This was the information found in an email from the Department of Education regarding transitioning to FastBridge. There is a lot of information here so please take the time to read through it carefully.
In a nutshell, please ensure a district/school manager is registered for the 2-hour setup webinar and a school team of 2-3 people who can train the remaining staff sign up and attend the 4-hour “getting started” webinar.
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This message contains urgent time sensitive information about the transition away from Iowa TIER. Please read this message fully as there are important dates and tasks that every school must attend to in order to be prepared for the upcoming school year.
Major tasks:
- The opportunity to download data from Iowa TIER ends June 30. At that time all access to Iowa TIER will cease. All of the data in Iowa TIER will be downloaded for eventual restoration in a new system, but will not be available for some time. See links at the bottom of this message for download directions.
- Leave SIF agent used for Iowa TIER turned on. It will be used to send data to populate the FastBridge system.
- Check with your colleagues to make sure all of your key people are aware of this transition and the tasks that need to be done.
- Identify who will fill key roles of district and school manager and those who will train the rest of the team on using the FastBridge data system. Have them register for the appropriate training sessions – See below.
- Prior to attending the District/School manager training, please check and confirm the accuracy of your District and School name in your SIS. The District and School name must not be edited once the district SIF agent is connected to Fast Bridge. We strongly recommend/encourage using the official building name as reported to the DE in the school information update application.
Training plans are coming together. Please be aware this is different training than which has been provided during the past 3 years. Every district and school must have teams that attend training to gain access to FastBridge’s data system this fall. We understand the challenges of the short timelines and summer communications issues. There are multiple sessions to help provide flexibility to fit summer schedules. Please register as soon as possible. We may have to cancel sessions if too few are registered.
Overview of training dates and topics (See below for dates and registration information)
- District/School Manager: Two hour webinar to learn how to set up staff permissions and other FastBridge system management tasks.
- Fifteen opportunities from late July through August (see below).
- Recommended for the person who would set up staff access, similar to managing student information system setup. At least one person per district, possibly one person per building.
- The district/school setup work based on this training must be done before staff attends the “getting started” training listed below.
- Getting Started with FastBridge: Four-hour webinar on navigation and basic use of FastBridge’s data system.
- Fifteen opportunities from late July through mid-September (see below).
- Intended for building teams of 2-3 people who will lead training for building staff. The purpose of this training is to learn the basics needed to start using the FastBridge system for screening.
- System setup must be done before attending this training (see #1 above).
- Data reports and interpretation, interventions and progress monitoring: face to face training on using FastBridge reports, PM and interventions.
- Delivered late September through October, after screening data have been collected
- Intended for building-level teams of 2-3 who will then lead training for their staff
- Dates, locations and registration information for these sessions are being finalized now, and will be publicized as soon as possible.
General information about webinars
Each session is capped at 100 participants logged into the session. Small teams (max. 2-3) could participate in the webinar using a single registration and login. We encourage teams to attend the earliest possible training sessions to avoid getting locked out of the last few sessions. Sessions with very few registrants will be cancelled and those registered will be asked to attend a different session.
District/School Manager training sessions (i.e., system setup)
Getting Started with FAST trainer sessions (i.e., using the system to screen)
Previous Early Warning System transition messages can be reviewed by clicking these links:
- Message sent around June 22 – contains details about TIER system final tasks, SIF agent, reviewed/approved assessments and other communications https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/IACIO/bulletins/1a492d0
- Message sent around June 19 – contains links to directions about using FAST during summer school and download directions for data currently in Iowa TIER https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/IACIO/bulletins/19d8288
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Thank you 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
Keystone ELI 