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
Thank You
It's hard to fathom that it's already June, and we're wrapping up another school year. As my first year at Heartland AEA comes to a close, I want to thank all of you for making it a special year for me both personally and professionally. I came to Heartland AEA believing it would be a great place to work, full of challenges and rewards, and I haven't been disappointed. As you know, our core values are Caring, Proactive and Collaborative, and I see people in every area of the Agency living those values daily.
Every academic year has its challenges, and this year was no different. What has impressed me about Heartland AEA, though, is that regardless of the circumstances or the time of year, you seem to make a serious commitment to caring, not just for those we serve, but for your co-workers as well. Often it's by serving our colleagues that we show our caring, and it's that kind of caring that makes organizations good places to work. So let me say thank you for what you do, not only for those we serve, but for your colleagues as well. The end of the year is a good time for all of us to reflect and to show our gratitude. Before you take a well-deserved break this summer, take some time to appreciate and thank a co-worker.
Reason to Celebrate: Denison Survey Results
I also want to celebrate our most recent round of Denison Organizational Culture Survey data, which we just received a few days ago. Below you will see a graphic that shows this year's results alongside the results of our previous three full surveys. The increase of color in the current circumplex shows that Heartland AEA is now in the top quartile of companies in all 12 sub-categories. Six years ago, our agency wasn't in the top quartile in any category or sub-category. What growth over a short period of time! Further reason for celebration is that more staff than ever responded to the full survey (given every other year). Over 500 of you responded to this year's survey, and as you can see below, our scores were the highest they've ever been.
I want to emphasize that this growth is a reflection on you, our staff, and on our collective commitment to caring and collaboration. The heavy lifting involved in improving culture started long before my arrival, and it's been done by everyone, not just a select few. We know we still have much room to grow, and we plan to dig into the data more extensively this summer by disaggregating the quantitative data by region and department as well as by analyzing all the qualitative narrative comments shared by you. For now though, let's celebrate how far we've come! Culture work is a work that never ends, and we will always be working on ways to improve our systems. Your continued participation and feedback will be vital as we keep moving forward.
We certainly have hills to climb and new needs to meet going forward. One of the great things about working in a service agency is that the increase in demand for the types of services we can provide will only grow. Our society needs us, and though that responsibility can lie heavy on our shoulders at times, isn't is a tremendous gift to know that the work we do is so important to so many? I say this all the time and mean it now more than ever -- no one else is doing or can do the many things we do every day for Iowa's children, families and educators. So, as many of you head off to recharge this summer, remind yourself that you do important work.
Thank you again for a great first year as your chief administrator. Have a great summer!
- Jon
A few days ago, the Agency received its results from the Denison Organizational Culture Survey that was administered in April and May 2018. We wanted to let you know how pleased we are to show you the results—our circumplex is completely full of color! Our agency culture has taken quite the positive leap in the past six years—thanks to the efforts of many of you who are committed to making Heartland AEA a caring, collaborative and proactive place to work. Thank you to the over 500 of you who took the time to complete the survey and provide your feedback about our agency culture. There will be more details and follow-up in the coming months, but for now, let’s celebrate this great news!
The Agency is looking forward to a third year of employee engagement through staff presentations at our All-Staff Meeting!
Save Sept. 28, 2018 on your calendar for a “most of the day” meeting that will again feature an afternoon of presentations from YOU! This year, we’ve decided to take a little different approach. The feedback you provided says you enjoy learning from your colleagues, but you want more flexibility in presentation format. So this year, you’ll have the opportunity to present in any format you’d like that fits within a 20-minute time slot. (Good, right?!?)
Some ideas to consider:
- PechaKucha or Ignite Talk: Maybe you liked the PechaKucha format and want to try it again. Go for it! Remember a PechaKucha includes 20 images shown for 20 seconds each for a total presentation of 6 minutes and 40 seconds. Images – not words! Ignite sessions are even shorter with slides rotating every 15 seconds for a total of 5 minutes.
- TED Talk: Maybe you want to try a TED Talk-style presentation? Give it a shot! TED Talks are generally up to 18 minutes long and are just that—a talk—no other “stuff.” Get up there and tell us a great story!
- Your Choice: You need a little more time to explain some important points, you can do that. Having a little extra time might be a perfect solution!
Here are some quick tips for a great presentation!
How to Submit a Proposal
If you or a team of your co-workers are interested in presenting, complete this presentation proposal by June 15, 2018.
When planning your presentation, think about whether it reflects, educates, touches on or celebrates areas that we’ve emphasized as an organization, such as:
- Core Values: Caring - Proactive - Collaborative
- 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.
- Goals: Increase learning growth, Decrease gaps in achievement, Increase annual graduation rates, Increase post-secondary gateways
- Wellness: Heartland AEA’s Five Elements of Wellness: Career, Community, Financial, Social, Physical
Topics can be almost anything that is inspiring within our work throughout the Agency as well as personal topics that don’t fall too far outside the wellness/volunteering categories.
This 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. These presentations showcase your expertise, your passion and your innovation. So don’t be shy—show your work, make an impact! Submit your presentation application by June 15, 2018!
If you have any questions, contact the Communications Department.
As many of you are transitioning to a well-deserved summer break, the Heartland AEA leadership team asks that staff who have time off during the summer check their agency email at least once a week during June, July and August.
The Agency relies heavily on email to communicate valuable agency and regional messages and timely responses are oftentimes requested. If you have any questions about this request, contact your supervisor.
If you are off contract for the summer months, we ask that you set your out-of-office messages accordingly.
Change Gmail Vacation Responder (Out-of-Office Message) (sample below)
Thank you for contacting Heartland AEA. I will be off contract and out of the office from June *** until Aug. ***, 2018. I will return your message as soon as I can. If you need immediate assistance, contact *****. Thank you.
Change Voicemail Greeting to Unavailable (sample below)
Thank you for calling Heartland AEA. You have reached Sally Smith. I am currently off contract and out of the office from June *** until Aug. ***, 2018. Please leave a message, and I will return your call when I am back in the office. If you need immediate assistance, contact ******. Thank you.
Tip: If you want to change your voicemail greeting from your home phone or cell phone, you may do so by calling either (515) 270-0405 or (515) 473-7450 and pressing # when you begin to hear the greeting. This gets you into your voicemail, and you can then follow the prompts to access your messages, change your voicemail greeting or set it to out-of-office. Please be mindful not to refer a customer to another staff member who is also scheduled to be out of the office. Check with that person to make sure he or she will be available and aware that you are forwarding calls to them during your absence.
The June 2018 School Leader Update is now available from the Iowa Department of Education.
In the spring of 2019, a newly designed statewide assessment of student progress will be used in the state of Iowa. Through House File 2235, the Legislature determined that the new state assessment developed by Iowa Testing Programs (ITP) at the University of Iowa will be administered during the 2018-19 school year. The Iowa Department of Education and ITP are committed to ensuring good communications to the field and will coordinate on important issues such as professional development and federal peer review.
A few key items of note:
- Testing window: Per the statute, all districts will be testing during the last quarter of the year. To accommodate district calendars, the testing window for 2018-19 will be open from March 1 to May 30.
- Professional learning: Starting in the late fall, professional learning will be delivered in multiple formats, including in-person seminars offered around the state as well as online. Topics will include test format and content, administration and accessibility.
- Technology readiness: Because we expect the majority of school districts will administer the online version of new assessments in 2018-19, a technology readiness plan and district certification process is being developed. The certification process will begin in November to check bandwidth, network connectivity, device compatibility and load capacity.
- Cost: Legislators appropriated $2.7 million on behalf of public school districts to help offset the delivery costs associated with the new statewide assessment. More specific information concerning the costs to districts will be available in August.
We encourage you to send any questions you have to assessments@iowa.gov so that we can begin a Frequently Asked Questions page to be published on the new website.
More information will follow this summer.
Thank you in advance for your support of our statewide assessment efforts.
Ryan Wise, Ed.L.D., Director, Iowa Department of Education
Stephen B. Dunbar, Ph.D., Director, Iowa Testing Programs
May was another month full of exciting action for our Classified Staff and Certified Staff Professional Learning Cadres! A few highlights from each group are below.
Classified Staff Update
The work on the Classified Professional Learning Cadre continues with great progress occurring each month.
- During the April Central Support Meeting, Classified staff engaged in learning and discussion regarding the work of the Professional Learning Cadre this semester. Staff engaged in an activity to consider growth and fixed mindsets. Feedback regarding the redesign process thus far, as well as growth mindset, were collected from participating staff. Thank you for your feedback!
- Most recently, Professional Learning Cadre members have welcomed additional Classified and Certified staff and leaders to form work teams focused on the identified areas of learning. Work teams met on May 24 for the first time to begin digging into the work of finalizing key components and discussing competencies at the foundational, concentrated and specialized levels. This work will continue through the summer. After finalizing competencies, work teams will begin matching and designing learning opportunities for the various competencies. Each work team is focused on one of the areas of learning previously identified by the PL Cadre. These areas of learning are:
- Adult Interactions
- Agency Services
- Individual Effectiveness
- Technology
- Workplace Safety
Certified Staff Update
As we wrap up the 2017-18 school year, Martha Condon, Director of Professional Learning, would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to each staff member and leader who is participating in the Professional Learning Pilot. Over 120 people have committed their time, energy, knowledge and thoughts to supporting our efforts at refining the redesigned system. These efforts are greatly appreciated! The feedback from our pilot participants has led to some exciting changes and updates to our system--both our professional learning system as a whole as well as the technology platform we are using to support our internal professional learning system. These enhancements will be experienced by Certified staff beginning in Aug. 2018. As we return for the 2018-19 school year, you will learn more about how each of you will be engaging with the Professional Learning System. Supports for engaging in the redesigned professional learning structure, as well as for accessing and navigating the technology platform will be available to staff throughout the entire year. Stay tuned and get geared up for August - it’s bound to be an exciting time for us all!
As was shared last month, the Certified Professional Learning Cadre is spending time focused on the vetting, design and alignment of differentiated learning opportunities for each Area of Learning. This work continues, with effectively and well-designed online, face-to-face and hybrid courses, book studies and other learning opportunities available soon for staff.
As we prepare for additional Certified staff to engage with the redesigned Professional Learning System, we encourage you to review the key terms associated with our internal processes.
- Areas of Learning: Eight Areas of Learning required at some level by ALL Certified staff were identified connected to our priority service areas. These eight Areas of Learning are:
- Adult Learning, Child Find, Data and Assessment, Early Childhood, Instruction, Problem Solving, Social Emotional Behavioral Mental Health and Technology. All Certified staff roles require foundational skills and knowledge across these Areas of Learning.
The Agency recognizes not all learning required by Certified staff is explicitly included in these identified Areas of Learning. Certain required functions of staff are quite specific and are required by only limited numbers of staff. Growth and development in these areas will continue to be supported, and may be identified as additional areas of growth during PDP development between individual staff members and supervisors.
- Key Components: Key Components are the critical learnings identified for each Area of Learning.
- Competencies: Competencies are skills, knowledge and beliefs required to be successfully demonstrated and held by Heartland AEA Certified staff. Stated differently, competencies indicate what Heartland AEA staff should know and be able to do. Each Area of Learning has identified competencies for each key component. Competencies have been classified into three depths of learning:
- Foundational: All Certified staff should know/be able to do
- Concentrated: More in-depth learning for staff whose job function is to be able to implement this learning as part of their job
- Specialized: Deep and extended learning for staff whose job function requires more specialization
Although foundational competencies have been identified as key skills and learning for all Certified staff, that does not mean each staff member will be required to participate in each and every learning experience at the foundational level. We know staff have prior knowledge and experiences, and in many cases are sufficiently demonstrating foundational (and in some cases, concentrated and specialized) competencies. As foundational competencies are demonstrated and fully developed, staff will move into concentrated or specialized competencies and choose learning opportunities aligned with these deeper skill sets. Every staff member’s path of professional growth may look a little different.
- Learning Maps: A learning map is a tool that provides a clearer picture of the competencies. Learning maps describe the variations of each key component of the competency on a continuum. Learning maps articulate what achieving the desired state looks like for the learner.
- Professional Learning Profiles: A professional learning profile is a visual display of the competencies that have been identified for Certified staff members based on their job title and function in the Agency. Each profile was developed by a team of staff representing their role, with varying rigor of skills and/or learning based on the function of the role in the Agency. For example, certain roles and functions in the Agency require concentrated or specialized knowledge of Child Find, whereas other roles and functions may only require foundational knowledge in this area. While the profile may not be an exact match to a staff member’s job function, it will support the staff member and supervisor in narrowing the number of competencies and learning maps considered during ongoing goal setting and growth activities. Professional learning profiles are a “starting point” for staff and are intended to help each individual focus in on learning that is supportive of their own professional development plan. Individual adjustments may be made to reflect the unique aspects of a person’s role during the structured conversation between a staff member and supervisor.
Continued thanks to all staff members and leaders as we continue to refine our Heartland AEA Professional Learning System. Our monthly updates through The Connection will take a summer break, but if you have any questions or would like additional information, contact Martha Condon, Director of Professional Learning, at ext. 14416.
