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Program Chair Invited Session
CEC 2012 Convention Program Chair Douglas Cheney has planned a rich and substantive invited program with a range of session formats.
Program Chair Invited Sessions include Town Hall Meetings, Roundtable Discussion Sessions, as well as Featured Multicultural Sessions. Join experts in the field of special education and related disciplines and participate in the dialogue on current and relevant topics.
Thursday, April 12, 9:15-11:15 a.m.
Leader
Kent Gerlach, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA
This session will address some of the current legal and ethical issues involving employment, training, supervision, and evaluation of paraeducators. Topics will focus on clarifying the appropriate role of paraeducators, who assist with instruction, and the need for state and local policy. NCLB (ESEA) and IDEA mandates “Appropriate Supervision of Paraprofessionals.” How is “appropriate supervision” defined?
Quality indicators for designing staff development for paraeducators, administrators, and teachers will be addressed. Criteria for developing appropriate job descriptions for paraprofessionals and teachers will be shared. The revised CEC Common Core Professional Development Standards for Paraeducators in Special Education will be distributed.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Understand current national issues affecting paraeducators and their supervisors.
- Understand the importance of state and local policy regarding paraeducator qualifications, training and supervision.
- Understand the importance of developing ethical guidelines for paraprofessionals who assist with instruction and for teachers who supervise.
- Understand the importance of clarifying the role of the teacher/paraeducator team.
Thursday, April 12, 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Part 1 - How Can Translational Research Transform the Field?
Leader 
Carol Kochhar-Bryant, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
The special education community is challenged to validate its practices and draw on emerging scientific research for critical analysis of its practices and policies. Leaders in research, administration, and teaching are challenged to think differently about developmental and learning needs of children with disabilities. They are challenged to explore new areas of interdisciplinary scientific research that impact development and learning and translate this knowledge for educational interventions, student assessment, and social policy. A foundation in neuroscience can provide both a new basis for understanding and exploring persistent developmental challenges in children and can promote innovation in the design of learning environments and supports.
This session will (1) provide a compelling rationale for bridging cognitive neuroscience and special education and for the translation of research for policy and practice, (2) discuss lessons learned from a multiyear transformation of our traditional special education program, and (3) introduce strategies for incorporating emerging brain research into leadership curriculum. The presenters will define “neuroeducation” and competencies required to create neuroeducation leaders, including content, clinical experiences, and translational research. They will also share the challenges of “transformative” faculty development required to accomplish this program reinvention, as well as the reframing of students’ dissertation research.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Explain the importance of bridging cognitive neuroscience and special education, and interpret the translation of cognitive neuroscience research for advancing special education policy and for promoting innovation in the design of learning environments and supports.
- Define the dimensions of neuroeducation and be able to identify the competencies required to create neuroeducation leaders, in the areas of content, clinical experiences, and translational research skills.
- Identify a new basis for understanding and exploring persistent developmental challenges and for promoting innovation in the design of learning environments and supports.
Part 2 - What Teachers Need to Know to Transform Teaching and Learning
Important advances occurring in the developmental sciences are transforming our understanding of how children grow, acquire language, knowledge and skills, and conceptualize their social, emotional, and moral worlds. This practitioner-focused session will (1) provide a compelling rationale for the emerging field of “neuroeducation” – the bridging of cognitive neuroscience and special education and how it can transform teaching and learning; (2) explain why teachers should learn how to think differently about developmental and learning needs of children with disabilities; (3) explore the new areas of developmental science that are informing student assessment, social-emotional development, language development, and educational interventions in reading, mathematics, and science; and (4) introduce strategies for incorporating emerging brain research into the school curriculum.
Participants will be able to:
- Explain the rationale for the emerging field of ‘neuroeducation’ – the bridging of cognitive neuroscience and special education – and will be able to interpret how it can transform their teaching and learning.
- Identify how the emerging knowledge about the brain can help them to think differently about developmental and learning needs of children with disabilities, and learning environments and supports.
- Identify promising areas in which developmental science is informing student assessment, social-emotional development, language development, and educational interventions in reading, mathematics, and science
- Generate strategies for incorporating emerging brain research into the school curriculum, and to improve student engagement in learning.
Presenters: Pamela Leconte, George Washington University, Washington, DC; Rockey Knox, George Washington University, Washington, DC; Kandace Wernsing, George Washington University, Washington, DC
Thursday, April 12, 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Leaders
Nancy Reder, National Association for State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE), Alexandria, VA
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Peg Brown-Clark, Colorado Department of Education, Denver
This session will focus on how the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) helps support state directors of special education in their efforts to bring state initiatives and policy to practice in local school districts and schools. Attendees will learn about the concept of building communities of practice, virtual education for students with disabilities, the special needs of children with disabilities in foster care, and NASDSE’s collaborative work with other national organizations and special initiatives.
Thursday, April 12, 3:45-4:45 p.m.
Leaders
Deborah Speece, National Center for Special Education Research, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC
In August 2011, Deborah Speece was appointed Commissioner of the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER), one of four centers in the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education. NCSER was established in 2004 by Public Law 108-446 (IDEA). One aspect of NCSER’s mission is to sponsor research that expands the knowledge base and improves services to children and youth with disabilities as well their teachers and parents. Through its Special Education Research Grants program, NCSER supports research over a diverse set of child outcomes and for a range of purposes. The outcomes include school readiness, achievement in core academic content (reading, writing, mathematics, science), and behaviors that support learning in academic contexts for students with disabilities or at risk for disabilities from prekindergarten through high school. Additional outcomes of interest include developmental outcomes for infants and toddlers with disabilities and functional outcomes that improve educational results and transitions to employment, independent living, and postsecondary education for students with disabilities.
This session will provide information on the investments NCSER has made since it began awarding grants in 2006, elaborate on the goals Commissioner Speece has set and enumerate the activities in which NCSER has engaged to meet those goals, and describe new funding opportunities for research and research training. Time will be reserved for a question and answer session with the audience.
Thursday, April 12, 3:45-5:45 p.m.
Leader
Tyrone Howard,
University of California, Los Angeles
This interactive session will examine the complexity of today’s changing racial and ethnic demographics in U.S. schools and discuss the implications it has for educational practitioners and researchers. Participants will also learn about various theoretical and conceptual frameworks that offer promise for research across racial, cultural, and ethnic lines. Finally, the presenters will share findings from a series of studies that examined the most effective approaches in helping to eliminate the disparities in academic outcomes across racial and ethnic lines. This session has implications for researchers and practitioners working in diverse school settings.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Generate strategies to improve their classroom management approaches.
- Identify how they will evaluate improvements in their classroom management approaches.
Friday, April 13, 8:00-10:00 a.m.
Leader 
Festus Obiakor, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
There is no denying that culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students with and without disabilities confront multidimensional problems, crises, and stressors that eventually force them to hate school, dropout of school, and become societal problems. Our traditional responses have been to get rid of them, suspend or expel them, discipline them, or send them to jail.
This session focuses on reversing this trend and highlights innovative strategies (e.g., the Comprehensive Support Model) that utilize collaborative energies of all stakeholders to help CLD students to stay in school and graduate.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Analyze issues related to dropout and dropout prevention.
- Discuss innovative school completion techniques (e.g., the Comprehensive Support Model).
- Describe roles of “self” (i.e., self-determination) and families in school graduation.
- Evaluate school and community resources that provide opportunities and choices for CLD students.
Friday, April 13, 8:00-9:00 a.m.
Leader 
Beth Harry, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL
This presentation will relate the research on cultural and linguistic diversity in special education to the framework and key tenets of critical race theory. With a focus on qualitative research on the processes that lead to disproportionate placement of children of color in high-incidence disability categories and unduly restrictive placements, the session will highlight the impact of endemic racism on schooling in general and on special education in particular.
The research presented will show how the pattern is exacerbated by a pervasive negativity on the part of school personnel toward families of color who live in poverty. Research that indicates successful models of instruction and family collaboration will also be presented, along with an analysis of what makes these models successful.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Recognize the pervasiveness of racism in schooling and identify the policies and practices that contribute to it.
- Identify practices within their own research and practice that contribute to the negative patterns described.
- Develop positive action plans at both micro and macro/policy levels that they will work toward implementing and/or influencing.
Friday, April 13, 9:15-10:15 a.m.
Leader
Mary Ruth Coleman, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Implementation Science provides guidance for bringing success to scale through systems thinking, capacity building, fidelity combined with flexibility, and practical applications for change. This session will use two case examples to demonstrate these principles in action and to bring success to scale: (1) Colorado’s experience with RTI/PBIS and (2) the work of U-STARS~PLUS, an approach for nurturing, recognizing, and responding to young children with high potential from culturally and linguistically diverse families. Participants will learn about implementation science and will see the principles of this work put to use in two practical applications to support school improvement.
Each case described will address (a) capacity building to strengthen the infrastructure needed for successful implementation including professional development and policy; (b) the method used to establish fidelity combined with the flexibility needed to respond to the context for implementation; and (c) practical applications that facilitate adaptation of practices and enhance sustainability. Participants will leave with both theoretical frameworks and practical ideas for supporting bring success to scale.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Describe the principles of implementation science as a foundation for bringing success to scale.
- Analyze the findings presented on RTI/PBIS and U-STARS~PLUS to identify the core ideas used for: capacity building and establishing fidelity with flexibility.
- Evaluate usefulness of the practical ideas presented for scaling-up success in their school/district.
Presenters: Karen Blase, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Daphne Pereles, Colorado Department of Education, Denver
Friday, April 13, 9:15-10:15 a.m.
Leader 
Lisa Hoyt,
Renton Academy, Seattle, WA
Renton Academy is a K-12 therapeutic school for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) in the Renton School District. It opened its doors in 2006 when district leadership believed there was another way to serve this student population. Many of the students with EBD were being placed in out of district settings, further separating them and their families from their community and school district. The idea to bring every student back to the district and serve them in their own community was an essential motivator for change. This change would allow the district more control over the programming by selecting philosophy, structure, curriculum, staffing, policy, and leadership. This was done under the philosophical framework of Re-EDucation.
This session will introduce Re-EDucation as a framework for public school districts to use to educate students with EBD and will give educators, be it front line workers to district administrators, the specific design that has encouraged student success, lesson learned along the way, staffing and training requirements, and structure and systems that guide decision making. The presenter will share data to highlight and evaluate the current model of programming and share personal experiences from the journey.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Articulate specific positive outcomes of using the Re-EDucation Philosophical Framework within the public school setting for students with EBD.
- Align Re-Education principles with evidenced based and research supported interventions to use within classrooms.
- Learn about specific data collection tools and assessments to evaluate student, teacher and school-wide progress.
- Understand administrative and district level supports necessary for success.
Friday, April 13, 9:15-10:15 a.m.
Leader 
Cinda Johnson, Seattle University, WA
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Co-Leader
Linea Johnson, Seattle, WA
The first symptoms of mental illness for adolescents strongly impact the crucial stages of adolescent development and transition to life after high school. The presenters in this session are a young adult with a mental illness and her mom, a special education professor. Both thought they knew a lot about disability. Linea grew up in a household where her mom taught courses on disability including emotional and behavioral disorders and directed a large transition project. Her dad worked as a rehabilitation counselor at a university hospital. Their lives were all turned upside down when Linea was hospitalized for a severe mental health condition. Participants will learn about research, strategies, and resources that address the complexities of moving from a critical illness to stability in the adult world and hear the “inside story” of this progression. The professional knowledge and skills of the presenters were challenged and greatly enhanced by their personal experience with the devastating effects of this illness and ultimately the ability to move forward towards recovery and empowerment.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Be able to recognize and support students who are struggling with mental health disorders while they are still in high school.
- Be able to support and assist students in developing self-advocacy and empowerment skills for life after high school.
- Understand and be sensitive to adolescent development affected by mental health disorders.
- Identify research-based practices to increase positive postschool outcomes for these students.
Friday, April 13, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Leader 
Krista Kutash, University of South Florida, Tampa
A growing body of research points to the need to respond early and effectively to mental, emotional, and behavioral needs of children and youth to improve their educational and life outcomes. Schools have the potential to play a large role in helping students and families promote positive behavioral and mental health, build social and emotional competencies, and address mental, emotional, and behavioral needs.
This session will first focus on the need for schools to improve their approach to meeting the behavioral and mental health needs of children. The presenter will then discuss the importance of comprehensive, integrated, and multi-tiered/layered approaches for addressing barriers to learning and building the competencies needed to enhance mental, emotional and behavioral health, academic success, and life-long well being of children, including children with disabilities.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Increase their understanding of the importance of coordinated, systemic, and multi-tiered approaches for promoting positive behavioral and mental health for youth.
- Improve their knowledge of how educators and service providers can build their capacity to promote positive behavioral and mental health development in schools and educational programs.
- Expand knowledge of specific promising practices for addressing the behavioral and mental health needs of youth.
Friday, April 13, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Leader 
Erik Carter, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
The importance of fostering self-determination is increasingly emphasized within discussions of educational policies and practices for students with and without disabilities. This burgeoning interest has been accompanied by a growing body of research addressing the extent to which students with disabilities possess the skills and opportunities to be self-determining, the association between self-determination and other valued outcomes, and the efficacy of various intervention strategies at enhancing indicators of self-determination.
In this session, the panel will address what the field now knows about the social validity and efficacy of self-determination interventions and offer recommendations for future research and practice. Carter and Lane will synthesize findings from a series of studies exploring the ways in which general educators, special educators, paraprofessionals, and parents promote self-determination across the age span. Wehmeyer and Shogren will review findings from a series of intervention studies aimed at enhancing the self-determination of students with disabilities. Possible pathways for strengthening the rigor and impact of this line of inquiry will be discussed.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Learn about the ways in which practitioners and parents are addressing self-determination in and beyond the classroom, along with the factors that impact their efforts and views.
- Learn about evidence-based intervention approaches for promoting student self-determination in the classroom.
- Identify critical research needs related to fostering self-determination among students with and without disabilities.
Presenters: Kathleen Lane, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Karrie Shogren, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Michael Wehmeyer, University of Kansas, Lawrence
Friday, April 13, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Leader
Leonard Baca,
University of Colorado, Boulder
This session will provide an overview of the history and development of the field of Bilingual Special Education. Particular attention will be given to the theoretical framework upon which this field is based. The presenter will also discuss the progress that has been made in Bilingual Special Education at both the school, district, and higher education levels. Participants will be able to use the information provided in this session to compare it to the program in their own schools.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Understand the history and development of Bilingual Special Education.
- Compare their own program with the one proposed at this session.
Friday, April 13, 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Leader 
Lynn Fuchs, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
During the past decade, responsiveness-to-intervention (RTI) has become popular among many practitioners as a means of transforming schooling into a multi-level prevention system. Popularity aside, its successful implementation requires ambitious intent, a comprehensive structure, and coordinated service delivery. It also depends on building-based personnel with specialized expertise at all levels of the prevention system. Most agree on both its potential and its heavy demand on practitioners.
In this session, presenters describe Smart RTI, which we define as making efficient use of school resources while maximizing students’ opportunities for success. The first segment of the session focuses on 4 important components of Smart RTI: (a) multi-stage screening to identify risk; (b) multi-stage assessment to determine appropriate levels of instruction; (c) designing intervention to address reading as well as mathematics difficulty; and (d) a role for special education that supports prevention. We discuss these features in light of findings from recent research conducted by us and others. In the second segment of the session, a panel of discussants comment on Smart RTI and audience members have the opportunity to comment and ask questions.
At the end of this session, participants will:
Define Smart RTI and explain its essential features, including (a) multi-stage screening to identify risk; (b) multi-stage assessment to determine appropriate levels of instruction; (c) designing intervention to address reading as well as mathematics difficulty; and (d) a role for special education that supports prevention.
Panelist: Doug Fuchs and Donald Compton, Vanderbilt University, Nashville
Discussants: Deborah Speece, U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, Washington, DC; Sharon Vaughn, University of Texas, Austin; Thomas Scruggs and Margo Mastropieri, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Friday, April 13, 3:45-5:45 p.m.
Leader
Carla Tantillo, Mindful Practices, Oak Park, IL
Participants will learn about innovative tools to empower exceptional children to use relaxation and yoga strategies to cool down, make more positive behavioral choices, and focus on learning. This session is highly interactive and engages conference attendees through experiential learning, reflection, and collaboration. By first analyzing what structural pieces, rules, and expectations are consistent in their classrooms, participants will find space to effectively implement relaxation, breathing, and yoga tools to positively impact student behavior and academic achievement. Each participant will receive a copy of a handout full of activities taken from Ms. Tantillo’s publication, Cooling Down Your Classroom, to share with his/her school site or organization. Using the handout, Cool Classroom Culture Checklist, participants will collaborate to create a sustainable, authentic, and proactive implementation plan, based upon the session’s activities. Implementation plans will be shared, along with modifications and possible data collection tools.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Identify innovative tools that empower exceptional children to use relaxation and yoga strategies to cool down, make more positive behavioral choices, and focus on learning.
- Understand how classroom management style impacts student behavior and achievement.
- Understand how teacher effectiveness, instructional strategies, and RTI relate to educators.
- Describe how to create an authentic and meaningful relaxation, breathing, and yoga practice for all students.
Friday, April 13, 3:45-4:45 p.m.
Leader 
Marge Terhaar-Yonkers, Meredith College, Raleigh, NC
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Co-Leader:
Susan Osborne, North Carolina State University, Raleigh
The Council for Exceptional Children represents individuals with disabilities, their families, and their teachers - and in this session we will hear from individuals who combine all three perspectives! Educators with disabilities will explore their own school experiences, share why they chose Special Education as their field, and will discuss the barriers they have faced as they work within our profession. Recommendations for improving our field will be offered.
The unique perspectives of individuals who both have disabilities and work within the special education field offer us a chance to examine policy, research, and practice within our field. The session leaders will share their research on educators with disabilities, panel members will share their experiences, and session participants will discuss the implications of these on the field of special education and the recruitment and retention of educators with disabilities.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Generate ideas to support individuals with disabilities in overcoming the challenges they face in school and professional lives.
- Identify strategies to strengthen the capacity of their school, professional development, and/or program to support educators with disabilities.
Presenters: Lynne Brock, Barton College, Wilson, NC; Pam De Loach, Tampa, FL; Jennifer Diliberto, Greensboro College, NC; Richard Evans, Angelo State University, San Angelo, TX; Polly Haselden, Francis Marion University, Florence, SC
Saturday, April 14, 8:00-9:00 a.m.
Leader 
James Shriner, University of Illinois, Champaign
Individualized education program teams are faced with an expanding task serving dual purposes: (a) meeting the group-oriented, standards-referenced requirements of NCLB, while (b) striving to provide a free, appropriate, and individualized education for students with disabilities. A well-planned IEP, implemented with fidelity, allows for maximum access to the general curriculum as well as instruction in needed skills/concepts not directly related to academic content standards. To this end, it is important to utilize and examine the potential of web-based platforms that allow educators to adapt, share, and find resources in creating and monitoring standards based-IEPs.
The presenters will report on the combined efforts from projects supported by the Institute of Education Sciences and Office of Special Education Programs to test a web-based tutorial and decision-making support for standards-based IEPs. The session presents pre-post practitioner evidence from two states on the utility/impact of the tutorial and on student outcomes and includes both quantitative and qualitative data that center on (a) the improvement of the substantive elements of IEPs prepared by educators who used a web-based decision making tool (IEP Quality Tutorial), (b) user feedback/evaluation of the tutorial intervention, and (c) the educational gains of a diverse group of students with disabilities in two Midwestern states during the implementation year of the prepared IEP.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Describe the use of online assistance tools for a decision-making model that supports procedural and substantive components of standards-based IEPs.
- Evaluate the potential of dynamic web-based programs to affect user impact on student learning and how to use this knowledge to support their students’ access to standards-based instruction.
Saturday, April 14, 8:00-10:00 a.m.
Leader 
Alan Sheinker, University of Kansas, Lawrence
Two General Supervision Enhancement Grant (GSEG) consortia were funded in 2010 to build Alternate Assessments based on Alternate Achievement Standards (AA-AAS) linked to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). These consortia represent 32 states and territories and are the largest grants ever awarded for such work. First, discussion of the GSEG consortia will be placed within the context of the current push for assessments aligned to the CCSS, including Race-to-the-Top assessment consortia and the English language proficiency assessment consortia. Second, presenters will provide an overview of the projects and how each will build next generation AA-AAS. These assessments will be designed to support student learning and to provide instructional supports for teachers that capitalizes on technology. Third, there will be a discussion of “What does it mean to be College and Career Ready” for students with significant cognitive disabilities?
Presenters will address related questions about what postsecondary opportunities are available for students with significant cognitive disabilities and how assumptions and expectations have changed for these students over the past 10 years. The session will conclude with a question and answer period about each of the projects.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Identify key features of the two GSEG consortia and be able to access resources for additional professional growth.
- Understand the increased academic expectations and opportunities for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
- Describe post secondary opportunities for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
Presenters: Neal Kingston, University of Kansas, Lawrence; Martha Thurlow, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Saturday, April 14, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Leader
Polly Haselden, Francis Marion University, Florence
This session provides an opportunity for individuals with disabilities and their parents to share inside knowledge of life with a disability. The panel includes participants from Colorado and Yes I Can Awards recipients. Session leaders will facilitate a discussion in a question-and-answer format and will allow time at the end for questions from the audience. A sample of some of the structured questions for both students and parents are as follows:
Students:
- What teaching techniques work best for you?
- What do you wish teachers knew about individuals with disability?
Parents:
- How does your child's disability affect the family? In what ways are you involved with the school to help your child meet with success?
- Describe techniques teachers could implement to help assist your child in being successful.
At the end of this session, participants will:
- Understand the ways a disability affects an individual’s daily life.
- Identify strategies for working with parents of individuals with disabilities.
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