The Connection: 2021-05-02

Monday, May 3, 2021

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

Let’s Honor Our Retirees with Personalized Videos to Wish Them Well!

Since the Agency isn’t holding retirement receptions in our facilities again this year due to the pandemic, we are providing you a chance to wish our retirees well by recording your greetings via video. Some regions would like to share these messages at their May regional meetings, so we are getting these links out to you now to record your good wishes! Please send our retirees off in caring Heartland AEA style!

Flipgrid Instructions

Click on a Flipgrid link. Click “Log in with Google.” Click the red camera button to add your video. Record a message for our honored retirees. After reviewing your video, you can click the arrow to proceed to the next step. Take a picture of yourself for your thumbnail. This is how you will show up on the grid before your video is played.

2021 Retirees

Reminder: Don’t Forget All Staff Need to Complete ALICE Training by the End of Each School Year

As Heartland AEA continues to make improvements in our agency’s safety and security, all staff are required to complete the online ALICE training once each school year.

By the end of the 2020-21 school year (June 30, 2021), all Heartland AEA staff members should take the hour-long online training to become familiar with the ALICE program and the techniques it teaches in response to an armed intruder event.

ALICE stands for:

Alert: Get the word out! “Armed Intruder in building” instead of “Code Red,” or “Bring the purple folder to the office.” Use clear, concise language to convey the type and location of the event.
Lockdown: Good starting point. We will continue to lockdown in secure areas.
Inform: Communication keeps the intruder off balance and allows for good decision-making. Counter: Apply skills to distract, confuse and gain control.
Evacuate: Reduce the number of potential targets for the intruder and reduce chances of victims resulting from friendly fire when help arrives.

In short, using the ALICE method will give you more tools to use in the event of an armed intruder/active shooter. We want to provide you with the knowledge that if faced with a life or death situation there are methods that can be applied to enhance your chance of survival.         

Again, you are expected to complete the ALICE online training by the end of June 2021.   The training has been assigned to all Heartland AEA employees in the AEA Learning Online Learning System.

To access the training:

Visit the AEA Learning Online training site. Enter the email and password used for your AEA Login and click log in.

Assistance

If you need assistance accessing the site, contact Dawn Peitzman, Professional Learning Assistant .
If you have any questions about the training or the ALICE program in general, contact Dustin Gean, Operations Manager, Emergency Response & Safety Team Lead and Certified ALICE Trainer.

May 2021 School Leader Update Available

The May 2021 issue of the School Leader Update from the Iowa Department of Education is available.

In this issue:

Meaningful connections pave the path forward
Teach Iowa updates
Out-of-state residents and tuition
2021 Iowa Youth Health Surveys
Summer school programs and access to postsecondary contracted courses
Today's SYBAC students are tomorrow's technology leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators
Spring state student reporting time
myIGDIs updates
Funding opportunity increases access to quality child care
Registration open for Iowa College and Career Readiness Academy professional development courses

Here’s What June & July 2021 Professional Learning Will Look Like

In an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19, most of the Agency’s summer classes will be offered through video conferencing or other digital formats. We are offering a limited number of face-to-face courses.

Heartland AEA consultants will continue to partner with districts to offer professional learning in the schools they serve. These are the classes and workshops being offered agency-wide through the Agency this summer. This list is updated daily. If you are interested in courses and workshops being offered across Iowa’s AEAs, you can search the AEA Professional Learning Registration System.

If you have any questions related to Heartland AEA’s professional learning opportunities, contact the Professional Learning Department.

Need to Dig Deeper on How to Use Google Sheets in Your Work? If So, Check Out This New Course

If you use spreadsheets in your work and are interested in learning more about them, this course is for you!

The Heartland AEA Assessment Team has developed this Canvas course specifically for Heartland AEA staff. It is an ungraded, self-paced course designed for users to pick and choose modules that best suit their learning needs. Course modules start at a basic level and increase in complexity and skill level.

The modules cover the following skill areas:

Spreadsheet Tour
Applying Google Sheet Basics: Navigation and Formatting
Basic Analytics: Conditional Formatting, Filtering and Sorting
Functions and Formula Basics
Charting and Graphing in Google Sheets

Each module contains a Google Sheets file for users to download and practice with while they follow along with the video content. In an effort to make the content relevant to users, the practice worksheets are the types of data that you use frequently in your work, such as FAST and behavior data.

Registration

If you have any questions, contact the assessment consultant who serves your region.