I announced last week that the Department has changed the notification date for ESSA levels of support from Oct. 15 to sometime between Dec. 3-14. Because of this change in the timeline for notification to schools, the school improvement schedule this year will also be adjusted. I’m pleased to tell you that most of the schedule will remain intact. The staff at the Department and all of our AEA colleagues have worked hard to ensure as little disruption to schools as possible.
The newly revised ESSA School Improvement One-Page Timeline is accessible HERE. The full ESSA School Improvement Timeline - with links to webinars and presentation slides - is at the same link as before and has been revised to match the one-page timeline. Here are the critical points you need to know about the updated timeline:
The Department and AEA staff chose to leave the schedule of professional learning intact because we feel this is the right work regardless of federal compliance requirements. We want to value the hard work of schools that have been on this journey of continuous improvement long before ESSA was a consideration by continuing to offer high quality professional learning in collaboration with the AEA system. This will be done largely on the same schedule we had communicated prior to the ESSA notification change.
The Administrator Information Sessions previously scheduled for the month of October have been canceled. We will instead hold a series of webinars during the month of October to keep administrators and other staff up-to-date on ESSA. The dates, times and topics will be posted to the ESSA School Improvement Timeline as soon as they are available. All webinars will be recorded and posted to the same document.
In addition, we will reschedule Administrator Sessions between Dec. 10 and Jan. 11. Department staff will be at one session in each AEA to go over the ESSA designations, report card, and any questions you may have.
Any changes to the AEA registration system for all professional learning opportunities will be finalized by Oct. 10. Only small changes will be made in individual agencies after this date.
While we will not be offering Intervention System professional learning during the regular school year, as planned, we will make it the focus of our Summer Institute. The Institute is required for schools receiving comprehensive assistance, recommended for those receiving targeted assistance, and open to all other schools, as well. The dates freed up by moving the Intervention System professional learning will be repurposed to offer the necessary ESSA components for schools, such as Self-Assessment of MTSS Implementation (SAMI) and Action Planning.
Schools will not be able to do the ESSA data review until after designations are announced. Even so, we will provide you with a list of other data sources that may be useful as you engage in the self-assessment in the fall.
We will add additional dates to our fall professional learning calendar for 2019 for Universal Tier Tools and Intervention System.
Site visits for schools receiving comprehensive assistance will not take place now until the spring semester of 2020. We will conduct two pilot sites in fall 2019.
If you have questions about these changes prior to the October webinar series please contact Barbara Ohlund at barbara.ohlund@iowa.gov.
Kevin Honeycutt’s presentation is part of the Heartland AEA 2018-19 Leadership Series. The session was originally scheduled to be held on Sept. 4 but has been moved to April 2. Because of the need to reschedule Kevin’s superintendent presentation and afternoon workshop, the HAA meeting has been moved to Heartland AEA in Johnston. Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise will be speaking. More details on the morning’s agenda will be coming out soon.
HAA Meeting - Sept. 4
Heartland AEA, 6500 Corporate Drive, Rm 152A/B/C in Johnston
Kevin Honeycutt - New Date: April 2, 2019
Morning Session - Superintendents; Afternoon Session - All Educators
Location: TBD
Registration coming!
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.
Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise announced he’s seeking input from Iowans on a draft of proposed statewide social studies standards for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Online survey is open through Jan. 9 and public forums will seek feedback on the draft standards. The online survey is available at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RLVQ52P. Iowans also can provide feedback at three public forums, either in person at three different sites across the state or remotely from satellite sites using video conferencing. The public forum sites and dates are located on the Department’s website.
Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise today announced a new committee to help schools transition to new statewide assessments. The Statewide Assessment Advisory Committee will meet for the first time on Oct. 13 and will meet at least four times throughout the 2016-17 school year. Meetings are open to the public. Thursday’s meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the West Des Moines Community School District Learning Resource Center, 3550 Mills Civic Parkway, in West Des Moines. For more information visit the Statewide Assessment Advisory Committee webpage.
