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
In the Jan, 18, 2016 edition of The Connection, you read an article from our chief administrator, Paula Vincent, about the book, One Word that Will Change Your Life by Jon Gordon, Dan Britton and Jimmy Page. Just as the title indicates, the intent of the book is to inspire you to simplify your life and work by focusing on just one word for a year. Simply put, One Word sticks.
The Agency Planning Council (APC) has been using this approach to focus our work. You may have noticed the small posters in our offices displaying the word we’ve chosen. In 2014 our word was coherence. This word helped APC focus on systematic or logical connections within our agency. The intended outcome was to address inconsistencies reflected in our culture surveys and focus group feedback. Our one word in 2015 was clarity, which was about ensuring our communication was easily understood and clearly made important connections (coherence) to our agency work. This year we have chosen leverage as our one word. We are interested in identifying and using any influence to gain advantage—advantage in area such as impact of our services, our professional relationships and our continuous improvement.
We know that other workgroups and individuals have also used this approach to simplify the focus of life and work. We would encourage you to consider checking out this resource. The One Word book is available in the agency library for checkout, plus there are five ebook copies in MackinVIA, in which staff can create a personal account and write in the book. If you'd like to read the ebook version, go to MackinVIA and log in with the Heartland AEA online database username/password. (Contact the library staff if you don't know the username/password.) For more information about the book, visit the One Word website.
And feel free to stop by and chat with us about this year’s One Word: leverage.
Your Agency Planning Council
Prairie Lakes AEA will host a screening of the documentary Most Likely to Succeed on Feb. 25, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. at Hiatt Middle School in Des Moines. This will be an opportunity for the audience to see the film and join in a facilitated conversation with one of the film’s producers, Ted Dintersmith. You can view a trailer of the film at the Most Likely to Succeed website.
Keystone AEA has upgraded its annual technology integration conference (TIC) this year, and it’s now called KPEC -- Keystone’s Premier Education Conference. Any and all educators are invited to attend this event in Dubuque, June 21-22, 2016. For more information visit Keystone AEA’s website.
Effective Feb. 1, 2016, the Department of Education released a (revised) Early ACCESS eligibility criteria guidance document. No laws or administrative rules have changed, but the current document reflects what the laws and rules have said. The following document from Annie Volker, Early ACCESS Regional Coordinator, lists 10 key features of the criteria. Contact Annie or your regional director if you have any questions.
On Feb. 22 Lincoln Elementary in Pella will be relocating to a new building at 1111 N. Main Street in Pella. The school’s phone number will remain the same.
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, John Pederson and Kate Walton.
Due to recent changes in Medicaid billing, our district/school partners have asked Heartland AEA staff clarifying questions, and on occasion, requested changes to documentation of services and supports on IEPs. As these questions arise, it’s important for the districts to contact and discuss their concerns with their contracted billing agents to ensure the districts are meeting the guidelines set forth by that company.
If additional supports are needed regarding documentation of district nursing, health or paraprofessional services, Heartland AEA staff members are encouraged to contact the nurse consultant assigned to the district—MaryAnn Strawhacker at ext. 14513 or Linda Wegner at ext. 12325. Heartland AEA staff may also contact Sara Mercer at ext. 14312, Misty Christensen at ext. 11203 or Keri Steele at ext. 14372 with questions regarding the documentation of AEA supports and services on the IEP.
