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The CEI MERIDIAN 2025 federally funded, professional learning conference will bring inspiring lectures and hands-on workshops to classroom teachers of grades K-2 students with IEPs (and K-2 General Education teachers) from across the country. Participants will gain an understanding of the effectiveness of utilizing an arts-integrated approach and learn four (4) highly differentiated, easy-to-implement projects in VISUAL ART and MUSIC that directly teach LITERACY (ELA) and MATH.

During the course of the conference, participants will learn music and visual art skills, concepts, and techniques as they discover how to customize and differentiate the CEI MERIDIAN  arts-integrated projects to meet the specific needs of their students with varying learning levels in heterogeneous classrooms. Overall, the curricula enables teachers to differentiate instruction at each step of every project in order to challenge every student at their level — from students working towards the standards with cognitive challenges to those performing on grade level with emotional challenges.

The literacy (ELA) projects through music and visual art address reading comprehension using nonfiction text, writing, vocabulary development, speaking, and listening skills. The math projects address geometry, including identification and matching of shapes, composite shapes, and partitioning.  Participants will also have access to the CEI MERIDIAN highly differentiated instructional materials, including curriculum maps, lesson plans, student worksheets, and classroom-implementation slide decks.

The impact of the CEI MERIDIAN program is measured by external evaluator Metis Associates and the program has yielded statisically significant results regarding increases in student and teacher outcomes.

Traducción  |  Translation

Brindaremos interpretación simultánea en español de todas las conferencias en la conferencia.
We will provide simultaneous Spanish interpretation of lectures at the conference.

The CEI MERIDIAN program is a five-year, professional learning program for teachers of K-5 self-contained classrooms of students with IEPs. CEI MERIDIAN utilizes an innovative arts integration approach, aligned with standards and skills, that incorporates six levels of differentiated instruction and utilizes VISUAL ART and MUSIC as effective instructional strategies to directly teach English Language Arts (literacy) and mathematics skills.

District partners include NYC School District 75, Rochester City School District, San Juan Educational Region, Baltimore City Public Schools, and Bridgeport Public Schools.

Overall, CEI MERIDIAN:

• produces arts-integrated, differentiated curricula that use visual art and music to directly teach ELA and  math;

• provides hands-on programming to K-5 teachers of students with IEPs, providing them with professional learning workshops, PLCs, project modeling videos, and teacher leader training;

• hosts arts education conferences for teachers nationally every summer; and

• creates a web-based resource library of arts-integrated, differentiated curricular materials to share with teachers nationally.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE CEI CONFERENCE OR TO
BRING CEI TO YOUR SCHOOL OR DISTRICT, PLEASE CONTACT
meridian@the-cei.org