Tuesday, August 1, 2006

Affinity/Discussion Groups

Successfully Recruit, Retain, and Graduate Diverse Nontraditional Preservice Teachers into Special Education

Discussant: Juanita H. Brandford, Barry University

Description: The discussion will provide an opportunity to exchange ideas and successful strategies used in teacher preparation programs to recruit, retain, and graduate nontraditional, culturally, and linguistically diverse preservice teachers, including those with disabilities, to teach in special education learning environments where there is an overrepresentation of minority students.

Rural Special Education Teacher Preparation

Discussant: Brent Askvig, Minot State University

Description: This group will discuss the challenges and successes in rural special education teacher preparation. Participants will identify successful strategies for student recruitment, rural school participation, and course delivery, as well as critical curricular features needed for preparing rural teachers.

Underserved Families: Collaborating to Provide Effective Technical Assistance

Discussant: Paddi Davies, Western Oregon University

Description: This discussion will address reaching families of children with significant disabilities who come from diverse cultures and socio-economic situations, who speak a language other than English, or whose family structure includes foster or grandparents. Discuss strategies to identify and provide technical assistance to these diverse individuals and families.

Curriculum Policy and Educational Reform: What Should We Do For Youth in Corrections?

Discussants: Joseph Gagnon, George Mason University; Peter Leone, University of Maryland; Candace Mulcahy, National Center on Education, Disability and Juvenile Justice

Description: All students, including those with disabilities, should have access to a rigorous curriculum. However, in juvenile corrections, students often have few credits. This discussion will explore the issue of curriculum for these students within the context of current practices and mandates and needed changes in federal policy.

Educational Interpreting

Discussant: Cindy Volk, University of Arizona

Description: Current trends, practices, and preparation in educational interpreting will be discussed. Use of the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) in preparation programs and research conducted at the University of Arizona in this area will also be discussed.

What Do Early Intervention Providers Need to Know to Work Effectively With Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families?

Discussant: Margaret Kaplan, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center

Description: Families receiving services under the Early Intervention program are very diverse economically, linguistically and culturally. Service providers need advanced culturally competent skills in order to provide effective family-centered practice in diverse communities. Discussion will address ideas about what skills are most important for service providers to have and how best to teach these abilities to practitioners.

Challenges and Barriers to Special Education Personnel Development and Strategies That Effectively Overcome Them

Discussant: Phoebe Gillespie, Personnel Center at National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE)

Description: This affinity group will look at data on challenges and barriers to recruitment, preparation, and retention of special education personnel, identified by states, local school districts, and IHEs across the nation. Group members will be able to add to this data, based on their own experiences, and share solutions that effectively address them.

“Let’s Talk SIG/SPDG”—Creating Conversations for Leading Collaborative Dialogue, Sharing Knowledge, and Uncovering the Possibilities for All of Us

Discussants: Deborah Bilzing, Wisconsin State Improvement Grant; David Smith, Michigan State Improvement Grant

Description: How can we as leaders of change and opportunity find ways to put collaboration to work in our organizations and communities? Using the “World Cafe” process, spend time with your collegues as we create learning conversations to share highlights and consider practical opportunities to move our projects into global action. The “World Cafe,” an innovative approach to large group dialogue and evolving collective intelligence, is being used by business, education, government, healthcare, and community organizations around the world. Only by having an opportunity to share can we begin to see the ways we have had the greatest impact.

Advancing Access Through Excellence in Leadership and Research in Special Education Administration

Discussants: Mary Lynn Boscardin, University of Massachusetts; Tom Skrtic, University of Kansas

Description: This session will generate ideas for advancing access for students with disabilities by exploring methods of investigating cutting-edge approaches to administrative leadership in special education linked to student outcomes. Topics will include but not be limited to (a) the state of current research; (b) the need for research on conditions and outcomes; (c) the effects of national, state, and local policies on leadership practices; and (d) the identification of evidence-based leadership practices.

Evaluating the Value Added of Collaborative Technical Assistance

Discussant: Carol Massanari, Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center (MPRRC)

Description: Technical assistance (TA) providers are encouraged to collaborate and coordinate efforts. Join regional resource center (RRC) staff in a conversation about how to evaluate the effects of a TA network. Provide feedback on the RRC network accountability measures and indicators, and on a graphic designed to illustrate the value-added effects of working collaboratively to provide TA.

Preparing and Mentoring Highly-Qualified Secondary Special Education Teachers

Discussant: Bonnie Jones, U.S. Office of Special Education Programs; Amy Jackson, National Comprehensive Center on Teacher Quality; and Dan Reschly, Vanderbilt University

Description: The preparation of highly-qualified beginning special education teachers is an issue of critical importance, especially for those who plan to teach at the secondary level. This discussion group will concentrate on personnel preparation and professional development initiatives that adequately prepare and mentor special educators, especially during their induction period.

Analysis of the Annual Deafblind Census in the Development of Statewide Technical Assistance Efforts

Discussant: Cyral Miller, Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Description: There are 50 statewide deafblind projects responsible for designing and providing TA to agencies, educational staff, and families of children and youth with deafblindesss. One common challenge for these projects is to accurately define training needs. An effective analysis of each state’s Annual Deafblind Census yields valuable information that reflects the potential interests and needs of training participants. This group discussion will provide an opportunity to discuss the types of data that can be gathered by the census as well as methods to analyze the information. In addition, sharing the resulting TA activities will be encouraged.

What do doctoral students need to know about preparing and investigating high quality (HQ) teacher education?

Discussants: Chriss Walther-Thomas, University of Kansas; Mary T. Brownell, University of Florida

Description: Typically, doctoral programs emphasize effective interventions instead of HQ teacher preparation. Few regard teacher education pedagogy as a primary learning outcome or teach research skills needed to investigate preparation effectively. Given widespread workforce concerns, entry-level Ph.D.s must be ready to prepare HQ teachers and study this process to ensure improvement.

Continental Breakfast

Keynote: Implementing Innovations for Student Benefit

Presenter: Dean Fixsen, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida

Introduced by: Lou Danielson, U.S. Office of Special Education Programs

Description: From the early 1900s, education has led the way for the use of research-based innovations in human services. In the 1960s the National Follow Through education programs brought national attention to the issues involved in effective implementation of effective education programs. Recent reviews of the literature and of successful practices have dramatically increased our knowledge of implementation of innovative programs. This presentation will provide a summary of the emerging information on how to successfully implement innovations in education and other environments.

Presentation: Keynote

Dean Fixsen

Large Group Panel Sessions

Early Childhood Assessment and Accountability: Strange Bedfellows?

Presenters: Jennifer Tschantz, U.S. Office of Special Education Programs; Kathy Hebbeler, SRI International; Lynne Kahn, FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Lou Danielson, U.S. Office of Special Education Programs

Moderator: Corry Robinson, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center

Description: States are making significant progress toward reporting data on child outcomes for those children receiving early intervention and preschool special education services. As states build their outcomes systems, many questions around early childhood assessments emerge: (a) Is it possible and worthwhile to align assessments traditionally used for various purposes? (b) Can and should the same assessment data be used for accountability, program improvement, and individual progress monitoring purposes? (c) How can we ensure that accountability positively impacts assessment practices and promotes authentic, developmentally appropriate assessments? Staff from OSEP, the Early Childhood Outcomes (ECO) Center, and the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC) will provide background, describe different state approaches, and facilitate a discussion with the audience on these critical issues. This session will be interactive.

Presentations: Early Childhood Assessment and Accountability

• Jennifer Tschantz
• Kathy Hebbeler

Scaling Up Innovations: From Innovation Research to National Implementation

Presenter: Dean Fixsen, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida

Description: The federal government has invested billions of dollars in science to develop innovations in education, yet few of those innovations benefit students in classrooms across the country. Why is that? The science and practice of implementation is beginning to be recognized as the critical link in the research-to-classroom chain. The panel will present a brief summary of what has been learned from efforts to scale up programs to benefit students in thousands of schools. This panel will focus on the teacher, school, district, state, and federal changes that are important to implementing education innovations on a statewide or national scale. The presentation also will include information on how to initiate and manage change in complex education environments and develop new infrastructures to support innovations over the long term.

Presentation: Scaling Up Innovations

Presentation

Assessing Very Low-Achieving Children With Disabilities Using Large-Scale Assessments

Presenters: Jerry Tindal, University of Oregon; Martha Thurlow, National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO)/ University of Minnesota; Sue Rigney, U.S. Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE); Jose Blackorby, SRI International

Moderator: David Egnor, U.S. Office of Special Education Programs

Description: This panel discussion will focus on the participation of low-achieving students with disabilities on large-scale standards based assessments, including (a) data on the characteristics of this population of students, (b) technical challenges related to the development and administration of assessments for these students, (c) implications for instructional practice and professional development, and (d) technical assistance resources. In addition, information will be provided on the recently proposed rules issued by the U.S. Department of Education to allow states to administer assessments based on modified achievement standards.

Presentations: Assessing Very Low-Achieving Children With Disabilities

• Jerry Tindal
• Jose Blackorby
• Martha Thurlow
• Sue Rigney

Personnel Preparation Programs Can Prepare Highly Qualified Teachers: Considerations for Preparation Programs

Presenters: Linda Blanton, Florida International University; Marleen Pugach, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee

Respondent: Mary Brownell, Center on Personnel Studies in Special Education University of Florida

Moderator: Kay Ferrell, University of Northern Colorado

Discussion: Both NCLB and IDEA 2004 support a renewed emphasis on ensuring that teachers possess both content knowledge and pedagogical skills. This presentation will (a) address the challenges faced by teacher preparation programs as they work with states to meet the accountability requirements of NCLB and IDEA; (b) review models of teacher preparation programs that have been designed to improve the knowledge and skills of both general and special education teachers of students with disabilities; and (c) identify ways to promote collaboration among general education and special education faculty in the redesign of programs. The moderator will engage the audience in discussion with time for questions and answers.

Presentations: Personnel Preparation Programs Can Prepare Highly Qualified Teachers

• Mary Brownell
• Linda Blanton and Marleen Pugach

Promoting Access to the General Education Curriculum by Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities: Strategies for Families and Professionals

Presenters: Diana Autin, Region I Parent TA Center at Statewide Parent Advocacy Network; Shelley Zion, University of Colorado at Denver; Cheryl Jorgenson, University of New Hampshire; Craig Kennedy, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Behavior Analysis Clinic

Moderator: Mary V. Compton, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Description: This session will describe a variety of strategies that promote access to the general education curriculum by students with significant cognitive disabilities. With the right supports–their families, general education teachers, special education staff, and classmates–all students can move from simply being “in” the general education class to learning essential content knowledge and skills. Strategies for developing and sustaining social, academic, team, and system-wide supports and structures will be described through a research overview and case study examples.

Presentations and Handout: Promoting Access to the General Education Curriculum

• Cheryl Jorgenson
  • Handout
• Diana Autin
• Shelley Zion

Lunch with Project Officers

See Lunch with Project Officers List for your room assignment

Interactive Small Breakout Sessions

Connecting State Performance Plans and Technical Assistance Through the Use of Evidence-Based Education

Presenter: Melissa Price, School of Education, Syracuse University

Description: New York has adopted a logic model which connects the State Performance Plan (SPP) and is being used to explain how ongoing technical assistance and future efforts to the immediate needs of New York State schools and students through the use of evidence-based education (EBE). The intent of the logic model is to require all TA to address the SPPs, identify the likelihood of intervention success in terms of EBE, and provide for evaluative data in terms of student outcomes. The logic model simplifies the concepts into a practical three-step process. A Logic Model Guide and completed sample model will be provided.

Presentation: Connecting State Performance Plans

Presentation

Walking the Talk and Scaling Up: How the Kansas Department of Education (KSDE) Provides Differentiated and Sustained Support for District and School Improvement

Presenters: Kate Franzen, Kansas Department of Education; Nancy Gracy, Southeast Kansas Educatin Service Center; Tracie Kalic, Kansas Department of Education; Kathy Boyer, Kansas Department of Education

Description: KSDE has been modeling a single-system approach to school improvement with seven SIG pilot districts. In the session today, KSDE District Support Team members will share the model, tools, success stories, and challenges experienced while integrating special education issues with other district improvement efforts, such as NCLB and Title I, to create one district action plan.

Promising Practices in Educational Technology

Presenter: Heidi Silver-Pacuilla, Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd)

Description: Presenters will discuss how software can benefit students with learning disabilities, review the state of research on technology-supported instruction, and demonstrate Web-based tools, the reading and math matrices, which enable users to identify software features that support differentiated instruction in reading and math.

The National Assistive Technology Research Institute’s “Top Ten List” of Findings

Presenters: Margaret Bausch, University of Kentucky; Ted Hasselbring, University of Kentucky

Description: The National Assistive Technology Research Institute, funded by OSEP in 2000, has conducted 5 years of research on the factors related to the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of assistive technology (AT) services in schools. The “top ten list” of research findings related to AT service delivery will be presented.

Presentation: The National Assistive Technology Research

Ted Hasselbring

Getting to the Front Lines: Evaluating Comprehensive Personnel Preparation for Secondary Special Education and Transition

Presenters: Mary Morningstar, University of Kansas; Pattie Noonan, University of Kansas

Description: Results of a long-term research study of a results-oriented approach to professional development will be described. The focus will be to first offer a model of comprehensive professional development and to report the results of an ongoing research study evaluating the effectiveness of both preservice and inservice training in transition.

Preparing Teachers to Teach ALL Children: The Impact of the Work of the Center for Improving Teacher Quality on One State’s Efforts

Presenters: Kathleen Paliokas, Council of Chief State School Officers; Lynne Ryan, Providence College; Barbara Grossi, Rhode Island Department of Education

Description: Rhode Island will share its strategy for changing policy on standards for teachers to address the need to teach ALL students to grade-level expectations, including students with disabilities. The implications of this policy change for teacher education programs, state relicensure, district teacher evaluation and professional development will be shared.

Presentation: Preparing Teachers to Teach ALL Children

Presentation

The IRIS Center: Free Online Course Enhancement Materials About Response to Intervention and the Identification of Students With Learning Disabilities

Presenters: Deb Smith, IDEA and Research for Inclusive Settings (IRIS) Center for Faculty Enhancement, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University; Naomi Tyler, IRIS Center for Faculty Enhancement, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University

Description: IRIS staff will demonstrate free online resources available through The IRIS Center Web site using laptop computers. Presenters will explain how research is translated into practice through IRIS modules and discuss the use of four RTI modules for Tennessee statewide professional development training. Conference participants can bring laptops.

Presentation: The IRIS Center

Presentation

Project PISCES: This Is How We Did It! Effective Retention Strategies for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Teachers

Presenter: Cathy Kea, North Carolina A&T State University

Description: This session will describe an effective recruitment and retention model for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) teachers in urban school settings. The model infused diversity throughout the teacher preparation program and provided a support mechanism inclusive of mentors and professional development activities. Lessons learned from the mentorship program, focus groups, and professional development activities will be shared.

Building Bridges: Embedding Outcome Evaluation in National and State Technical Assistance Delivery

Presenters: Ella Taylor, Western Oregon University/National TA Consortium for Children/Youth Who Are Deaf-Blind; Diane Haynes, Kentucky Deaf-Blind Project; John Killoran, National TA Consortium for Children/Youth Who Are Deaf-Blind; Sarah Beaird, National TA Consortium for Children/Youth Who Are Deaf-Blind

Description: In an environment of multiple accountability demands, developing an outcome evaluation system that (a) aligns these elements with one another and (b) is embedded within technical assistance delivery is critical. This session addresses the implementation of an outcome evaluation system being implemented by national and state TA&D projects.

Presentation and Handout: Building Bridges

Presentation
Handout

Monarch Center: Supporting Special Education Program Development and Improvement

Presenter: Norma Lopez-Reyna, Monarch Center

Description: The Monarch Center provides technical assistance to personnel preparation program faculty at Minority Institutions of Higher Education through hands-on seminars, electronic communications, mentoring, and collaborations with SEA personnel. Results of our TA to date will be presented including grant proposal development efforts.

Reading, Writing, Math, and Science for Students With Significant Cognitive Disabilities

Presenters: Diane Browder, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Katherine Trella, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Bree Jimenez, Exceptional Children Department

Description: This session will describe three studies that developed and implemented grade-appropriate literacy, math, and science lessons to middle and high school students with autism, moderate mental retardation (MR), and severe MR. Strategies and materials used to access and make progress in the general education curriculum will be presented.

Presentation and Handout: Reading, Writing, Math, and Science

Presentation
Handout

Harder Than Rocket Science: Collaborations for Successful Outcomes on Service Coordination

Presenter: Mary Beth Bruder, A. J. Pappanikou Center on Developmental Disabilities

Description: The Research and Training Center on Service Coordination completed 6 years of research on outcomes and practices of service coordination, which have been developed into a logic model and toolkits outlining outcomes for children, families, and systems.

Presentation and Handout: Harder Than Rocket Science

Presentation
Handout

Postschool Outcomes for Students With Learning Disabilities

Presenters: Alfred Daviso, Center for Innovation in Transition and Employment (CITE); Robert Baer, Kent State University; Robert Flexer, Kent State University

Description: This session covers the postschool outcomes for students with learning disabilities in the state of Ohio. Findings and data-collection procedures will be presented for the Ohio Longitudinal Transition Study (OLTS).

Presentation: Postschool Outcomes for Students

Presentation

School Contexts and Student Characteristics that Impact Schools AYP Status: Impact of Student Demographics and Service Arrangements Provided by Schools

Presenters: Jeannie Kleinhammer-Tramill, University of South Florida; James Tramill, Anchin Research Center, University of South Florida

Description: Initial findings from this large scale study suggest that minority students with disabilities are less likely to demonstrate proficiency on state assessments and more likely to be placed in schools other than their neighborhood schools for services than are Caucasian students. Also, students receiving services outside of their neighborhood schools are less likely to demonstrate proficiency than peers identified as having the same disability. Students who receive more hours of special education services per day are more likely to demonstrate proficiency.

Improving Secondary Transition Services Through an Electronic Learning Community: An Online “Connect and Learn” Professional Development Model in Idaho

Presenters: Jacque Hyatt, Idaho State Department of Education; Cari Lee Murphy, Idaho Training Clearinghouse

Description: The purposes of this presentation are to (a) share insights into the development and maintenance of an electronic learning community (ELC) on secondary transition, (b) discuss the role of ELCs in Idaho’s continuous improvement process, and (c) present examples of changes in professional practice.

Presentation: Improving Secondary Transition Services

Presentation

Playing in the Sandbox: Scaling up Technical Assistance Through Integrating OSEP and OESE Project Resources

Presenters: Judy Shanley, The Access Center; Steve Fleischman, Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center; Cynthia Ward, Center for Educational Partnerships, Mississippi State University

Description: Educators can use Moving Forward (EMSTAC, 1997), adapted by the Access Center and the Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center, to improve decisions regarding school improvement and instructional strategies. Participants will hear suggestions regarding working across federal projects, using Moving Forward to scale up technical assistance (TA), and will hear an implementation story from a university-state TA system.

Presentation: Playing in the Sandbox

Presentation

Large Group Panel Sessions

What Works: Characteristics of Schools That Are Effective for Students With Disabilities

Presenters: Maggie McLaughlin, Department of Special Education, University of Maryland; Ray Myrtle, Highland Elementary School; Harley Tomey, Department of Exceptional Education and Student Services, Richmond City Public Schools

Discussant: Elizabeth Kozleski, National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt), School of Education and Human Development, University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center

Moderator: Kristin Reedy, Northeast Regional Resource Center (NERRC), Learning Innovations at WestEd

Description: NCLB has placed students with disabilities in the spotlight. All students need to meet state standards for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under NCLB, including the subgroup of students with disabilities. This panel presentation will focus on research and effective strategies for what works to help students with disabilities participate fully in the state’s accountability system, have access to the general education curriculum, and meet state standards under NCLB.

Presentations: What Works

• Maggie McLaughlin
• Elizabeth Kozleski
• Ray Myrtle

What REALLY Makes a Difference? Results of a 5-Year National Longitudinal Study of Students Receiving Special Education in Elementary and Middle Schools

Presenters: Jose Blackorby, SRI International; Lou Danielson, U.S. Office of Special Education Programs; Mary Wagner, SRI International

Moderator: Lisa Holden-Pitt, U.S. Office of Special Education Programs

Description: Project directors of the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study (SEELS) will highlight results from this large-scale national study which collected information from students, parents, teachers, and school program administrators over a 5-year period. Various school and household characteristics will be presented with respect to their influence upon the students’ academic and social outcomes. The importance of considering students’ level of functioning and disability, as well as declassification from special education, also will be revealed. Following the presentation by the project directors, OSEP staff will provide brief reflections on the study and engage the project directors in some discussion of the implications of study results.

The White Paper Released: Including Students with Disabilities in Large-Scale Assessments

Presenters: Jerry Tindal, University of Oregon; Naomi Zigmond, University of Pittsburgh; Steve Ferrara, American Institutes for Research; Diane Browder, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Moderator: Lou Danielson, U.S. Office of Special Education Programs

Description: Last year, the U.S. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services commissioned a white paper to provide guidance to states for assessing students with disabilities as part of their state accountability programs. This presentation describes several critical issues that need to be considered in this regard, including the individualized education program (IEP) team decision-making process, professional development for educators, standards and assessment approaches, and validity and reliability of assessments. The presentation will successively highlight these subjects to assist states in making decisions for accommodating students with disabilities in the regular assessment or including them as part of an alternate assessment judged against grade-level achievement standards or alternate achievement standards, or an assessment based on modified achievement standards.

Presentations: The White Paper Released

• Assessing Learning for Students with Disabilities
• The Model
• Options for Participationand Related IEP Decisions
• Illustration of a Validity Argument for Two Alternate Assessment Approaches
• Toolkit Guiding Themes

IDEA and NCLB and Standards-Based Accountability

Presenters: Kerri Briggs, Office of Communications and Outreach, U.S. Department of Education; Sue Rigney, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education; Scott Trimble, OSEP; Rachel Quenemoen, University of Minnesota

Moderator: David Egnor, U.S. Office of Special Education Programs

Description: Both IDEA and NCLB address standards-based accountability as an important topic that paves the way for students to learn and be assessed on their knowledge and skills of academic content. This session will address where the laws intersect and where they diverge on this important topic.

Presentation: IDEA and NCLB and Standards-Based Accountability

• Sue Rigney

Professional Development in Autism Center: Stories From the Field and From Our Consumers

Presenters: Ilene Schwartz, Experimental Education Unit, University of Washington; Carol Quirk, Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education; Susan Jones, principal, Cecil County Public Schools; Michelle Valenti, parent, Montgomery County Public Schools

Moderator: Gail Houle, U.S. Office of Special Education Programs

Description: The Professional Development in Autism (PDA) Center has worked with school teams in over 25 states in the last 3 years. During this time, the PDA Center has learned a great deal about the state of the practice of services for students with autism and has successfully improved services for many students in many schools. We will describe the model of technical assistance we use and some of the outcomes we have achieved. Participants will include investigators from the PDA Center and school district employees who are consumers of our services.

Presentation: Professional Development in Autism Center

• Ilene Schwartz