Save the Date: STEM Education Equity Symposium

STEM Education Equity: Policies to Create Opportunities in Rural Iowa is a day-long symposium on the opportunities and challenges of strengthening STEM education in Iowa.  The University of Iowa Public Policy Center, as part of its “Run Up to the 2016 Caucus” series, is planning the event in collaboration with the University of Iowa College of Education, and with the support of Iowa NSF EPSCoR*. The event will be held Oct. 19 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

National and state experts will present an overview of STEM in Iowa, as well as innovations in rural areas across the country; examine STEM equity needs of disadvantaged students in rural areas; and discuss next generation science standards, school business partnerships, diversity in the STEM pipeline, and legislative perspectives.

For more information, please visit the Public Policy Center's event page.

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.

Iowa BOEE August 2015 Newsletter

The Iowa BOEE's August 2015 newsletter includes topics such as conditional licensure, substitute teaching, BOEE rule changes and more!

Obama Administration announces Rural IMPACT Demonstration

The White House Rural Council in February launched “Rural Impact,” a sustained campaign to enhance quality of life and upward mobility for children in rural and tribal places. Through this effort, the Obama Administration aims to build upon the progress already made in reducing rural poverty by leveraging technology, forging new partnerships, and exploring new models of program delivery, to ensure that all kids have an opportunity to succeed.

In support of Rural Impact, the Obama Administration is announcing a new technical assistance demonstration initiative: Rural Integration Models for Parents and Children to Thrive (IMPACT) Demonstration. The Rural IMPACT Demonstration will focus on providing technical support for rural and tribal communities to incorporate a two-generation approach, with the goal of reducing child poverty.

The Demonstration will be administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and will be implemented in collaboration with a broad range of Federal agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Education, and Labor, and the Corporation for National and Community Service. HHS has cooperative agreements with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Community Action Partnership (CAP), to administer the demonstration and provide technical assistance to participating rural and tribal communities. By embedding a two-generation approach in programs and systems, HHS and its partners anticipate improvements in service delivery, participation, and outcomes for low-income families in rural and tribal communities. 

The Rural IMPACT Demonstration will provide technical assistance and other supports for up to 10 rural and tribal communities that have vision, capacity, and assets to develop innovative two-generation strategies.

Through Rural IMPACT’s two-generation approach, HHS and its partners will work with rural and tribal communities to address concurrently the needs of both vulnerable children and parents, with a goal of increasing parents’ employment and education and the well-being of their children and families.

August 31, 2015: Deadline for communities to submit their statement of interest

For more information, find the invitation letter or contact: RuralIMPACT@aap.org

Searching for Students to be Active with Broadband

The Iowa Communications Network (ICN) is sponsoring an opportunity for students with powerful voices to share their perspectives on technology and broadband. The Statewide Youth Broadband Advisory Council (SYBAC) complements state efforts to gain input from various stakeholders that are passionate about broadband, technology, and apps that require robust broadband to provide the required high-speed Internet. The SYBAC will be made up of twelve (12) young leaders from across Iowa. 

The council’s goal is to gather useful information on what high school students feel could impact high-speed Internet in their schools and in their communities. Students will identify effective strategies to improve broadband connectivity and community environments, which could assist in advocacy efforts for rural Internet connectivity.

Ric Lumbard, ICN Executive Director says, “This initiative allows high school students to help steer the broadband and technology conversations. Our goal is to hear from the next generation.”

Students enrolled in 10th - 12th grades from public and nonpublic schools in Iowa may apply for membership. Meetings will take place monthly, beginning in October 2015 through May 2016, via video conference, teleconference, and/or in-person. Council members also will communicate via e-mail.

ICN is the executive agency sponsor with support from Iowa Department of Education and Iowa Economic Development Authority.

Students interested should visit the ICN website or the Broadband Matters website. Applications can be submitted between August 24-September 14. 

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.

Model Code of Ethics for Educators Released This Summer

Over the past 12 months, a National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC ) task force, comprised of a diverse group of teachers, principals, superintendents (including Craig Menozzi, former Southeast Polk superintendent), paraprofessionals and state department officials, has developed the first Model Code of Ethics for Educators (MCEE). 

The MCEE was launched on June 25, 2015, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. It should be noted that the members of the task force are all working educators who were nominated by national stakeholder groups; therefore, this is a document that has been developed, vetted and endorsed by those in the profession.

The purpose of the MCEE is to serve as a shared ethical guide for future and current educators who are faced with the complexities of PK-12 education. The code establishes principles for ethical best practice, mindfulness, self-reflection, and decision-making, setting the groundwork for self-regulation and self-accountability. There are five principles, which broadly define critical dimensions of ethical practice expected of the professional educator, each followed by performance indicators that more specifically define aspects within each principle. You can read more about the MCEE at the links below.

Rationale for the MCEE
Model Code of Ethics for Educators (MCEE) Documents

The MCEE will remain as a living document that will adapt and respond to emerging issues in the education profession by maintaining resources that support continuous public comment and review. Toward this objective, the NASDTEC Executive Board established the National Council for the Advancement of Educator Ethics (NCAEE) at its June 2015 meeting to further the intentional focus on ethics across the profession and establish an ongoing group to administer the code. This critical work will lead to an increased emphasis on ethical preparation at national, state and local levels.

You can review and consider possible uses for this historic document in your work. NASDTEC is making no attempt to press organizations to adopt the document as a whole, and its purpose is not to supplant current state and provider codes currently in use. Rather, the MCEE should be seen as a guide and a tool for your organization as it considers how to assist current and future educators in dealing with an area which grows more murky and complex on a daily basis.

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.

Know a Great School Counselor? Nominate Him/Her for Iowa School Counselor Association Award

Award applications can be found on the Iowa School Counselors Association website. Applications are due by September 15, 2015.

ISCA 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award Nominations
This recognition is given to an individual who has made major contributions to the school counseling profession in the state of Iowa.  Nominate someone who has made a substantial and long-term commitment to the school counseling profession.

Gary Henrichs Award/Grant
The Iowa School Counselor Association invites K-12 school counselors to apply for this award. It has been established by the family of Gary Henrichs to acknowledge outstanding elementary school counselors in Iowa. This award/grant may be used by the recipient in any way he/she sees fit to help continue his/her work with the school children of Iowa. This award/grant will be presented at the annual ISCA Conference.

John L. Thompson Award/Grant
The Iowa School Counselor Association invites K-12 school counselors to apply for the John L. Thompson Award for Excellence in School Counseling. The award program is designed to recognize counselors who have developed exemplary programs to help students grow in academic and/or life skills.

Questions can be directed to Troy Bergmann at tbergmann@north-cedarstu.org or (563) 452-3179.

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.

DMACC Surplus

Surplus Board Room tables are available at DMACC Ankeny Campus. These items are at no cost. Please contact Julie Klocke in the Purchasing Department at jaklocke1@dmacc.edu if you are interested.
  

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.

Character Education Conference in Dubuque

Two by Two is committed to developing responsible citizens of strong character who care for, respect and appreciate people, animals and the environment. The Two by Two Character Education Conference is planned for August 4-5 in Dubuque. Early bird registration ends June 1.

Perry CSD Seeks Director of Learning Supports

• Lead & Coordinate Special Education Services for PK- 12
• Lead & Coordinate ELL Services PK-12
• Lead & Coordinate the Hiring of Special Education and ELL Staff 
• Lead Evaluator of Special Education and ELL staff.  Assist building principals with additional observations/walk-throughs. 
• Co-facilitate with the Director of Teaching & Learning, District MTSS 

Professional Administrator/Evaluator License required. Competitive Salary/Contract Days negotiable. Position reports to Superintendent of Schools. Applications is available on the Perry school website.

Know a Great School Counselor? Nominate Him/Her for Iowa School Counselor Association Award

Award applications can be found on the Iowa School Counselors Association website. Applications are due by September 15, 2015.

ISCA 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award Nominations
This recognition is given to an individual who has made major contributions to the school counseling profession in the state of Iowa.  Nominate someone who has made a substantial and long-term commitment to the school counseling profession.

Gary Henrichs Award/Grant
The Iowa School Counselor Association invites K-12 school counselors to apply for this award. It has been established by the family of Gary Henrichs to acknowledge outstanding elementary school counselors in Iowa. This award/grant may be used by the recipient in any way he/she sees fit to help continue his/her work with the school children of Iowa. This award/grant will be presented at the annual ISCA Conference.

John L. Thompson Award/Grant
The Iowa School Counselor Association invites K-12 school counselors to apply for the John L. Thompson Award for Excellence in School Counseling. The award program is designed to recognize counselors who have developed exemplary programs to help students grow in academic and/or life skills.

Questions can be directed to Troy Bergmann at tbergmann@north-cedarstu.org or (563) 452-3179.

Do you know someone who deserves to be named Iowa’s 2015 School Counselor of the Year?
Think of a counseling colleague… someone with whom you work, from whom you find support, whose counseling program supports the ASCA standards, who goes that extra mile to support students, who makes a true difference and is a credit to the school counseling profession.  Doesn’t this individual deserve state-wide recognition by his/her peers?!?

Then take a few minutes and nominate a counselor by submitting an application for an 2015 Iowa School Counselor of the Year Award.  Nominating is easy!  Please go to the Iowa School Counselor Association website and complete a short, one page nomination form.

The nomination form asks for basic contact information as well as for the ISCA (School Counseling Association) – please just mark “Iowa” in that box!  Your nominee will receive an immediate notification via email and will be asked to complete the on-line application process. No nominations will be accepted after August 15, 2015. Applications must be completed by September 15, 2015. All nominees must be a member of ISCA as of September 15, 2015.

The application procedure is also detailed at the ISCA website under Awards and Grants. Feel free to contact Troy Bergmann at tbergmann@north-cedarstu.org or (563) 452-3179 with questions regarding the nomination and/or application process.    

Rosetta Stone Pricing from IEC

Please forward to anyone in your district who may be interested.
 
Recognizing that language and technology skills are important even as budgets are tightening, the Iowa Educators Consortium (IEC) continues its partnership with Rosetta Stone® Education. As a result of this partnership, you have the opportunity to provide your school with access to more than 20 languages at a special price. This rate is open to all Iowa schools.

With Rosetta Stone, the uses go beyond your typical high school foreign language instruction. Think outside the box!
•    English Language Learning (ELL)
•    Before/After-school programs and summer programs
•    Professional language development (faculty, staff)
•    Independent study programs
•    Special education
•    World language expansion/Dual language immersion
•    Credit recovery/Intervention

For more information about this opportunity, visit the Rosetta Stone page on the IEC website and then contact one of your dedicated language learning consultants.

René Nicolle Murphy (New Accounts)
Senior Account Executive, Education Sales K12
(800) 788-0822 ext. 7712
rmurphy@rosettastone.com

Shannon Rankin (Renewals)
Account Manager, Education Sales K12
(800) 788-0822 ext. 7708
srankin@rosettastone.com

UNI to Offer Summer Course on Scratch in Education

UNI will host a six week, six unit online course on how to teach with Scratch. The course assumes no prior programming experience and will include an introduction to the environment, material on Scratch for Logo, storytelling, text interaction and game-laying, as well as coverage of some advanced topics. Each unit is a blend of 60-90 minutes of lecture videos (roughly 5 minutes each), hands-on guided activities and independent programming assignments. It was taken by over 140 teachers last summer and was VERY well reviewed in end of course evaluations. 

The course will run from June 8-July 17 and will require a TOTAL commitment of roughly 20-25 hours. Apply by June 1.

EyesOpenIowa Summer Training Opportunities

The mission of EyesOpenIowa (formerly FutureNet) is to lead Iowa communities in advocacy, education and collaboration to ensure adolescent sexual health. Find a list of trainings and professional development they have available this summer.

Iowa BOEE May 2015 Newsletter

The Iowa BOEE's May 2015 newsletter includes topics such as cyber traps for educators, ethics, renewal updates, graduate credits, initial licensure conversion and hiring new graduates.

DMACC Announces One Book One College One Community Program - Open to High School Students

For the past several years, DMACC Libraries have sponsored the One Book One College One Community program.  The idea is to use a single, common book in DMACC classrooms to foster opportunities for creativity, academic dialogue, critical thinking and fellowship.  For the 2015-16 school year, they have selected title Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. The author will be at the Ankeny and Boone campuses on October 22, 2015 for open presentations about her book.

This year, they’d like to invite high schools in the surrounding DMACC communities (i.e. high schools in the Heartland AEA area) the opportunity to participate as well, so as to expand on the notion of “community” in the program.  DMACC Libraries have 100 copies of the book that they will give away to area high school classes that would like to use the book as part of the curriculum. There is no cost to participate and the books are given to the school to keep.

Please feel free to forward this email to a teacher(s) in your high school who might be interested. Any high school course is eligible to apply. (DMACC dual-credit course are already eligible for this program.) There is a very short application process with a deadline of May 15, 2015. More information on this short application is available here.

Visit the DMACC site to learn more about the One Book One College One Community program.

Reminder: ISU to Host Educational Administration Program Cohorts

Find more information about Iowa State University’s PreLEAD Program for Principal Licensure and Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) Program, starting this fall and summer respectively.

ISU to Host Educational Administration Program Cohorts

Find more information about Iowa State University’s PreLEAD Program for Principal Licensure and Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) Program, starting this fall and summer respectively.

Invitation to Serve on the AASA Governing Board

American Association of School Administrators (AASA) established a two-tiered governance structure in 2004. Iowa currently has three seats on AASA's governing board, one of which is up for renewal.

The governing board provides overall direction for AASA, with special emphasis on policy-related areas. A smaller executive committee, consisting of regional members, oversees the more specific day-to-day responsibilities.

Of Iowa's three current representatives, one is the elected general administrator officer on SAI's executive committee, Tim Kuehl, Clear Creek-Amana superintendent; one is elected from the general administrators who serve on Rep Council, Mary Jo Hainstock, Vinton-Shellsburg superintendent; and one is an at-large Iowa AASA member elected by SAI's AASA active members, Theron Schutte, Bettendorf superintendent, whose term is expiring.

SAI is currently seeking candidates for election to the at-large seat. Responsibilities include attendance at two national meetings, one held during AASA's National Conference in Education in February and the other in July. Travel and expenses are covered for the July meeting. The individual (or his or her district) will be responsible for covering all expenses for the February meeting. This at-large term is for three years. Eligible candidates must have been an SAI and AASA member for the past three consecutive years.

To indicate your interest in being a candidate, please include a letter (or email) from your board president indicating that the district/organization will support your candidacy through time away from the district and any financial responsibilities that accompany the office, if the district is covering them. Please also submit a paragraph indicating why you are interested in serving on the AASA governing board, and a résumé.

Deadline to indicate your interest and submit your application is April 30, 2015. Application materials may be directed to Tracy Harms at tharms@sai-iowa.org or to the mailing address below.

SAI - Linking Leadership and Learning
Tracy Harms, Communications Director
School Administrators of Iowa
12199 Stratford Dr., Clive, IA 50325

UNI Education Summit to Focus on Systemic Reform of Iowa Education

Recent research suggests that American school children are falling behind their international cohorts in academic skills at all education levels (Center for Research on Human Capital and Education; ETS, 2013). Creating and delivering quality education requires a complex system of institutions. Institutional change (reform) is always difficult; however, it becomes significantly more probable if relevant stakeholders are involved at all levels of the reform process. This necessary connectedness among stakeholders is essential for lasting systemic change to occur. Speakers and participants at the UNI Education Summit will discuss topics related to education reform, with particular emphasis on the areas of literacy/reading, rural education and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) instruction.

Governor Branstad, the Iowa Legislature and the Iowa Department of Education have signaled their understanding of the need for education reform as follows:

• Passed and signed HF 215, an omnibus education reform bill addressing issues such as:  school funding, teacher recruitment, teacher advancement and accountability requirements.
• Passed and signed SF 2319, a bill that directly addresses assisting young children who underperform in reading, specifically because of dyslexia.
• Created and funded Iowa Reading Research Center (IRRC).

The purpose of the annual UNI Education Summit is, and will continue to be, to provide a venue and an opportunity for discussion among institutions and individuals involved in, and necessary for, the successful, systemic reform of Iowa education.

For more information and to register, visit the UNI Education Summit website.

Standards Based Grading in Special Education Scheduled at Drake University

The move to standards-based grading poses real challenges as we implement this practice with learners of diverse abilities. In this session, participants will learn about an inclusive grading and intervention-planning model for grading and reporting achievement of exceptional learners in a way that is fair, meaningful and legally defensible. For more information and to register, visit the Drake University registration website.