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
Mileage
The Agency will increase its mileage reimbursement rate to 42 cents per mile effective July 1, 2019. The new rate applies to work-related miles driven after June 30, 2019. The Agency's mileage rate is indexed to changes in the IRS mileage rate.
Meals
The Agency will increase its in-state per diem maximum meal reimbursement to $35 and its out-of-state per diem maximum to $50 effective July 1, 2019. Both rates include tax and tips. These rates have not changed in the past five years.
Last week the Iowa Department of Education announced new features have been added to a recently launched online school accountability reporting system.
The Iowa School Performance Profiles website first launched in December to meet a federal education law called the Every Student Succeeds Act. ESSA, which replaced the No Child Left Behind Act, requires all states to publish report cards reflecting the performance of public schools.
The initial version of the website included each school’s scores on a set of accountability measures, such as graduation rates, and specified schools that were identified for additional support and improvement based on their performance.
The new features include additional data required by ESSA, such as student suspensions and expulsions and chronic absenteeism, and a feature to compare school and district performance. The website also folds in data and ratings from the former Iowa School Report Card, developed to meet a 2013 state law.
“School report cards make it easier for education stakeholders to understand how their schools are serving students,” Director Ryan Wise said. “Our goal was to have one school performance reporting tool that fully meets both state and federal requirements.”
The new features did not change the school accountability scores calculated in December. Those scores will be updated later this year as part of an annual update to the website.
This fact sheet summarizes the new features that users will find on the updated Iowa School Performance Profiles.
As the end of the fiscal year begins to approach on June 30, 2019, please keep in mind the following dates:
- Calendar exchange requests for 2018-19 must be submitted and approved by June 28, 2019.
- The deadline to enter leave requests for the 2018-19 year is July 1, 2019.
- Supervisors need to approve all 2018-19 leave requests by July 5, 2019. This will allow us to calculate and display actual, rather than estimated, leave balances for 2019-20 by the end of July.
If you have any questions, contact Heather Rinderknecht, Human Resources Associate, at ext. 14427.
Remember you are granted up to 4 hours of agency time per fiscal year to do volunteer/community service work. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to represent the Agency as a caring organization and help spread the message of our mission to improve the learning outcomes and well-being of children and youth in central Iowa!
When you volunteer during work hours, remember:
- 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 your work, 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!
Heartland AEA vans will deliver twice a week to each district administration building.
Schedule-to-date:
- Twice-a-week delivery to each district administration building runs June 19 to Aug. 8, 2019.
- Twice-a-week delivery will automatically continue to each building that has an extended year calendar.
- Regular fall van delivery resumes Aug. 12, 2019.
Printing:
- Heartland AEA will contact the district to arrange for special delivery of large printing orders during the summer.
Registration for Teacher Quality (TQ) courses and study groups will begin Aug. 16 and end Sept. 13, 2019. TQ courses and study groups are offered as an additional opportunity for professional learning for Heartland AEA Certified staff. TQ courses meet for 15 hours off contract time, and participants are eligible for a stipend upon completion of the course. All Certified staff members are eligible to register for these opportunities. Staff members who registered for the DMPS Summit on School Climate and Culture for TQ won’t be eligible to participate in another TQ opportunity for pay unless they are teaching a class.
In addition to study groups developed by Job Alike Groups, staff will be able to develop their own study group proposals. Study groups must have at least four participants, and one participant must agree to be the study group facilitator. The content must align with Heartland AEA’s four goals and/or support a specific job-alike function.
Study group proposals created by groups of staff members can be turned in Aug. 16-Sept. 13, 2019. The Professional Development Office will work with interested participants in writing their study group proposal and support them in entering the proposal in the AEA Professional Learning Registration System. Study groups can begin on Oct. 1. if books arrive on time.
Those who complete a TQ course or study group and meet eligibility requirements will be provided a stipend. The amount of the stipend is established after registration closes, as the stipend is determined by the number of participants. For reference, during the 2018-19 school year, eligible participants received $700 for completing a course/study group, and facilitators received a $750 stipend for facilitating a course/study group. This stipend can fluctuate from year to year.
TQ Timeline for 2019-20
- Determine TQ proposals: Study Groups for Summer 2019: Submitted June 14 (Rare)
- TQ Classes and JAF Study Groups for 2019-20: Due June 30, 2019
- TQ registration open: Aug. 16-Sept. 13, 2019
- TQ proposals for staff-generated study groups due: Sept. 13, 2019
- TQ courses and study groups held: Oct. 1, 2019-June 30, 2020
If you have any questions, contact Kevin Fangman, Chief Academic Officer.
We are pleased to share the dates for 2019-20 Agency Directed Learning. Please make sure to review the instructions on the first page of the document, as groupings and assignments are a little different this year. The dates document is also linked on the Agency Directed Learning site as well.
2019-20 Agency Directed Learning Dates
If you have any questions, contact your supervising Director or Martha Condon, Director of Professional Learning.
