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
This year Iowa’s AEAs again will be subsidizing the costs for schools to upgrade their DE-provided FAST subscriptions that includes the expanded assessment suite in math and behavior for K-6, and literacy, math and behavior for grades 7 & 8. Participation is available both to schools that purchased the expanded assessment suite in previous years and those that want to use it for the first time in 2020-21.
Subscriptions are based on a per student annual cost, and your AEA and the statewide AEA system have committed to covering 50 percent of the cost for each K-8 student in Iowa. The deadline to register is May 16. If you have any questions, email Kevin Fangman, Heartland AEA Chief Academic Officer.
The Heartland AEA Library & Digital Resources newsletter is now available. Make sure to follow the newsletter and share it with your colleagues! In this issue…
- High Interest Reading at Home or School with Ebooks
- You asked for it! New ebooks
- Action: IASL Award Book Delivery
- Interactives and Simulations
- Instructional Technology Supports
The AEA Special Education Directors have created a brief document that highlights some parameters for closing up paperwork for this school year. In summary it encourages teams to complete IEP meetings and evaluations following the AEA Special Education Procedures and the AEA parameters, as well as an update on ESYS and graduation. This new parameters document expands on the DE's special education Q&A document that was distributed on April 30.
In an effort to support the well-being of districts, educators, students and families, Heartland AEA is pleased to bring you, "Wellness Weekly," a weekly series dedicated to all things wellness and well-being.
Check out the Wellness Weekly site every week for well-being resources, tips and fun and share with colleagues and families!
This week features:
- Being Our Best Self During Challenging Times
- How to Manage Anxiety During the COVID-19 Outbreak
- May is Mental Health Month
- How to Stay Sane When Working From Home
- Free Yale Course: The Science of Well-being
- What's Really Going on in Zoomland
In this issue: COVID-19 Update, Conditional Licensure, Hiring Checklists, Licensure Renewal Tips, Coaching, Troops to Teachers, NASDTEC Clearinghouse, Ethics and Recent Cases.
The May 2020 School Leader Update from the Iowa Department of Education is now 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
The Superintendents' Advisory Council (SAC) and Heartland Administrators' Association (HAA) meetings scheduled on May 5 are cancelled. Superintendents will continue to meet via Zoom as scheduled.
Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Department of Education announced on April 17 that all school districts and nonpublic schools will be closed for the remainder of the academic school year and will continue to offer continuous learning to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Following the Governor’s directive, the Agency will continue to keep its offices closed until further notice. We want staff to remain at home and follow CDC guidelines. This also means that any face-to-face workshops, classes or meetings that were scheduled in the offices during the month of May have been canceled.
As you may know, AEA Learning Online has an annual opt-in fee for districts to help support many programs and services they provide. This fee is reviewed annually and is based on the operational expenses for the programs and services they offer. For years, AEA Learning Online has been able to maintain the same low cost for districts, in large part through revenue from required Mandatory Reporter trainings. By charging individual employees for completing this required training, AEA Learning Online was able to lower costs to districts.
In the summer of 2019, legislation was passed requiring the use of one Mandatory Reporter curriculum from the Iowa Department of Human Services. While this has the advantage of lowering the cost for educators to renew their own licenses, it also meant AEA Learning Online would not be able to rely on that revenue to lower costs for districts. As a result, the opt-in fee will be going to $1 per enrolled student in the 2020-21 school year.
Heartland AEA has always paid the opt in fee for districts in our area. For 2020-2021, the agency will continue our current funding level of support for our districts of .$50 per enrolled student, and the remaining $.50 will be invoiced to districts by AEA Learning Online.
Starting July 1, 2020, AEA Learning Online is pleased to offer Mandatory Reporter trainings for Child Abuse and Dependent Adult Abuse at no cost for district employees in the AEA Learning Online Training System. Teachers will no longer need to go to the DHS site to complete their training, meaning: 1) they will now have the active phone and help-ticket support that the AEAs provide, and 2) districts will have access to their records of completion.
For questions about the changes for the upcoming school year, please contact Evan Abbey.
