Celebrating American Education Week, November 11-17

This year American Education Week will be observed during the week of November 11-17. During this time, we would like to reflect on the partnerships we have made with all schools and districts we serve. We are pleased to partner with you in providing excellent educational opportunities and services for central Iowa students. Thank you for your continued dedication to working together to ensure all learners succeed!

Heartland AEA Holiday Office & Van Route Schedule

All Heartland AEA offices will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday on November 22 and 23. Heartland offices will also be closed December 24, 25 and 31 and January 1 of the holiday season. Please take note of the following schedule as you plan to send and receive items through our van mail.

    November 21-23, 2012 No Van Delivery
    December 21-January 2* No Van Delivery
    January 3, 2013* Regular Van Delivery Resumes

Additionally, there will be no Administrator Connection blog updates on November 23 or December 28.

*Corrected dates

EdInsight Cube Training Available, Dec. 11

EdInsight Cube training is limited to participants who have already been trained on EdInsight "canned reports." In this session we will learn how to use the analysis studio or "cube" reporting tools in EdInsight. This part of EdInsight is more complicated to use than the basic reports but has more powerful capabilities. It is helpful but not required to have some background in data analysis, including experience with Excel Pivot Tables or SPSS.

Date: December 11, 2012
Time: 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Location: Heartland AEA, Johnston REC, Computer lab
Instructors: Mike Szymczuk and Connor Hood
Maximum: 15
Note: This class has limited to participants who have already been trained in EdInsight "canned reports."

Space is limited so please register early. Click here to register or register through the Heartland AEA Professional Development Catalog and put activity number AS005592111302 in the correct field.

Reminder: Professional Development Catalog to be Upgraded Nov. 10

Just a gentle reminder that the system used to run our Professional Development catalog will be undergoing upgrades tomorrow, November 10 beginning at noon. During this time, users will be unable to register for classes, the instructor center will be temporarily unavailable and the mandatory trainings site will not complete. We anticipate that access will be available by Sunday, November 11. We thank you for your patience and understanding as we do these necessary upgrades.

Quick Pitch Biz Competition for Business-Minded High School Students

In partnership with Ernst and Young, the Jacobson Institute is hosting a Quick Pitch Biz Competition.  The competition is open to any Iowa high school student(s) with an existing business or a business idea.

Deadline to submit the Application and one-page Executive Summary is Friday, November 30, 2012.

$4,500 in cash prizes will be given away!

Ways to Promote:
•    Encourage entrepreneurial/creative/business-minded students to apply
•    Print and display poster (either 8.5 x 11 or 8.5 x 14).
•    Distribute Guidelines to Compete
•    Announce the competition and prizes
•    Use social media
•    Encourage other teachers to recruit students

Prizes:
•    $1,500 - 1st Place      
•    $1,000 - 2nd Place     
•    $500 - 3rd Place      
•    $250 - Honorable Mention (3)

NOTE: The school with the most finalists will receive a $500 grant. The school with the most applicants will receive a $250 grant. The grants are to be used to support entrepreneurship education!

Competition information, promotional materials and the online application are at the following link:
http://www.jacobsoninstitute.org/bizplan/

The dissemination of information from external organizations by Heartland AEA does not imply sponsorship or endorsement of the information. It is being passed on to our stakeholders for its educational value.