Our Mission
To provide services and leadership, in partnership with families, schools and communities, that improve the learning outcomes and well-being of all children and youth.

Our Goals
• Increase learning growth for students
• Decrease the gap in achievement
• Increase annual graduation rates
• Increase gateways to post-secondary success

Reminder: Write Your Iowa Legislators and Tell Them About the Importance of Iowa’s AEAs!

If everyone at Heartland AEA were to send at least one letter to their state representative and another to their state senator, we would generate over 1,000 letters to the Iowa legislature! (Many thanks to those staff members who have already written letter to your legislators!) 

We need your help to help our legislators understand what we do. Our greatest enemy, when it comes to gaining legislative support for the AEAs, is not political parties and their positions. It’s legislators’ lack of knowledge about what we do and how important our work is in the lives of children, families and educators. We all make a difference! Please consider making a difference in helping to change how our legislators perceive the importance of our work! 

Click here for a letter template that you can personalize with “your story.” (Everything in red font in the letter is to be personalized.) We know you have stories to tell. Take a few minutes to share with your legislator what you do and/or to tell them a story or two about how your work has made a difference for a child, family and/or educator. If you have a story—great—if not, just share your thoughts about the wonderful people you work with at Heartland AEA. 

If you want to send a message to your legislator via email, please do not send an email between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. - our normal work hours. That will raise red flags, and we don’t need a legislator remarking that staff members are taking their valuable work time to write letters to them. Also, please use a personal email account instead of your work email account. This makes your message more personal and unique, and it avoids any legislators’ complaints about using agency resources to lobby them (which is a definite no-no)! 

If you don’t know your legislators and/or need to look up their email address or mailing address (hard copy letters are also GREAT), you can use the Iowa Legislature’s website to find them at https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find. 

If you send an email, please blind copy the Communications Dept. at comms@heartlandaea.org on your letters, and if you send a hard copy, also send a copy to the Communications Dept., so the Agency has a sense of how many letters staff is generating. Please send your letters within the month of March. We look forward to seeing how many of you accept this important challenge!

March 2014 School Leader Update From Iowa Dept. of Education

Click here to read the March 2014 issue of the School Leader Update. In this month’s issue, Department Director Brad Buck writes about the Teacher Leadership and Compensation roll out, while Department Attorney Nicole Proesch outlines the specifics of the law regarding snow days. Department Policy Liaison Mike Cormack writes about how emotion can enter into the ongoing debate over education issues.

Central Iowa is Awesome – Help Us Spread the Word!

We know the Des Moines metro and Central Iowa is an awesome place to live and work. All you have to do is check out this list from the Greater Des Moines Partnership to see the accolades that keep rolling in! This list is a powerful tool for the Agency to use in its recruiting efforts, and it can also be a powerful tool for you as staff members to use to help us recruit more great team members! Know someone who wants to learn more about the area? 

Know someone who is curious about relocating? Know someone who is looking for a change of pace? Know someone from out-of-state who is thinking of applying for a job at the Agency, but he/she isn’t quite sure? Send them this list! (And any of the other great resources available from the Greater Des Moines Partnership.) Help us spread the word about the quality of life enjoyed in the metro area, along with the great opportunities available at Heartland AEA!

March 2014 Board of Directors Meeting Agenda

Click here to download the agenda for the March 11, 2014 meeting of the Heartland AEA Board of Directors. Note that there will be no work session or dinner, and the meeting will begin at 3:00 p.m.

AEA Legislative Update

Click here to read this week’s legislative update from the AEA system’s lobbyists, Matt Eide, John Pederson and Tom Lane. We will bring you these updates weekly throughout the legislative session.

The Facts About Education Funding – A Team Approach

The Joint Education Allowable Growth Group (IASB, UEN, AEAs, SAI, ISEA) developed an action plan to address Iowa’s declining education funding and the need for consistent growth in the annual spending rate (as well as the need to set the rate consistent with law). A weekly “Fact About Education Funding” will be sent to all legislators, Gov. Branstad and Dept. of Education Director Buck highlighting a pertinent fact about education spending in Iowa. Each week this link will be shared in The Connection. 

It’s All About the Timing

Thirty-Nine School Districts Selected for First Teacher Leadership Systems

Last week Gov. Terry E. Branstad, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Department of Education Director Brad Buck announced the first group of Iowa school districts selected to launch teacher leadership systems next school year. 

Top teachers taking on leadership roles to improve instruction and raise student achievement is the centerpiece of Iowa’s landmark 2013 education reform package. New teacher leadership systems across Iowa will allow teachers to work in greater collaboration with colleagues and learn from each other instead of operating largely in isolation in their classrooms. Teacher leadership systems will be phased in over three years, with the goal of all districts participating by 2016-17, although whether to do so is a local decision. 

Based on the recommendations of the 19-member Commission on Teacher Leadership and Compensation, Director Buck selected 39 school districts out of 146 applicants from across the state. The districts – serving a mix of urban, suburban and rural communities to best reflect Iowa’s district landscape – enroll about one-third of Iowa students. Two of the districts will share teacher leadership systems. Districts were selected for the first round based on the strength of their application as well as geographic and size diversity. 

“We wanted to make sure that the first round of districts represented the diversity of Iowa’s school system,” Buck said. “The Commission accomplished this goal by setting a high quality bar while also ensuring that this is truly a statewide initiative.” 

Teacher leadership systems promise to help students learn more by better meeting their individual needs. They also will attract and retain more effective teachers by enhancing career opportunities and paying stipends for taking on extra responsibilities. With higher expectations for students, it’s no longer realistic for one principal to provide all the instructional leadership in a school. Teacher-and-principal leadership teams can support the more complex work required to prepare students for a knowledge-based economy. 

Districts that applied to start teacher leadership systems next fall were required to set a vision and goals for what they plan to accomplish. They also had to address “must-haves,” such as setting a minimum teacher salary of $33,500, improved entry into the profession, including mentoring for new teachers, and a rigorous selection process for leadership roles. 

Districts selected will receive about $309 per pupil next school year to implement their teacher leadership systems. The annual cost statewide is nearly $50 million in fiscal year 2015, growing to about $150 million annually by the third year. 

The next step for school districts is selecting their teacher leaders. Branstad’s fiscal 2015 budget recommendations include $4 million for the Iowa Department of Education, working with Area Education Agencies, to provide technical assistance and leadership development for the districts in the first group implementing teacher leadership systems in 2014-15. 

Districts from Heartland AEA’s service area that received TLC grants are Colo-NESCO, Earlham, Gilbert, Johnston, North Polk, Norwalk, Panorama, Pella, Roland-Story, Saydel, Southeast Polk, Van Meter, West Des Moines and Winterset. The Agency is beginning to post some of these first year TLC grantee on our TLC Google Site.

Use Worksheet for Non-Credit Activities When Planning a Workshop or Other Non-Credit Activity

If you are planning a workshop or other non-credit activity, please use the Worksheet for Non-Credit Activities rather than a Course Proposal Form. Course Proposal Forms are to be used for credit activities only, not for workshops or other events that require registration only. The Worksheet is also archived on the Intranet > Event Planning, Room Scheduling & Set-Up > Worksheet for Non-Credit Activities.

Assessing Academic Rigor Course Added for This Summer

We have added another Assessing Academic Rigor course to the catalog! This course is required for school administrators (superintendents, central office administration, building principals, assistant principals, etc.) and other educational leaders responsible for evaluating educators who are renewing their licenses. For more information or to register, click here.