Iowa’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs) have formed a new organization, the Iowa Association for Educational Purchasing (IAEP), to support and bid food and related items in a cooperative purchasing process for the school year of 2011-2012. Click here for a schedule of upcoming meetings for the Iowa Association for Educational Purchasing (IAEP). The meeting agenda for each site will include an update on procurement activities to date, the organization of the IAEP, participation by schools and answers to your questions.
A hard copy of the letter will be mailed to food service managers next week and will be emailed to business managers today.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Title I Workshop to be May 16
The Department of Education's annual Title I workshop for Heartland-area schools will be held on Monday, May 16 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Room 13B of the Johnston Regional Education Center (6500 Corporate Drive). Teachers/administrators can register through the Heartland Professional Development Catalog using activity number RE011792111101.
Curriculum Network: April Curriculum Network Meeting
The April Curriculum Network meeting will be held on Friday, April 1 in Room 13 A & B of the Johnston Regional Education Center. The morning will begin with four breakout sessions. Jason Glass of the Iowa Department of Education is scheduled to join the group around 11:00 a.m. The agenda can be accessed at http://curriculumnet.pbworks.com/w/page/38079162/April-2011-Agenda
Iowa AEA Customer Satisfaction Survey open until April 8
This is a gentle reminder that the AEA Customer Satisfaction Survey will remain open until Friday, April 8, 2011. The survey provides us with your insight on how to improve our services to your school(s), staff and students.
We recently sent a reminder email this week and will send another in early April to insure that all district staff have a chance to participate. Since the survey is anonymous, we have no way of knowing who has contributed and who has not. You and each of your staff members are only asked to fill out the survey once. After you complete the survey, you may disregard the reminder notices.
The survey can be accessed at http://survey.aea267.k12.ia.us/survey/6358/122f/
Please encourage all of your staff to participate. If you have already completed the survey, we thank you for your support!
We recently sent a reminder email this week and will send another in early April to insure that all district staff have a chance to participate. Since the survey is anonymous, we have no way of knowing who has contributed and who has not. You and each of your staff members are only asked to fill out the survey once. After you complete the survey, you may disregard the reminder notices.
The survey can be accessed at http://survey.aea267.k12.ia.us/survey/6358/122f/
Please encourage all of your staff to participate. If you have already completed the survey, we thank you for your support!
Heartland AEA PEC to host April Workshops for Parents and Students
The Heartland Parent & Educator Connection will be hosting two workshops in April for students on IEPs and their families. The Transition Times workshop will be held April 12 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., and the Managing Challenging Behavior workshop will be held April 18 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Please share the link below with parents and students who may be interested in attending.
http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/parents/PEC/Workshops.html
http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/parents/PEC/Workshops.html
Elementary Student Opportunity: ISU AMS Severe Weather Poster Contest
The Iowa State University Student Chapter of the American Meteorological Society will be hosting a poster contest which is open to all elementary students (grades K-6) in the state of Iowa. It will be judged on the basis of how well students can illustrate what they and their families can do to prepare for severe weather events in Iowa. For more information, click here or visit the ISU AMS Poster webpage:
www.meteor.iastate.edu/ams/posters.php
The dissemination of information from external organizations by Heartland AEA does not infer sponsorship or endorsement of the information. It is being passed on to our stakeholders for its educational value.
www.meteor.iastate.edu/ams/posters.php
The dissemination of information from external organizations by Heartland AEA does not infer sponsorship or endorsement of the information. It is being passed on to our stakeholders for its educational value.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Summer 2011 Paraeducator Generalist Certificate Program
Heartland AEA is an approved provider for Paraeducator Generalist Certificate Program. Click here for a flyer that contains information and a schedule of paraeducator classes being offered this summer through Heartland AEA.
‘Eat to Compete’ course for Educators of Student Athletes
ISU Extension has created a course for teachers, coaches & athletic directors to help them assist student athletes and parents in learning about good nutrition for student athletes. Register through the Heartland AEA Professional Development Catalog using activity number AC000199171201. Click here for more information.
Heartland AEA Learning Team Provides Input on Standards-Based Progress Reporting
NOTE: This fall Heartland AEA implemented a new way of approaching professional learning within the agency. Heartland’s workgroups have formed learning teams that plan for the professional learning that is specific to their group’s needs. Groups were very creative and thoughtful as they designed plans that incorporated formats for learning that represented new ways of thinking. One learning team in particular has been studying standards-based progress reporting, a topic that has been discussed widely in local media outlets in the past few weeks. The team has prepared the article below with the purpose of reporting on some of their learning about standards-based reporting.
Response to DM Register articles regarding standards-based grading and reporting
On Monday, February 7, the Des Moines Register published an article titled, “A New Way to Grade.” Its subject was the Waukee school district’s intention of moving to standards-based progress reports in middle school and eliminating letter grades. A subsequent article appeared on March 9 regarding Waukee Board decisions. Depending on whether you read these in paper form or online, you may or may not have seen community members’ reactions to the ideas within the articles. Actions moving toward changing the way schools report student learning can be emotionally charged.
Our learning team at Heartland AEA has been studying this very issue this school year. We have investigated how standards-based grading and reporting practices might look in schools that are implementing standards, such as the Iowa Core, for example. The team is reading and studying from voices in the field and is also looking at schools and systems that are currently implementing standards-based grading and reporting practices in Iowa, the nation and even Canada. The purpose of this article is not to defend Waukee Board decisions; our purpose is to convey some of our learning about standards-based grading and reporting.
Fundamentally, a change to standards-based grading and reporting practices has at its core improved communication to students and parents regarding student achievement of learning targets. Our historical system of letter grades A-B-C-D-F has traditionally conveyed a very general sense of how well a student is doing. In this traditional system that tends to sort students, it has not necessarily been clear what an A means, or a B or an F. We usually just associate these grades with a sense of well being: “Letter grade A means doing really well; Letter grade D means doing poorly and close to failing,” etc. But traditional letter grades on a report typically tell us no more than that sense of well being. What’s included in that A? Was it pure academic achievement of standards or objectives? Or did this student bring in supplies for a charity fundraiser or bring a box of tissues for extra credit or points? Did another student have perfect attendance and really good behavior but not exhibit solid achievement of learning targets—yet received a high letter grade because behaviors were worked in? Other things to think about are our traditional methods of teachers’ using points converted to percentages converted to letter grades, often starting in late intermediate or middle grades and continuing into high school. What do these percentages mean, exactly? What does number crunching do for communication of a student’s genuine progress toward achievement of learning targets?
Our Heartland learning team has found the study of standards-based reporting and grading practices interesting and provocative. We have learned that standards-based grading and reporting helps students and parents know with much more clarity how the student is demonstrating what she knows and can do with standards (and/or perhaps other indicators) and how well. If the assumed purpose of grading and reporting is to communicate clearly a student’s achievement of learning targets, and if that achievement report is not influenced by behavior, then sometimes this is by means other than traditional letter grades—or it might be traditional letter grades along with clear, specific performance level descriptors or other indicators.
Our team has done a thorough book study of one book so far (O’Connor, 2009) and has discussed other prominent voices in the field, all of whom agree on basic principles. We offer the following recommendations for school or district study of this issue, for those schools or districts interested in pursuing better understanding of what the Waukee schools—and Ankeny and the Des Moines diocesan school communities—are undergoing in terms of standards-based grading and reporting:
Heartland Grading & Reporting Learning Team members:
Becca Lindahl, Teresa Bellinghausen, Julie Hukee, Lynn McCartney, Jennifer Riedemann, Mary Schmidt
Response to DM Register articles regarding standards-based grading and reporting
On Monday, February 7, the Des Moines Register published an article titled, “A New Way to Grade.” Its subject was the Waukee school district’s intention of moving to standards-based progress reports in middle school and eliminating letter grades. A subsequent article appeared on March 9 regarding Waukee Board decisions. Depending on whether you read these in paper form or online, you may or may not have seen community members’ reactions to the ideas within the articles. Actions moving toward changing the way schools report student learning can be emotionally charged.
Our learning team at Heartland AEA has been studying this very issue this school year. We have investigated how standards-based grading and reporting practices might look in schools that are implementing standards, such as the Iowa Core, for example. The team is reading and studying from voices in the field and is also looking at schools and systems that are currently implementing standards-based grading and reporting practices in Iowa, the nation and even Canada. The purpose of this article is not to defend Waukee Board decisions; our purpose is to convey some of our learning about standards-based grading and reporting.
Fundamentally, a change to standards-based grading and reporting practices has at its core improved communication to students and parents regarding student achievement of learning targets. Our historical system of letter grades A-B-C-D-F has traditionally conveyed a very general sense of how well a student is doing. In this traditional system that tends to sort students, it has not necessarily been clear what an A means, or a B or an F. We usually just associate these grades with a sense of well being: “Letter grade A means doing really well; Letter grade D means doing poorly and close to failing,” etc. But traditional letter grades on a report typically tell us no more than that sense of well being. What’s included in that A? Was it pure academic achievement of standards or objectives? Or did this student bring in supplies for a charity fundraiser or bring a box of tissues for extra credit or points? Did another student have perfect attendance and really good behavior but not exhibit solid achievement of learning targets—yet received a high letter grade because behaviors were worked in? Other things to think about are our traditional methods of teachers’ using points converted to percentages converted to letter grades, often starting in late intermediate or middle grades and continuing into high school. What do these percentages mean, exactly? What does number crunching do for communication of a student’s genuine progress toward achievement of learning targets?
Our Heartland learning team has found the study of standards-based reporting and grading practices interesting and provocative. We have learned that standards-based grading and reporting helps students and parents know with much more clarity how the student is demonstrating what she knows and can do with standards (and/or perhaps other indicators) and how well. If the assumed purpose of grading and reporting is to communicate clearly a student’s achievement of learning targets, and if that achievement report is not influenced by behavior, then sometimes this is by means other than traditional letter grades—or it might be traditional letter grades along with clear, specific performance level descriptors or other indicators.
Our team has done a thorough book study of one book so far (O’Connor, 2009) and has discussed other prominent voices in the field, all of whom agree on basic principles. We offer the following recommendations for school or district study of this issue, for those schools or districts interested in pursuing better understanding of what the Waukee schools—and Ankeny and the Des Moines diocesan school communities—are undergoing in terms of standards-based grading and reporting:
Guskey, T.R. (2000, December). Grading policies that work against standards ... and how to fix them. NASSP Bulletin. Retrieved January 21, 2006 from www.looksmartwomensports.com/p/articles/mi_qa3696/is_200012/ai_n8921332Our Heartland learning team has found this topic to be exciting and challenging to study. We offer this article in the spirit of learning together about an issue that can draw the opinion of virtually everyone who has been through school. Since the Register articles appeared, there may have been comments or arguments in your district or school. We welcome hearing about how you may have begun discussion in this area.
Guskey, T. R. (2006). Making high school grades meaningful. Phi Delta Kappan, 87(9), 670-675.
Guskey, T. R. & Bailey J. M. (2001). Developing grading and reporting systems for student learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Marzano, R. J. (2006). Classroom assessment and grading that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
O’Connor, K. (2009). How to grade for learning K-12: Linking grades to standards (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
O’Connor, K. (2011). A repair kit for grading: 15 fixes for broken grades (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Tomlinson, C. A., & McTighe, J. (2006). Integrating differentiated instruction and understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. (See Chapter 8 specifically.)
Wormeli, R. (2006). Fair isn’t always equal: Assessing and grading in the differentiated classroom. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
Heartland Grading & Reporting Learning Team members:
Becca Lindahl, Teresa Bellinghausen, Julie Hukee, Lynn McCartney, Jennifer Riedemann, Mary Schmidt
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