February 2011 Board of Directors Meeting Agenda

Click here to download the agenda for the February 8, 2011 Heartland Boards of Directors meeting.

Updates Found on Setting Direction & Construction Blogs

Setting Direction Update
As we work on setting direction for the Agency’s future, one resource the Leadership and Learning Planning Council is using to help ground agency planning in the latest research is a report from McKinsey called "How the World’s Most Improved School Systems Keep Getting Better." Click here to download the entire report. We hope you will take the time to read it and consider how this information can influence our work moving forward to make the greatest impact on improving outcomes for students.

On Wednesday, we will post an update to the Setting Direction blog to further address some of the questions we’ve received from staff. You can find the blog and read the updates at http://direction.aea11.k12.ia.us.

Follow the Construction Blog
Updates about the Johnston REC construction project can be found on the Construction blog at http://construction.aea11.k12.ia.us/.

AEA Legislative Report

Click here to download the weekly legislative report from AEA Government Relations Specialist Wayne Haddy. We will provide staff members with these updates each week during the legislative session.

February 2011 AEAs’ Impacting Lives Blog

This month’s blog features information about AEA media centers and how the print, multi-media and online resources AEAs provide are integral to student success. Find the blog at http://aeas4iowa.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/aea-media-centers-are-a-quality-school-resource/. Please share the blog link with family, friends, clients—whomever you think would benefit from knowing more about the AEAs!

Iowa Future Website Launches as Place for Education Innovation Conversations

A new reality is beginning to sweep across Iowa and the nation. There’s a growing understanding that big changes are going to be needed in education for Iowa students to be successful learners, earners and citizens in the 21st Century.

To keep Iowa’s education stakeholders up-to-date with this new reality, a new website is here to help. It’s Iowa Future at http://www.iowafuture.org.

Iowa Future is promoting the need for innovation — a willingness to abandon some of the ways of the past and try new things to provide a 21st Century education Iowa students need.

The site is a forum for sharing ideas from across the state and nation, and highlighting work underway to prepare students for the future — the Iowa Future. The website will provide videos, discussion guides, presentation templates, testimonials, links to great resources and more. In addition visitors can offer fresh ideas of their own.

Five state education groups are collaborators on the site: Iowa Area Education Agencies, Iowa Association of School Boards, Iowa Department of Education, Iowa State Education Association and School Administrators of Iowa. The work is supported by a grant from The Wallace Foundation.

Amendments to Iowa’s Rules of Special Education

Thomas Mayes, Legal Consultant at the Iowa Department of Education, is passing on the following information following the State Board of Education’s January meeting. At its January meeting, Iowa’s State Board of Education adopted amendments to Iowa’s administrative rules of special education, which are effective on March 30, 2011. Those amendments:

• Make the Department’s enforcement actions associated with LEA/AEA determinations mandatory (“shall”), rather than discretionary (“may”). This is a requirement of federal law.
• Remove the term “preappeal,” and substitute “mediation” in its place. This is not a substantive change. The procedures associated with preappeal conferences will remain the same. The Department will still accept documents labeled as “preappeal requests.”
• Substitute the term “intellectual disability” for “mental disability.” This non-substantive change is authorized by recent federal legislation.

Since these rules changes are not large in number, the Department will prepare an insert sheet for the current (orange-covered) rules. That insert sheet will be available on or before the effective date of the rules.

February 2011 Iowa Department of Education School Leader Update

Click here to download the February 2011 issue of the School Leader Update from the Iowa Department of Education.