Special Education Professional Learning
Overview
Professional learning is a critical component to increase capacity, build knowledge and skills, and support educators who work with students with disabilities. The Special Education Services section at the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) works to provide personnel opportunities to gain the necessary skills and knowledge to be successful in serving students with disabilities. Our professional learning provides an increased focus on academics, core content areas, and specially designed instruction for special education educators. We also provide support to general education educators to build the necessary skills and knowledge to deliver instruction, to students with disabilities, in the regular education classroom.
Utah Institute on Special Education Law
The annual Utah Institute on Special Education Law is designed for administrators, educators, service providers, families, attorneys, and others responsible for the implementation and interpretation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) Special Education Rules. Conference content includes relevant case law, and best practices to foster awareness and further ensure that Utah students with disabilities receive a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment.
Contact
Co-teaching
Co-teaching is one of the fastest-growing inclusive school practices and is identified as a successful instructional model to support all students’ academic achievement. Co-teaching requires a team of both a general education and a special education teacher. The foundation of Co-teaching implementation is a strong coach and coaching team who have the skills, resources, and tools to implement Co-teaching, support Co-teaching teams, and provide sustainability. The Co-teaching cohort will focus on building Co-teaching practices, fostering a growth mindset as part of a school-level culture, and providing implementation support.
The Co-teaching project will focus on the implementation of Co-teaching at a local level. This cohort will be tailored to coaches, who will implement Co-teaching at a school/LEA level. This will be a 2-year cohort.
Year 1 will focus on providing coaches with Co-teaching methodology, organization, best practices, and support coaching Co-teaching teams. Year one is a preparatory year for implementing Co-teaching in Year 2.
Year 2: (Prerequisite is the Year 1 Cohort) will focus on implementing Co-teaching at the local level. The coaching cohort will dive deeper into the Co-teaching strategies, observations, feedback, and reflective practices.
Contact
Jennie DeFriez
Effective Instruction Coordinator
Phone: (801) 538-7522 | E-mail
Running Start
Running Start is for teachers who are newly hired and within three years of teaching special education. Running Start is designed to help teachers navigate special education policies, specially designed instruction, behavior, and classroom management. This training occurs during the summer.
Contacts
New Leaders' Summit
New Leaders' Summit is a series of training sessions presented by the Utah Program Improvement Planning Systems (UPIPS) team for individuals in their first three years as special education directors, or other Local Education Agency (LEA) personnel who may benefit from the content provided.
Contact
Janet HansonUPIPS
Phone: (801) 538-7787 | E-mail
Postsecondary Transition Institute
The Postsecondary Transition Institute is an annual two-day event that has been held since 2011. The event is hosted by the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) and is focused on increasing outcomes for students with disabilities in the post-school areas of education/training, employment, and independent living. The specific focus area from year to year is dependent upon the postsecondary transition-related needs of Local Education Agencies (LEAs) as well as State-level postsecondary transition data (Indicators 1, 2, 13, and 14). Focus areas are based on the planning model:
- Taxonomy for Transition Programming 2.0: A Model for Planning, Organizing, and Evaluating
Transition Education, Services, and Programs
National Technical Assistance Center for Transition (NTACT)
Team collaboration sessions are structured to create LEA Postsecondary Transition plans that focus on the implementation of best practices in postsecondary transition planning.
LEAs attend the Postsecondary Transition Institute as interdisciplinary teams that include special educators, general educators, teacher specialists, postsecondary transition coordinators, administrators, school counselors, parents, Career and Technical Education (CTE) and Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) counselors, and other local postsecondary transition stakeholders. All LEAs are encouraged to participate in the Postsecondary Transition Institute regardless of the size or knowledge of their team. Small LEAs with teams of one to two people are encouraged to join other similar-sized LEAs. The Postsecondary Transition Institute is a blended learning event, with a learn-collaborate model that includes facilitated team planning time and targeted networking sessions. Teams attend learning sessions, with content delivered by expert presenters, to gain knowledge, skills, and dispositions of various topical areas.
The Postsecondary Transition Institute is a collaborative effort with our Utah State Office of Rehabilitation (USOR) partners to improve collaboration between schools and USOR to provide access to pre-employment and employment services to postsecondary transition-age (14-22) students with disabilities.
Interagency Cooperative Agreement State Level Special Education
Contacts
Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM)
Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) administration training covers content and requirements to administer Utah’s alternate assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities. Participants will learn about participation criteria and compliance requirements for the alternate assessment, how to administer the DLM assessment successfully, and where to find resources to help guide instruction throughout the year.
Contact
Tracy Gooley
Assessments
Phone: (801) 538-7887 | E-mail
Speech Language Technician (SLT) Institute
The SLT Institute is for persons who have or are close to earning a Bachelor's Degree in Communicative Disorders and desire to work as an SLT in a Utah public school. Satisfactory completion of the Institute is required for SLTs employed in Utah Local Education Agencies (LEAs). Participants may or may not be enrolled in a Speech Language Pathology (SLP) graduate program.
SLT Institute
Course Number: 41623
Massively Integrated Data Analytics System (MIDAS) Education
Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) Supervision Institute
The SLP Supervision Institute is offered each fall. It is a required professional learning for new SLP coach/supervisors of SLTs. All SLT coaches and supervisors are invited. Relicensure credit is available for all participants who complete the professional licensing. Participants need to read the SLT/SLP handbook prior to the online professional development.
Speech-Language Pathologists Supervising Speech-Language Technicians Professional
Learning
Course Number: 42898
MIDAS Education
Contact
Kathy Webb
Personnel Preparation Coordinator
Phone: (801) 538-7688 | E-mail
Inclusion Symposium
Utah’s Portrait of Meaningful Inclusion for Students with Disabilities (POMI) identifies the four critical elements of inclusion as defined in the Utah State Board of Education Special Education Rules (USBE). These elements are essential to an education system that has been intentionally designed to accept and promote the meaningful participation of students with disabilities going through the K–12 system. Practiced together, these elements create a sense of belonging in the school, community, and home while also cultivating the conditions for students with disabilities to develop the characteristics of Utah’s Portrait of a Graduate.
The Inclusion Symposium is a two-day event providing local education agencies (LEAs) time to collaborate, create, and develop a plan (aligning with their current school plan) to increase meaningful inclusion in the upcoming school year. LEA representatives, general education representatives, special education representatives, and other key stakeholders come together to evaluate their current strengths and areas where they would like to improve inclusive practices using the Meaningful Inclusion Self-Measurement Tool.
Participants will listen to keynote speakers, attend breakout sessions, and have built-in time during the symposium to work together as a team, helping identify what inclusive practices they are doing well and what they want to focus on improving the upcoming school year. Throughout this two-day event, teams will develop an action plan, set implementation goals, and schedule quarterly check-in dates with a Utah State Board of Education (USBE) staff member throughout the upcoming school year. During this time, the teams will discuss how the plan is working and the progress being made, discuss barriers that may have arisen, and have an opportunity to ask questions or brainstorm more ideas as they implement inclusive practices throughout the school year.
Contact
Lindsey Cunningham
Inclusion Coordinator
Phone: (801) 538-7806 | E-mail