Category: Special Education

What Really Works in Education 2023 Conference: High Leverage Practices & Collaboration for Inclusive Classrooms

Are you looking for strategies, tips, and practical techniques around high-leverage instructional practices and collaboration that work with diverse learners to create Inclusive Classrooms?  This conference is for you and your team!

For the first time ever, the popular What Really Works in Education conference is coming to Maine!  This year’s conference, hosted by the Maine Department of Education’s Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education, will engage learners around high-leverage practices by local, national, and international experts.

Participants will leave with tips, tricks, strategies, and tools to add to their educational toolkit from each session in the conference.

The one-day event will feature strategies on Collaboration and Inclusion for administrators, general and special education teachers, preservice educators, educational technicians, and related service personnel including strands on Collaboration and Behavior and Collaboration and Academics.

  • Date:  Wednesday, October 4, 2023
  • Location: University of Maine Augusta
  • Cost: $50 per participant which includes breakfast, lunch, and a copy of the 2023 book of Connecting High Leverage Practices to Student Success: Collaboration in Inclusive Classrooms (Jenkins & Murawski).
  • Register for the conference here.
  • For more information visit the Inclusion Conference website.

Keynote Speakers 

Dr. Wendy W. Murawski

Wendy W. Murawski, PhD, is the Executive Director and Eisner Endowed Chair for the Center for Teaching and Learning at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), where she is also a professor in the Department of Special Education and the Director of SIMPACT Immersive Learning. Dr. Murawski is the national Past President of the Teacher Education Division (TED) of CEC and award-winning researcher, author, and educator, including Teacher Educator of the Year for the state of California. Dr. Murawski holds an EdS, MEd, and MBA and  is an internationally known speaker and frequently requested keynote speaker, presenting in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. She has published extensively around inclusive education, co-teaching, collaboration, and Universal Design for Learning, including 18 books and numerous chapters, blogs, and peer-reviewed articles. Prior to higher education, she was a general and special education teacher in Virginia and in California. Currently, Dr. Murawski is the CEO of 2 TEACHâ (www.2TeachLLC.com), an educational consulting company dedicated to promoting inclusive education, and 2 TEACHâ Global, championing inclusive education around the world.

Dr. Melissa C. Jenkins

Melissa C. Jenkins, PhD, is an assistant professor of Special Education at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA and co-author of Connecting High-Leverage Practices to Student Success: Collaboration in Inclusive Classrooms. She brings over 18 years of public school experience to her role as a teacher educator, having worked in Virginia public schools as a special education teacher, instructional coach, and central office administrator. Dr. Jenkins is dedicated to helping educators bring high-quality, inclusive practices to schools. She is also a consultant with 2 TEACHâ Global educational consulting. She loves speaking and writing about collaborative practices, early mathematics intervention, and positive behavioral support. When not working, Melissa enjoys practicing yoga to find literal and figurative balance in life.

Why Inclusion?

The federal Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) requires that each public agency (SAU) must ensure that to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are nondisabled; and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only if the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily. §300.114

Over 20 years of research studies have consistently demonstrated that the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms results in favorable academic, social, and economic outcomes. This includes positive benefits for typical peers in classrooms who benefit from involvement and relationships with students who have disabilities in inclusive settings.

Effectively including students with disabilities in the general education classroom requires teachers and school administrators to further develop an understanding of the individual strengths and needs of the whole student.

For more information about Inclusion in Maine or the What Really Works in Education conference, contact Tracy Whitlock at tracy.w.whitlock@maine.gov.

Requests for Applications (RFA) for the Maine Transition Regional Interagency Collaborative (MeTRIC) Grants

The Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education at the Maine Department of Education is now accepting applications from school administrative units for the Maine Transition Regional Interagency Collaborative (MeTRIC) grants. The purpose of these grants is to provide students with disabilities the necessary support and resources to seamlessly transition to post-secondary education or employment.

To qualify, applicants must demonstrate innovative and sustainable partnerships among multiple agencies to provide inclusive transition services such as vocational training, job readiness, financial literacy, and advocacy.

The MeTRIC initiative also encourages inclusive transition opportunities like apprenticeships, work based learning, mentoring, and community college partnerships. Applicants must facilitate a forum for sharing best practices and resources with students and agency participants.

The Maine DOE, Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education applied and received a $$750,000.00 ESSA grant award to develop regional transition collaboratives. Each SAU applying and approved will receive a minimum of $100,000.00 each to establish their seamless and sustainable coordinated set of transition program(s) in their region. The number and size of awards will depend on the number of applications received and available funds. The Department reserves the right to eliminate the lowest scoring application(s) and/or make awards for amounts less than requested, whichever is in the best interest of the State.

Eligible schools interested in the Maine Transition Regional Collaboratives (MeTRIC) Grant Program opportunity may access the application through the Grant RFPs and RFAs webpage.

A timeline for the RFA process is provided below.

Deadline Action Steps
Fri      – 06/30/23 Questions due date from SAUs emailed to titus.orourke@maine.gov
Mid July Answers will be posted to the public via Procurement
Wed   – 07/26/23 RFA Applications due

All questions related to the Maine Transition Regional Interagency Collaborative (MeTRIC)  RFA should be submitted to:

Titus O’Rourke, Transition Specialist, Office of Special Education and Inclusive Education, titus.orourke@maine.gov no later than Friday, June 30, 2023.

REMINDER: 2023 Summer Symposium on Inclusive Practices for Students with Autism and Developmental Disabilities

Join the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) Division of Autism and Developmental Disabilities (DADD) groups face-to-face at UMaine Orono or join via Zoom on July 21st from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm for a full day of inclusion-building topics in education centered around two strands of learning- 1) access to the curriculum and 2) quality of life. There are multiple ways of joining and learning. Get more information and register HERE now!

Contact hours are available. For more information please reach out to Anica Miller Rushing anica.miller.rushing@maine.edu.

Webinar: The Role of Special Educators in School Safety Efforts

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Safe and Supportive Schools and its Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center will host a Webinar on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET. This Webinar will highlight the role of special educators in school safety, security, emergency management, and preparedness activities, including emergency operations plan (EOP) development.

The objectives of this 60-minute Webinar are to:

  • Demonstrate the importance of a collaborative planning team, as outlined in Step 1 of the six-step planning process detailed in the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans.
  • Discuss the role that special educators play in implementing the National Preparedness System mission areas before, during, and after an emergency.
  • Reinforce how special educators can enhance EOP development and serve as key stewards in the behavioral threat assessments, continuity of operations, recovery, and more.
  • Share relevant resources to be used by special educators and core planning teams.

Register on the REMS TA Center Website to participate in the Webinar!

Presenters

  • Maryland Department of Health
    • Dr. Toni Beckett, School Administrative Coordinator
  • REMS TA Center
    • Janelle Hughes, Project Director

Questions

Contact the REMS TA Center Help Desk at 1-855-781-REMS [7367] or info@remstacenter.org from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday. Can’t make the live event? This Webinar will be archived on the REMS TA Center’s Website within 7 business days.

MADSEC Names 2023 Special Education Honorees of the Year

Maine Administrators of Services for Children with Disabilities (MADSEC) has announced its 2023 Honorees of the Year working in the field of Special Education in Maine schools.

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) joins MADSEC in congratulating these individuals on their recent honor as well as thanking all the professionals who work in the field of special education supporting students.
MADSEC will be honoring the awardees at their annual Directors’ Academy in June.
To learn more about MADSEC and these awards visit their website: https://www.madsec.org/ 

2023 Summer Symposium on Inclusive Practices for Students with Autism and Developmental Disabilities

Join the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) Division of Autism and Developmental Disabilities (DADD) groups face-to-face at UMaine Orono or join via Zoom on July 21st from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm for a full day of inclusion-building topics in education centered around two strands of learning- 1) access to the curriculum and 2) quality of life. There are multiple ways of joining and learning. Get more information and register HERE now!

Contact hours are available. For more information please reach out to Anica Miller Rushing anica.miller.rushing@maine.edu.

Webinar McKinney-Vento Program 101 – May 30th 3:30 – 4:30 pm

Join MAIER and Maine’s Department of Education’s Amelia Lyons for a webinar on the McKinney-Vento program. This session will provide an overview of the act that allows each state to provide a program to assist students with their rights when they are experiencing unstable housing situations.  Participants will learn about student rights including the rights to immediate school enrollment even when records not present, remaining in the school of origin, if in the student’s best interest, receiving transportation to and from the school of origin, and receiving support for academic success. Amelia Lyons will go over the McKinney-Vento Act, common misconceptions of the program requirements and ways educators and family members can help youth receive these services so that every student can have an opportunity for academic success. Registration is free but required.

When/Where: Online Zoom meeting (link provided once you register). Tuesday, May 30th, 3:30 – 4:30 pm

Come to the webinar (register here) and get your questions asked, but if you miss it, this webinar will be recorded and made available on the MAIER website within a few weeks after the event.

Contact hours are available. For more information please reach out to Anica Miller Rushing anica.miller.rushing@maine.edu.

New Series: Co-Teaching for Inclusion in Maine

Maine Access to Inclusive Education Resources (MAIER), a collaborative between the Maine Department of Education (DOE) Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education and the University of Maine, has a variety of professional learning opportunities for the field and is pleased to announce a new series of co-teaching supports for inclusive classrooms and schools.

Co-teaching is being implemented in schools across the nation to address the needs of all students in classrooms with the goal of creating more inclusive environments.   Co-teaching involves having a general education teacher and special service provider (e.g., special education teacher, Title I teacher, ELL specialist, speech/language pathologist) collaboratively planning, teaching, and assessing to ensure success of all students.

Dr. Wendy Murawski, national expert and author on co-teaching and CEO of 2Teach, has created Co-Teaching Modules for Maine.  These modules, titled Co-Teaching 101, provide professional learning for Maine educators addressing co-teaching, planning, and assessing learning options for your classrooms and school.   These asynchronous modules may be found at https://umaine.edu/maier/co-planning-101/.

Additionally, MAIER is providing a Co-Teaching Community of Practice facilitated and supported by MAIER’s Research Associate, Dr. Anica Miller Rushing, and 2Teach’s Dr. Melissa Jenkins.  The purpose of this CoP is to increase both general and special educators’ ability to use co-teaching to improve inclusion practices. The CoP starts meeting in May and you may register at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc4HBkVmuPIiJ3eaqoT0kj11ZcfaMJop9DfrvWpeG6OdYKzoA/viewform.

Contact hours are available.  To learn more about this programming, please contact Anica Miller Rushing at anica.miller.rushing@maine.edu.

Family & Caregiver Effective Dispute Resolution Information Session

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education and the Maine Parent Federation will host a Family & Caregiver Effective Dispute Resolution Information Session on May 9 from 11:30 am – 12:30 pm. The session will provide information about procedural safeguards, facilitated IEPs (Individualized Educational Plans), and dispute resolution options.

Date/Time: May 9 from 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Location: Virtually via Zoom
Join the information session here – There is no need to register for this info session, just click the link at the time of the session.

For more information about the session, please contact Maine DOE Due Process Coordinator, Leigh Lardieri, at leigh.lardieri@maine.gov.

Announcing: The L.I.F.E. Readiness Program Career Exploration Fair

The Maine Department of Education in collaboration with Maine educators, is excited to announce the L.I.F.E. Readiness Program Career Exploration Fair. This opportunity is for ALL our scholars with I.E.P.s to engage with hands-on career exploration activities designed to help students experience, learn, and develop an interest in their future career choices. Students can explore up to 10 career clusters at the career fair and complete transition-aligned activities and record self-directed assessments in their event “Passport.”

In turn, the “Passport”  support case managers in developing their scholars’ transition portfolio, thus informing the development of their transition services and plans, specifically section 9 and section 4 of the I.E.P.

This opportunity is part of the Maine Department of Education’s 2022 – 2023 Transition Tuesday Power Hour Series, a best practices forum to provide opportunities for our state educators and transition leaders to grapple with and actuate strategies and support for our scholars’ diverse needs and pathways to post-secondary opportunities. for more information about the Transition Tuesday Power Hour Series, contact Titus titus.orourke@maine.gov.