FastBridge Registration Open for 2023-24, AEA Subsidy Available for Grades K-8

This year Iowa’s AEAs again will be subsidizing the costs for schools to upgrade their DE-provided FAST subscriptions that includes the expanded assessment suite in math and behavior for K-6, and literacy, math and behavior for grades 7 & 8. Participation is available both to schools that purchased the expanded assessment suite in previous years and those that want to use it for the first time in 2023-24. Refer to this FastBridge registration overview for details on registration process, training, pricing and more. Contact Kevin Fangman for more information.

FastBridge Registration for 2021-22 AEA Subsidy Available for Grades K-8

This year Iowa’s AEAs again will be subsidizing the costs for schools to upgrade their DE-provided FAST subscriptions that includes the expanded assessment suite in math and behavior for K-6, and literacy, math and behavior for grades 7 & 8. Participation is available both to schools that purchased the expanded assessment suite in previous years and those that want to use it for the first time in 2021-22. The registration window closes May 7, 2021. More details are available here.

FastBridge Registration for 2021-22 AEA Subsidy Available for Grades K-8

This year Iowa’s AEAs again will be subsidizing the costs for schools to upgrade their DE-provided FAST subscriptions that includes the expanded assessment suite in math and behavior for K-6, and literacy, math and behavior for grades 7 & 8. Participation is available both to schools that purchased the expanded assessment suite in previous years and those that want to use it for the first time in 2021-22. The registration window is April 1- May 7, 2021. More details are available here.

FastBridge Registration for 2021-22 AEA Subsidy Available for Grades K-8

This year Iowa’s AEAs again will be subsidizing the costs for schools to upgrade their DE-provided FAST subscriptions that includes the expanded assessment suite in math and behavior for K-6, and literacy, math and behavior for grades 7 & 8. Participation is available both to schools that purchased the expanded assessment suite in previous years and those that want to use it for the first time in 2021-22. The registration window is April 1- May 7, 2021. More details are available here.

FAST Registration for the 2020-21 School Year

This year Iowa’s AEAs again will be subsidizing the costs for schools to upgrade their DE-provided FAST subscriptions that includes the expanded assessment suite in math and behavior for K-6, and literacy, math and behavior for grades 7 & 8. Participation is available both to schools that purchased the expanded assessment suite in previous years and those that want to use it for the first time in 2020-21.

Subscriptions are based on a per student annual cost, and your AEA and the statewide AEA system have committed to covering 50 percent of the cost for each K-8 student in Iowa. The deadline to register is May 16. If you have any questions, email Kevin Fangman, Heartland AEA Chief Academic Officer.

Message for Iowa Schools that Purchased the Expanded FAST Assessment Suite

As you kick off your school year, Iowa’s AEAs want to ensure that buildings and administrators that requested the expanded FAST assessment suite have access as expected and understand the billing structure for the suite. Please refer to this document for more information about FASTbridge billing, training, ordering and more!

FASTBridge Registration for 2019-20 Now Includes Option for Grades 7 and 8

This year Iowa’s AEAs again will be subsidizing the costs for schools to upgrade their DE-provided FAST subscriptions to include math and behavior assessments for the 2019-20 school year, and are expanding the potential grades available for schools. This year schools will have the option to use the expanded assessment suite in math and behavior for K-6, and will have the additional option to include grades 7 and 8. This option is available both to schools that purchased the expanded assessment suite in 2018-19 and those that want to use for the first time in 2019-20. Please refer to this FASTBridge program document for more information about pricing, registration, billing, training and ordering materials.

Important FastBridge Dates and Resources

As you may recall, Iowa’s Area Education Agencies announced that the AEAs will subsidize costs for districts to upgrade their Iowa Department of Education-provided FastBridge (FAST) subscriptions to include additional functionality in the areas of mathematics and behavior.

As a reminder, the deadline for 2018-19 participation (beginning fall 2018) is June 15, 2018. You can indicate your interest in participating in the fall assessments at this link. Heartland AEA schools that have signed up for the expanded assessment suite can be found at this link. Schools that want to purchase FastBridge for grades 7-12 should email the name of the their district, school, contact person, grade levels requesting to purchase, and student enrollment in those grades to sales@fastbridge.org.
Also, many districts have started preparing for the spring and fall implementation for these assessments by participating in these upcoming webinars. Please be sure to register to participate in these webinars. A recording of each training session will be shared after each session.

FastBridge Update from Iowa’s AEAs

Iowa’s Area Education Agencies will subsidize costs for districts to upgrade their DE provided FastBridge (FAST) subscriptions. This offer will allow districts to gain access to all K-6 FAST application features, which include additional functionality in the area of literacy and access to data warehousing, reporting, training and certification in mathematics and behavior. Subscriptions are based on a per student annual cost. Heartland AEA and the statewide AEA system have committed to covering 50 percent of the cost for each K-6 student in Iowa.

This one-hour webinar recording provides an overview of the FastBridge suite of formative assessment tools available for K-6 students in math and behavior and was presented during the Statewide Curriculum Network on Dec. 1. These are the slides used during the webinar.

This is information shared by the AEAs regarding the pricing structure negotiated with FastBridge Learning by the AEAs, and deadlines for notifying your AEA if your school plans to participate in 2018-19.

Many districts have already expressed interest to their respective AEA about using this suite of assessments. We are asking that you complete this formal interest survey in order to facilitate a systemic approach to implementation.

If you have any questions, please contact Kevin Fangman, Chief Academic Officer with Heartland AEA, at kfangman@heartlandaea.org or (515) 270-9030 ext. 14374. We will be collecting questions and facilitating feedback from FastBridge Learning and will share this in an FAQ document in the near future. ​