Middle school and high school leadership teams to include administrators, content teachers and teachers who support systems work (TLC, Counselor, At-Risk, ALT).

Here is Your Chance! Earn Initial Certification in CPI’s Nonviolent Crisis Intervention Program

The Nonviolent Crisis Intervention Program, developed by the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI), is a one-day training that provides an opportunity for educators to obtain initial certification in CPI's Nonviolent Crisis Intervention program. Participants will receive an introduction to crisis prevention focusing on nonphysical strategies, including nonverbal, paraverbal, and verbal techniques that can be used to assist in de-escalating behavior. Participants will receive instruction, role-playing, practice and feedback in using personal safety techniques, such as blocking, moving and releasing, to avoid or minimize injury when interacting with an individual who is escalated.

INITIAL CPI Training
April 6, 2020
8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Heartland AEA Regional Education Center, 6500 Corporate Drive, Johnston
Register at this link: http://bit.ly/2YFocds (course #180648)

Intended Audience: District staff in the Heartland AEA service area work with individuals 3-21 years who engage in problem behaviors that have the potential to result in injury to self or others.

Student Success Literacy Status Indicators Plus Other News and Updates

The winter screening window has closed and there are new features in Student Success. Please read below for information about Literacy Status calculations in Student Success and other new features.

Literacy Status in Student Success

• The Student Success system is now calculating literacy status. You will now find the following tools that use this information.
• Each student’s current literacy status will be displayed on the student page in the demographic array (gray boxes under the student’s name).
• Literacy Status will be an option under “view by” on the left menu, meaning that you will be able to break down data views by literacy status.
• You will also be able to filter by literacy status on most views. You will be able to make smart groups based on the filters that you can call up any time.
• Color coding is not used for literacy status anywhere in the Student Success system. Red, Yellow and Green are Panorama’s color codes for at benchmark, below, and far below benchmark. Please don't confuse them for literacy status.
• The basic logic for literacy status determinations are as follows:

Student's Literacy Status Designation (previous screening window)	Student's Score for the Current Screening Window	Student's New Literacy Status Designation
Adequately Progressing	At/Above Benchmark	Adequately Progressing
Adequately Progressing	Below Benchmark	At-Risk
Adequately Progressing	No Score	Adequately Progressing
At-Risk	At/Above Benchmark	Adequately Progressing
At-Risk	Below Benchmark	Persistently At-Risk
At-Risk	No Score	At-Risk
Persistently At-Risk	At/Above Benchmark	At-Risk
Persistently At-Risk	Below Benchmark	Persistently At-Risk
Persistently At-Risk	No Score	Persistently At-Risk
Cannot Determine/No Status	At/Above Benchmark	Adequately Progressing
Cannot Determine/No Status	Below Benchmark	At-Risk
Cannot Determine/No Status	No Score	Cannot Determine/No Status

• The system will use any available Spring 2019 to calculate the student’s Fall literacy status.
• For students with no Spring 2019 default assessment data available, the Spring status will be interpreted as “cannot be determined” when calculating the Fall 2019 status.
• There should be very few, if any, cases where these calculations result in a discrepancy from locally determined literacy status for the Winter literacy status. In all cases, err on the side of providing appropriate support to students to help them close the gap.

Early Literacy Implementation

• This is probably a good time to remind people of the ELI requirements (which have not changed). Here’s a very brief version of the big ideas, followed by a link to the full ELI guidance and support documentation
• Students with a literacy status of At Risk are required to have weekly PM. Parent/family communication and intervention during this time are strongly encouraged, but not required by law.
• Students with a literacy status of Persistently At Risk are required to have intervention, progress monitoring and parent/family communications about the child’s needs and school efforts to address those needs.
• We encourage you to read the ELI in the FAST Lane article which can be found in the Iowa section of the FAST knowledge base and a similar article in the Student Success Resource Library for ideas on how to implement ELI in a child-friendly/parent-friendly way.
• Click here to access all of the ELI support documents, guidance and legal requirements:https://educateiowa.gov/pk-12/instruction/literacy/early-literacy-implementation-eli

Healthy Indicator reports

• You may notice a few subtle changes in reports as we continue to refine the way the system interprets enrollment changes and other nuances that may affect counts.
• Please keep in mind that the function of these reports is to provide big picture views of key processes related to MTSS. It is most important to attend to the opportunities to identify system improvements, and less important to be concerned about minor discrepancies and nuances. There are NO accountability actions tied to these indicators. They are not used for ESSA determinations, school report cards, etc. School teams may use them in their own self-study as they develop an understanding of local practices and a search for places to improve those practices.
• Quality MTSS implementation begins with an evidence-based universal tier of instruction that meets the needs of 80% of students without further intervention (HI #3). The system perspective is important because it is difficult to intervene out of a curriculum and instruction problem without also attending to the universal tier.
• Now that the Winter window is closed, HI reports 2 and 5 will initially be blank and slowly “fill” with data week by week. That is not surprising, given the nature of these reports. Expect these summaries to be volatile and less helpful in the beginning, becoming more consistent and meaningful as the year progresses.
• We will soon be posting information in the Student Success resource library about using the healthy indicator reports to support systems improvement.

Where to go when you need help or have a question:
Sometimes it's hard to know which system to use, but seeking help in the right system will speed assistance. One general guideline is to report the issue in the system where you see the issue. The Early Warning System (EWS) team at the DE provides support for both FAST and Student Success; however, they are products of different companies with separate systems used for documentation and submission of support requests. Support requests in the wrong system causes delays and confusion. EdPortal is supported by a different team, although the EWS team can assist with Student Success permission troubleshooting. See: Support Map for Users for a printable quick-reference guide support for the three systems.

• FAST: Click Knowledge Base (documentation) or Support (ask questions/request help) in the upper left corner of FAST. There is an Iowa specific section in the FAST Knowledge Base under General > Iowa Resources that contains many Iowa-specific supports. If you do not have access to the Iowa section, please let us know via a support ticket.
• Student Success: There are a few different ways to find information or get help but quickest way is to click Need Help? in the lower right corner of Student Success. A supplementary training doc on finding resources and assistance, including animated visuals, is available in this document: Finding help and resources in Student Success.
• EdPortal: Tutorials and support contact information are available on the EdPortal home page.

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~ Connor Hood and Janell Brandhorst, Iowa Department of Education