Requested Item: Your Assistance is Needed!

The Heartland AEA Communications Department is involved in a video project with the purpose of gathering Iowa high school student perspectives on education and would appreciate your assistance. This project includes the Wallace Foundation, Iowa Department of Education, Iowa State Education Association, Iowa Association of School Boards, School Administrators of Iowa and Iowa's Area Education Agencies. These videos will be used to help us in marketing efforts about Iowa's education, the Iowa Core and will provide insight from students' perspectives.

We'd like to capture students' answers on video to the following questions:

1. What do you want to be when you graduate? Where do you see yourself in five years?
2. What’s your favorite class and why? What makes school interesting for you and why?
3. What ways could you be “plugged-in” when you’re at school?
4. What one word describes your school experience?

Students will be asked to share their first name and grade level; they will not identify their last name. Interviews will be done at the school building; however, the name of the school building/district will not be identified.

Additional help we need from you:

1. Select 2-3 students to be interviewed. (This can be done whenever it's convenient and is least intrusive for their schedules. It should take less than 10 minutes per student interview.)
2. Have a parent of participating students sign a release form found here.
3. Let us conduct the interview between now and April 20.

If this is something your district could assist with, we'd be very grateful. All interested districts may contact the Heartland Communications Department at comms@aea11.k12.ia.us.

Thanks for your consideration!

Summer 2010 Paraeducator Generalist Certificate Program

Heartland AEA is an approved provider of the Paraeducator Generalist Certificate Program. Click here for information on our Summer 2010 courses.

Superintendents: April HAA Minutes

Click here for the minutes from the April Heartland Administrators Association meeting. Also available is Julie Melcher's handout located here. The minutes and handouts are also posted on Heartland's Web site at http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/leaders/ldr/admin.html.

The last HAA meeting for this academic year will be on May 4. Please remember that the May HAA meeting will take place in Rooms 3 & 4 of the Heartland AEA Johnston office.

Superintendents: April HAA Meeting Agenda

Click here for the the Heartland Administrators Association meeting agenda. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 6 at the West Des Moines Learning Resource Center from 9:00-11:50 a.m.

Iowa Department of Education Guidance for 2010-2011 CTE Courses

School districts and community colleges have requested support from the Iowa Department of Education to make fair proficiency determinations for students who were not proficient on the Iowa Tests of Basics Skills (ITBS) or the Iowa Tests of Education Development (ITED). Click here for the letter of guidance that is being issued to help school districts facilitate enrollment for students in career and technical education courses for the 2010-2011 academic year.

If you have any questions about the guidance, please contact Jeremy Varner at (515) 281-3542 or Jeremy.Varner@iowa.gov.

Microsoft Office 2010 Upgrade Offer

Students, faculty and staff who purchase a qualifying Office 2007 product between March 5 and September 30 can upgrade to Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 for a nominal fee. The software must be purchased through the Iowa Educators Consortium (IEC) agreement with JourneyED at http://www.journeyed.com/select. Individuals will be able to use their existing license of Office 2007 to upgrade for the additional price of $9.98 for ESD, $14.98 for physical media.

When Office 2010 is available for upgrade, all qualifying purchasers, including schools, will be notified via e-mail by JourneyEd. At that time, additional detailed instructions will be provided as to how to redeem the upgrade. Why the offer? Microsoft would like to enable graduating students to acquire the rights to their latest version of Office at a special price while they are still eligible.

AEA Customer Satisfaction Survey to close April 9

We can’t stress enough how important this survey is to help us improve our services. The more feedback we receive, the more comfortable we will feel making program decisions that benefit all schools in the Heartland region. Please encourage all of your staff to participate. Thank you very much for all who have already participated!

The survey can be accessed at http://survey.aea267.k12.ia.us/survey/5558/1299/.

General Education Workshops being held through April

"Supporting All Learners Through General Education Interventions" workshops will be held on various dates in April. These workshops will update participants on new rules about general education interventions and will provide an opportunity for building leaders to develop capacity to provide professional learning about general education interventions for their teaching staff. Click here for more information.

"How To Stay Focused on Teaching and Learning in Tough Economic Times" Workshop to be offered in May

As school leaders face difficult budget decisions, focusing on teaching and learning is even more challenging. Click here for information on a one-day workshop with Dr. Allan Odden who will offer strategies to assist in squeezing the most out of your education dollars.

The workshop will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on May 12 for 1A-3A districts and May 13 for 4A districts. Register online at http://www.sai-iowa.org/stayfocused/.

Short Videos: "A 21st Century Education"

Go to the Mobile Learning Institute's website to view a series of short videos on school reform. The videos may be used with staff, school boards or community members to start, extend or nudge the conversation about how to make change in education happen. Videos can be viewed online or downloaded by going to the below URL address.

http://www.mobilelearninginstitute.org/21stcenturyeducation/

Iowa Reading Association sets date for 2011 Reading Conference

Next year's Iowa Reading Conference will be held on April 7-8, 2011. The Association hopes to boost their attendance by asking schools if they would be willing to plan an in-service day on one of the Iowa Reading Conference days next year. Your district can save money on hiring substitute teachers and will get a quality professional development day as well.

There are many highly respected speakers already confirmed for next year's event. Patrick Allen, who recently wrote a book on conferring, will be one of the Keynote speakers. Valerie Ellery will also be attending and will share her ideas on creating strategic readers.

Other great speakers for 2011
David Schwartz: How Much is a Million?
Donalyn Miller: Book Whisperer/Middle School level
Aimee Buckner: Notebook Know How/Middle School level
Mike Artell: Fun speaker and author
David Nieves: Writing with Reptiles
...and possibly Frances Kennedy, an Iowa author

If you would like further information on next year's conference you may contact Julie Neal, Vice President of the Iowa Reading Association, at jneal@jefferson-scranton.k12.ia.us.