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 are seeking your feedback to help Heartland AEA's Challenging Behavior and Autism Team explore training dates and format for our 5-Day Autism Training. For reference, currently we provide this training one time per year in the summer months. We are exploring alternative training options and formats. Please respond to this short survey to help guide our decision making. Thank you!
Computer Science Education at University of Northern Iowa partnered with Central Rivers and Grant Wood AEAs to earn a $1,000,000 National Science Foundation Grant.
This program will provide secondary (5-12) computer science endorsements at no cost for roughly 25 educators in each of Iowa's 9 AEAs and at a reduced cost for others from Summer 2023 through Winter 2025.
Participants will complete course work online and attend 15-20 total regional, in person Communities of Practice throughout the endorsement program. The computer science endorsement will be completed in 18 months and includes the following courses:
- Foundational Concepts of Computer Science
- Fundamentals of Programming
- Teaching and Learning Programming
- Methods of Computer Science
- Data Structures and Algorithms
We anticipate running three cohort groups at Central Rivers, Grant Wood and Northwest AEAs beginning Summer 2023 and six cohort groups Summer 2024 in various locations across the state.
Teachers interested in receiving additional information about the program as more details are released can register their interest by completing this Teacher Interest Form.
The next Heartland AEA Future Ready Network meeting will be on Nov. 17 from 8:30-11:30 a.m. and will focus on apprenticeships, Job Corps, financial aid, scholarships and the military.
This network meeting will be offered as a hybrid option. District teams can join in person in the Johnston Regional Education Center, Conf. Room 123 or via Zoom. Participants will leave with a greater awareness of apprenticeship opportunities in central Iowa, scholarships and financial aid available in Iowa and Job Corps and military connections to post-secondary education. Several guest speakers will be on hand including Kris Byam, Registered Apprenticeship Bureau Chief, from the Iowa Department of Education; Shari Clausen from Denison Job Corps; Todd Brown from Iowa College Aid; and Maj. Daniel Torrence, Iowa Air National Guard, U.S. Air Force, ROTC.
Visit the Heartland AEA Future Ready site to stay up to date on news, resources, past network Zoom recordings and more. For more information, contact Sue Schirmer, Professional Learning & Leadership Consultant.
