Session+Descriptions

**Opening Keynote** **The Journey of a Leader: Going from where you are to where you have never been**
 * 2011 Leadership Academy Session Descriptio ns **

The Leadership Academy is an opportunity for leaders to gather information and resources that will assist them in building a knowledge base for doing the work that they are charged to do. This conference will take leaders on a professional journey of learning, self-reflection and action planning. By this journey’s end, leaders will gain skills that will help them to artfully and practically strike a balance between management and leadership

//Presenter: Donna Westbrooks-Martin// **Special Education Administrators: What Updates and Resources Special Education Teachers Need to Know About SAS**

As a special education director, what information and resources are on SAS that are essential for special education teachers to know and access? This session goes beyond SAS 101 and highlights the latest information, tools, and resources that every special education teacher can use in the classroom. An overview of the latest materials will be reviewed through the SAS portal and digging deeper into some of the following areas: Common Core Standards, Vertical Viewer of standards across grade levels, Learning Progressions, and much more!

//Presenter: Laura Moran//

**Taking SAS Home: “What Happens in Bedford Doesn’t Stay in Bedford” (at Least Where SAS is Concerned)**

Take SAS implementation to the next level by participating in this session where you will create an action plan to share SAS content with special education teachers. Administrators will learn which areas of the Standards Aligned System must be presented to and implemented by teachers. Participants will leave with a specially designed organizer to ramp up the roll out of SAS for the 2011-2012 school-year.

//Presenter: Sue Ann Houser//

**Effective Secondary Transition Programs**

Special Education leaders also need to connect their practices with the Indicators in the State Performance Plan (SPP) that relate directly to transition planning. Indicators 1 and 2 relate to improving graduation and reducing dropout rates. Indicator 13 relates to the quality of transition planning as outlined in the IEP, and Indicator 14 relates to improving outcomes for students following graduation.

In this session, a panel of special education administrators from across Pennsylvania will highlight their most effective transition components, including the strategies that they have utilized to meet SPP Indicators 1, 2, 13, and 14. Participants will be given the opportunity to examine their district's transition practices, reflect on areas for growth, and develop action steps to enhance their programs.

//Presenters: Rosemary Nilles and Michael Stoehr//

**The Changing Role of Related Service Providers**

Related services refer to transportation and any developmental, corrective or other supportive service needed to assist a student with a disability to benefit from special education. This panel will consist of a speech therapist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, and special education supervisor. They will describe the changing role of related service providers and discuss how they meet individual student needs through various service delivery models. //Presenters: Panel from IU 4// **Supporting Change in Mathematics Instruction**

Improving learning for all students is a priority of public schooling. A way to enhance the possibility of this happening is to consider the quality of instructional interactions that occur in the classroom between teacher and student. This session will provide a glimpse into a promising practice known as lesson study which magnifies the instructional process by purposefully constructing potential teacher and student interactions in the classroom. The lesson study process can be used as a vehicle to support change in mathematics instruction for all students. Connections will also be made between supporting change and the current state of math in Pennsylvania.

//Presenters: Tracy Ficca and Allen Muir// **Effective Use of Paraprofessionals** The role of the paraprofessional in our schools has evolved from clerical assistant to the special education teacher to significant contributor to the academic and behavioral success of a diverse group of students. This session examines effective and efficient use of the paraprofessional including the decision-making process for use of support staff, when a 1:1 is necessary, how to use paraprofessionals in the RTII model and how to develop skills necessary for paraprofessionals to function in their changing roles.

//Presenter: Janet McCauslin// **Using Technology to Support Learning and Achievement**

This session is designed to teach administrators how to lead the integration of technology into instruction to support achievement in general and special education classes, specifically to support reading, mathematics, and writing achievement. It also focuses on the use of technology already in teachers’ classrooms to promote instruction based on the principles of universal design for learning. Participants will be provided information on tools to use for assessment of needs in the area of assistive and learning technologies.

// Presenter: Michel Miller // **Special Education: Expanding Information, Establishing Support**

This interactive session with the Bureau of Special Education Advisors will focus on questions and concerns of practicing administrators in the field.

//Presenter: Pat Hozella and BSE Advisors// **State Performance Plan (SPP) Targets and Effective Practices** This session will be a short review of the State Performance Plan. Particular emphasis will be placed upon the practices/activities in schools which help lead to strong outcomes for each target. The participants will engage in networking in small groups related to various indicators as well as have an opportunity for large group discussion.

//Presenter: Sandy Zeleznick// **Classroom Diagnostic Tools (CDT)**

The Pennsylvania Classroom Diagnostic Tools (CDT) is a set of online assessments, designed to provide diagnostic information in Math, Reading/Literature and Science. By providing a snapshot of how students are performing in relation to Pennsylvania Anchors and Eligible Content, the tools help teachers to guide their instruction. Understanding the CDT will assist Special Education administrators to support the differentiation of instruction for students with IEPs. This session will provide an overview of the CDT and a simulated walkthrough demonstrating how classroom teachers access and use this powerful instructional tool. Participants will have the opportunity to explore applications of the CDT in their specific work setting.

//Presenters: Diane Funsten and Greg Llewellyn// **Transforming “At Risk” to Graduates: Letting Your Data Lead You!**

LEAs that show continuous gains in student success for youth with disabilities base decisions on data rather than hunch or habit. In these schools, Special Education Leaders understand that using valid and reliable data to identify causes of school dropout and those youth at greatest risk is our most powerful weapon in effectively identifying and addressing dropout and related issues. In this session, Dr. Bost will share The National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities (NDPC-SD)'s Dropout Prevention Intervention Framework (DPIF). DPIF is a five phase process that assist LEAs to use readily available school based data to systematically problem solve, select, and implement evidence based practices that decrease dropout and promote successful outcomes toward graduation. This session also charts two very different school’s journey through NDPC-SD’s structured process that has led to improved outcomes for graduation and dropout for youth with disabilities within these settings. Structured activities and examples will provide participants with hands on practice opportunities to generate causal analysis using their own school data.

//Presenter: Loujeania Bost// //** Let’s Go APE: Supervision of Adapted Physical Education programs for Students with Disabilities. **//

// Physical Education, including Adapted Physical Education for those students who require it must be provided to all students. Like other direct special education services, the least restrictive environment of the general education class and curriculum must be the starting point in IEP placement decisions regarding Adapted Physical Education. This session is designed to review the legal requirements of providing Adapted Physical Education to students with disabilities, as well as how this impacts the Special Education Administrator responsible for overseeing IEP development, implementation, and provision of FAPE for students in their school programs. //

//Presenter: Frank Repanshek// **Educational Benefit Review: Interactive Experience**

In this session, participants will gain an understanding of Educational Benefit Review. While Educational Benefit Review is part of onsite cyclical monitoring, this process can provide school personnel with valuable information that goes beyond compliance issues. Participants will engage in the process and have opportunities to discuss with colleagues the importance and value of considering educational benefit when developing and revising Individual Education Programs.

//Presenters: Cecil Crouch and Leigh Dennick// **Section** **504 and More**

The session deals with Section 504, Americans with Disability Act, Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment, and Chapter 15. This is a summary that includes evaluation, development of the service agreement, assistance animals, and other issues. The participants will understand the regulations and tie them into the requirements for compliance.

//Presenter: Malcolm Connor //

**Blending Gifted Education and School Reform:** //Access, Accountability, and Achievement//

School reform initiatives and the accountability of NCLB have resulted in many changes in American education during the past decade. The complexity of the process has presented numerous challenges for every educator. Side by side against the reform initiatives are several other changes that have affected American classrooms: changing demographics, increasing diversity of student populations, and limited fiscal resources. The needs of our highest achieving students must be identified and challenged within this broad arena. This presentation will provide a process for assuring that the unique needs of students who are high achieving and/or mentally gifted are addressed within the context of school reform. Interactive activities will guide this process for the participants: discussing belief systems, clarifying the issues, identifying students’ needs, developing a needs assessment, and designing an action plan for implementation.

//Presenter: Betsy Gustafson //

**A Compliance Refresher**

This session will provide participants an opportunity to review special education regulations and requirements. Brief scenarios of special education due process/court proceedings shall be presented and participants will be asked to analyze how they would ‘judge’ the case. Additional information will be provided from the regulations of IDEA and Chapter 14 to support the decision from the scenario.

//Presenter: Becky Fogle and Ann Hinkson-Herrmann// **My GPS...Using Time Effectively by** ** G ** **etting** ** P ** **rofessional** ** S ** **tability**

** Often Special Education administrators are said to wear many hats. Demands on time, resources, personnel, and responsibilities are increasing. Unfortunately, days have not been extended beyond 24 hours. This session will highlight some time management strategies to use to meet the multiple demands often placed on Special Education administrators. Suggested strategies to get professional stability (GPS) will be the main focus. Participants will be expected to share their "shortcuts"! **

//Presenter: Gina Scala//

**Standards-Aligned instruction for Learners with Complex Support Needs**

Is it Reading? Is it Math? Is it Science? This session will provide an overview of a framework for linking instruction to grade level content standards in reading, math and science while maintaining the fidelity with the content of the original standard and the focus of the performance level. Participants will explore video examples of “far links” and “near links” to content standards for students with complex support needs.

//Presenters: Jeannine Brinkley and Sharon Leonard//

**Closing Keynote** **The Journey of a Leader: Leaving a Trail**

Effective leaders push into new areas and take people where they have not been before. This closing session will help participants make meaning of the knowledge gained at the conference and assist them in “leaving a trail” of excellence for meeting the needs of students with disabilities.

//Presenter: Donna Westbrooks-Martin//