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
As you should have read about in November, Iowa’s AEA recently launched a new e-newsletter, the "AEA Advocate." 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. The second issue of the AEA Advocate was emailed last Thursday, so we hope you received it. If not, please click on the link above to the Advocate and sign up using the subscribe feature. If you have any feedback, let the Communications Department know at comms@heartlandaea.org.
Last Thursday the Iowa Department of Education released the latest edition of the Annual Condition of Education report. The report provides a wide range of state-level data, including shifts in student populations and demographics, teacher salaries and characteristics, student achievement results and school financial information. The Condition of Education report contains the most recent data through the 2013-14 school year, unless otherwise noted.
Highlights include:
Students in Public Schools
- 478,921: The number of students enrolled in Iowa’s public schools during the 2013-14 school year, up from 476,245 the year before.
- 21.1%: The percentage of minority student enrollment, up from 20.2 percent in 2012-13 school year and 5.5 percent in 1990.
- 41.1%: The percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, up slightly from 41 percent a year ago and up from 27 percent 13 years ago.
- 89.7%: The percentage of students from the Class of 2013 who graduated from high school in four years, up slightly from the year before (89.3 percent).
- 41.3%: The percentage of students from the Class of 2014 who took a higher-level mathematics course, including calculus and trigonometry. This is an increase from 40.2 percent the year before.
- 67.2%: The percentage of students from the Class of 2014 who took chemistry. Twenty-seven percent took physics.
- 22: The ACT composite score among students in the Class of 2014 who took the college-entrance exam, down slightly from 22.1 the year before.
- 68%: The percentage of students in the Class of 2014 who took the ACT, up 2 percent from the year before.
Technology Readiness
- The number of computers available to Iowa students continues to increase. In the 2013-14 school year, there were about 1.4 students per computer. This compares to 4.1 students per computer in the 2000-01 school year.
- The percentage of schools equipped with 50 MB or more of bandwidth climbed to 60.1 percent in the 2013-14 school year from 44.4 percent in 2012-13.
Schools, Teachers, Finance
- Iowa’s average teacher salary increased 3.7 percent to $51,937 in the 2013-14 school year.
- Iowa’s average teacher salary remains near the median of states (26th) in the national rankings. Iowa’s Midwestern ranking improved to 6th from 7th out of 12 states from the 2011-12 school year to 2012-13.
- There were 34,509 teachers in Iowa schools during the 2013-14 school year, up from 33,610 in 2000-2001.
- There were 346 school districts during the 2013-14 school year, down two from the year before. There are 338 school districts in the current school year.
- The state’s per-pupil expense was $9,609 in the 2012-13 school year, down from $9,645 the year before.
The full report is available on the Iowa Department of Education’s website.
This message was emailed to staff on Jan. 8 and is being repeated here as a reminder to complete the survey.
This survey is for full-time Heartland AEA staff who have health insurance through the Agency. If this does not apply to you, please disregard.
Please complete the survey below to gauge your feedback about insurance and other benefits offered through the Agency. The results will be used to guide the Agency Insurance Committee's decision making. Your responses are anonymous and will be viewed by the Insurance Committee.
Please click on the link below or copy and paste it into your browser.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YL3HC68
This survey will close Jan. 30, 2015.
Thank you for your participation. If you have any questions, contact Juliette Houseman, Benefits Specialist, at jhouseman@heartlandaea.org.
Heartland
AEA is excited to announce our next financial wellness offering,
Tackling Debt! Whether you are looking to pick-up a few nuggets of
information, or you need a financial overhaul, this 90-minute lunch and
learn workshop is just for you. You will leave knowing how to get out of
debt and what to do with your money after you become debt free. You
will also learn about how the credit score is figured and what it means
to you.
We will be hosting this event on Jan. 28, 2015 from 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m., at the Johnston Regional Education Center. It also be available live via Zoom.
If you are interested, register using the links below. Please RSVP by Jan. 26.
If you have any questions, contact Tony Chiaramonte, Human Resources Manager, at tchiaramonte@heartalandaea.org or ext. 14534.
Each week during the Iowa legislative session, we will bring you an AEA Legislative Update from the AEA system’s lobbyists, Tom Lane, Matt Eide and John Pederson.
During the legislative session, the Joint Education Allowable Growth Group (IASB, UEN, AEAs, SAI, ISEA) will once again be creating weekly factoids about the need for consistent growth in the state’s annual education spending rate. These “Facts 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 also be shared in The Connection.
Iowa's Schools Elevate Student Learning
