June 22 Message on Early Warning System transition

This message contains urgent time sensitive information about the transition away from Iowa TIER. Please read this message fully as there are important tasks and details that every school must attend to in order to be prepared for the upcoming school year.

  • Watch for info on training dates coming soon
    • We know that summertime is a tough time to communicate, because it’s a great time to rest and restore between school years. We hope to have information on training dates for using the FAST application ready to share with you sometime next week. Please watch for the email.
  • Iowa TIER end dates and final tasks
    • As mentioned in a previous email, access to Iowa TIER is ending. All testing functionality is already discontinued. Access to Iowa TIER will end permanently on June 30. Prior to that time we encourage downloading the most recent literacy status report and exporting all PM graphs in order to have ready access to information to assist with starting the new school year. Click this link to access the previous email message content, including directions for downloading reports: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/IACIO/bulletins/19d8288.
  • Leave Iowa TIER SIF agent on
    • In July someone will be contacting your school to set the SIF agent up to communicate with the FAST application. In the meantime, please do not turn off the Iowa TIER SIF agent.
  • Communications
    • Please share information about the transition from Iowa TIER to the FAST application with your staff and ensure that all building teams have been alerted to the information above. We have a very limited window of time to accomplish system setup and training and it is critical that all sites are informed. Make sure that someone is able to watch for further communications during the summer months and pass information to others as needed. If there are additional people from your district or school that you would like to receive these communication updates, please forward this email to them and they can click here to subscribe to future emails.

Thanks for your support during this transition. We know it will be a summer and fall of new learning but believe we are all headed in the right direction for learners in Iowa. We remain committed to our efforts in early literacy as a state, and partnering with you as we continue on that journey together. Throughout this transition, the Department will continue to be the first line of communication and support for districts. As you have questions related to the transition, please use the contacts below. We ask that you do not use the Iowa TIER knowledge base or ticket system for questions or comments related to this transition.

Administrative issues:  Dave Tilly

Differentiated Accountability issues:  Amy Williamson

Technical issues:  Janell Brandhorst

Media requests: Staci Hupp