Rick Wormeli is a National Board Certified Teacher and a columnist for Middle Ground magazine. For more than twenty years he has taught science, math, English and history. He was the winner of Disney’s American Teacher Award for English in 1996. Rick is an internationally known speaker. In January 2008, Rick shared with Heartland that “Fair Isn’t Always Equal”. We anticipate that Rick’s next motivational presentation will be just as riveting when he shares his vast knowledge and skills on "Crafting the Art of Differentiation".
Please consider coming to this presentation. You can register on the Heartland Professional Development Web site at https://prodev.aea11.k12.ia.us/4DCGI/YYYYYYYYYYYYYYSRCH.
Crafting the Art of Differentiation with Rick Wormeli
Date: January 7, 2010
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Location: Airport Holiday Inn
Cost: $60.00 (lunch will be provided)
Activity Number: AS004899991001
Questions can be directed to Cheryl Risen at crisen@aea11.k12.ia.us or (515) 270-9030 ext. 14587.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Introducing Heartland's 2009 updated "A Guide to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973"
This popular guide has been updated in accordance with the ADA Amendment Act of 2008 and is now available for your use. Click here for a pdf copy or by visit our Section 504 Web site at www.aea11.k12.ia.us/504/. If your district would like to order print copies to distribute to parents, you may order them as you have in the past using the blue production order form. The print order identification number is 400. If you would like to revise the upper portion of the back cover to add your district contact information, you may. Please contact the Heartland Communications Department at comms@aea11.k12.ia.us for further instruction.
Hired a new school nurse in the last year?
On September 2, 2009 Heartland will sponsor a FREE all day training session for new school nurses. MaryAnn Strawhacker RN, BSN, MPH, who is starting her 17th year as an AEA nurse consultant, will lead the sessions. School Nurses may attend one or both sessions.
Morning Session 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
"Vision Screening the School Age Child" will teach your school nurse how to screen vision according to the state guidelines. This hands-on experience uses local children from a diverse elementary school to practice screening. CEU credit available for a $10.00 fee. Click here to download a flier.
Afternoon Session 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. AEA 11's "New School Nurse Workshop" discusses medication administration, delegation, Section 504, Special Education and general screening guidelines. Since Ms. Strawhacker also teaches at the all-day University of Iowa New School Nurse Workshop, this content is meant to compliment the state workshop and provide heavy emphasis on laws, rules, regulations and policies that govern the practice of school nursing. There is no charge and no CEU credit for this workshop. Click here to download a flier.
Please have your new school nurse complete the registration forms online at Heartland’s Web site at http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us or on the attached forms and mail/fax to Heartland. August 30, 2009 is the final day for registration to guarantee to receive a free resource packet.
Morning Session 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
"Vision Screening the School Age Child" will teach your school nurse how to screen vision according to the state guidelines. This hands-on experience uses local children from a diverse elementary school to practice screening. CEU credit available for a $10.00 fee. Click here to download a flier.
Afternoon Session 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. AEA 11's "New School Nurse Workshop" discusses medication administration, delegation, Section 504, Special Education and general screening guidelines. Since Ms. Strawhacker also teaches at the all-day University of Iowa New School Nurse Workshop, this content is meant to compliment the state workshop and provide heavy emphasis on laws, rules, regulations and policies that govern the practice of school nursing. There is no charge and no CEU credit for this workshop. Click here to download a flier.
Please have your new school nurse complete the registration forms online at Heartland’s Web site at http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us or on the attached forms and mail/fax to Heartland. August 30, 2009 is the final day for registration to guarantee to receive a free resource packet.
IEP Training for New and Veteran Special Education Teachers
IEP Training will be available this fall for both new and veteran special education teachers. If you have special education teachers new to the state of Iowa, they must attend training to be able to complete an IEP that meets all state and federal regulations.
Click here to view a list of available new teacher training courses and here for a list of veteran teacher courses.
To register go to the Heartland professional development catalog on our website at https://prodev.aea11.k12.ia.us/4DCGI/YYYYYYYYYYYYYYSRCH. IEP training for veteran teachers will be held in each region in August. Please contact your Partnership Director for dates and times in your region.
Click here to view a list of available new teacher training courses and here for a list of veteran teacher courses.
To register go to the Heartland professional development catalog on our website at https://prodev.aea11.k12.ia.us/4DCGI/YYYYYYYYYYYYYYSRCH. IEP training for veteran teachers will be held in each region in August. Please contact your Partnership Director for dates and times in your region.
A National Showcase for Iowa Schools
The US Department of Education (USDE) is seeking recommendations of schools that have made substantial gains in student achievement. The USDE will showcase several schools in the Race to the Top program. If you believe one or more of the schools in your district have made significant gains in student achievement in recent years and would like to be recommended to the USDE, please contact Dr. Maxine Kilcrease at MKilcrease@IA-SB.org.
Superintendent Network: Seeking New Network Members
Superintendents in Iowa all have the opportunity to participate in a Superintendent Network. These networks are using a model of instructional rounds developed by Richard Elmore. AEA leaders and superintendents from each AEA in partnership with School Administrators of Iowa have participated in training with Richard Elmore and his team from Harvard to learn how to faciitate these networks. There are currently networks in each AEA in Iowa.
The primary purpose of the network is to provide superintendents with a professional learning opportunity that focuses on the role of the superintendent in supporting effective instruction. The instructional rounds process involves the network in site visits to member districts. The host superintendent with their building leadership identify a practice that is part of their overall instructional improvement efforts. The network members spend time learning about that practice, go into classrooms to observe the practice and then provide the host superintendent with feedback about what was observed and engage in a process to leave the host with suggestions or ideas for next steps in their efforts.
The network process was piloted in Heartland second semester of last year. Members of the pilot network are: Denny Wulf- Norwalk, Rob Cordes- Carroll, Theron Schutte- Boone, Ed Ackerman- Colfax Mingo, Clay Guthmiller, Johnston and Greg Defoe- Adel. Site visits were conducted in Norwalk and Carroll. Facilitators in Heartland are Denny Wulf, Superintendent, Norwalk; Sharon Kurns, Director Professional Learning and Leadership, Heartland and Dave Stickrod, Partnership Director, Heartland. We are also pleased to welcome Mike Wells, Superintendent, Winterset who was trained as a faciliator for AEA 14.
We are seeking new network members for the 2009-2010 school year. Network members will meet after HAA meetings on the first Tuesday of each month to plan the site visit for the month. Site visits typically begin first thing in the morning and go until about 2:00 p.m. We will likely have several networks if there are a sufficient number of superintendents who want to participate. If you would like more information, don't hesitate to contact one of the facilitators listed above. You may also want to talk to some of the pilot network members. If you would like to join a network please contact Sharon Kurns at Heartland 515-270-9030 ext. 14362 or skurns@aea11.k12.ia.us by August 15, 2009.
The primary purpose of the network is to provide superintendents with a professional learning opportunity that focuses on the role of the superintendent in supporting effective instruction. The instructional rounds process involves the network in site visits to member districts. The host superintendent with their building leadership identify a practice that is part of their overall instructional improvement efforts. The network members spend time learning about that practice, go into classrooms to observe the practice and then provide the host superintendent with feedback about what was observed and engage in a process to leave the host with suggestions or ideas for next steps in their efforts.
The network process was piloted in Heartland second semester of last year. Members of the pilot network are: Denny Wulf- Norwalk, Rob Cordes- Carroll, Theron Schutte- Boone, Ed Ackerman- Colfax Mingo, Clay Guthmiller, Johnston and Greg Defoe- Adel. Site visits were conducted in Norwalk and Carroll. Facilitators in Heartland are Denny Wulf, Superintendent, Norwalk; Sharon Kurns, Director Professional Learning and Leadership, Heartland and Dave Stickrod, Partnership Director, Heartland. We are also pleased to welcome Mike Wells, Superintendent, Winterset who was trained as a faciliator for AEA 14.
We are seeking new network members for the 2009-2010 school year. Network members will meet after HAA meetings on the first Tuesday of each month to plan the site visit for the month. Site visits typically begin first thing in the morning and go until about 2:00 p.m. We will likely have several networks if there are a sufficient number of superintendents who want to participate. If you would like more information, don't hesitate to contact one of the facilitators listed above. You may also want to talk to some of the pilot network members. If you would like to join a network please contact Sharon Kurns at Heartland 515-270-9030 ext. 14362 or skurns@aea11.k12.ia.us by August 15, 2009.
Superintendents: 2009-2010 Heartland Administrators Association Meetings
Meetings for superintendents in the Heartland area will again be on the first Tuesday of each month from 9:00 to 11:50 a.m. The location for all meetings is at the West Des Moines Learning Center in the Community Room. Dates for the 2009-2010 year are the following:
September 1
October 6
November 3
December 1
January 5
February 2
March 2
April 6
September 1
October 6
November 3
December 1
January 5
February 2
March 2
April 6
Friday, August 7, 2009
Welcome Back Message from the Interim Chief Administrator
On behalf of Heartland Area Education Agency, I’d like to extend a warm 'welcome back' to all of you for the coming 2009-2010 school year. We hope you've had an enjoyable and relaxing summer and are as excited and ready as we are to start the new school year. As always, let Heartland AEA help you extend your reach to better serve you and your districts to increase student achievement.
I invite you to take interest in this Heartland AEA Administrator Connection blog. The Administrator Connection is sent every Friday (excluding holidays and summer vacation) with important information, deadlines and professional development and scholarship opportunities for school administrators, teachers and students.
To our superintendent collegues, we invite you to join us for our monthly Heartland Administrator Association meetings. The meetings are a time to come together, collaborate and discuss educational laws and standards and district-wide issues. The meetings are held at the West Des Moines Learning Resource Center from 9:00 to 11:50 a.m. on the first Tuesday of every month. This year’s first HAA meeting will be on September 1, 2009.
If you have any questions about what Heartland AEA can do for you, please don’t hesitate to contact me at sking@aea11.k12.ia.us or (515) 270-9030. Questions and comments can also be addressed to the Heartland Communications Department at comms@aea11.k12.ia.us.
Best regards,
Sheila King
Interim Chief Administrator
I invite you to take interest in this Heartland AEA Administrator Connection blog. The Administrator Connection is sent every Friday (excluding holidays and summer vacation) with important information, deadlines and professional development and scholarship opportunities for school administrators, teachers and students.
To our superintendent collegues, we invite you to join us for our monthly Heartland Administrator Association meetings. The meetings are a time to come together, collaborate and discuss educational laws and standards and district-wide issues. The meetings are held at the West Des Moines Learning Resource Center from 9:00 to 11:50 a.m. on the first Tuesday of every month. This year’s first HAA meeting will be on September 1, 2009.
If you have any questions about what Heartland AEA can do for you, please don’t hesitate to contact me at sking@aea11.k12.ia.us or (515) 270-9030. Questions and comments can also be addressed to the Heartland Communications Department at comms@aea11.k12.ia.us.
Best regards,
Sheila King
Interim Chief Administrator
Instructional Decision Making (IDM) Evaluation Update
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for participating in Instructional Decision Making (IDM) during our initial years of training and supporting IDM practices in your school. The 2008-09 implementation data that was collected last spring for over 70 buildings has been delivered this week (August 3-7). The package will included a cover letter explaining how to interpret the results and a CD-ROM with the following files:
• A README file that explains how to (a) navigate the implementation data file on the CD-ROM and (b) interpret the building and agency-wide implementation data (pdf) (Note: you will want to read this file first)
• Implementation data for your building (Microsoft Excel)
• Implementation data summarized agency-wide (Note: individual schools are kept confidential) (Microsoft Excel)
• The PESA rating scale (pdf)
We continue to strive to make the data collection process timely and more efficient. We appreciate your willingness to partner with us in our efforts to better support you and the other schools we serve. We welcome any feedback you have regarding this process. Our hope is to return the 2008-09 student outcome data to you within the coming months.
Thank you for your continued support and commitment to helping all children succeed. If you have any questions about the IDM implementation results, please contact Alecia Rahn-Blakeslee at arahn@aea11.k12.ia.us or Brad Niebling at bniebling@aea11.k12.ia.us.
• A README file that explains how to (a) navigate the implementation data file on the CD-ROM and (b) interpret the building and agency-wide implementation data (pdf) (Note: you will want to read this file first)
• Implementation data for your building (Microsoft Excel)
• Implementation data summarized agency-wide (Note: individual schools are kept confidential) (Microsoft Excel)
• The PESA rating scale (pdf)
We continue to strive to make the data collection process timely and more efficient. We appreciate your willingness to partner with us in our efforts to better support you and the other schools we serve. We welcome any feedback you have regarding this process. Our hope is to return the 2008-09 student outcome data to you within the coming months.
Thank you for your continued support and commitment to helping all children succeed. If you have any questions about the IDM implementation results, please contact Alecia Rahn-Blakeslee at arahn@aea11.k12.ia.us or Brad Niebling at bniebling@aea11.k12.ia.us.
A National Showcase for Iowa Schools
The US Department of Education (USDE) is seeking recommendations of schools that have made substantial gains in student achievement. The USDE will showcase several schools in the Race to the Top program. If you believe one or more of the schools in your district have made significant gains in student achievement in recent years and would like to be recommended to the USDE, please contact Dr. Maxine Kilcrease at MKilcrease@IA-SB.org.
Visit Iowa's AEAs at the 2009 Iowa State Fair!
For the second year, Iowa's AEAs will be featured at the State Fair in a booth in the William C. Knapp Varied Industries Building. The booth will highlight information about AEA services and will provide visitors with the opportunity to share their personal AEA success stories. Heartland AEA staff members will be working in the booth on August 18th and 19th. For more information about the 2009 Iowa State Fair, which runs from August 13-23, visit www.iowastatefair.org.
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