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

  

Bring Your Lunch - and Learn About Family Reunification Following an Emergency

Once an incident's immediate threat or danger has passed, the reunification of families begins. This process has been implemented across the nation and requires specific planning. Learn how Heartland AEA is supporting schools if there is ever a time they are in crisis.

Currently, Heartland AEA partners with schools, emergency management, law enforcement, emergency services and communities in Polk and Jasper counties to work together for reunification.

Family Reunification Lunch & Learn
Sept. 27 from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Polk County Emergency Operations Center, 1907 Carpenter Ave, Des Moines

Presenters from Heartland AEA: Stacey Warren, Aimee Schuppe, Dustin Gean and Chris Pierson
To register, click this link.

For more information, contact Polk County Emergency Management.

Save the Date - Oct. 4: Heartland Administrators’ Association (HAA) Meeting

The Heartland Administrators’ Association (HAA) meeting will be held on Oct. 4 from 9-11:30 a.m. at Heartland AEA, Regional Education Center, 6500 Corporate Drive, Johnston. The meeting will include a learning session on Family Engagement with guest facilitator, Ron Mirr. Agenda here. There is no Zoom option for this meeting. Lunch will be provided immediately following.

Family Engagement
The research is clear: when families are involved in their child’s learning, children perform better in school. The question is not whether to do family engagement but how. Family engagement should never be the goal. Rather, family engagement should be a school improvement strategy that, when combined with effective classroom instruction, helps all students reach higher levels of achievement. During this session, participants will learn about the three pillars of an effective family engagement strategy their districts can employ to help all families support their child’s academic and social-emotional growth.

Interested in Future Ready Topics? ​​Join the Heartland AEA Future Ready Network on Oct. 20

The Heartland AEA Future Ready Network meeting on Oct. 20 will be a District Career Guidance Plan Workshop. This network meeting and workshop will be offered as a hybrid option. District teams can join in person in the Heartland AEA Adel Regional Office at 602 Visions Parkway, Adel or via zoom at this link.

Districts are encouraged to bring members of their District Career Guidance Team to review their plans and explore the trends with feedback to continue to improve opportunities for all students. This workshop will include the morning network time from 8:30-11:30 a.m., with guest speaker, Erica Woods-Schmitz, Education Program Consultant for Academic and Career Planning from the Iowa Department of Education.

In the extended afternoon work time from 12:30-3:30 p.m., districts can continue to work on revising and updating their plans with their teams and support from AEA consultants. Please complete this survey by Oct. 3 to indicate how and if your team is attending so we can plan for space and activities accordingly.

Visit the Heartland AEA Future Ready Website to stay up to date on news, resources, past network Zoom recordings and more! For more information, contact Sue Schirmer.

Learning Ally Audiobooks Coming Soon, Replaces Tales2go

Heartland AEA will be introducing Learning Ally to schools following the business closing of Tales2Go. Learning Ally provides access to 80,000 audiobooks and text for students who have an identified reading deficiency. The business model is different from other streaming digital resources that Heartland AEA provides; producers and publishers have special copyright agreements with Learning Ally that limit access to only students that meet certain criteria.

As anecdotal data shows that most students who used Tales2go chose audiobooks because of their reading comprehension difficulties, we think Learning Ally will be a good match for many students!

This fall, Heartland AEA will:

• work with the districts to help with the student rostering process
• assist Learning Ally as they work with districts to help them understand the criteria for student access
• provide implementation ideas

Sign Up to Receive Awesome Books!

Teachers in the Heartland AEA service area can register to receive about 25 books (fiction and nonfiction) every six weeks during the school year. It’s a great way to supplement the school library, refresh the classroom collection, and get some terrific new books into the hands of readers. Here’s how it works:

• Register for book rotation here.
• Return the book rotation box, and another selection is automatically sent!
• Books are on-level and one grade above and one grade level below reading level.
• Book rotation supplements your school library resources and provides a rotating classroom collection.

Professional Learning for School Nurses in ACHIEVE Begins Sept. 28

Heartland AEA is excited to offer an optional professional learning session on navigating the ACHIEVE system specific to school nurse needs. If your school nurse will be utilizing the ACHIEVE system, we invite them to attend one of the two Zoom sessions below:

Sept. 28 at 2:30-3:45 p.m.
Oct. 12 at 2:30-3:45 p.m.

The information provided in each session will be the same. Therefore, participants should select the date that works best for their schedule.

Join Zoom Meeting https://heartlandaea.zoom.us/j/93544858615