'Reminded today that regardless of grading system, reclaiming the purpose of formative assessment (to inform the teacher of next instructional moves and the student of their gap-closing steps) is important. And in standards-based grading, FA become even more time-saving #sblchat

New post: David Tilly, a special educator and former deputy director of the Iowa Dept of Education, gave me permission to publish the letter he sent to #Iowa lawmakers flagging problems w/ governor's proposed overhaul of Area Education Agencies. #ialegis bleedingheartland.com/2024/01/26/gov…

The AEAs are a system. That system is predicated on economies of scale. The bill in its current form will potentially encourage larger districts to self-fund and leave. If the “scale” leaves the system, students in rural IA are very likely to be the most negatively impacted.

Principals, superintendents, and instructional coaches, "my only message for you is that your teachers need a win, and they need it now," Jennifer Gonzalez writes for Cult of Pedagogy. bit.ly/45UyOYi

So many applications for this. Perhaps Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Legislature would benefit from following @TBrianKight . dailydiscipline.com/feed/what-to-d…

Plan for Iowa AEAs relied on consultant's faulty analysis - Bleeding Heartland bleedingheartland.com/2024/02/01/pla…

Governor's AEA plan would harm Iowa children, families, and school districts - Bleeding Heartland bleedingheartland.com/2024/01/26/gov…

Effective teachers don't focus so much on rules, but more on relationships, routines, & expectations. If you focus mainly on rules, you will spend most of the year enforcing them. But if you focus on relationships, routines, & expectations, you rarely have to defer back to rules.

I graduated from a small town in Southern Iowa. Join me in advocating to Governor Reynolds and legislators that AEAs are needed for ALL kids in ALL schools. No changes needed! Kim Reynolds

Saw this in a classroom yesterday.

🧵 🪡 THREAD: Mobile Phones This might be controversial, unpopular or uncomfortable to read but I genuinely worry about the damage mobile phones do, not just to our young people but also to us as fully developed adults. 1/7

Thank you to ⁦Shelby McCreedy⁩ McCreedy for speaking to the Deluxe Driving Academy class at IKM-Manning today. Always has a powerful message for young drivers.

Three ways Iowa school leaders can adapt to harmful new state laws - Bleeding Heartland bleedingheartland.com/2024/04/30/thr…

Excited to announce that our Buena Vista University new master's in education leadership program has received approval and is now available for students interested in becoming building administrators. Visit buff.ly/49ZkkZv for details and to apply.

🎙 Join SAI Executive Director Lisa Remy for this new podcast episode as she talks with SAI President Jason Toenges about his experience when tragedy strikes, and how a district and building may respond. 🎧 sai-iowa.org/its-been-said-…

From the logo! ⁦⁦ espn.com/video/clip/_/i…

"Wrigley Field and the Chicago Cubs were transformed; Ryne Sandberg made it so." ❤️ Rick Sutcliffe remembers the legacy of his former teammate, who died earlier this week.