The Channel

The Channel - a blog for Central Rivers AEA staff and board members blog site header

Author: cvanbuskirk

  • What’s new with INspired Leadership?

    Central Rivers AEA wellbeing team logo

    Empower half-hour

    Are you interested in learning a quick, practical way to release catabolic energy? Join us for the “Empower Half-Hour” with Dr. Leslie Moore, Certified Professional Coach at Central Rivers AEA! On November 15, from 8:30 to 9:00 am via Zoom, Dr. Moore will lead a session to help you access more positive, productive energy around specific situations. Sign up today to receive a calendar invite!

    Microcredential stipend available

    This year, Central Rivers AEA is continuing to support staff well-being by offering a $250 incentive for completing one of three INspired Leadership micro-credentials! The options are:

    • Awareness of Internal Energy
    • The 4 Key Mindsets
    • Overcoming Internal Energy Blocks* (available soon)
    • *Please note: the new micro-credential does require the first two to be earned as prerequisites.

    All of these are available in our On-Demand Library, and submissions will be reviewed by Dr. Leslie Moore. If you have any questions or need help signing up, free free to schedule a quick 15-minute session with Leslie by sending her a calendar invitation!

    Well-being support for YOU!

    Would you like support in getting more of what you want and less of what you don’t in your personal or professional life? If so, Central Rivers AEA offers 1:1 core energy leadership coaching sessions with certified well-being coach, Dr. Leslie Moore, via Zoom. All sessions are confidential and scheduled by you when you send Leslie a Google Calendar invitation. Just select “private” on the calendar invite. Reach out to Leslie with questions.

    Get INspiring emails delivered to your inbox

    If you would like to receive weekly emails that support your personal and professional leadership, join ESSDACK’s INspired weekly mailing list. You can also sign up to receive their INspired Leadership blog.

  • Updates with Special Education

    Special Ed quarterly reports

    Under HF2612, we’re required to send districts a quarterly report summarizing the special education services they received. These reports went out on October 30, so you may get questions from schools. This first-quarter report used only ACHIEVE data; Harvest data is still being refined and isn’t included yet.

    Missed timelines

    The Department of Education (DE) tracks whether we meet timelines set by IDEA for Early ACCESS and Special Education evaluations. Our goal is to meet 100% of these timelines, though rare situations may cause delays. If you anticipate missing a deadline, please inform your RA in advance to explore solutions.

    Family validation

    Please complete all family validations for your roster. Here are resources to help finish up:

    Some teachers can’t finalize IEPs because family validation isn’t complete and districts haven’t provided guidance. Below are resources sent to districts. If you have a connection with the principal in your building, feel free to share these; if you encounter any resistance, let your RA know.

    Foster parent roles

    We received clarification that foster parents with court-assigned education rights still need to be appointed as a surrogate to serve as the parent for IDEA purposes. Court-assigned rights typically apply to general school decisions like registration and attendance. Refer to our CRAEA surrogate parent process for more details.

    Legacy IEPs in ACHIEVE

    We’re now able to rename Legacy IEP PDFs in ACHIEVE. Data techs are working on this, but if you’re in an IEP and have time, please rename them using this format: Legacy IEP [Date] Annual Review (e.g., Legacy IEP 12.12.20 Annual Review).

    Preschool status

    There’s been confusion around full-time vs. part-time status for preschoolers with IEPs. According to the Department of Education, “full-time” applies to preschoolers attending 20+ hours per week; under 20 hours is considered part-time. We’ll provide training on documenting this and resources to support PK teachers. For support-only preschoolers, the roster will always show full-time, as it doesn’t impact district funding.

    Roster changes

    To transfer students in ACHIEVE when they switch teachers, buildings, or districts, the facilitator can update the roster, but the new facilitator should review and update all activities and services right away. Central Rivers AEA will send rosters in fall and spring for review and cleanup. Facilitators are encouraged to manage roster changes directly between these clean-up times. Please avoid submitting tickets for roster changes unless there’s a technical issue. For questions, contact your RA. This information will also be shared with LEA SE Directors in the November updates, due around November 15.

    Weighting review requests

    Thank you for adapting to the new IEP weighting review process! If your district asks for an IEP review, please include the student’s name, district, and date of birth for quicker processing.

    Live documents, helpful resources and guides can be found on our staff website.

  • Updates with Educational Services & Media

    Quarterly summaries:

    On October 30, Stan Rheingans emailed superintendents and school business managers a summary of first-quarter services. If there are any questions, schools can reach out to the contacts listed in the top right corner of the report or to their district’s regional administrator.

    Live documents, helpful resources and guides can be found on our staff website.

  • Read&Write for Google Chrome has been updated

    There are new features in Read&Write for Google Chrome (the Premium version is still free for teachers)! The word prediction tool now includes Co:Writer, offering flexible spelling suggestions based on phonetic spelling. It also adds topic-specific dictionaries for quicker word prediction, a familiar feature for Co:Writer users. You can even set word prediction to appear only when needed, which is handy for more challenging words.

    The customizable Read&Write toolbar now offers Horizontal, Vertical and Writing View options. You can also create user profiles to easily switch between the tools you need for different tasks. For reading webpages (outside of Google Docs), Rewordify has been added. It highlights complex words and suggests simpler alternatives to improve comprehension. You can toggle between the simplified and original text.Learn more about these features and others at https://academy.texthelp.com.

  • Congratulations to our staff with 25 years of service!

    Congratulations to CRAEA staff on 25 years of service.

  • Updates with Special Education

    Hearing Screening Changes

    Central Rivers AEA audiometrists and audiologists will continue to do class-wide hearing screening for Head Starts, Kindergarten, 1st and 5th grades. This is a change from last year – we are no longer screening preschoolers and 2nd graders. If you get questions, please direct them to the district’s Regional Administrator (RA).

    Procedural Safeguards Manuals

    If you need paper copies of the manuals for child find meetings or support only meetings, please contact Patsy Luker (Clear Lake), Sami Smith (Marshalltown), or Nicole Heiselman (Cedar Falls). If your schools are asking about getting more paper manuals, please share this ordering information with them – Creative Services is happy to help!

    SE Count Reminders

    • All new IFSPs and IEPs dated October 25 or sooner must be finalized by the end of October. Our goal is to have these done by October 25 unless there are unique circumstances.
    • Be sure you are meeting the deadlines shared by data techs in regards to reviewing rosters if you are a support service provider.
    • Official count date is Friday, October 25, 2024.

    Parent Validation Reminder

    Early ACCESS providers and SE support service providers should be working to validate each parent on their roster. If you have additional questions, the DE has developed this FAQ to help. RAs are happy to help if you run into difficulties!

    ACHIEVE Parent Portal

    The DE developed this FAQ to answer questions regarding the launch of the parent portal later this fall.

    Several important updates will be provided to LEA administrators this month through Superintendents meetings and Leadership Connections – be sure to review them.

  • Updates with Educational Services & Media

    A reminder to Ed Services staff to be sure you’ve submitted your weekly Harvest entries. (Here is the Harvest guidance information for Ed Services.) Please be sure to go back and log for July 1. If you did not have service in a particular week, you can select “submit for week” at the bottom of the entry page. Live documents, helpful resources and guides can be found on our staff website.