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
Iowa’s Area Education Agencies are pleased to share information about virtual continuous learning and online curriculum options with Iowa school districts. Based on feedback from local districts on their needs and concerns, the AEAs have worked with vendors to cull information about their programs that includes volume pricing based on enrollment, details on how the tools integrate with student information systems and various LMS platforms, available professional learning and support, and other key details. Districts interested in any of these products should contact the individual vendor to coordinate district-specific contracts for the upcoming academic year. Please note that the AEAs are pleased to coordinate information about these resources, but the AEAs are not subsidizing or purchasing these resources for districts.
The Iowa Department of Education and Iowa’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs) are announcing the launch of a new early intervention and special education guidance system, known as Iowa IDEA Information (i3). It was developed collaboratively with local districts and with input from parents and partner agencies from across Iowa.
The launch of i3 means the phasing out of the current Iowa IDEA Info site, including AEA Special Education Procedures. The i3 system will bring with it enhancements that will prove to be invaluable to users, such as:
- A one-stop shop for IFSP and IEP procedures and resources
- User-friendly formatting for easy site navigation
- Increased options for searching content and resources
- Ability to allow for real-time updates with built-in options to clearly communicate updates to users
- Translation options
Currently, training opportunities and materials are in development and will be available in mid-July. The Department and AEAs will partner with local districts to ensure the information on i3 is available to families, as well as other community partners.
The new IEP/IFSP system, which will be known as ACHIEVE, will be aligned with the i3 system once it is released during the 2021-22 school year. These two aligned components, when complete, will position Iowa’s educational professionals to continue to provide the highest quality support for students with disabilities well into the future.
Reminder: Be sure to stay current with the latest DE guidance on Return-to-Learn special education information on this tab of the DE’s Return-to-Learn website.
- New 7-15-20 Return-to-Learn Compendium of Resources - This document organizes available resources and will be revised on an ongoing basis. The resources provided here are to address the standard of IDEA under the current pandemic situation.
- New 7-13-20 Return to Learn and FAPE - This document builds from the Department of Education's guidance on the fundamentals of FAPE to include examples of FAPE considerations in continuous learning and hybrid learning environments.
- New 7-13-20 Return to Lean and Service Delivery Scenarios - The purpose of this document is to support teams in navigating between appropriate methods of service delivery for students in a Continuous Learning (i.e., virtual) model. These services can and may change throughout the school year and between settings as teams determine what is required to best meet student needs.
Beginning July 14, via Zoom the DE will host a series of weekly webinars focused exclusively on special education Return-to-Learn topics. These webinars are intended to delve deeper into the application of special education regulations to continuous learning and hybrid models of delivery. Please share this invitation with special education administrators and others in your district who might be interested. This week’s webinar will provide supports for IEP teams as they focus on identifying free appropriate public education (FAPE) for individuals eligible for special education. In addition to reviewing new documents on FAPE and service delivery, the discussion will address ways to include student needs to access, participate and progress in virtual and hybrid learning environments within the IEP.
The July 2020 School Leader Update from the Iowa Department of Education is available.
Open Enrollment: The Iowa Department of Education is releasing new open enrollment guidance and an application form in accordance to Senate File 2310. This law extends the open enrollment deadline for the 2020-21 school year to July 15 for parents, guardians and caregivers to apply to open enroll a student at an approved online public school in certain circumstances where the student, or a person who resides with the student, has a significant health condition that may increase the risk of COVID-19. This guidance and form are only for use during the 2020-21 school year.
Early Literacy: The Iowa Department of Education is releasing new guidance on early literacy implementation. This guidance revises and extends the fall, winter and spring screening windows for 2020-21 and addresses remote assessment considerations, staff training, screening and progress monitoring recommendations, and interpretation of assessment results. It also introduces a new data collection in CASA for schools and districts to indicate their 2020-21 default literacy assessments. This data collection is due July 31.
Proficiency for Senior Year Plus Program: The Iowa Department of Education is releasing new guidance addressing the determination of proficiency for Senior Year Plus Programs. This guidance outlines alternatives for determining proficiency for purposes of accessing Senior Year Plus programming since performance results from the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) are not available for the 2019-20 school year. The requirement to administer federally required assessments, including the ISASP, was waived for the 2019-20 school year in light of COVID-19-related school closures. This guidance document will be added to the COVID-19 Guidance and Information page and on the DE’s Senior Year Plus page on their website. All current guidance from the Iowa Department of Education can be found on the COVID-19 page.
The Iowa Department of Education will provide all Iowa public school districts, nonpublic schools and homeschool students with access to the Canvas Learning Management System for one year — at no cost to schools or families. This system will provide teachers and students the capability to participate in high-quality digital teaching and learning environments in Kindergarten through 12th grade.
Using federal CARES Act dollars, the Department will make use of the State's existing contract with Instructure (Canvas' parent company) to make the Canvas platform available statewide. We are moving as quickly as possible to work out the operational details with Canvas, and will keep you informed as details emerge.
Canvas is in the process of creating an Iowa-specific information web page that we will share as soon as it is available to provide additional details on the capabilities of the platform. In the meantime, Canvas’s K-12 video provides an overview for teachers on how the system is easy to use and easy for teachers to implement with their students. The Department will be sending out a survey via the CASA system to inquire about your district/school's interest in using Canvas and the number of users who will participate.
