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
The Heartland Administrators' Association (HAA) meeting on April 3 will be a business only meeting from 8:00 - 8:45 a.m. with partnership updates only. The main program will be attending the Future Ready Iowa Summit, which starts at 9:15 a.m. Both events will be held at the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center, located in downtown Des Moines at 730 Third Street.
Complimentary parking will be available for our group on the north side of Crocker Street, across the street from the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center of the Iowa Events Center in the north parking lot. Tell the parking attendant that you are with the Governor's Future Ready Iowa Summit to ensure you are able to park at no cost.
HAA Meeting
April 3
8:00 - 8:45 a.m.
Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center, Room 320
HAA Agenda
Zoom link
Future Ready Iowa Summit
April 3
9:15 a.m.
Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center Ballroom
Future Ready Iowa Summit Agenda
Heartland AEA is beginning year four of the online Request for Transportation Approval process. Beginning this year, we only need to hear from districts that have changes.
If you have changes, contact Jenny Ugolini at jugolini@heartlandaea.org, or (515) 270-0405 ext. 14441. Remember, if your change impacts another district, you’ll need to contact that district for approval first. Afterwards, you’ll contact Jenny to make the change in the online system. The deadline to submit changes is TODAY.
If you have no changes, you do not need to do anything further. Your current agreement will remain in force until changes occur.
Chapter 285.9(3) of the Iowa Code requires the Area Education Agency Board of Directors to approve all bus routes outside the boundaries of the school district operating the buses. This has been interpreted to mean regular routes and regular special education routes, not busing for field trips or activity trips. The Code requires you to request permission from neighboring district(s) before any bus routes cross district boundaries.
For more information, reference these Frequently Asked Questions or contact Jenny Ugolini at jugolini@heartlandaea.org or at (515) 270-0405 ext. 14441.
The Iowa Department of Education in collaboration with the Iowa School Safety Alliance will be hosting school behavioral threat assessment training that is part of developing comprehensive school emergency operations plans. The Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Technical Assistance Center, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Healthy Students, is offering a one day Train-the-Educator training designed to familiarize schools and school districts with school behavioral threat assessments in preventing and reducing targeted violence at K-12 schools.
Topics covered include how a threat assessment team can be integrated into the broader framework of school safety, security, emergency management and preparedness put forth in the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans.
The intended audiences for this training are school administrators, teachers, counselors, support staff, community partners such as law enforcement and school resource officers, and representatives from community groups.
This is a great way to improve safety efforts in your school. The course is FREE and will be held on May 1, 2018 at Heartland AEA, 6500 Corporate Drive in Johnston from 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Due to limited seating, it is important to register soon. Registration closes on April 24. Register for this training session online at this link.
Quality and affordable student planners are available for your school through Heartland AEA’s Creative Services Department. Planners can help some students feel more engaged and aware of school events, activities and projects. Visit our website to choose your planner style from the many options we offer. Place your order by May 1, 2018 to ensure delivery by the beginning of the next school year. For more information, contact the Heartland AEA Creative Services Department at (800) 255-0405 ext. 14368 or creativeservices@heartlandaea.org.
“Speaking for All Learners” will be held on June 12-13, 2018 from 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. at North Polk High School. PK-12 educators will have the opportunity to network with other educational professionals, discover new strategies for working with English language learners in Iowa and meet national and local experts to enrich practices for increasing EL achievement.
Keynoters
- Ayanna Cooper, Ed.D is an ELL specialist who has extensive and diverse experience teaching educators how to enhance instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse learners.
- David Edward Garcia grew up on the Mexican border in Texas and lived in two worlds-linguistically and culturally. Growing up as an EL, he did not experience academic success but has become a successful speaker of five languages, teacher, entrepreneur, comedian and an inspiration to both students and educators.
Conference topics include:
- Strategies for addressing barriers to academic and language learning for English Learners in the classroom
- Best practices for supporting early childhood language acquisition for preschool English Learners
- Instructional leadership strategies for English language learning programs
- Connecting and collaborating with other educators responsible for the success of English Learners
- And many more learning opportunities and topics from experts in educating English Learners!
Information and Registration
Learn more at the conference website and register at this link by June 5.
Incentive
Heartland AEA Title III will refund the cost of registration ($150), plus provide an honorarium of $200 to off-contract public and non-public educators for full attendance and participation. This funding is not available to public or non-public districts served by the Des Moines Public Schools.
Attached is the updated Excel workbook for reporting TELPA screening data for the 2018-19 school year. Keep in mind this should ONLY be used in these two situations:
- Screening for incoming kindergarten students for Fall 2018 (kindergarten round-up) conducted this spring
- Screening of any incoming student K-12 conducted in June or July for placement Fall 2018
The grade level reported in this spreadsheet should be the grade level applicable for the 2018-19 school year. However, districts should wait until July 1, 2018 to submit it to the state. Reminder, beginning Aug. 1, all screening assessments must be completed using the ELPA21 Screener.
Iowa administrators and/or evaluators who are wanting to renew an evaluator license may choose from the following course options, including two new courses and Collaborative Leadership Institute with Peter Dewitt, offered through Heartland AEA.
NEW COURSE - Fierce Conversations 2: Generations and Feedback (1 credit)
Prerequisite: Fierce Conversations
April 25 & May 2, 2018
Heartland AEA, Johnston Regional Education Center
Registration Link
Fierce Conversations (2 credits)
June 6, 8, 27 & 29, 2018
Heartland AEA, Johnston Regional Education Center
Registration Link
Assessing Academic Rigor (2 credits)
June 13, 14, 22 & 27, 2018
Heartland AEA, Johnston Regional Education Center
Registration Link
Collaborative Leadership Institute with Dr. Peter DeWitt (2 credits)
June 28-29, Oct. 12 & Dec. 13, 2018
Adel AEA Office
Registration Link
NEW COURSE - Fierce Conversations 2: Generations and Feedback (1 credit)
Prerequisite: Fierce Conversations
Sept. 25 & Oct. 9, 2018
Heartland AEA, Johnston Regional Education Center
Registration Link
Heartland AEA is pleased to once again offer an additional course option for administrators and/or evaluators who want to renew their evaluator license. The Collaborative Leadership Institute is a two credit hour course that will be held on June 28-29, Oct. 12 and Dec. 13, 2018 at Heartland AEA in Adel.
Heartland AEA and Corwin partnered in the design of the Evaluator Approval Training pilot last year with the assistance of Peter Dewitt, Ed.D., and his work on Collaborative Leadership, which is grounded in the Visible Learning research of education expert John Hattie, on the most influential and impactful leadership practices shown to accelerate student learning.
In the Institute, Dr. Dewitt will unpack six leadership factors of Collaborative Leadership, painting a powerful scheme to meet stakeholders where they are, motivate stakeholders to strive for improvement and model how to do it. Participants will learn:
- The definition and complexities of collaborative leadership
- The 6 influences from Hattie’s research where they should focus
- How to redesign structures they have in place to help them have deeper and more impactful conversations with teachers, students and parents
- How to increase their ability to identify effective strategies for improvement
- How to build consistency in providing feedback to teachers based on a common set of agreed upon effective components of teaching
- Several activities to use with their staff to elicit the teachers’ voice and input into coaching, thus increasing teachers’ investment
- A deeper understanding of the Claims, Evidence, Impact, Judgment model for providing feedback to teachers
- To share best practices and be a resource
Registration
Register at this link
The course is open to anyone in Iowa. Seating is limited to 50 people.
For any other questions, contact Jim Verlengia, Ed.D., Director of Leadership Supports with Heartland AEA at jverlengia@heartlandaea.org or (515) 270-0405 ext. 14388.
Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise announced he’s seeking public input on computer science standards that are under consideration in Iowa. Wise announced public forums throughout the state on April 10 and April 12, as well as an online survey open through April 13, following a state team’s recommendation to get feedback on the CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards. These standards were developed by the Computer Science Teachers Association.
Feedback from the public forums and online survey will be used to provide guidance to the Computer Science Standards Review Team, which is expected to submit a final recommendation to the State Board of Education in June. If adopted, computer science standards will be optional for school districts.
Feedback at the April 10 and April 12 public forums can be provided either in person or remotely from satellite centers (through video conferencing). For more details, visit the Iowa Department of Education website.
Welcome to April's issue of Each and Every Child. Have you signed up for this summer's Special Education Symposium? It's going to be a good one. Register today.
