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Iowa school districts and community colleges interested in creating an additional college and career transition counselor (CCTC) position are invited to apply for one of the small start-up grants offered by the Iowa Department of Education (Department). This is the fourth round of grant funding, which first began in 2020-21. Application through IowaGrants.gov opens Oct. 9 and closes Dec. 15.
Up to five recipients will be awarded grants to support and expand the CCTC model across the state. School districts may access operational sharing dollars to support CCTC positions.
CCTCs provide a necessary link between secondary schools and postsecondary access for students and their families. They begin working with juniors and seniors in high school on career exploration and college preparation, and continue assisting them through their first year of college. By having the continued support of a CCTC, students are better prepared to persist and succeed in their postsecondary educational pursuits. Additional information is available on the CCTC webpage including a full toolkit and overview of the CCTC role.
Questions? Contact Erica Woods-Schmitz at erica.woods-schmitz@iowa.gov.
Funding is available for:
- Educator endorsements in Computer Science and Career and Technical Education (CTE) Information Technology; and
- School district professional development for teachers in the area of computer science education.
Visit the Computer Science Professional Development Incentive Fund for more information and apply through IowaGrants.gov. Note the application deadlines, changes to spending deadlines and claim dates.
Governor’s STEM Advisory Council at the Iowa Department of Education will begin accepting applications for the STEM BEST® (Business Engaging Students and Teachers) + HD Program from Oct. 2 through Dec. 13.
The STEM BEST Program brings together schools and businesses to provide students with real workplace experiences and engaging STEM curriculum. Teachers and industry professionals are encouraged to design a work-based learning model that combines STEM subjects with hands-on learning experiences. These experiences highlight the essential skills needed in the workplace and provide students with the opportunity to gain experience with potential career paths in high-demand sectors.
The STEM BEST® Program provides both expertise and funding to support the development of workplace-connected curriculum, the professional development of educators and employer partners to collaborate on lesson design and execution.
Interested in learning more and getting support to develop your proposal? The STEM Council in partnership with the Authentic Learning Network and Area Education Agency (AEA) Online will be hosting STEM BEST Design Days. Hear from current STEM BEST® Program leaders and program coordinators as they provide resources to submitting a STEM BEST® Program proposal. Participants will have the opportunity to join a session over lunch for brief overviews of the concepts that make up a proposal or attend a more in-depth all day experience in November.
The application is available to established Iowa public and non-public school districts and buildings serving students in grades K-12.
Questions? Contact Tanya Hunt at hunt@iowastem.org.
School districts know that the battle against cybersecurity is a growing problem, vexing even the largest schools in the state.
To that end, a state agency is offering a next generation software to the Iowa’s school districts for up to 16 months at no cost to the schools.
The Iowa Department of Management Division of Information Technology (DOM-DoIT), formerly the Office of the Chief Information Officer, is offering Endpoint Detection and Response. This is a security tool that detects and prevents a wide range of known and unknown cyber attacks on computers, servers and other devices. The service also includes state-of-the-art, around-the-clock security incident monitoring and response for schools.
The agency is providing licenses for devices – devices being servers, laptops, and desktops – for each public K-12 district in Iowa based on their sizes:
- Districts with student populations up to 1,000 receive four licenses.
- Districts with student populations from 1,001 to 3,500 receive 15 licenses.
- Districts with student populations of 3,501 and higher receive 77 licenses.
Districts may purchase additional licenses at an annual cost of $98.88 per device.
A webinar will be held at 10 a.m. on Oct. 31 giving details about the cybersecurity protection. Administrators and IT professionals are asked to register for the webinar.
In addition, districts wanting to take advantage of this must:
- Respond to this Program Participation Survey to elect or decline Program participation.
- Upon election to participate in the Program an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will be sent from DOM-DoIT
- Participating districts and AEAs will have to sign a MOU with DOM-DoIT in order to participate.
Questions may be emailed to government.services@iowa.gov.
An LEA receiving an allocation of funds through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief (ESSER) formula is required to develop a plan for the safe return to in-person instruction and the continuity of services plan. This plan is to be regularly reviewed and, as appropriate, revised no less frequently than every six months throughout the program period. An LEA must seek and take public input into account in determining whether and what revisions are necessary. If, after conducting the review and taking into account public input, the LEA may determine that no revisions are necessary. As with all decisions related to ESSER funds, an LEA should be transparent and communicate to the public its determination that revisions are not necessary. ESSER III continues through Sept. 30, 2024 pending there are no federal extensions for the funds.
Learn more by visiting the Emergency Relief for PK-12 Schools webpage.
Iowa Code section 256.9 subsection 66, established under 2023 Iowa Acts, ch. 96 (House File 604), directs the Iowa Department of Education to develop and distribute to school districts a list of all professional development programs and other training programs in which employees of school districts are required to participate pursuant to federal law or state law, including chapter 284. This chart provides a comprehensive list of required training: [E1][S2] Reference Guide for Required Professional Development.
The following educational personnel are required to complete the Dyslexia Overview Module by 7/1/2024 or within one year of employment after 7/1/2024.
- Any person employed by an AEA who holds a license, certificate, statement of recognition or authorization other than coaching.
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School district personnel with the following endorsements:
- PK-K teacher, prekindergarten-kindergarten classroom (103)
- PK-K early childhood special education (262)
- Elementary special education (260; 263; 264)
- Prekindergarten through grade 3 (100; 106)
- Birth-grade 3 inclusive settings (1001)
- Dyslexia specialist (1761)
- English as a second language (104)
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School district practitioners and paraprofessionals assigned as:
- Title I teachers (102; 148; 176)
- Title I paraprofessionals under ESSA
Iowa Code 279.72 requires training on dyslexia. By July 1, 2024, the board of directors of a school district shall require all persons employed by the school district who hold a teaching license
- with an endorsement for prekindergarten,
- pre kindergarten or elementary special education,
- or pre kindergarten through grade three levels issued under chapter 272,
- all practitioners and paraprofessionals assigned as Title I teachers and Title I paraprofessionals under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, Pub. L. No. 114-95, and
- all practitioners endorsed to teach English as a second language
to complete the Iowa Reading Research Center dyslexia overview module. Such persons employed by the school district after July 1, 2024, shall complete the module within one year of the employee’s initial date of hire. 2020 Acts, ch 1048, §8
Iowa Board of Educational Examiners Endorsement List
Questions? Contact Wanda Steuri at wanda.steuri@iowa.gov or 515-238-8634.
To ensure your district or school has the appropriately licensed teacher, check out the BEDS Crosswalk. The Crosswalk contains course SCED codes and required licensure.
The count is on! Since Oct. 1 falls on a Sunday, Count Day for Certified Enrollment is Monday, Oct. 2. Data must be submitted and certified by midnight, Sunday, Oct. 15 (IAC 257.6.1a(7c)). Iowa Code does NOT move the certification deadline. All errors in SRI and Certified Enrollment will need to be corrected before the ‘Certify’ button is enabled for your district. The ‘Certify’ button in Certified Enrollment will become available Thursday, Oct. 12. After certifying, a district is still able to submit new data to correct any discovered errors, but will need to recertify after those corrections flow onto the SRI and Certified Enrollment applications. Look at the time stamp on the ‘Home’ page in Certified Enrollment to verify the new data has reached the application before recertifying.
See the Student Reporting in Iowa webpage for more information.
Senate File 391 passed during the 2023 legislative session Includes changes impacting school operations related to instruction, curriculum, and operations.
- Division I: eliminates various reporting requirements and strikes references to the comprehensive school improvement plan (CSIP) for all school districts. This does not impact the federal requirement under the Every Student Succeeds Act for schools identified for improvement to locally develop and implement a comprehensive support and improvement plan for the school to improve student outcomes.
- Division II: modifies provisions related to school libraries, including qualifications for school librarians by specifying that a master’s degree shall not be a condition for licensure. Allows a school district to employ as a school librarian an individual who is a qualified teacher librarian or a person previously employed as a librarian in a public library. Specifies that standards for guidance counselor programs must ensure counselors are positioned to work collaboratively with students, teachers, staff, and administrators to support the curricular goals of the school through responsive services focused on the growth and development needs of students. Iowa Department of Education guidance should be viewed as advisory unless it is specifically authorized by state statute, according to Iowa Code section 256.9A. This does not apply to administrative rules, declaratory orders, or materials required by federal law or courts.
- Division III: clarifies use of online instruction to meet the minimum 180 day or 1,080 hour instruction requirement. A school district may count up to five days or 30 hours of instruction primarily delivered online toward the minimum instructional time required under Iowa Code section 279.10.
- Division IV: provides greater flexibility under Iowa Code section 279.50A to allow a school district to use a course offered by a community college or taught by a community college-employed instructor to meet any required offer-and-teach unit.
- Division V: permits a school district to authorize a single teacher to provide instruction in two or more sequential units of one subject area in the same classroom at the same time.
- Division VI: modifies required offer-and-teach instructional requirements for the following subjects:
- World language, reducing total units from four to two and striking the waiver process.
- Fine arts, reducing total units from three to two and providing flexibility in subjects that may be used to meet the unit requirement.
- Physical education, streamlining the process through which a student may request to be excused from the physical education requirement due to participation in certain academic coursework, extracurricular activities, or athletics.
- Personal finance, allowing the half-unit of required instruction to be delivered through coursework used to meet English, science, social studies, mathematics, or career and technical education offer-and-teach requirements. Strikes the half-unit personal finance literacy graduation requirement.
- Technology literacy, striking its reference from the core content standards established pursuant to Iowa Code section 256.7, subsection 26.
Iowa School Meal Programs benefit Iowa students in many ways, including higher test scores, fewer classroom disruptions and reduced food insecurity. Last year, Iowa served over 27,669,181 breakfasts and 57,975,694 lunches to students all over the state for a total reimbursement of $194,542,204 and an additional $26.9 million in USDA Foods support. All of that was juggled by 224 food service director FTEs and 4,202 food service staff FTEs (as reported in 2022-2023 BEDS data). School nutrition professionals touch the lives of nearly every student that enters their local school each day.
If you have new food service professionals in your district, there are two ways school administration can support new nutrition professionals. First, proper training is important so that the school nutrition team fully understands and can implement the regulations and procedures they need to follow. The Bureau of Nutrition and Health Services hosts monthly training during the school year. Details and registration are shared through govDelivery communication sent to school nutrition authorized representatives and food service directors. Pre-recorded training can be found at Learning Tools - Schools.
Second, ensure the food service director has up-to-date electronic equipment. All data reporting, claiming and compliance tasks are completed on IowaCNP (data system used for USDA Child Nutrition Programs by Bureau of Nutrition and Health Services). This and other web-based resources often require a personal computer and designated time for support. Comparison of information is common and may require a second computer monitor to increase accuracy and efficiency.
Reminder: USDA requires School Food Authorities (SFAs) to verify 3% of the households that receive free or reduced price meal benefits. The households selected for verification must be selected as of Oct 1. The verification process must be completed by Nov. 15.
Questions? Contact your Regional School Nutrition Consultant.
The EPA WIN grant awarded the Iowa Department of Education funds to support public schools and child care centers in voluntary testing of drinking water for lead. This grant program is designed to reduce lead exposure for children, who are most vulnerable, at schools and child care. The program provides an opportunity for public schools and child care centers to bring awareness to the importance of access to safe drinking water through voluntary testing, communication and educational resources. Grant dollars can be used for the implementation of testing water for lead, retesting of structures if lead levels are above the state and federal action levels and additional education resources. Applications for voluntary participation from public schools and childcare programs are being accepted on a rolling basis while grant funding is available.
Learn more and sign up to participate on the WIIN Lead Testing In School and Child Care Program Drinking Water Grant webpage.
Area Education Agencies (AEA), public school districts, preschool programs and state accredited nonpublic schools submit a universal desk audit information yearly for compliance with state and federal legal requirements. Universal desk audit information is submitted to the Department through the Consolidated Accountability and Support Application (CASA) until Dec. 15, 2023. All desk audits are currently open in CASA.
Questions on the AEA, public school district, or state accredited desk audits? Contact your Department of Education school improvement consultant.
Questions on the preschool desk audit? Contact Mary Breyfogle at mary.breyfogle@iowa.gov or 515-326-1030.
The myIGDIs early literacy assessments for children in preschool continue to be available to districts and programs offering the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program. The data provided by the assessments helps to inform instructional decisions in preschool classrooms. Districts who have administered these assessments in the last three years can use these resources to complete the rostering process for this year.
Questions? Contact Mary Breyfogle at mary.breyfogle@iowa.gov or 515-326-1030.
The Bureau of Iowa College Aid has produced a FAFSA Changes Social Media Toolkit that was shared with various stakeholders this month.
The toolkit is designed to assist stakeholders in spreading FAFSA messaging across Iowa through social media platforms in their communities. The toolkit can be used to communicate FAFSA changes with provided graphics, content and suggested scheduling.
The toolkit has received universal praise and has already been employed by many educators across Iowa. Additionally, the National College Attainment Network (NCAN) has recommended the toolkit to its membership and featured it on the NCAN website.
The Teach Iowa Scholar (TIS) program application opened Sept. 1 and has already received more than 400 applications from Iowa teachers. The state-funded program provides loan repayment or an income bonus award to Iowa teachers teaching in designated content shortage areas in Iowa schools. During the 2022-23 application cycle, a total of 426 applications were received and almost 150 teachers were selected to receive awards.
To qualify for the program, a teacher must have graduated in the top 25 percent of their teacher preparation program and must be teaching full-time under a contract in a designated content shortage area during the 2023-24 school year. Shortage areas and additional details can be found on the Teach Iowa Scholar (TIS) Program webpage.
Applications must be submitted on or before Nov. 17, 2023. Eligible teachers selected for awards can receive up to $4,000 per year during a five-year period. Priority funding for new applicants is given to teachers who completed their teacher preparation program in the most recent academic year, and then by the rank of the shortage area in which they teach.
The 2023 Iowa Acts, chapter 96 (House File 604), require the Iowa Department of Education to develop and distribute the Model Policies for Discipline of Students Who Make Threats of Violence or Cause Incidents of Violence for school districts and charter schools. If the model policies are adopted by the district, it would satisfy a school district's or charter school’s responsibilities under Iowa Code 279.79 established by the Act. These model policies are intended to support a school district and charter school in meeting the requirements of new Iowa Code section 279.79 and to assist in developing policies for different grade levels that describe how a district or charter school may discipline a student for making a threat of violence or causing an incident of violence resulting in injury or property damage or assault.
Access Guidance and Updates on Legislation webpage for further detail about requirements of specific state and federal legislation.
Visit and subscribe to the Annual Notices and Deadlines Calendar for a list of state and federal notices and deadlines for all public and nonpublic schools.
It is the policy of the Iowa Department of Education not to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, sex, disability, religion, age, political party affiliation, or actual or potential parental, family or marital status in its programs, activities, or employment practices as required by the Iowa Code sections 216.9 and 256.10(2), Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000d2000e), the Equal Pay Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. § 206, et seq.), Title IX (Educational Amendments, 20 U.S.C.§§ 1681 – 1688), Section 504 (Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. § 12101, et seq.). If you have questions or complaints related to compliance with this policy by the Iowa Department of Education, please contact the legal counsel for the Iowa Department of Education, Grimes State Office Building, 400 E. 14th Street, Des Moines, IA 50319-0146, telephone number: 515-281-5295, or the Director of the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, John C. Kluczynski Federal Building, 230 S. Dearborn Street, 37th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604-7204, telephone number: 312-730-1560, FAX number: 312-730-1576, TDD number: 800-877-8339, email: OCR.Chicago@ed.gov
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