Our Mission
To
improve the learning outcomes and well-being of all children and youth
by providing services and leadership in partnership with families,
schools and communities.
Our Goals
• Increase learning growth for students
• Decrease the gap in achievement
• Increase annual graduation rates
• Increase gateways to post-secondary success
After seeking input from our board members, staff, school district leaders via focus groups, interviews and an online survey, the Board of Directors of Heartland AEA seeks a strong educational leader who possesses the following characteristics:
- A leader who is committed to high standards for leadership, operations, and student learning
- An excellent communicator who understands that listening is an essential component of communicating
- A team builder and facilitator
- Builds partnerships
- Demonstrates a high degree of fairness, who is ethical, and possesses unquestionable integrity
- Fosters trust through both communication and personal commitment
- Has a proven track record of success in all leadership positions
- Has a strong presence and involvement in local, statewide, and federal matters highlighting and recognizing agency strengths and representing a Kid’s First orientation
- Is collaborative, decisive, and supportive of an inclusive management style
- Is open to new ideas and supportive of innovation
- Is politically savvy and will work with legislators on behalf of education
- Possesses financial savvy; understands school finances
- Possesses the ability to build strong relationships with all superintendents, legislators, and Agency staff
- Recruits, evaluates, and retains, outstanding staff members
- Relationship builder
- Strong knowledge and understanding of the special education with regard to varied leadership experiences and accomplishments
- Skilled systems thinker who is committed to growth and innovation
- Passionate about learning and has demonstrated a firm belief that all children can learn
- Values use of data in the decision-making process focusing on student outcomes
- Is or is able to be certified in the State of Iowa as a Superintendent/AEA Chief Administrator
Visit the agency’s website for the full report from search consultants Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates.
Be on the look out for an email next Monday, March 20 with an invitation for you to participate in the Denison Organizational Culture Survey. The survey will be sent to All staff, so everyone will have a chance to provide their feedback about our agency’s culture (the way we do things around here).
Remember to please be as honest as possible when completing the survey and know that your responses are completely confidential and cannot be tracked. The survey will close on March 31. Thank you in advance for your time and feedback!
Heartland AEA offers employees the opportunity to voluntarily save for retirement by participating in the Iowa Department of Administrative Services’ Retirement Investors’ Club (RIC) 403(b) and/or 457 plans. You can participate in these plans by making pre-tax contributions (before state and federal income taxes are computed) and/or Roth after-tax contributions. You are eligible to participate in this plan whether or not you are actively contributing to it.
The RIC plan provides you the option to select between four investment providers: Horace Mann, Mass Mutual, VALIC and Voya.
- The minimum contribution is $12.50 per pay period.
- You have the option of pre-tax contributions and/or post-tax Roth contributions. You should work with your financial advisor to determine what is best for your retirement planning. If you want to model the effect of the tax savings from a pre-tax investment, go to the Employee Online tab on your Employee Dashboard and click on the “What If” calculator and enter the amount of your pre-tax contribution. This will show you how making the contribution on a pre-tax basis will affect your paycheck. The post-tax Roth investment is designed to offer tax savings at the time of withdrawal and not at the time of investment.
- You can change the amount of your contribution 12 times per year (at the beginning of each month). All changes received by the end of a month will be effective at the beginning of the following month. For example, a change submitted between January 1–31 will be effective on your February 15 paycheck.
- The Agency does not offer matching funds, but it is still very beneficial for you to start saving for retirement, even if you are only able to start with a small amount.
- For 2017, the maximum amount you may contribute per year is 100% of your compensation up to $18,000. Also, if you are 50 or older, you may contribute an additional $6,000. In some cases you may also be able to make additional catch-up contributions. A calculation is required to determine if you’re eligible for this special provision.
To start your contributions, contact one of the RIC’s investment providers. Contact information is on RIC’s website. On the left side of the page, click on “Providers and Investments.” Clicking on the “Advisor” button to the right of each provider will give you a list of agents who are authorized to sell their products. The agent can send you enrollment information, and at your request, will schedule an appointment to discuss your individual financial goals. Heartland AEA’s Election Forms can be found under the 403(b)/457 section of the Employee Online tab of your Dashboard.
This Notice is not intended as tax or legal advice. Employees are encouraged to contact their financial advisor or tax professional with any tax or legal questions.
If you have any questions about participating in these retirement plans, contact Steve Jordan, Senior Payroll Specialist, at ext. 14908.
A statewide effort by Iowa schools to catch and correct reading problems in students early on is showing progress, according to a new policy brief released last week by the Iowa Department of Education.
Nearly 9,000 students in kindergarten through third grade who had fallen short of benchmarks in reading in the fall of 2015 met or surpassed benchmarks by the spring of 2016, an increase of 4.2 percentage points. Increases in the highest-growth school districts ranged from 19.5 to 32.2 percentage points.
Iowa Department of Education leaders today announced the results of the policy brief and celebrated the growth and progress in early literacy statewide. They were joined by Jane Lindaman, superintendent of the Waterloo Community School District, Tynne Sulser, a third-grade teacher in the Centerville Community School District, and Mark Crady, who represented Iowa’s area education agencies.
“Iowa’s schools are focused on preparing students for success in high school and beyond, and that success begins with developing strong reading skills,” Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise said. “These findings show Iowa schools are making strides in their work to ensure all students are proficient readers by the end of third grade. This type of steady growth over time will translate into thousands of students getting on track in reading.”
While the ability to read is important at all levels, research shows third grade is an important gateway grade, when children transition from “learning to read” and begin “reading to learn.” Early reading difficulties have been linked to long-term consequences, such as dropping out of school.
Iowa’s reading scores on state and national assessments have stagnated for years, and nearly one in four third-grade students is not proficient in reading.
The Iowa Legislature passed a law in 2012 that focuses on making sure all students are reading at grade level by the end of third grade. A key part of the law is an early warning system to help educators identify and intervene with students in kindergarten through third grade who are at risk for reading failure. Through the system, schools screen students in kindergarten through third grade three times a year – fall, winter and spring – to identify children at risk, to provide additional reading instruction and to monitor their progress.
Iowa’s early warning system was implemented through a partnership between the Iowa Department of Education, area education agencies, and school districts.
Of 398 public school districts and nonpublic schools using the early warning system, 60.8 percent (242) saw an increase in the percentage of students in kindergarten through third grade at or above benchmark from fall 2015 to spring 2016. Fifty-three school districts showed double-digit percentage increases in results from fall to spring.
Of Iowa’s urban school districts, the Waterloo Community School District demonstrated the largest growth, with a 14.6 percentage-point increase from fall 2015 to spring 2016.
“We are now better equipped than at any point in time to identify which students are on track and which ones aren’t, and we have tools to spring into action with instruction that works,” Lindaman said. “Knowledge is power, and when we know what students need, we are much more effective at providing the right interventions.”
The growth and progress from Iowa’s screening assessments are expected to translate to large-scale standardized tests in reading, such as the state assessment or the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), once all students have taken them. Only about a quarter of students who have been screened through the early warning system have also taken the state assessment, which is administered to students for the first time in third grade. NAEP is taken for the first time in fourth grade.
For more information about Iowa’s early literacy law, visit the Iowa Department of Education’s website.
Des Moines Public Schools and Drake University are co-sponsoring the conference "Transforming Systems through Standards-Based Learning" on June 22.
The conference will have an emphasis on secondary buildings and educators and will consist of a keynote in the morning, two breakouts in the morning, lunch on site, teacher highlight speakers over lunch and two afternoon breakouts. The breakouts will be facilitated largely by DMPS teachers and leaders, as they lead learning over how DMPS has implemented standards-referenced learning, including grading and reporting, at a large district.
Conference organizers hope to draw in Iowa educators who are looking at how to start authentic standards-based learning (including grading and reporting), help teachers who are trying things on their own and support secondary educators who are looking for new ideas to try. Registration is now open.
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of waking up refreshed after a good night’s sleep. You feel recharged, rejuvenated and ready to take on the day. So why do so many of us consider sleep a luxury rather than a necessity? The Seize your Zzzz Challenge aims to help you make sleep a priority, which can help make you both happier and healthier. You’ve probably heard of beauty rest, but the benefits may not stop there. On top of earning rewards with Seize the Zzzz, getting enough shut eye might just help you:
- Boost overall wellness
- Reduce pain
- Lower risk of injury
- Improve your mood
- Control your weight
- Concentrate better
- Improve your memory
- Boost your immune system
Join Seize the Zzzz Sleep Challenge and record your sleep. Getting a good night’s rest is sometimes easier said than done, so throughout the challenge, look for tips and advice on how to stay on track and get a better night’s sleep. So grab your favorite PJs, fluffiest pillow and softest sheets, and get ready to get more sleep!
Join us on April 3 from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in Room 107A/B at the Johnston REC to learn about Tuel Shed Training (TST) and the pilot program they will be beginning with a group of 30 staff members.
We invite staff from around the Agency to learn about TST and the program, which will focus on increasing exercise, better nutrition, portion sizes, balancing proteins and carbohydrates and the exciting motivation coaching components offered by the TST team.
More details will follow about how to sign up for the pilot program. If you attend the April 3 event face-to-face, wear comfortable shoes for a short demonstration.
If you're like most homeowners, you probably have a long list of improvements that you would like to make to your home. When deciding which improvements to take on, consider which will make living in your home more enjoyable as well as how much value a particular project may add to your home.
Website: heartlandaea.lifeworks.com
Username: heartlandaea
Password: lifeworks
The agenda for the March 14, 2017 Heartland AEA Board of Directors meeting is now available.
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.
The U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bill last week that would change Medicaid’s structure and impact the ability of students with disabilities and students in poverty to receive many critical health services in schools that enable them to learn. It’s anticipated that the bill will be out of Committee and onto the floor of the House by today. Then, it will be the Senate’s turn to act, and Senate GOP officials are saying that they hope to have it to the President’s desk by mid-April. Because they are using Budget Reconciliation, only a simple majority is needed in both chambers. You are encouraged to call your U.S. Representatives to express your comments on this legislation. The Association of Education Service Agencies and AASA, The School Superintendents Association have provided a Federal Advocacy Toolkit and Snapshot of Children’s Coverage for your use.
