NEW! Heartland AEA Gifted & Talented Newsletter, Share with Colleagues!

In this debut issue of the Heartland AEA Gifted & Talented newsletter:

• Welcome to the first edition of the SMORETAG newsletter!
• Smart, But Scattered Workshop Recording
• Upcoming Heartland AEA Professional Development Opportunities
• What's new in the Heartland AEA Professional Library?

Scholarship Opportunities Now Being Accepted for HS Seniors Headed to College AND Skilled Trades

Applications are now being taken for the United States Junior Chamber International Senate Foundation Scholarship Program. Graduating high school seniors in Iowa are eligible to apply. Each year $1,000 national grants will be awarded to graduating high school seniors in the United States, who plan to continue their education at accredited post-secondary colleges, universities or vocational schools.

The Iowa JCI program will be honoring three high school seniors (two going to college and one going to skilled trade education) with at least a $100 scholarship and send the top two forward to USJCI national judging, where the top 33 national seniors will be awarded a $1,000 scholarship.

Applications must be postmarked by Jan. 14, 2022. For more information, see this scholarship program flyer and application checklist or contact John Buttolph at (515) 290-0383.

Iowa Department of Education Publishes the Winter 2021 School Leader Update

The Winter 2021 School Leader Update from the Iowa Department of Education is available.

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

 

Save the Date: HAA Meeting Reminder - Dec. 7

The next Heartland Administrators' Association meeting will be held on Dec. 7 from 9 - 11:30 a.m. The meeting will be held at Heartland AEA, Johnston Regional Education Center, 6500 Corporate Drive, in Johnston and via Zoom. The agenda features:

• Legislative panel with guest speakers, Margaret Buckton, Phil Jeneary, Kate Walton and Dave Wilkerson
• Information about College and Career Transition Counselor grants and partnership with guest speaker Gail Zehr from Des Moines Area Community College

What Does Learning Look Like in a Post-Pandemic World? Attend the Dec. 10 Virtual Event to Learn More About the CTE Collaborative

Are you wondering what learning might look like in a post-pandemic world? How we might leverage what we learned about more effectively meeting students’ needs in ways that are both practical and deeply meaningful? What if we could include the application of college-, career-, and civic-readiness skills in all classes...and what if those experiences didn't have to happen solely in the brick-and-mortar of our schools?

Consider blending competency-based education (CBE) within career and technical education (CTE). CBE allows for flexible pacing, learning anytime/anywhere, validation of core competencies within CTE experiences, the development of learners’ agency in their own learning process, and a focus on the application of college-, career-, and civic-ready knowledge, skills and dispositions.

The 2021-2022 Personalized, Competency-based CTE Collaborative is an opportunity to learn about cross-curricular, career-connected, deeper learning experiences from educators in Iowa and in Michigan. Please review this CTE Collaborative flyer and Dec. 10 save-the-date card to see if our Who, What and Aim describes you and challenges you would like to solve in your context.

Interested in Future Ready Topics? ​​Join the Heartland AEA Future Ready Network on Dec. 2

Join your local colleagues at the next Heartland AEA Future Ready Network meeting on Dec. 2, from 9:00 -11:00 a.m. on Zoom! 

Topics will include: 

• Why Future Ready
• District Future Ready Data Analysis
• Action Planning Discussions 

If you would like to attend a breakout session for a deeper dive into PREP Dashboards, follow this link for instructions to ensure you have access to EdInsight (page 2).

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

 

Heartland AEA OneClick Offers Easy Access to AEA Digital Resources

At the October 2021 Heartland Administrators’ Association meeting, we presented the Heartland AEA OneClick program where a single sign-on would be used by students and teachers to access the robust digital resources available to schools (e.g., BookFLIX, PebbleGo, Britannica, Gale, EBSCO, Learn 360, SIRS, and more). This approach is in line with the goal to provide greater digital privacy and security for your teachers and students. Our youngest researchers and readers can use a QR code to log in. The brief slide presentation from the HAA meeting includes notes and screenshots of the launchpad.

Almost a dozen districts in the Heartland AEA service area have started the process to add their domain to OneClick. Districts that haven’t responded yet are invited to complete the pre-boarding questionnaire. You may want to ask the teacher librarian, curriculum coordinator, and technology director to review the questionnaire before completion.

American Red Cross CPR Pediatric Training is Now Available for PK Staff

Part of the Iowa Quality Preschool Program Standards is that PK staff are to be trained in infant and toddler CPR. The online simulation for completing the learning portion of the American Red Cross CPR certification training, adult and pediatric edition is now available through AEA Learning Online.

To receive the American Red Cross CPR certification, you must also complete the skills assessment portion of the training. To do this, you need to work with an American Red Cross (ARC) instructor. Here are the options for districts to get an ARC instructor.

Districts can:

1. use their own staff member already ARC certified and set up an account with AEA Learning Online (page 9 of tutorial) First Aid/CPR/AED Training Tutorial for Instructors
2. train a current staff member to be ARC certified
3. bridge a current staff member from AHA (or others) to ARC (page 6 of the tutorial)
4. use someone from the community (like a hospital staff person, police/fire staff person, etc., that is an ARC Instructor - they will need to set up an account with AEA Learning Online)
5. reach out to someone on this list that is an instructor in column d. ARC Instructor

The online training comes from the American Red Cross and is fully online and self-paced. This training is provided at no cost. No continuing education units are available for this training.

Iowa Students' Voices are Needed! It's Time to Complete Phenomenon Surveys for the Round 4 Field Test Units

Please share the links below with your science teachers.

These surveys will be open through Nov. 14. This is one of Iowa's opportunities to have our voice heard in the development of the OpenSciEd High School units.

PLEASE NOTE: The survey is for STUDENTS, not teachers. Students can do one or both of the surveys! They don't have to be in Biology or Chemistry right now.

B.2 Ecosystems Phenomenon Survey: https://tinyurl.com/B2-ecosystems
C.2 Electrostatics Phenomenon Survey: https://tinyurl.com/C2-electrostatics