This message was e-mailed to all staff on August 12. Below you will find the same message to serve as a reminder to complete this important request.
The Heartland AEA Staff Handbook has been updated as of August 5, 2010 and is now available for all staff members to read and become familiar with. All previous versions of the Staff Handbook are obsolete and should be discarded or archived. The handbook also contains a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Notice for you to read.
After you read through the handbook and HIPAA notice, you are required to complete a web-based read receipt form that confirms you’ve read both of these documents. Do not print off a paper form and sign it—complete the web-based form. When you click on the link to the web form, you will need to enter the username and password that you use to login to the Employee Dashboard. You will then be prompted to complete the read receipt form. If you don’t fill out the form in a timely manner, you will receive a friendly e-mail reminder to do so.
Note that the handbook is in PDF form and contains bookmarks that allow you to click on the title of the entry you’d like to read. By clicking on an entry title, you'll be taken directly to that entry. You can also click on the triangle-shaped tabs next to the bookmarks to expand the view to include subtopics of that chapter. The PDF is indexed, which means that you will be able to quickly conduct keyword searches to find what you are looking for. The PDF can be viewed in Mac Preview or Adobe Reader. Adobe Reader will provide additional features such as the ability to highlight and keep comment notes in the document should you choose to save it locally to your computer.
Click here to download the staff handbook.
Click here for the read receipt form for the handbook and the HIPAA notice.
If you have any questions, please contact Carolyn Jones at cjones@aea11.k12.ia.us or Chris Pierson at cpierson@aea11.k12.ia.us. Thank you for your prompt attention to this task.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Presentations & Materials From Last Week’s Regional Special Education Meetings Now Available
Last Thursday and Friday regional special education meetings were held where updates were provided and information for the year was shared. Due to flooding, some staff may not have been able to attend these meetings. We have recorded these meetings and the links below will take you each of the recorded sessions.
Thursday Morning, Aug. 12 – http://iowaec.na4.acrobat.com/p10502014/
Thursday Afternoon, Aug. 12 – http://iowaec.na4.acrobat.com/p25704932/
Friday Morning, Aug. 13 – http://iowaec.na4.acrobat.com/p29562915/
During the webinar, we indicated that Heartland’s definition of professional learning would be made available. That is included in this article.
Additionally, updated documents are available on the Intranet. Dr. Vincent's welcome message will also be available on the Intranet in the next few days.
Please contact Sarah Brown at sbrown@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14380 if you have any questions about the regional meeting materials.
Thursday Morning, Aug. 12 – http://iowaec.na4.acrobat.com/p10502014/
Thursday Afternoon, Aug. 12 – http://iowaec.na4.acrobat.com/p25704932/
Friday Morning, Aug. 13 – http://iowaec.na4.acrobat.com/p29562915/
During the webinar, we indicated that Heartland’s definition of professional learning would be made available. That is included in this article.
Additionally, updated documents are available on the Intranet. Dr. Vincent's welcome message will also be available on the Intranet in the next few days.
Please contact Sarah Brown at sbrown@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14380 if you have any questions about the regional meeting materials.
Veteran IEP Training Now Available
The Veteran IEP training this year was recorded. This training is available on the Heartland website/ Educator tab/Professional Development Initiatives/Webinars.
http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/educators/online/vet_IEP.html
Please contact Kathy Scebold at kscebold@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 12309 with any questions about this training.
http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/educators/online/vet_IEP.html
Please contact Kathy Scebold at kscebold@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 12309 with any questions about this training.
DIBELS Next Training Now Available
New DIBELS measures have been released and training is now available. If you serve elementary or middle schools in the roles of school psychologist, special education consultant, speech-language pathologist or regionally-assigned PLLC, you are required to complete the training and accompanying assessments via Test Pilot. After you complete each training, you will receive a certificate you may download for your portfolio and records.
The trainings can be accessed via the Agency website, in the Professional Development Initiatives section, under the link “DIBELS Next.” http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/educators/dibels
This training needs to be completed prior to administration of DIBELS Next. You may not administer DIBELS Next, either for benchmarking or for individual student decisions, without first completing the training.
Please contact Wendy Robinson at wrobinson@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14548 if you have any questions.
The trainings can be accessed via the Agency website, in the Professional Development Initiatives section, under the link “DIBELS Next.” http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/educators/dibels
This training needs to be completed prior to administration of DIBELS Next. You may not administer DIBELS Next, either for benchmarking or for individual student decisions, without first completing the training.
Please contact Wendy Robinson at wrobinson@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14548 if you have any questions.
Recent Additions and Changes made to the 2010-11 Internal Calendar
Earlier this year a draft document was included in The Connection that informed staff of the dates of internal meetings for the 2010-11 school year. Those meetings were then put on the Kerio Internal Calendar, and many staff probably copied those events to their personal calendars. Since that document was published, many meeting dates have changed or have been deleted from the Internal Calendar. Click here to download a list of changes to meetings that were originally listed on the Internal Calendar. If you previously copied a meeting date into your personal calendar, updates made to the Internal Calendar will not automatically be made to your personal calendar—you will have to make those changes manually.
New staff members, please go to the “Public folders” folder in Kerio and scroll down to the Calendar_Internal to find all of the internal agency meetings that may pertain to you.
If you have any questions about these meeting dates, please contact Anita Davids at adavids@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14613.
New staff members, please go to the “Public folders” folder in Kerio and scroll down to the Calendar_Internal to find all of the internal agency meetings that may pertain to you.
If you have any questions about these meeting dates, please contact Anita Davids at adavids@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14613.
Horace Mann is Now Approved 403(b) Provider
The Retirement Investors’ Club (RIC) has informed the Agency that Horace Mann is now being added to the list of approved providers for its supplemental retirement savings plans.
Effective August 2010, Horace Mann, who was an approved provider for 2009, will join the five previously announced providers to offer investments to RIC plan participants. Participants may begin contributing to the new Horace Mann product in September by submitting their application forms to Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, by August 31. As with all 403(b) changes or enrollments, applications submitted to the Benefits Office in one month will become effective with the first paycheck in the following month. Please contact your local Horace Mann representative or call 877-602-1861 for more information.
Those interested in participating in the 403(b) plan may begin contributing to any of the six participating providers: AIG/Valic, Hartford, Horace Mann, ING, Security Benefit or TIAA-CREF.
403(b) applications or information on enrolling in a 403(b) plan may be obtained by contacting Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, at kmartin@aea11.k12.ia.us.
Effective August 2010, Horace Mann, who was an approved provider for 2009, will join the five previously announced providers to offer investments to RIC plan participants. Participants may begin contributing to the new Horace Mann product in September by submitting their application forms to Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, by August 31. As with all 403(b) changes or enrollments, applications submitted to the Benefits Office in one month will become effective with the first paycheck in the following month. Please contact your local Horace Mann representative or call 877-602-1861 for more information.
Those interested in participating in the 403(b) plan may begin contributing to any of the six participating providers: AIG/Valic, Hartford, Horace Mann, ING, Security Benefit or TIAA-CREF.
403(b) applications or information on enrolling in a 403(b) plan may be obtained by contacting Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, at kmartin@aea11.k12.ia.us.
Annual Schools’ Composite Calendar Now Available
Click here to download the 2010-2011 Heartland area schools’ composite calendar. We have included all of our public districts and non-public schools in this year’s composite edition. The calendar lists our districts’ start dates, teacher workdays/in-services, parent/teacher conferences, early dismissals, holidays/no school days, breaks, semester ending dates and year-end dates. School schedules are subject to change throughout the year. It is in Excel format for easy viewing and printing.
Agency’s Annual Progress Report (APR) Now Available
The Agency’s Annual Progress Report (APR) for the 2008-2009 school year is now available.
You can access the APR at https://www.edinfo.state.ia.us/web/aea_apr_summary_staticweb.asp.
You can also access the report via the Agency’s website by clicking on the “About Us” link in the upper lefthand side of the homepage and then scrolling down to Annual Progress Report. Any questions or comments about the APR can be directed to Kristi Upah, Assistant Director of Innovation & Accountability, at kupah@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14539.
You can access the APR at https://www.edinfo.state.ia.us/web/aea_apr_summary_staticweb.asp.
You can also access the report via the Agency’s website by clicking on the “About Us” link in the upper lefthand side of the homepage and then scrolling down to Annual Progress Report. Any questions or comments about the APR can be directed to Kristi Upah, Assistant Director of Innovation & Accountability, at kupah@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14539.
Instructional Decision Making (IDM) Evaluation Update
At the end of the 2009-10 school year, schools that participated in IDM training or were implementing IDM practices completed the implementation evaluation. This week over 70 schools that completed the implementation evaluation in May will receive a DVD that includes several items:
• A webinar recording to assist schools with navigating the files and interpreting results (New!)
• A README file to assist schools with interpreting the results
• Implementation results: Building- and agency-level
• Special education eligibility results: Building- and agency-level (New!)
• PESA indicators and evidence criteria
Each school’s data were aggregated and analyzed for all 73 buildings to gain insight into how our schools are implementing IDM practices across the Agency. The identity of individual school performance was kept confidential in the reporting of the agency-wide results. We are pleased that the median PESA score for all buildings in reading increased from 19 last year to 22 this year.
Alecia Rahn-Blakeslee, Brad Niebling and Shannon Harken want to thank all of the Heartland external support staff who collected data for their school(s) at the beginning of May. We know it was an extremely busy time of year, and we sincerely appreciate your time and commitment. We hope you found the experience beneficial as well.
If you have any questions about the IDM implementation results, please contact Alecia at arahn@aea11.k12.ia.us, Brad at bniebling@aea11.k12.ia.us or Shannon at sharken@aea11.k12.ia.us.
• A webinar recording to assist schools with navigating the files and interpreting results (New!)
• A README file to assist schools with interpreting the results
• Implementation results: Building- and agency-level
• Special education eligibility results: Building- and agency-level (New!)
• PESA indicators and evidence criteria
Each school’s data were aggregated and analyzed for all 73 buildings to gain insight into how our schools are implementing IDM practices across the Agency. The identity of individual school performance was kept confidential in the reporting of the agency-wide results. We are pleased that the median PESA score for all buildings in reading increased from 19 last year to 22 this year.
Alecia Rahn-Blakeslee, Brad Niebling and Shannon Harken want to thank all of the Heartland external support staff who collected data for their school(s) at the beginning of May. We know it was an extremely busy time of year, and we sincerely appreciate your time and commitment. We hope you found the experience beneficial as well.
If you have any questions about the IDM implementation results, please contact Alecia at arahn@aea11.k12.ia.us, Brad at bniebling@aea11.k12.ia.us or Shannon at sharken@aea11.k12.ia.us.
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