How can CR AEA serve you_21-22

How can Central Rivers AEA serve you and your students? Please keep this brochure handy as a reference about the AEA. We want you to know about the many resources available to you from Central Rivers Area Education Agency (Central Rivers AEA) so that you can take full advantage of what we have to offer. We also encourage you to bookmark the Central Rivers AEA Web site: www.centralriversaea.org It will give you access to many of the agency’s resources. Follow us on social media.

WHAT THE AEA PROVIDES YOU State law mandates the AEA provide services to schools in nine areas: • Diverse Learners • Curriculum Instruction and Assessment • Professional Learning • Instructional Media • School Technology • Leadership • Multicultural, Gender-Fair • School-Community Planning • School Management This brochure touches on some (but not all) of the services available to you. WHY WE HAVE AN AEA HOW THE AEA WORKS The Iowa legislature created the AEAs to fulfill three Unlike school districts, the AEA system has no taxing authority. The important roles in the schools: agency is funded by a per-pupil assessment designated by the state • Equity legislature, by federal funds, various grants and sale of services. Some • Efficiency services, such as Professional Learning, are supported by fees charged • Excellence to participants. Many of the roles that AEA staff perform, especially in the many rural school districts across Iowa, require less than A nine-member board of directors elected by area school boards full-time work by individuals. The AEAs can hire many of governs Central Rivers AEA. Board members represent designated these professionals as full-time employees and provide segments of the agency’s service area called director districts. They are critical services to multiple schools. elected by school district board members. The AEA is also integrally involved in assisting districts in meeting requirements of public mandates such as DIVERSE LEARNERS the Individuals with Disabilities Act and its related state performance plan, Iowa Core, and the Teacher Leadership Nearly 80 percent of AEA funding goes to providing services that Initiative. make education equitably available for all students. Students who Iowa currently has nine area education agencies, covering qualify for an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) or Individualized every school district in Iowa. The AEAs are also required to Education Plan (IEP) as well as students who are considered talented provide services to parents home-schooling their children and gifted or for whom English is a second language, receive AEA and to accredited, nonpublic schools. support services. AEA staff work in your building providing support to you and to specific students. You may see school psychologists, social workers, speech- language pathologists, special education consultants, occupational therapists and physical therapists, to name a few of the professionals employed by the AEA. These employees work with students, families, and educators often serving as a member of an IFSP or IEP team and helping to implement appropriate services. The AEAs are responsible for identifying and serving children from birth to age five through Early ACCESS and Early Childhood Services. Many children receive help before they ever reach kindergarten so that they are school-ready just like the rest of their age group. The AEA provides a wide assortment of assistive devices for children of all ages. These range from simple pencil grips to auditory amplification systems to speech devices and a wide variety of personal conveyances.

A resource team of educators and AEA support staff provide CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION consultation, information and coordination of plans for children with AND ASSESSMENT autism and related disorders and for their families. AEA staff also work with educators in implementing behavioral interventions for students When the legislature enacted the Iowa Core, the Iowa with challenging behaviors. Department of Education turned to the AEA to help develop it and to share it with school leadership teams. The agency’s transition support services are for students, parents, teachers and school districts as they plan for students to make The agency also has content teams to help support your efforts successful transitions including movement from home to school, school in aligning content, addressing assessment, and aligning to school, and to post-school employment, education and living settings. curriculums between grade levels and school buildings. The AEA is deeply committed to assisting all learners. These consultants The Family & Educator Partnership (FEP) offers support for families work with districts and/or individual teachers to improve ways that and educators as well as a library of information about various support achievement of grade level expectations for all learners. disabilities. It’s available to educators and parents whose child or children may have one or more disabilities. You may ask someone from Examples of supports include: the FEP to sit in on an IEP meeting and to help explain the process, • Visible Learning Classroom forms and other details involved in special education. • Formative Assessment • Comprehensive Literacy • Teaching Fractions & Developing Numeracy • Multi-Tiered System of Supports • NGSS Science Standards Workshop • Teacher Leadership Network • Essential Questions in Social Studies • Counselors Network • Principal PLC • TAG Network • Technology Networks

INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA Central Rivers AEA offers a variety of educational resources available for checkout as well as digitally. These items include student literature, books with audio, professional titles, online journals, STEM resources including robots, cameras, microscopes, RealCare Baby simulators, digital resources, and many, many more. • Wondering what items are available in the media collection? Take a look at our online catalog, GetMedia. Physical materials may be reserved online 24/7 by logging into a personal account. • Central Rivers AEA provides regular van delivery weekly to each school building throughout the school year as well as biweekly throughout the summer. To locate your van delivery dates and locations check it out on our website. • Digital resources provide a variety of opportunities for learning to be accessible at all times to all students. Educators at Central Rivers AEA have access to 16 statewide digital resources as well as AEA Scout, Mystery Science, and PebbleGo. These resources can be found on our media webpage. • Need access to GetMedia or our digital resources? Usernames and passwords may be obtained by reaching out to media services through [email protected], the ‘Live Chat’ feature on the agency webpage, or calling 641-844-2410. • Don’t see what you are looking for? Reach out to our media team for requests and recommendations. Coming Fall 2021! Media services is offering the opportunity for educators to participate in our upcoming pilot programs. Educators who are selected have the opportunity to have access to our pilot resources for the school year, may earn renewal credit, connect with fellow educators to share ideas, and are provided professional learning opportunities to support integration of the resources within their classrooms. Piloting this fall include: Breakout EDU, Merge Cube, Ozobots Evo, Sphero Bolt, StoryboardThat, and Unruly Splats. If you have questions or need additional information, please contact Cari Teske at [email protected] GetMedia bringing the power of media to educators and students

ONLINE INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA SOURCES AEA Digital Resources AEA Digital Resources includes educational resources funded and provided by Iowa’s Area Education Educational Resources Funded and Provided by Iowa’s Education Agencies Agencies for PreK-12 students. On the Central Rivers Area Education Agency home page, you have access to all of the following resources: https://www.iowaaeaonline. GRADE LEVEL AEA Digital Library PreK-12 Digital curriculum resources from leading producers of preK-12 content. This collection will continue to grow! Current resources include physical science, life science, earth science and financial literacy. AEA Scout 5-12 American History K-12 EA Scout is a new online portal that houses many of the digital resources provided by Iowa’s AEAs that are listed below. in Video Students benefit from a one-stop-shop for their research needs, and teachers can rest easy knowing their students are searching the quality, curated content they’ve come to know and trust. Features 2,000 total hours of streaming videos that bring history alive for students. The collection includes hundreds of the documentaries most frequently used in history classrooms. BookFLIX PreK-3 An online literacy resource that pairs fictional video storybooks with related nonfiction books. Read-aloud feature provides accessibility to all readers. Vocabulary feature and interactive games extend student learning. Britannica Digital PreK-12 A suite of products designed to support student research and classroom instruction, Britannica Digital Learning offers an Learning extensive collection of reference and learning materials that are curriculum aligned and age-appropriate. CultureGrams PreK-12 An insider’s perspective on daily life and culture, including the history, customs, and lifestyles of the world’s people. FreedomFLIX 4-12 With more than 50 social study units spanning 10 core curricular areas, FreedomFLIX provides a wealth of learning Gale – Cengage PreK-12 opportunities. Each unit contains an introductory video, an eBook, primary sources and vetted weblinks. Learning PreK-12 iCLIPART An eResource package offering screened and reliable content from magazines, newspapers, and reference materials. Ten For Schools different resources are designed for age-appropriate access. A collection of more than 7.8 million royalty-free photos, clipart, fonts, animations, and sounds that can be used in multimedia presentations, Inspiration diagrams, school websites, worksheets, newsletters, posters, signs, and more. Learn360 PreK-12 Educational streaming media offering thousands of full-length digital videos, video clips, images, audio files, newsreels, speeches and a comprehensive library of teaching resources from educational publishers. MackinVIA K-12 This ebook portal contains a collection of fiction and nonfiction titles for K-12 students. The collection has thousands of titles and crosses all content areas, most with text-to-audio capabilities. *Mystery Science K-5 Offers ready to implement, inspiring hands-on science lessons aligned to NGSS. Every lesson begins with a Mystery that hooks the students and then continues with images and videos that provide an opportunity for active discussion. ScienceFLIX 4-12 With an emphasis on the latest STEM thinking and the Next Generation Science Standards, ScienceFLIX provides students with a better understanding of science concepts through hands-on projects, videos and multiple text types. SIRS Issues Exploration of the origins, perspectives, and essential questions under debate on over 300 pro/con social issues. Review Researcher 9-12 thousands of highly targeted articles, primary sources, statistics, websites, and multimedia. Articles are read aloud enabled and searchable by Lexile reading levels. soundzabound PreK-12 Licensed audio that can be used without copyright infringement in videos, podcasts, and other forms of multimedia. The MP3 audio files are cross platform for use in any Mac or PC software that incorporates audio. TeachingBooks.net PreK-12 An easy-to-use website that adds a multimedia dimension to the reading experiences of child and young adult books. This online database is developed and maintained to include thousands of resources about fiction and nonfiction books and Teen Health & 7-12 authors used in the K-12 environment for all disciplines and has been correlated to the Iowa Core Standards. Wellness Provides students with nonjudgmental, straightforward, standards-aligned, curricular and self-help support. Topics include diseases, drugs, alcohol, nutrition, mental health, suicide, bullying, green living, online safety, financial literacy, and more. TrueFLIX Leverages the Scholastic True Books content to help students hone literacy skills, build knowledge of subject-area content 3-6 and cultivate 21st Century skills through the inquiry process. All of the True Book titles are supported with a deep and diverse reservoir of related content and primary sources featuring videos, audio, images, and text. Your students may use the school’s username/passwords to access these resources at school, at home or anywhere else they may have access to the Internet. Check with your teacher librarian for the username/password. * Available only for Central Rivers AEA educators, families and students.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING CREATIVE SERVICES The AEA offers many different classes that you may take for Central Rivers Area Education Agency has everything needed to licensure renewal purposes and graduate credit or to simply stay design and print all of your classroom resources. Lamination, color current in your field. printing, bindery and more are offered at a minimal cost with quick delivery to your school building. Some of the products that we can The agency no longer publishes a printed catalog of courses produce for you include: and workshops as current and complete offering information is available on the agency’s website at www.centralriversaea.org • Progress charts (click on “View all Opportunities”). Live support is available during • Planners regular business hours via the Chat with Us box or by calling 319- • Canvas wall hangings 273-8200. • Color posters/banners • Worksheets PROFESSIONAL LEARNING • Certificates • Stickers Web site: www.centralriversaea.org click on “View all Opportunities” • Computer clings Username: ____________________________________________ Please place your order at: Password: _____________________________________________ https://aeacreativeservices.org Good luck with your new school year! HOW TO CONTACT THE AEA If you need assistance, don’t hesitate to ask your AEA staff for help! Need to reach someone at the AEA? Visit our website at http://www.centralriversaea.org www.centralriversaea.org and use the Chat with Us feature. Live operators are available during office hours. There is also a “Contact Us” section at the bottom of the page that you can use. Each district served by Central Rivers AEA is served by a regional administrator who is specifically assigned to help them. These individuals are there to help connect you to individual AEA programs and services that meet your unique needs.

LEADERSHIP MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORTS Central Rivers AEA provides leadership services that assist with the On any given day, a significant number of students recruitment, induction, retention, and professional learning of school experience barriers to learning (either situational or long- leaders. The professional learning experts at Central Rivers AEA have term) which interfere with their ability to fully engage collaborated to put together the Lead, Inspire, Innovate learning series in the classroom. Among the most common are social, to empower teachers and administrators to lead the effort to improve emotional and behavioral challenges. Central Rivers AEA student learning. has a team of consultants with expertise in youth mental health, classroom management, and other learning TECHNOLOGY AND SUPPORT SERVICES supports. An array of professional learning and one-on- one consultation is available to classroom teachers and The Central Rivers AEA Information Technology Support Team provides administrators. We understand that yesterday’s solutions a wide range of assistance to school districts and technology leaders may not address today’s challenges in the classroom and within our region. Our dedicated professional staff has experience center our services around research-proven strategies. working with coordinators to achieve educational goals and solve complex problems. We are committed to providing you with excellent GROUP PURCHASING DISCOUNTS customer service and prompt technical support solutions. AEA Purchasing, http://www.aeapurchasing.org/, is an ● Purchasing Discounts for Technology initiative of Iowa’s AEAs, and it helps schools to be more efficient. Iowa’s AEA Purchasing Program offers substantial educational AEA Purchasing provides a voluntary purchasing discounts on many products and tools like computers, audio program for K-12 schools. By bringing school purchasing systems, cameras, learning management systems, projectors, and programs under one statewide umbrella, AEA Purchasing more. allows schools to take advantage of volume purchases and negotiated pricing. Statewide, schools across the ● Equipment Repair Services state have saved millions of dollars on AV and computer equipment, software, furniture, janitorial and office Central Rivers AEA has certified staff that offers equipment repair supplies, paper, etc. services which covers a wide range of hardware and includes free estimates plus warranty assistance. ● Network Support Central Rivers AEA has experienced staff to assist with network design, installation, and configuration along with internet service aggregation. We also provide hardware, software, and email support with the ability to perform advanced diagnostics and performance tuning. ● E-Rate Assistance The federal E-rate program provides discounts of up to 90 percent to help eligible schools obtain affordable telecommunication services, networking equipment, and internet access. ● Single Sign-on through ClassLink OneClick ClassLink OneClick is a dashboard that provides district teachers and students secure single sign-on (SSO) access to digital resources and applications from any location or device. ● Support for Google Workspace for Education Discounted pricing is available for Google Workspace for Education, which provides a suite of cloud-based tools to K–12 school districts and has advanced controls for administrators and enhanced analytics. Central Rivers AEA technical support can be reached by phone at 319- 273-8231 or email at [email protected].

Central Rivers AEA Cedar Falls Office 1521 Technology Parkway • Cedar Falls, IA 50613 Ph. 1-800-542-8375 or 319-273-8200 Central Rivers AEA Clear Lake Office 9184 265th Street, Suite B • Clear Lake, IA 50428 Ph. 1-800-392-6640 or 641-329-4200 Central Rivers AEA Marshalltown Office 909 South 12th Street • Marshalltown, IA 50158 Ph. 1-800-735-1539 or 641-753-3564 CENTRAL RIVERS AEA INTEGRATED SERVICES Regions and Assigned Administrators NORTHWEST SECTOR r 1 - Dr. Beverly Plagge 2 - Amber Dietz CENTRAL RIVERS 3 - Ashley Sires AREA EDUCATION AGENCY NORTHEAST SECTOR 4- Jody Albertson 5- Greg Koppes 6 - Ryan Andreassen EAST SECTOR 7- Melissa Hesner 7- Brena Huber 8 - Joshua Johnson SOUTH SECTOR 9 - Amy Thoms-Starr 10 - Julie Miller 11 - Heather Gould Dr. Debra Rich, Board President Sam Miller, Chief Administrator Karl Kurt, Asst. Chief Administrator/Director of HR Beth Strike, Director of Creative Services & Communications Michael Kalvig, Chief Financial Officer Amy Knupp, Executive Director of Special Education Jen Sigrist, Executive Director of Educational Services For more information about Central Rivers AEA or to request a tour, contact Beth Strike, Director of Creative Services & Communications at 319-273-8222. Central Rivers Area Education Agency (AEA) does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, gender, marital status, national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic background or disability in its educational programs, activities, or employment practices as required by all applicable Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action laws, directives, and regulations of federal, state and local governing bodies and agen- cies. Students, parents of students, applicants for employment and employees of Central Rivers AEA shall have the right to file a formal complaint alleging non-compliance with federal and state regulations requiring nondiscrimination in ed- ucational programs and employment. Inquiries concerning application of this statement should be addressed to: Karl Kurt, Equity Coordinator, Central Rivers AEA, 1521 Technology Pkwy, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613, Telephone: 800-542-8375. 07/2021- MT