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
Call for Presenters for September All-Staff Meeting
The Agency is looking forward to trying a new format for this year’s All-Staff Meeting on Sept. 9, 2016. We’re planning for an all-day meeting that features an afternoon of presentations from YOU! We are excited about the possibilities that we hope will come from staff members learning from and connecting with each other.
Through your Regional Planning Council or Department Planning Council, we hope you’ve heard a little bit about the format we’re planning for these presentations. They will be in the spirit of a PechaKucha presentation, during which speakers give quick presentations that include 20 images shown for 20 seconds each for a total of 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
Topics can be almost anything that are inspiring within our work throughout the Agency, including but certainly not limited to:
• A successful project
• A pilot project that didn’t reach its target
• Team-building strategies,
• A story of collaboration,
• Technology integration that improved a process or project or
• An initiative that made a positive impact on kids, teachers or families
How to Apply
If you or a team of your co-workers are interested in presenting, complete this presentation application by June 1, 2016.
Our All-Staff Planning Committee will review and select presentations, and they will use the following question as one way to evaluate your proposal: Does this Pecha Kucha reflect, educate, touch on or celebrate areas that we’ve emphasized as an organization—our core values, our mission, our goals and wellness?
This new approach to learning during our All-Staff meeting gives us a unique opportunity to feel the pulse of the Agency in just a few hours, to celebrate together, learn together and get re-connected. More than a PowerPoint slideshow, Pecha Kuchas generate discussion and innovation, so don’t be shy, show your work, make an impact!
If you have any questions, contact the Communications Department.
The May 2016 issue of the Educator Connection newsletter, Heartland AEA’s quarterly newsletter for area educators, is available. The e-newsletter is emailed to area educators and is archived on the agency website. Articles this quarter include:
- Collaboration Leads to Improvements in Math Fluency at I-35
- Our Kids Summer Institute Registration Open for Those Serving English Learners
- Summer Reading On The Go!
- "OneLogin" is Here: No More Multiple Log-ins for Digital Resources!
- At Your Service: Concierge Curriculum Connections
- How Home and School Can Work Together to Transition Students with Special Needs to New School
- BrightBytes Has Created Powerful New Features in the Technology & Learning Module
On June 29 the Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council is hosting a conference of business and school leaders interested in building or expanding partnerships. The Iowa STEM School + Business Innovation Conference will highlight best practices going on across Iowa including our acclaimed STEM BEST® (Businesses Engaging Students and Teachers) and STEM RLE (Redesigned Learning Environment) models, as well as others such as APEX in Waukee.
The goal is to equip attendees with the knowledge, connections and resources to build school + business partnerships in home communities. Registration is free! For more information and to register visit the Iowa STEM website.
The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners May 2016 newsletter includes topics such as elimination of printed licenses, renewal units for cooperating teachers, conditional licensure, case summaries and more.
Remember that you are granted up to 4 hours of agency time per fiscal year to do volunteer/community service work. Staff members must follow these procedures for volunteering during agency hours:
- There must be at least three Heartland AEA staff members (you and at least two other staff) working at the same volunteer opportunity together.
- Staff members are encouraged to wear Heartland AEA-logo clothing or our “Heartland Cares” stickers that were created for this purpose. You can request stickers by contacting the Communications Department. (Please request your stickers so others can see who you are!)
- Of course, you must approve your leave with your supervisor before taking the time off.
- Volunteer leave should be recorded in the Leave Online system as Volunteer Leave.
- Finally, to celebrate our work, please take a photo of your group during the volunteer activity and send it to the Communications Department with information about the activity and who was involved.
We’ve had great representation again this year, and we look forward to seeing more of you out before the end of June. Thank you for representing the Agency and serving our communities!
The
2016-17 calendar has been added to the Employee Dashboard for all staff
who need to complete a work calendar. The link to this function is
found in the Calendar Online Forms folder on the Leave Online tab.
The
calendar presented will be the default calendar based on the individual
staff member’s pay assignment. This will look very similar to the
Online Calendar View function. However, functionality is built into the
interface to allow the personalization of the calendar to reflect the
staff member’s schedule. This is done by simply clicking on the day in
question. Each time a day is clicked it will change to one of the
following:
-
Blue X – represents a non-working day
- Green / – represents a half working day
- White Space – represents a full working day
-
A yellow H represents unpaid holidays, and a yellow H followed by an asterisk (*) represents paid holidays. Sundays and holidays cannot be changed.
At
the top of the screen two numbers will be presented. The number on the
left is the number of working days based on the days selected as such.
In other words, the total of the white spaces (full days) and green
slashes (half days). The second number is the number of days expected to
work based on the pay assignment. These two numbers must match when the
calendar is submitted.
A
help doc named “Calendar Online Entry Documentation” is available on
the Help tab. This document describes in detail all functions of the
interface.
When
the calendar is submitted, it will be routed to the staff member’s
supervisor just as a leave request would be. And, just as a leave
request, the supervisor will review and can approve or reject your
calendar. Applicable emails are sent to the staff member and their
need-to-know person as well.
Once
approved, the 2016-17 calendar can be viewed by the staff member, the
supervisor and the need-to-know person. Also, all subsequent changes to
the 2016-17 calendar must be submitted via the Calendar Exchange Online
request system after July 1, 2016.
The working days calendars are due before you leave for the summer or June 13, whichever comes first.
If you have any questions, contact Samantha Perry, Human Resources Specialist, at ext. 14432.
Water, water, everywhere! Get ready to get your drink on May 23 through May 27, which coincidentally is Wellness Week!
How to Participate in the Water Challenge
You
will record your daily ounces of water by your participant number that
will be assigned to you when you register. Deadline to register is May 20 at 2:00 p.m. After you register, Katie Streff will send you a Google form where you will record your daily entries.
In
order to be in the drawing for the Delta Dental Advanced Sonic
toothbrush, you must record at least 75 oz. daily. You are not required
to drink this amount to participate in the challenge in order to earn
your points.
Also check out the Healthy Express Wellness Site during Wellness Week to find information about daily challenges!
Students have different information needs and skills and that’s why it’s important to provide options. Enter our newest option: OneLogin! It makes it easy for students to switch from one digital resource to another simply by logging in once. Younger students can log in to BookFLIX, then go to PebbleGo, then go to MackinVIA and only log in one time. OneLogin might be the nudge older students need to explore a larger array of digital resources. (How exciting!) Students and teachers can access the digital resources through the OneLogin portal.
- When you click on OneLogin, you’ll be taken to a new Heartland AEA OneLogin digital resources portal. The portal is always accessible from the Online Resources webpages on the agency website.
- Click on any digital resource and log in with your generic school username/password.
- Then go back to the OneLogin portal and click another digital resource, and you’ll see that you’re already logged in.
- Note that OneLogin requires an extension for each browser used on a computer. You can also download the OneLogin mobile app for your smartphone or tablet.
If you have any questions, contact Susan Schrader, Director of Resources & Library Services, at ext. 14332.
Just a quick FYI about two rooms at the Johnston Regional Education Center:
- Room 125 (the computer lab) is now a classroom for 20 people, instead of solely a computer lab. There are still eight desktop computers along the side in addition to the classroom space. This change is effective immediately.
- Room 158 will be converted from a small meeting room into an office for new regional director Amy Wichman, effective June 1.
If you have any questions, contact Dustin Gean, Operations Manager.
