Strands

Strand Leader:
Kent Gerlach, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA

Strand Overview:
This strand will address some the current legal and ethical issues involving the employment, supervision, and training of paraeducators who assist with instruction. Topics will focus on current national perspectives concerning role clarification and the need for state and local policy concerning administrator, teacher, and paraeducator qualifications and their orientation and training. Quality indicators for designing staff development for paraeducators, administrators, and teachers will be addressed. Criteria for developing appropriate job descriptions will be shared.  Current issues, such as "one-to-one" assignments and CEC’s Professional Ethical Principles and Practice Standards with paraprofessionals, will also be addressed.

Participant Outcomes:
At the end of this strand, participants will be able to

• Understand the current national issues affecting paraeducators and their supervisors.
• Understand the importance of state and local policy regarding paraeducator qualifications, training, and supervision.      
• Define the specific roles and responsibilities of all instructional team members in supporting paraeducators as educational team members.
• Understand the legal and ethical issues concerning paraeducator supervision.
• Know the implications of the research and various processes being used by individualized education program teams in determining when to assign paraeducators to support students.
• Know the options for staff development including scheduling, selecting trainers, choosing topics and curriculum, and evaluating the staff development program.

Strand Leaders:
Cathy Kea, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro; Gloria D. Campbell-Whatley, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Strand Overview:
Despite the steadily increasing numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) student populations in school, both general and special education teachers do not readily embrace multicultural education or culturally responsive pedagogy.  There is a dire need for highly qualified teachers to become responsive to the learning, emotional, and social needs of “students of promise,” high-need diverse learners with disabilities, and their families in urban centers through the use of evidence-based and culturally responsive instruction that will result in improved outcomes. 

In this strand, six sessions will show general and special education teachers how to be responsive to intervention models that may disproportionately identify students from marginalized communities, implement instruction based on students’ “real and lived” experiences in a cultural context, and involve families in the teaching and learning process.

Participant Outcomes:
At the end of this strand, participants will be able to

• Identify responsive interventions and instructional methods to enhance the learning outcomes of CLD students.
• Align instruction to the assets and differential needs of diverse student populations: sociocultural, academic, cognitive, and linguistic.
• Apply and incorporate multicultural perspectives into the teaching-learning process.
• Maximize the academic, cognitive, personal, and social development of learners and demonstrate effective interactions among teachers, students, and families.
• Create culturally responsive learning activities for the classroom and home environments.

Strand Leader:
Randall S. Sprick, Safe and Civil Schools, Eugene, OR

Strand Overview:
Positive behavior support provides a proactive alternative to traditional reactive approaches to student misbehavior. Traditionally, when a student’s behavior was problematic, the school implemented a series of increasingly punitive, restrictive, and exclusionary interventions. More recently, schools are attempting to implement a range of inclusive supports that can help students succeed in school regardless of gender, ethnicity, or home situation. In this strand a model will be presented that matches student needs to levels of behavior support that are increasingly systematic and functionally based. Each level is based on proven practices and the progression of intervention always involves the easiest-to-implement intervention that has a reasonable probability of success, moving from the things all teachers should implement with all students to highly individualized interventions in restrictive settings. If data demonstrates that a student is unsuccessful at any particular level of behavior support, moving to the next level of intervention complexity is necessary, but naturally begins with baseline data accumulated at the previous level. By melding response to intervention and multiple levels of behavior support, a best-practices continuum of services emerges for meeting the needs of all students that is cost effective and realistic to implement in real schools.

Participant Outcomes:
At the end of this strand, participants will be able to

• Describe a proposed continuum of services for meeting students’ social/emotional needs and construct a sample continuum that matches current district resources.
• Complete a checklist of schoolwide and classroom-management supports to identify strengths and weakness in current service delivery.
• Describe a range of prevention and intervention strategies at the schoolwide, classroom, and individual student levels.

Strand Leaders:
Joseph Harris and Louis Danielson, American Institutes for Research, Washington, DC

Strand Overview:
This strand will highlight practices that enable all students, regardless of the type or lack of disability, to obtain the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed across all postsecondary pathways. Sessions will draw upon the general and special education knowledgebase by connecting and integrating common practices that support high attainment for all students. Data-based decision making is an essential component of the identification and implementation of the strategies, as it provides real-time information to customize instructional strategies that meet the needs of all learners. Specific topics will include data-based decision making, dropout prevention, academic and behavioral tiered intervention, and high school improvement to meet the needs of all students.

Participant Outcomes:
At the end of this strand, participants will be able to

• Identify indicators that demonstrate that data is being collected and used for high school reform efforts to ensure that the needs of students with disabilities are being met.
• Identify indicators that can be used as part of an early warning system for dropout prevention and strategies that can be used to promote increased graduation rates.
• Describe components of a successful tiered interventions for academics and/or social, emotional, and behavioral support.
• Describe ways that students with disabilities can be seamlessly integrated into high school improvement efforts.

Strand Leader:
Dave Edyburn, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Strand Overview:
Whereas technology is a central component of life in the 21st century, its application for students with special needs has been limited in many schools. The purpose of this strand is to provide participants with a vast array of evidence-based strategies for using technology in all forms (e.g., assistive technology, instructional technology, and universal design for learning). Particular emphasis will be placed on providing participants with decision frameworks for discerning the many possibilities among products and services, how to select the appropriate technology tools, and how to engage students with disabilities in general education classrooms in activities that enhance academic performance. Each presenter will provide a list of relevant readings concerning the research-based evidence that supports the implementation as well as detailed information about the technology products that will be demonstrated. This strand addresses critical issues associated with planning instruction for diverse learners (e.g., disability, language, race/ethnicity, social economic status).

Participant Outcomes:
At the end of this strand, participants will be able to

• Identify five technology tools (e.g., software, Web resources, AT devices) that they can readily implement with students in their classroom.
• Describe research-based evidence that supports the implementation of specific instructional strategies that use technology.
• Explain how and why technology strategies will aid individual students with diverse learning needs.

Strand Leader:
Richard Simpson, University of Kansas, Lawrence

Strand Overview:
This strand is designed to assist professionals in understanding and planning for learners with Asperger’s syndrome and higher-functioning autism spectrum disorders.  The sessions in the strand will concentrate on elements of identifying and correctly using maximally effective supports and intervention strategies that bode well for positive outcomes for these learners.  Sessions within the strand will discuss the following: (a) understanding the nature of Asperger’s syndrome and higher-functioning autism and the needs of students with these diagnoses; (b) teaching academic content to learners with Asperger’s syndrome and higher-functioning autism; (c) social and behavioral supports for learners with Asperger’s syndrome and higher-functioning autism; and (d) medical supports and intervention strategies for children and youth with Asperger’s syndrome and higher-functioning autism.  Practical and utilitarian program guidelines and methods will be elements of each presentation.

Participant Outcomes:
At the end of this strand, participants will be able to

• Understand the needs of students with Asperger’s syndrome, higher-functioning autism, and related disabilities.
• Describe effective practice instructional methods and strategies for learners with Asperger’s syndrome, higher-functioning autism, and related disabilities.
• Understand social interaction instruction and behavior management methods and strategies for children and youth with Asperger’s syndrome, higher-functioning autism, and related disabilities.
• Identify medical and mental health supports and programs for students with autism spectrum disorders, higher-functioning autism, and related disabilities.

Strand Leader:
Mary Brownell, University of Florida, Gainesville

Strand Overview:
In this strand, we will address one of the most challenging issues facing our field: securing an adequate supply of special education teachers who are qualified to effectively educate students with disabilities. In the overview presentation that will kick off the strand, participants will learn about the factors contributing to chronic shortages of well-qualified teachers: an insufficient supply of new teachers, particularly those who are culturally and linguistically diverse; increasing numbers of special education teachers entering through fast-track alternative routes; insufficient mechanisms for inducting special education teachers into the profession; and struggles retaining teachers in high-poverty environments. In addition to outlining the challenges we face, the remaining individual presentations will provide participants with information about how these challenges can be addressed through effective partnerships among state education agencies (SEAs), local education agencies (LEAs), and Colleges of Education as well as strong induction and mentoring programs. Information will also be provided about how districts and states can use technology effectively to prepare and induct special education teachers. In this strand, special attention will be paid to teachers working in high-poverty urban and rural schools and teachers who are culturally and linguistically diverse.

Participant Outcomes:
At the end of this strand, participants will be able to

• Describe factors derived from the research related to the recruitment, retention, and professional development of beginning special education teachers.
• Understand the characteristics of effective mentoring and induction programs and how to use technology to support such programs.
• Identify the characteristics of effective partnerships among SEAs, LEAs, and Colleges of Education for recruiting, preparing, and inducting beginning special education teachers.

Strand Leaders:
Don Deshler and Suzanne Robinson, University of Kansas, Lawrence

Strand Overview:
This strand will address how secondary schools are implementing tiered supports to increase literacy performance in adolescent students, regardless of their entry-level literacy skills. The Content Literacy Continuum framework, developed by researchers at the Center for Research in Learning at the University of Kansas, incorporates the Strategic Instruction Model instructional programs and is common to all school districts presenting in this strand. The first session will provide an overview of the Content Literacy Continuum (CLC), describe the phases of CLC implementation, and present outcome data. Three school districts implementing CLC supports will present during the following sessions. They will describe their tiered support programs for literacy and the challenges, successes, and outcomes for students that have resulted.  

Participant Outcomes:
At the end of this strand, participants will be able to

• Understand how a tiered support program to support literacy development in all students operates in secondary schools.
• Understand implementation challenges and outcomes of secondary schools serving diverse student populations when instituting a tiered support program for literacy development.
  

Strand Leaders:
Doug and Lynn Fuchs, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

Strand Overview:
RTI is a relatively new and important policy initiative, described in the 2004 reauthorization of IDEA and its regulations. Practitioners who use RTI skillfully and wisely can make service delivery in their schools and districts more accommodating of a greater diversity of students and can strengthen special and general education. But RTI is an ambitious initiative and demanding of practitioners because of its complex structure, technical content, and need for clear and persistent communication among teachers, administrators, and support personnel. Unfortunately, it will be easy to implement RTI badly. The purpose of this strand is to discuss key design, organization, content, and communication issues in hopes of strengthening RTI implementation. Presenters will discuss evidence-based assessment and instructional practices in general education (including appropriate practices for English Language Learners and children from low-income families), the need for reorienting special education toward the most difficult-to-teach children in schools, and a vision of what this would look like. This strand will be a mix of lecture sessions and sessions with devoted to high interaction between presenters and audience members.

Participant Outcomes:
At the end of this strand, participants will be able to

• Understand the pivotal role of assessment (screening and student progress monitoring) in RTI and the resources available to them so they may learn more about which assessments make the most sense to adopt.
• Understand strengths and weaknesses associated with the two most popular approaches to implementing RTI’s important, secondary prevention level.
• Understand how and why special education must change its focus and purpose within an RTI framework.

Strand Leader:
Ann Turnbull, Beach Center on Disability, Lawrence, KS

Strand Overview:
A hallmark of effective special education practice is the development and implementation of family-professional partnerships. Although IDEA clearly expects parents to be equal partners with educators in ensuring that their child receives an appropriate education, it is challenging for families to be able to access the best available research, most relevant experience-based knowledge, and most current policy in formats that are highly informative, time efficient, and even inspiring. The presenters in this strand will provide numerous online examples using Web 2.0 social-networking technology that have been developed specifically with families in mind in order to enhance family-professional partnerships. The resources identify priority questions and organize knowledge so that it is only “a click away” from being accessed by both families and educators. Furthermore, the resources offer many opportunities for families and educators to share their own insights and resources. Each of the four presentations will include aspects of how information can best be translated so that it meets the needs of families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. One of the presentations specifically focuses on knowledge translation for Asian families, with many online resources identified in a range of Asian languages.

Participant Outcomes:
At the end of this strand, participants will be able to

• Identify the key characteristics of Web 2.0 technology and understand the critical importance of collective knowledge and social networking related to knowledge.
• Access knowledge guides that synthesize research, experience-based knowledge, and policy on key early childhood and transition topics.
• Access resources specifically developed for Asian families and available in at least six different Asian languages.

Strand Leader:
Larry Wexler, Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC

Strand Overview:
Again this year the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has put together a Research-to-Practice strand. As in the past years, this strand will include a variety of critical issue topics in special education highlighting the transfer of the best we know into classrooms, schools, and communities. Well known presenters from around the country, supported by the IDEA Part D National Programs will present evidenced-based findings, practices, and technology that will lead to improved outcomes for children with disabilities and their families. Each session will begin with an overview to set the national context for the topical issue and a preview of future directions for OSEP in that area. Topical issues for this year’s strand include:  Intervening early with young children’s challenging behavior, implementing the modified achievement standard, accessible instructional materials, and securing and retaining highly qualified teachers.

Participant Outcomes:
At the end of this strand, participants will be able to identify and describe 4 issues of national focus supported by Part D of IDEA in the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP):

• Teacher induction; the provision and use of accessible instructional materials; the implementation of modified academic achievement standards and the use of evidence based practices to prevent and intervene with challenging behaviors of very young children.
• Identify key evidence based practices associated with effective implementation in each of these 4 areas.      
• Identify and access additional resources to assist in the implementation of practices in these 4 areas.