New Heartland Administrator Connection

Starting next week, February 13th, Heartland will be distributing the Administrator Connection each week to superintendents, principals and curriculum coordinators in our area. The Administrator Connection will replace the Superintendent and Principal Connections and combine the two into one publication. If you want the Administrators Connection sent to others beside yourself, please let us know.

First Version of Heartland AEA 2009-2010 Calendar

Click here to view the first version of the Heartland AEA 2009-2010 Calendar. We wanted to give you a preview of major dates for next school year. More dates will follow. If you have questions, please contact Sharon Kurns, skurns@aea11.k12.ia.us.

Tony Wagner's The Global Achievement Gap Available at Heartland

During his talk at the February 3rd Superintendent Advisory meeting, Scott McLeod, an associate professor at Iowa State University, mentioned Tony Wagner's new book, The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need--and What We Can Do About It. Copies of the book are available for checkout from the Heartland Professional Library and more copies are being ordered.

In the meantime, you can learn more about Wagner’s research and find resources that you can use at in-services and board presentations at http://www.schoolchange.org.

At the Web site you can do the following:

• watch Wagner's keynote address, The Global Achievement Gap
• read the table of contents and introduction to the book
• view his keynote, What Does It Mean to Be A Change Leader?
• register (at no cost) for access to PPT presentations, articles and other resources
• view video excerpts from presentations on change and leadership
• view the Student Voice Video where a focus group of high school students talk about their school experiences and what they need from teachers to be successful

College Bound: Take ACT in junior year or early in senior year

Click here to read an article that could be a fantastic resource for high school seniors getting ready for college. This appeared in the monthly series, College Bound, which is a service of the University of Northern Iowa and is distributed through the Office of University Marketing and Public Relations.

Agenda for the February Curriculum Network Meeting

Click here for the agenda of the February Curriculum Network Meeting which will be held on Friday, February 6th at Zion Lutheran Church.

Online Registration Now Available for Drake-Credit Courses

The Heartland Professional Development department is proud to announce that beginning February 1st, teachers and school administrators wishing to register for Drake-credit courses will be able to do so online. Click here for more information or call Heartland AEA 11 at (800) 362-2720 and ask for the Professional Development department.

Administrator Resource: 21st Century Learning Environments

A report was released Friday, January 23rd from The Partnership for 21st Century Skills called 21st Century Learning Environments. The full report can be viewed at http://www.21stcenturyskills.org. This paper could be used as a resource for discussions with your community, board and staff members. It provides an overview of research and expert opinion on 21st century learning environments and also includes a descriptive view of the structures for learning, time and tools, communities for learning and policy in support of learning.

High School Student Opportunity: QuestBridge College Prep Scholarship

The QuestBridge College Prep Scholarship levels the playing field of college admissions. It equips high-achieving, low-income students with the knowledge necessary to compete for admission to the nation’s most selective colleges. If you have high school juniors who have achieved academic excellence in the face of economic challenges, please encourage them to visit the QuestBridge Web site at http://www.questbridge.org/access/collegepreptext/ and complete the College Prep Scholarship application at www.questbridge.org.

Cancellation of Career Focused Session for Superintendents and Central Office Personnel

The session, Your Next Career Steps, which was to be provided by Ray and Associates, Inc. on February 3rd, 2009 has been canceled due to lack of participation. Please contact Sharon Kurns at skurns@aea11.k12.ia.us if you have any questions about future opportunities for similar sessions.

Heartland Support for Program Standards of Preschool Children with IEPs

Early Childhood and Special Education programs and community-based programs that serve children on IEPs are required to meet quality program standards such as the Iowa Quality Preschool Program Standards (QPPS). While some programs have been implementing QPPS for several years, some are just beginning to do so and others have yet to start.

A representative from Heartland AEA 11 will contact principals by phone sometime over the next few weeks to ask about support you may need as you evaluate, plan and implement activities designed to improve your programs. This will help us understand how we might assist you as you continue to work toward meeting program standards.

Early Childhood Principals Network Agenda

Click here for the agenda for the January 30th Principals' Early Childhood Network meeting. Please also take note that the location will be at the AEA Woodside Office 6900 NE 14th St. Suite 26, Ankeny.

Heartland February Technology Infusion Collaborative

The February Technology Infusion Collaborative will be held on Tuesday, February 3, 2009 from 8:30-11:45 a.m. in Room 14 (note change) of the Heartland AEA Johnston Office. It will focus on music and art curriculum and how teachers are using technology in those curricular areas. Click here for the agenda.

Note: There will be no TOC session in the afternoon on February 3rd; only the morning TIC session.

Register through the Heartland Professional Development Web site or by clicking here. The activity number is TE080492110901.

If you have any questions, please contact either Wade Andersen wandersen@aea11.k12.ia.us or Denise Krefting dkrefting@aea11.k12.ia.us

Heartland Supported English as a Second Language Services

Several time-sensitive items concerning ESL services in your district are listed below:

1. The Iowa Culture and Language Conference is February 9-11, 2009 at the Polk County Convention Complex. Along with the main conference sessions, the pre- and post conference sessions offer several choices for one-day or half-day workshops that would be very beneficial to many of your staff. For more information, visit Northwest AEA’s Web site or click here.

2. Heartland AEA 11, in conjunction with Northwest AEA and the Greater Des Moines Partnership, is sponsoring an Immigration Forum featuring locally and nationally known panelists focusing on education. Registration is required. Information about this free educational opportunity for educators, administrators and Iowa legislators is available at Northwest AEA’s Web site or by clicking here.

3. The testing window for Iowa English Language Development Assessment (I-ELDA) is February 1 to April 30, 2009. All ordering and administration information can be found on the Northwest AEA Web page at www.nwaea.k12.ia.us. If you would like a DVD copy of the 2008 I-ELDA training to share with staff, feel free to contact Pat Latham, platham@aea11.k12.ia.us.

4. To correctly identify English Language Learners according to the law, many districts include the Home Language Survey in their Kindergarten Roundup packets. If your district does not have a Home Language Survey in your registration packet, you can copy the state approved version from www.transact.com.

Any time you have ESL questions please feel free to contact ESL/Diversity consultants, Stephaney Jones-Vo or Pat Latham at 515-270-0405, extensions 14680 or 14681.

Career Focused Session for Superintendents and Central Office Personnel

Ray and Associates, Inc. will be offering a complimentary service to the superintendents and central office staff in our area on February 3, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. (the afternoon of the HAA meeting). The session is entitled, Seeking my next position…what steps should I be taking in preparation for a possible move?

The session will be held at the Johnston AEA Office at 6500 Corporate Drive and will be in Room 14. There is no charge, but please contact Anita Davids at adavids@aea11.k12.ia.us or 515-270-0405 ext. 14613 to reserve a spot.

Lutheran Services of Iowa Sponsored Poverty Simulation

Thousands of Iowa children and families live in poverty every day. As the economic downturn continues, this group of people struggling to provide basic needs for their families only grows.

Lutheran Services in Iowa (LSI) is very concerned with the impact of continued poverty rates on the state and on those they serve through many programs and services. They feel that as Iowans, we have a responsibility to respond to this problem.

In an effort to show the negative effects of severe poverty, LSI is inviting you and your staff to participate in the “In Their Shoes” poverty simulation on Monday, February 16th, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Elim Christian Fellowship in Des Moines.

To read more information about the poverty simulation, go to the events section of the LSI Web site or click here.

To attend, please email Kathy Miller at kathy.miller@lsiowa.org or call 866-584-5293.

Early Childhood Principals Network Agenda

Click here for the agenda for the January 30th Principals' Early Childhood Network meeting. Please also take note that the location will be at the AEA Woodside Office 6900 NE 14th St. Suite 26, Ankeny.

Session Four of Iowa Core Curriculum Leadership Training

Session four of the Leadership Training for the Iowa Core Curriculum will begin the last week of January. Registered participants will receive an e-mail with session details as the date approaches. If a participant needs to attend a session held at a different location or date, they are asked to contact Linda Hoobin, Heartland Teaching and Learning Consultant for the Iowa Core Curriculum, at lhoobin@aea11.k12.ia.us to verify location, time and date.

Finding the Right Professional Development is Easier Than Ever

The Professional Development for Iowa School Leaders Web site at http://iowaschoolleadership.org now features two new ways to locate what leaders need. In addition to the original alphabetical listing, the site now offers a listing of opportunities by intended audience and a listing by the school leader standard addressed by each offering. All three search methods are available in a tabbed menu in the right sidebar of each page.

In addition, Iowa school leaders may continue to subscribe to the mailing list to stay abreast of the latest professional development posted on the site. Sign-up is available on virtually any page on the site, below the menus in the right column.

The Professional Development for Iowa School Leaders Web site offers a one-stop resource to locate professional development available from some of Iowa’s foremost providers.

Nine Iowa organizations are charter members of the project and are posting professional development opportunities that they sponsor. The partners are Area Education Agencies (AEA), Iowa Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (IASCD), Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) Iowa Association of School Business Officials (IASBO), Iowa Council of Administrators of Special Education (ICASE), Iowa Department of Education (DE), Iowa Leadership Academy (ILA), Iowa Superintendents Finance and Leadership Consortium (ISFLC) and School Administrators of Iowa (SAI). Other groups may be added in the future.

Cognitive Coaching Training

Cognitive Coaching is a process for supporting individuals working together to improve their skills in a variety of situations. Cognitive Coaching (Level 1) is a 4-day experience during which participants will build their communication and problem-solving skills through the process of becoming intentional about how we mediate for someone else's effectiveness. Practice using the planning and reflecting conversation maps will be included. Research, modeling and practice will support learning how to integrate skills of trust, rapport, pausing, paraphrasing and mediational questions in conversations.

Cognitive Coaching training is being offered this spring at the West Des Moines Learning Center on February 23 & 24 and March 23 & 24, 2009. Register through the Heartland Professional Development Web site by clicking here.

Learn How to Have Fierce Conversations

A Fierce Conversations course will be offered on March 12-13, 2009, in Conference Rooms 3 & 4 in the Heartland Johnston office. This workshop is based on the book Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott and will provide participants with opportunities to practice the structured conversations from her book. Register through the Heartland Professional Development Web site by clicking here.

High School Student Opportunity: American Civil Liberties Union's Mannheimer Essay Contest

Are your students passionate about Civil Liberties…Have they stood up for rights like free speech, LGBT issues, privacy, racial justice, religious freedom or women’s rights as an example of civil liberties principles in the high school or community? They might consider entering the Robert Mannheimer Civil Liberties Essay Contest.

The Robert Mannheimer Civil Liberties Essay Contest recipient will receive a $500 award, a one-year membership to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), their essay published in the summer newsletter and an invitation along with his/her family to receive their award and read their essay at the Annual ACLU of Iowa Dinner in Iowa City on Saturday, May 2, 2009.

To qualify for the award, students must:

• Be a freshman, sophomore, or junior high school student in Iowa
• Type a 500-word, double-spaced essay describing which Constitutional Amendment means the most to them.
• Have an interest in civil liberties.

Applications and essays are due (post marked) April 1, 2009 to:
Essay Contest
ACLU of Iowa
505 Fifth Avenue, Suite 901
Des Moines, IA 50309
www.aclu-ia.org

For questions or additional information, contact Holly Robertson at 515-243-3988 ext. 15 or holly.robertson@aclu-ia.org.

Please feel free to also send the following attachments to your teachers and students.

Information Letter
Application Form

Please Ensure Your Scretarial Staff Responds to Heartland Data Request

Heartland has for many years maintained a database of area schools’ staff information. This system is an important part of our services to our districts. It provides the primary method for contacting school staff, including mail or van labels for packages, sending emails to set up meetings or notifying your staff of upcoming events, trainings, accreditation visits, or studies for the DE and many other purposes. As you can imagine, maintaining this system has been a huge task. We have struggled with keeping it accurate and up-to-date. There has been a lag between changes in the schools and the information being sent to us to update the information in our database.

So, we have created PeopleBox. Its web interface allows secure access for directly updating your staff records in our database. We’ve made it quick, easy and painless to use, while providing sufficient detail to help us keep your staff informed. The week of January 19th we will be sending an email to each building secretary, asking them to log into PeopleBox to verify or update the information we have on file for their building.

Our goal is to have all of school staff on file, not just teachers and administrators but also counselors, bus drivers, cooks, nurses, other secretaries, special education associates and any other staff members. Most staff should be on file already, and we are just requesting that you ask your secretarial staff to respond to our request in a timely manner.

The week of February 16th we will be sending an email to each District Superintendent’s secretary with a request that they identify staff who have special assignments or perform special functions such as At Risk Coordinator or Iowa Core District Contact. Heartland will not spam your staff with unnecessary emails, or send more than one of the same email to the same staff person as may have inadvertently been done in the past.

PeopleBox, provides a smart interface so that Heartland staff can contact your staff only in appropriate ways and only when necessary. We hope to have our building staff records up to date by February 16, 2009 and the district special assignment information entered by March 6, 2009. We hope you can help us meet this goal by urging your secretarial staff to help. Staff changes and special assignments can be updated any time as they occur going forward.

Suicide Prevention Presentations

Click on the following links to view notes on suicide prevention that were presented by Tom Downs, superintendent of Southeast Polk CSD, at the January 6 Heartland Administrators Association meeting. The first two files are Word documents and the third is a PowerPoint presentation.

Summary of Suicide Prevention Plan
Breaking a Suicide Culture
Suicide and Prevention: What We Know...

Mandt Training at Heartland

Heartland continues to provide Mandt Training to district personnel within Heartland. The Mandt trainers present gradual and graded alternatives for managing challenging behaviors, using a combination of non-physical and physical techniques. The main goal is to learn how to effectively manage two people, yourself and the other person whom you deal with every day. Aggression can be dealt with more effectively by learning to manage yourself first and by using a system of gradual alternatives.

Recommendation for Who Should Be Trained
The most beneficial way to implement Mandt is through a systemic team approach, training a small team of staff (minimum of five) who are available to assist when needed. Recommended team membership consists of the building administrator, nurse, counselor, interventionist, special and general education teachers and program associates (any staff with flexibility to respond to student need). Although student specific associates are not recommended members of the team, they may be appropriate participants due to their in-depth involvement with some students across an entire school day. More specifically, student specific associates should be trained in individual student specific positive behavior support plans. Training all building staff in Mandt would not be recommended.

Types of Training
Mandt System for Managing People: initial two-day training (8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.).
Recertification Training: designed for individuals currently certified in Mandt
• Annual recertification is required.
• A one-day recertification class (8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) must be attended prior to the expiration date on the Certificate of Completion.
• If certification expires, the two-day training must be attended.

Training Delivery Options
In Heartland’s effort to build partnerships with our districts, there are various methods available to obtain the initial two-day or the one-day recertification Mandt System Training.

Within District Training:
This option may be used when there is a group of 20 staff who need training. The request for training should be directed to the Partnership Director within your region. As a result of the request, the district may be asked to host a training and open registration to other schools within the region.

Regional Training:
The Partnership Director may organize a regional training for groups of 15-20 participants. School districts may be requested to host a training and open registration to other schools within the region.

Catalog course open to all:
Heartland will continue to offer initial and recertification training. The schedule is available on Heartland’s Web site.

Physical Requirements
To be fully certified in Mandt, participants must be able to get up off the floor from a kneeling position.

Training Fees
There is a registration fee of $150 for the initial two day training and $75 for recertification.

Please direct questions about Mandt training to Cheryl Risen at crisen@aea11.k12.ia.us.

Heartland Has Vast Array of Black History Month Resources

February is Black History Month and Heartland would like to remind districts that we have online database resources to help teachers build interesting and rigorous lessons. Of the vast resources, here are some examples of what teachers can use:

• Books on black history, civil rights, autobiographies (current and historical), themes of tolerance or prejudice, character education, cultural studies and more
  
• Book guides and video interviews from TeachingBooks.net
• Teaching guides for books such as Child of Hope by Nikki Grimes and Barack Obama: Son of Promise from TeachingBooks.net
• Royalty free music clips of African music, African drum, hip-hop, blues, jazz and rap from Soundzabound.com
• Unique teacher-resources and AP resources in ProQuest Learning literature online database that includes literary criticism, historical documents and literary works
• Primary source materials and documents from World Book Encyclopedia and EBSCOhost databases
• Historical timelines.
• Audio recordings of famous African Americans (interviews, speeches, performances, etc.)
• Information and resources for reports and debates to foster critical thinking
• Videos online with DEstreaming

And, of course, with Com Cat federated searching, teachers and students can search all of the online databases at the same time. Also, with Com Cat's unique cababilities, students can search databases that they might not have thought about searching in the past which opens up all sorts of new possibilities and information sources for them!

New Heartland Rosen Teen Health & Wellness Online Database

This award-winning database provides students in grades 7-12 with comprehensive curricular support and self-help tools on topics such as diseases, drugs, alcohol, nutrition, fitness, mental health, diversity, family life, work readiness and more. It gives answers to real life questions and issues facing young adults. It’s an excellent resource in guidance, health classes, family living classes and for reports in social studies and language arts. It includes reliable age-appropriate information that can be used for students’ personal learning. Authentic first-person teen narratives and 24-hour Iowa and national hotlines for teens in crisis make this a unique and important resource for students, teachers and parents. Feel free to share this information with your teachers and in parent newsletters.

How to access: Use the online database username and password assigned to your school. Use the federated search at http://comcat-agent.auto-graphics.com or go directly to http://www.teenhealthandwellness.com. A packet of promotional materials has been sent to the teacher-librarian.

Webinar training for teachers, counselors and nurses is scheduled for January. Register by going to the Professional Development Catalog on the Heartland Web site or by clicking here.

College Bound: More than one letter of acceptance means it's decision time

Click here to read an article that could be a fantastic resource for high school seniors getting ready for college. This appeared in the monthly series, College Bound, which is a service of the University of Northern Iowa and is distributed through the Office of University Marketing and Public Relations.

Public Comments Sought for Upcoming DMACC Accreditation Visit

The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools will be conducting an accreditation evaluation of Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) March 25-27, 2009. The Commission is seeking public comments on DMACC prior to the accreditation visit.

If you would like to make comments about the quality of DMACC or its academic programs, please submit your comments to the following address:

Public Comment on DMACC
The Higher Learning Commission
30 North LaSalle Street, Suite 2400
Chicago, IL 60602 or
http://www.ncahlc.org

Written, signed comments must be received by Feb. 25, 2009. Comments should include the name, address, and telephone number of the person providing the comments. Comments will not be treated as confidential.

Note: Individuals with a specific dispute or grievance with an institution should request the separate Policy on Complaints document from the Commission office.

DMACC has been accredited by the Commission since 1974. The Commission is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Communicating about Food Allergies at School

Most principals tell us that life-threatening food allergies are on the rise. Let's consider peanuts for starters. According to the Food Allergy Initiative, the number of U.S. children with peanut allergy doubled between 1997 and 2002. Studies in the United Kingdom and Canada also showed a high rate of peanut allergy in school-aged children.

But peanuts aren't the only problem. Kids can have serious allergies to products containing eggs, milk, tree nuts, soy, fish and more. Just this past October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that in 2007, approximately 3 million U.S. children and teenagers under age 18 reported having a food or digestive allergy in the past year, compared to just over 2.3 million in 1997.

Teamwork between principals, teachers, parents and students is vital to keeping these children safe at school. A school policy should be in place. Communication is key to establishing and maintaining this team.

If you need help in developing a food allergy policy, the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network created a tool kit for schools. It's posted at www.foodallergy.org. Also, the Food Allergy Initiative web site at www.faiusa.org includes a sample letter about peanut allergies for principals. The site also includes detailed information about other types of food allergies, tips for food service professionals and resources for parents.

(Courtesy of PRincipal Communicator/January 2009, National School Public Relations Association)