Statewide AEA PD: Just One Click Away!

You can now easily access the professional development offerings of all of Iowa's AEAs through our Heartland AEA professional development catalog or website. If you aren't able to find just the right activity through our AEA, you can easily visit the course catalogs of the other eight AEAs to find what's right for you. Click here to begin your search today!

Help Us Improve Our Communication Efforts!

The Heartland AEA Communications Dept. strives to continuously improve our agency communications vehicles. To assist us in our efforts, we would appreciate your feedback about our communications vehicles -- the Administrator Connection and our agency website -- on this very short survey. Thank you for your input!

We Are Social! Are You?

Have you followed Heartland AEA and the AEA system on social media yet? If yes, great—now tell a friend! If not, what are you waiting for? 

Heartland AEA 
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AEA System 
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Sign Up for News Clips – A Daily Round-Up of Education News

The Heartland AEA News Clips is a short compilation of state and national education news sent daily by email to AEA and district staff who have subscribed. It is an overview from various state and national media outlets and other websites – it is by no means an exhaustive list. If you’d like to be added to the list, just send an email to comms@heartlandaea.org.

Here is a sample of the clips:

Please find listed below today's local and national education news headlines courtesy of the Heartland AEA Communications Department. Some media sources require digital access subscriptions. News clips receivers are responsible for setting up their own digital access for these media sources. Heartland AEA is unable to provide this digital access for our news clips receivers. We thank you for your understanding.

Iowa News
Iowa literacy initiative collaborates with colleges and universities
Vilsack defends new school nutrition guidelines 
Schools' emergency response plans criticized
Foreign students 'add spice' to Iowa colleges

National News
States Forge Ahead on Principal Evaluation
Public Schools Outperform Private Schools, Book Says
A Math App That Offers an Unusual Human Touch
Integrating Social-Emotional Learning Into High School 
Superintendents publicly criticize state testing
 
Note: The dissemination of these compiled news articles by Heartland AEA does not imply sponsorship or endorsement of the information. The articles come from independent media sources who are solely responsible for their content and are being passed on to our stakeholders for their educational value.

Reminder: Heartland AEA 2014 Summer Van Delivery

Heartland AEA vans will deliver twice a week to each district administration building. If you have summer school, professional development programs or intercessions and you would like regularly scheduled deliveries to additional buildings, please email Colleen Miller at colleen_miller@heartlandaea.org.

Schedule-to-date:

• Twice-a-week delivery to each district administration building runs June 16 to August 7.
• Twice-a-week delivery will automatically continue to each building that has an extended year calendar.
• Regular fall van delivery resumes August 11.

Printing:

• Heartland AEA will contact the district to arrange for special delivery of large printing orders during the summer.

Iowa Teacher & Principal Leadership Symposium Website Launched; Registration Open to the Public

Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds launched EducationLeadership.Iowa.gov, a website for the second Iowa Teacher and Principal Leadership Symposium, which will be held on Monday, Aug. 4, at the FFA Enrichment Center at Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny.

Featured speakers include Vivien Stewart from the Asia Society, Ee-Ling Low from the National Institute of Education in Singapore and Barnett Berry from the Center for Teaching Quality.

Also featured are:

• Iowa’s first 39 school districts to launch teacher leadership systems in 2014-15 as part of the state’s landmark 2013 education reform package 
• Two Iowa school districts – Central Decatur and Saydel – that started teacher leadership systems in 2013-14 with the help of a federal grant
• A student panel on the difference great teaching makes

The event is open to the public, with the goal of attracting a broad cross-section of Iowans, including educators, parents, school board members, business leaders and legislators. The website includes the agenda, speaker biographies, sponsors and information on how to register.
 
Registration for the day is $30, with room for about 465 attendees.

June 2014 School Leader Update

Click here to download the June 2014 issue of the School Leader Update from the Iowa Department of Education. In this issue, Education Director Brad Buck looks back at the successful legislative session. Education Attorney Nicole Proesch gives an update on new laws that concern every school district. And competency-based education is being launched in some areas across the state – read what two districts are doing.

Senior Year Plus Guide for Educators and Educational Administrators Now Available

The second edition of the Senior Year Plus Guide for Educators and Educational Administrators is now available on the Department of Education’s website.  The 60-page guide provides the requirements for Senior Year Plus programs in Iowa Code and administrative rule along with updated guidance, frequently asked questions, and other information related to college credit opportunities for high school students.

Please don’t hesitate to contact Eric St Clair, educational program consultant within the Bureau of Career and Technical Education, Division of Community Colleges at eric.stclair@iowa.gov or at (515) 725-0127 if you have any questions.

DMACC Surplus Items Available

Des Moines Area Community College has surplus available at the Ankeny Campus. The surplus items are free and are available for pick up. If you are interested in any of the below items, please contact Julie Klocke, DMACC Purchasing, at jaklocke1@dmacc.edu.

•    60 x 24 Table with gray laminate top
•    (5) 24 x 60 Tables with mauve laminate top
•    (4) 30 X 48 Computer Tables with speckled gray tops 

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.