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: Process for Communicating Inclement Weather Office Closings & Class Cancellations

Winter weather is here this year a bit ahead of schedule, so we are quickly reminded of inclement weather conditions that can cause closures and cancellations. Offices will typically be open unless all schools in a region are closed and travel is not recommended. But we all know that scenario plays out at least a few times each winter, so in preparation for the possibility of office closings and professional development course cancellations, please read below for the process that the Agency uses to communicate about closings, cancellations and delays. 

First, go to section 11:14 of the Staff Handbook to read the Agency’s Inclement Weather policy. 

Remember that the Temporary Remote Workplace Program can be used in extraordinary circumstances with supervisor approval. More information about the program can be found in the Staff Handbook. In an inclement weather circumstance, staff members who complete timesheets have the option of taking unpaid leave, even if they have other leaves available. 

If you have any questions about the Inclement Weather policy, contact Laura Gillon, Executive Director of Human Resources, at lgillon@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14416. 

Communicating Office Closures 
The Agency uses a variety of methods to notify staff members of office closures due to inclement weather.

SchoolReach 
SchoolReach is an online system that sends voice messages to staff. When used, the service will call selected phone numbers in our employee contact list and will deliver a recorded message. The service will deliver the message to both live answer and answering machines. No answers (phones ringing over 40 seconds) and busies will be automatically retried twice in 15-minute intervals after the initial call. 

We will contact only those staff members who are assigned to offices that close. For example, if the Newton and Indianola offices are closed, we will only call the staff members who are assigned to those offices. Staff in other offices won’t receive a call. The calls that SchoolReach makes will be generated by the Agency’s Communications Department—they will not come directly from SchoolReach. 

To ensure that you receive a phone call about office closings, review your phone number information in the Agency’s Employee Online system and make sure it is up-to-date. To access Employee Online, sign in to Employee Dashboard and navigate to the Employee Online tab at the top of the page. If you have provided both a home number and a cell phone number in Employee Online, we will call you at both numbers in the event of an office closing. 

Please Note the Following About SchoolReach 
When SchoolReach places a call, if your phone has caller ID, the ID will display the Agency’s main number, (515) 270-9030. When you get a call from the system, there will be a short pause at the beginning of the message. This usually is only a few seconds pause. Answer your phone as you normally would with “hello” and hold for the message to begin. Multiple “hellos” will delay the message. Please inform all family members who may answer your phone of this process. If you rely on your answering machine to screen calls, the system will detect that your machine has answered and will play the recorded message to your machine. The phone will ring for up to 40 seconds. Make sure that your machine answers after four rings or you may miss the message. At the end of the message you will be prompted to “press any key” to hear the message again. This can be helpful if a child answers the phone and hands it to a parent, who can then have the message repeated in its entirety. 

Website 
We will post closing information on the front page of the Agency’s website (www.heartlandaea.org). 

Cancellation Hotline 
We will record closing information on a “cancellation hotline” that staff members can call into at (515) 270-0405 ext. 14041. When you call in you will hear a recorded message that says the date and which offices are closed if there are closings. If there are no closings, the message will reflect that. 

Social Media 
We will post closing information on the Agency’s Facebook & Twitter accounts (www.facebook.com/heartlandaea & twitter.com/HeartlandAEA). 

Communicating Professional Development Class Cancellations 
If a professional development class is canceled, the cancellation will be communicated via the agency website, cancellation hotline and social media. 

If you have any questions about inclement weather communications, please contact Courtney Croatt, Communications Specialist, at ccroatt@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14474.

Iowa’s AEAs Introduce “AEA Advocate” Newsletter

Iowa’s AEA recently launched the inaugural issue of the "AEA Advocate," a newsletter for AEA staff and board members. This communication vehicle is intended to share what’s happening within the AEA system and how it impacts you as a staff member of Iowa’s Area Education Agencies. A subscribe feature is included. 

The former Impacting Lives blog has now been moved to a module on Iowa's AEAs website. Find great stories about what your colleagues across the state are doing to improve the well-being and learning outcomes of Iowa’s children and students. If you have any questions about the AEA Advocate or Impacting Lives, contact the Communications Department at comms@heartlandaea.org.

Five Iowa Schools Honored for Breaking Education Barriers

The State Board of Education honored five schools from across the state last week for their work to raise achievement among students who traditionally face challenges in the classroom. 

The State Board of Education created the “Breaking Barriers to Teaching and Learning Award” to recognize successful efforts to eliminate gaps in achievement among students. 

This year’s award-winners were recognized for having the highest proficiency rates statewide in math and reading among a specific subgroup of students, such as students who do not speak English as their native language and students from low-income backgrounds. State assessment data from five years were examined to confirm a positive trend for each school. 

The schools that met these criteria are: 

Cedar Falls High School, Cedar Falls Community School District: Recognized for its work with African-American students. A full 78 percent of the school’s African-American students are proficient in math and reading, compared to a statewide average of only 52 percent. 

Davis Elementary School, Grinnell-Newburg Community School District: Recognized for its work with students on Individualized Education Programs or IEPs. The proficiency rate for Davis Elementary students on IEPs is 82 percent in reading and math. That compares to a statewide average of 43 percent. 

Hillside Elementary School, West Des Moines Community School District: Recognized for its work with English language learners or ELLs. The proficiency rate for Hillside’s ELL students is 70 percent in reading and math. That compares to a statewide average of 49 percent for the same group of students. 

Riverdale Heights Elementary School, Pleasant Valley Community School District: Honored for its work with Latino students. Ninety-eight percent of Latino students are proficient in reading and math, compared to the statewide average of 62 percent. 

Southeast Elementary School, Waverly-Shell Rock Community School District: Recognized for its work with students who come from low-income families. With a third of the school’s student population qualifying for free and reduced-price lunches, 98 percent of those children are proficient in reading and math. The statewide average is 65 percent. 

Interviews with school principals revealed a common thread between the honored schools: the use of evidence-based practices, a staff-wide commitment, high expectations and substantial teacher collaboration.

Mandatory: You Must Enroll or Waive Dependent Care Benefit

We are getting closer but still have a ways to go! Sixty-seven (67)% of eligible employees have enrolled in or waived the dependent care benefit. Eligible employees who must enroll or waive are full-time staff and 96-day or over part-time staff. Dependent care enrollment for 2015 must be completed online via the Employee Dashboard by Nov. 28. If you have any questions, contact Juliette Houseman, Benefits Specialist, at jhouseman@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14315. 

Important reminder: Even if you choose not to participate in this program, you must waive it! 

Even if you are opting for the same deduction as last year, you must type over the amount in the box and then save it in order to complete your enrollment correctly. 

Instructions for enrolling or waiving: 

• Go to the Employee Dashboard. 
• Click on the Employee Online tab. 
• Click on the Enrollment link on the left hand side of the page. 
• Enter the amount to enroll or enter “0” to waive. 
• Save. 

We have been notified that some people are encountering issues when trying to enroll. This is happening to a small group of people, and the Information Systems team is unable to duplicate the error. If you experience issues, quit Firefox, restart your computer and try the enrollment steps again. Make sure you have logged out of your Dashboard by clicking the “Log Off” link in the top right hand corner. Then sign-on again to see if you still see an error. If you don’t normally click “Log Off” this could cause this type of error and others. If you are still experiencing issues, contact Juliette Houseman.

You Requested Supplemental Life Insurance – Please Sign Up!

Enrollment ends on Nov. 28 for this new benefit option, and we only have half of the sign up we need in order to ensure that no one will have to complete the Evidence of Insurability forms! So if you are considering enrolling in the supplemental life insurance benefits, return your completed form to Juliette this week! This benefit is being provided to due to the amount of employee requests from last year’s Benefit Survey. 

After this initial enrollment, in order to get supplemental life insurance, new enrollees will have to complete the Evidence of Insurability form, which will then have to go through underwriting to determine acceptance. So if you are considering enrolling, but don’t want to have to jump through those hoops, enroll during this initial offer!

Those Eligible for Post-Employment Benefit – Return Your Paperwork by Friday

If you are applying for the post-employment benefit, submit your original application, letter of resignation and Things You Should Know Before Applying for the Post-Employment Benefit to Juliette Houseman, Benefits Specialist, by Nov. 28, 2014. If you have any questions, contact Juliette at jhouseman@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14315.

Changes Noted Due to FAST Vendor User Benchmark Scores & Normative Information

As many of you were notified last week, we recently received a copy of the FAST Vendor User Benchmark Scores and Normative Information. This information led to changes in the content that was delivered during the remaining three sessions of the November literacy professional learning for our school psychologists, special education consultants and professional learning providers. The updated content, including a recorded presentation, can be found in this Google folder.

New Family & Community Engagement Toolkit Available on Agency Website

Purpose of Family & Community Engagement 
To ensure that the students of today are ready for the careers of tomorrow, families, schools and community groups need to work together to promote engagement that is systemic, sustained and integrated into school improvement efforts. 

Research over the past 30 years has shown that engaging families in their children’s education increases student achievement and decreases dropout rates. Effective family engagement is not a one-time program or the choice of a good school, but rather a set of day-to-day practices, attitudes, beliefs and interactions that support learning at home, at school, after school and during the summer. - SEDL National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools 

Family & Community Engagement ties directly Heartland AEA’s goals: Growth, Gaps, Graduation and Gateways. “The evidence is consistent, positive and convincing: families have a major influence on their children’s achievement. (Gaps) When schools, families and community groups work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer and like school more.” (Growth/Graduation) This statement summarizes the conclusions of A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement, the most recent comprehensive review of the research. 

Key findings include: 

• Students whose families are involved in their learning earn better grades, enroll in higher-level programs, have higher graduation rates and are more likely to enroll in post-secondary education. (Graduation/Gateways) 
• When families take an active interest in what they’re learning, students display more positive attitudes towards school and behave better both in and out of school. 
• Children do best if parents can play a variety of roles in their learning: helping at home, volunteering at school, planning their children’s future and taking part in key decisions about the school program. 
• Children from diverse cultural backgrounds tend to do better when families and school staff join forces to bridge the gap between home and school cultures. 

Purpose of the FCE Toolkit Family engagement is a shared responsibility of families, schools, and communities for student learning and achievement; it is continuous from birth to young adulthood; and it occurs across multiple settings where children learn. Toward that end, the Family & Community Engagement Toolkit provides users with resources, tools and opportunities to: 

• Connect (make positive connections with families) 
• Engage (create opportunities for families to be fully engaged) 
• Sustain (strategies for staying connected and keeping families/community engaged) How can the toolkit help? 

How can we put these findings into action? 

• Recognize that all parents—regardless of income, education or cultural background are involved in their children’s learning and want their children to do well. 
• Design programs that will support families to guide their children’s learning, from preschool through high school. 
• Develop the capacity of school staff to work with families. 
• Link efforts to engage families, whether based at school or in the community, to student learning. 
• Focus efforts to engage families and community members on developing trusting and respectful relationships. 
• Embrace a philosophy of partnership and be willing to share power with families. 
• Make sure that parents, school staff and community members understand that the responsibility for children’s educational development is a collaborative enterprise.  
• Build strong connections between schools and community organizations.
•  Include families in all strategies to reduce the achievement gap among white, middle-class students and low-income students and students of color. 

If you have any questions about the toolkit or its contents, contact Terry Mendell, Lead Parent Coordinator, at tmendell@heartlandaea.org or ext. 17135.

December Regional Meeting Schedule

Region 1 
Dec. 11 
Lake Panorama National Conference Center 
8:30 a.m. – All Day 

Region 2 
Dec. 12
*Stoney Creek, Johnston Revised 
8:00 a.m. – All Day 

Region 3 
Dec. 5 
*Celebrate Community Church, 1005 N. Lincoln, Knoxville Revised
8:30 a.m. – All Day 

Region 4 
No Dec. meeting 

Region 5 
Dec. 12 
Johnston Regional Education Center, Conference Rooms 107A/B 
8:30 a.m. – All Day 

Region 6 
Dec. 12 
Stoney Creek Inn, Johnston 
8:00 a.m. – All Day 

Region 7 
Dec. 19 
Oakwood Road Church, Ames 
8:30 a.m. – All Day 

Region 8 
Dec. 4 
Lutheran Church of the Cross, Altoona 
8:00 a.m. – All Day