Presenter: Andratesha Fritzgerald, Ed. S

Traditional behavior management in schools often prioritizes compliance and control while often failing to address the root causes of behavioral challenges, leaving administrators and educators stuck in reactive cycles. This session will challenge special education administrators to rethink behavior through the lens of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), shifting from a discipline-first approach to a proactive, instructional approach that supports engagement, self-regulation, and executive functioning. By identifying environmental barriers and implementing UDL-aligned strategies, administrators can foster more inclusive, predictable, and supportive learning spaces that reduce behavioral incidents and empower students. By attending, you’ll learn:

• Key environmental and instructional barriers that contribute to behavioral challenges.

• Turnkey UDL principles that can be applied to behavior support, moving beyond compliance to engagement.

• Concrete strategies for fostering student self-regulation and autonomy.

• Proven tools and conversation starters to support teachers in redesigning learning environments to better meet student needs.

Presenter: Katie Novak, Ph.D.

All teachers play a critical role in supporting students with disabilities, yet many new educators enter the field without the necessary tools to design instruction that removes barriers and fosters meaningful access to learning. Join Dr. Katie Novak in this session to explore how special education administrators can leverage the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to support new teachers—helping them proactively design instruction that works for students with the most significant support needs. Learn how to integrate UDL into teacher onboarding, provide practical resources to new teachers, and equip school leaders with tools to support all learners. During this session, you’ll gain:

• A deeper insight into the UDL framework and how Special Education Administrators can leverage it to empower all teachers to proactively design for students with disabilities

• Strategies, tools, and resources for embedding UDL into district onboarding plans and ongoing professional development to set new teachers up for success

• Guidance on using UDL look-fors to help administrators support and coach teachers in implementing inclusive instructional practices

Presenter: Kendra Yoch, Esq.

AI has rapidly entered education on multiple fronts: teachers are using it to create lesson plans and IEPs, students are leveraging it for essays and research, and districts are implementing it for student monitoring and communication translation. While AI tools offer tremendous benefits, they also present significant legal and compliance risks—particularly in special education—including potential violations of FERPA, IDEA, Section 504, and Titles VI, VII, and IX. As with previous technological innovations, AI implementation in schools has outpaced policy development and staff training, compounding these risks. This webinar addresses how to help navigate these potential hazards of AI in educational settings, with an emphasis on special education programs, and equips leaders with strategies to develop effective policies and practices for responsible AI use. By attending, you'll learn to:

• Identify special education and other district policy updates to address the use of AI tools

• Determine critical training needed for different staff members related to the effective, ethical, and legal use of AI tools

• Develop practices to evaluate AI tools

• Respond to concerns from parents and other stakeholders related to the use of AI tools

Presenter: Ruth Templeton

Many special education administrators face the challenge of ensuring that co-teaching is truly collaborative and inclusive. Too often, the general educator designs the lesson while the special educator only supports its delivery, missing key opportunities to leverage Universal Design for Learning (UDL) during the planning process. This webinar introduces “Journey Mapping,” a strategic planning protocol that special education leaders can use to bring general and special educators together early in the lesson design phase. Journey Mapping helps co-teaching become co-designing, ensuring a more accessible and equitable learning environment for all students. Special education leaders will leave this session with actionable learnings they can turnkey to their teams, including how to:

• Use UDL as a shared language for instructional design between general and special educators

• Apply Journey Mapping to identify where all students need more options for access, engagement, and agency

• Pinpoint where students with disabilities require accessible educational materials (AEM), assistive technology (AT), or specially-designed instruction (SDI)

Presenter: Elizabeth Bettini, Ph.D. and Dr. LaRon Scott 

Special education administrators face a persistent challenge in recruiting and retaining qualified teachers to meet the diverse needs of students with disabilities. One powerful way to address this critical shortage is intentional collaboration between school districts and teacher preparation programs. In this strategic session, administrators will be equipped with proven partnership models designed to build, diversify, and sustain your special education teacher workforce. Through research-backed approaches and practical implementation strategies, participants will discover how targeted collaboration can transform recruitment challenges into sustainable staffing solutions. By attending this session, you’ll walk away with multiple models of effective district-university partnership that address your most pressing staffing needs, including:

• Strategies for designing Grow-Your-Own and residency programs that cultivate local talent pools

• Implementation guidelines for aligning preparation program content with district-specific requirements and hard-to-staff positions

• Actionable approaches to collaboratively enhance retention of new special education teachers

Presenter: Janae Duclos, Ph.D.

Transition planning is a pivotal aspect of special education, ensuring students with disabilities are well-prepared for life beyond high school. In this comprehensive session tailored for special education administrators, we delve into actionable strategies to enhance transition plans, foster robust interagency collaboration, and empower both students and their families. Participants will gain insights into best practices, legal mandates, and data-driven methodologies aimed at elevating post-secondary outcomes. By attending this session, special education administrators will walk away with:

• Turnkey Strategies to Craft Compliant and Impactful Transition Plans

• Must-know legal imperatives under IDEA to maintain compliance while promoting genuine student involvement

• Practical techniques to improve collaborative efforts and build effective partnerships among schools, families, vocational agencies, and community organizations

• Proven methods to champion career readiness initiatives and implement experiential work-based learning opportunities

Presenter: Brandon Wright, Esq.

The ultimate goal of IEP teams and educators throughout a student’s academic journey is to set them up for lifelong success and provide suitable transition services. Yet, when not properly planned and executed, transition efforts can quickly become legal battlegrounds. In this session, school attorney Brandon K. Wright will help demystify the legal landscape of transition planning by spotlighting key legal requirements and best practices through the lens of agency guidance and case law from around the country. You’ll gain useful information you can share with your IEP teams to make effective plans that help your students transition to post-secondary education, work, and independent living. By attending this session, you’ll learn:

• Often overlooked legal requirements and best practices for transition assessments

• How courts and hearing officers have viewed the sufficiency of schools’ transition efforts

• The link between transition services and assistive technology

• Turnkey methods to keep your transition planning future-oriented and results-driven

Presenter: Kate Martin

Special education administrators are often tasked with addressing the "gap" between students with IEPs and their peers. However, this gap is rooted in another—the distance between a student and their opportunities during and after school. While the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) emphasizes reducing restrictions, adding more services and supports can unintentionally limit access to the least restrictive environment (LRE). In this thought-provoking session, we’ll revisit the principles of IDEA and the concept of LRE, equipping you with strategies to foster meaningful conversations with educators and families. Together, we’ll explore strategies that honor the intent of IDEA and empower your team to close opportunity gaps effectively. You’ll walk away with:

• Turnkey, high-impact exercises for your team to deepen understanding of LRE.

• Proven strategies for shifting the conversation around "gap closure" to address fundamental challenges.

• Key insights into reframing the way educators talk about services and restrictions.

• Tips to improve LRE collaboration between general and special educators.

Presenter: Alefia Mithaiwala, Esq

Do you or your staff often receive prescription pad notes from doctors “prescribing” Section 504 for students? Join school attorney Alefia Mithaiwala, Esq. in this insightful session, where you’ll learn how your Section 504 teams can address such notes with parents, how to take those medical diagnoses and outside medical provider input into account, and still conduct meaningful and legally compliant Section 504 eligibility determinations. During this session, you’ll gain:

• Practical strategies for addressing those Section 504 “prescriptions”

• Step-by-step clarity on Section 504 eligibility criteria and the referral process

• Real-world guidance on the legal requirements for proper Section 504 evaluations

• Turnkey solutions for engaging with parents about section 504 “prescriptions” from medical providers

Presenter: Betsey Helfrich, Esq and Tiffiney Smith

Writing Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) that truly support student success while meeting legal requirements can be a complex challenge. As a special education administrator, coaching your team to excel in this critical task requires effective strategies and practical tools.

In this transformative workshop, special education attorney Betsey Helfrich and special education consultant Tiffiney Smith will introduce a step-by-step approach to coaching your teachers in crafting high-quality, legally compliant IEPs in 2025 and beyond. Their proven method ensures every IEP component—Present Levels, Goals, and Instruction—is legally compliant and aligned for coherence, collaboration, and improved outcomes for students with disabilities. In this engaging and actionable session, you will:

• Master the "Golden Thread" concept and learn how to connect all parts of the IEP for clarity, coherence, and compliance.

• Learn a quick and easy test you can teach your staff to ensure they’re writing meaningful Present Levels statements.

• A specific framework your educators can use to ensure all goals address individual student needs and align with state standards.

• Take away key insights from recent rulings and how they impact IEP drafting and compliance.

• Discover practical strategies to use data in progress monitoring for meaningful adjustments that drive student success.

Presenter: Jose Martín, Esq.

Following a parent's participation in an IEP team meeting, the IDEA mandates that they receive Prior Written Notice (PWN) for every proposed action or denial made by the team. This notice must specify areas that include the rationale behind the decision, the evidence used, and any alternative options considered. Unfortunately, PWNs often lack the essential information or are used incorrectly, leaving school districts vulnerable to legal conflicts. In this session, education attorney Jose Martín will shed light on the commonly overlooked aspects of PWNs for special education administrators. By participating, you’ll leave with a better understanding of:

• Useful techniques your team can use to complete PWNs that include the most meaningful content in the least amount of words

• Plug-and-play systems outlining who should complete the PWNs and when they should be drafted

• Real-life scenarios and case law providing fresh insights on effective PWNs

Presenter: Susan Shapiro

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a powerful framework for classroom instruction, and it can even be used for more than classroom instruction in districts that fully implement the framework. ‌In this session, we explored how special education administrators can help their teams leverage UDL as a lens for improving the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meeting process. How might we design IEP meetings to be more inclusive and accessible? How might we design IEP meetings to honor and build the agency of students with disabilities and their families/caregivers? Join us to learn practical strategies your staff can use to:

• Design more than one way for families/caregivers to understand and contribute to the conversation about their child

• Design more than one way for students with disabilities to participate and/or lead conversations about their learning

• Make all IEP-related documents and resources fully accessible

• Consider how three themes of the updated UDL Guidelines (3.0) resonate with your IEP process: 1) identity is part of variability; 2) bias is a barrier; 3) one mode of action and/or expression is not more valuable than any other mode.

Presenter: Alefia Mithaiwala, Esq.

It’s well known that the IDEA requires students to be educated with nondisabled peers, to the “maximum extent appropriate.” ‌But how exactly should your IEP teams determine the “maximum extent appropriate?” Join school attorney Alefia Mithaiwala, Esq. in this insightful session, where she demystified the LRE requirements, uncovered common challenges that arise when moving students to more restrictive settings, and shared strategies for avoiding legal pitfalls. You’ll gain key insights through real-world case studies, including a recent case successfully litigated by Attorney Mithaiwala, to strengthen your team’s ability to make informed, defensible placement decisions. During this session, you’ll:

• Gain clarity on the IDEA’s LRE requirements and how your team should apply them to create legally sound IEPs

• Learn key insights from case studies that highlight successful navigation of the LRE continuum

• Walk away with practical strategies for defending your district’s FAPE offers when challenged

Presenter: Kate Martin

Co-teaching is a widely used and high-leverage approach to delivering specially designed instruction to students with disabilities in the least-restrictive environment. Yet all too often there are barriers to effective co-teaching, and its full potential isn’t realized.‌ In this session, presented by Kate Martin, we examined a key paradigm shift and discuss how special education leaders can facilitate the structures and conditions necessary for successful, collaborative teaching. Along the way, we considered how to balance priorities, build collaborative teams, and increase collective efficacy. By watching, you’ll walk away with:

• Proven models for co-teaching you can turnkey to your district 

• Practical guidelines your team can use to match models with classroom contexts

• Insights into the underlying issues that get in the way of effective co-teaching and tips to move beyond these barriers

• Methods for your team to uncover and resolve conflicting priorities when co-teaching

Presenter: Betsey Helfrich, Esq.

Students who are eligible under Section 504 and the IDEA have more protections when they get school discipline. However, these protections often feel unclear and complicated, leaving many unanswered questions. In this session, special education attorney Betsey Helfrich breaks down the complicated rules surrounding student discipline and takes a deep dive into the manifestation determination review process. This presentation answers some of your most burning questions and walks you through a turnkey process, including determining when to meet. You’ll also walk away with proven tips to get key stakeholders to the process and how to ensure your team is holding a legally-compliant meeting. By watching, you’ll learn:

• The specific timelines and the nuances for when to conduct a manifestation determination meeting 

• How to troubleshoot difficult discussions in manifestation determination meetings

• Practical ways to determine if student behavior is related to their disability 

• Key insights from recent case law to gain a deeper understanding of this area of the law

Presenter: Janae Duclos, Ph.D. 

Transition planning for students with disabilities is ever-changing and always comes with critical challenges. From ensuring compliance with legal requirements to fostering self-determination skills and facilitating effective collaboration among stakeholders, transition planning is a complicated and nuanced chapter in the special education journey. In this session, Janae Duclos, Ph.D., will empower you with proven tools, strategies, and insights you can turnkey to your team to remove some of the stress and help create more inclusive and successful transition plans that support students’ smooth journey towards post-secondary education, employment, and independent living. During this session, you’ll:

• Get the latest evidence-based strategies and best practices for developing effective transition plans that address individual student needs

• Learn turnkey practices for collaborating with stakeholders, including students, families, educators, and community partners, to create compliant and comprehensive transition plans

• Discover innovative approaches and resources to enhance student engagement, self-determination, and goal setting throughout the transition planning process

• Reflect on real-life scenarios to apply your learning and problem-solve complex transition planning situations

Presenter: Brandon Wright, Esq.

One of the key procedural safeguards available to parents under the IDEA is the ability to request an independent educational evaluation. With increasing litigation in this area, what should you do, and don’t do, when a parent requests an IEE? What is the extent of parental rights in this area? How can (or must) districts respond upon receiving such a request? Join Brandon K. Wright, special education counsel to boards of education and school districts, as he reviews what the law requires of school districts, how to manage requests, and—perhaps most importantly—what to do once you receive a report from an outside evaluator. In this session, you’ll learn:

• The key things you must be prepared to do upon receipt of a request for an IEE

• The essential parameters for IEE requests

• The necessary requirements for considering the results of an IEE

• Practical turnkey methods you can use to navigate and manage IEEs

Presenter: Chris Bronke, Ed.D.

As inclusion rates grow, the varied needs of the tier-one classroom grow, too. With the increase in tier-one classroom size, it can be challenging to ensure every student with an IEP receives the support they need while in the least restrictive environment. Co-teaching is one solution because it supports a more robust inclusionary model that allows students with IEPs to meet their minutes while being in the least restrictive environment. However, utilizing co-teaching with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can be even more effective because it empowers pairs of teachers to play off of one another’s strengths to best support ALL students’ learning needs, whether they have an IEP or not. If you’re striving to improve the quality of instruction for your students with IEPs in the least restrictive environment, this session is for you. By watching, you’ll learn:

• Specific ways in which UDL can support co-teaching pairs in their planning, instruction, and assessment.

• How co-teaching with UDL can remove as many barriers as possible, for as many students as possible

• Practical ways to integrate UDL into co-teaching environments

• Turnkey resources to take to your co-teaching pairs

Presenter: Christie Schutz Vincelli, Ed.D.

One of the challenges of designing individualized education plans is having the ability to analyze diagnostic data and assessments to select IEP goals and objectives. With a national focus on using data to drive instruction, diagnostic data, as well as additional assessments, should be considered not only for selecting IEPs and objectives but also for progress monitoring those goals and objectives. This ensures that not only are the correct areas being targeted on an individual basis, but also that there is progress monitoring to support student progress or lack thereof to guide IEP development and changes. In this session, you will learn:

• Key principles of data validation and data triangulation

• Turnkey methods to utilize a diagnostic as a baseline and select additional assessments as needed

• Practical tactics your teachers can implement to utilize data to inform goals and objectives and guide instruction

Presenter: Brandon K. Wright, Esq.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, many administrators are encountering a challenging predicament—how do you navigate the world of AI in K–12 education while facing the unique and formidable legal challenges of special education? In this session, Brandon Wright, Esq., will walk you through the emerging legal information you need to know in order to keep pace with the evolving world of AI and compliance. By attending, you'll learn:

• How AI is transforming opportunities for students with disabilities and what legal considerations you should keep in mind throughout the transformation.

• Pitfalls to avoid as AI begins to impact decisions about student services, instruction, and discipline.

• Key things to evaluate to maintain compliance with the IDEA, FERPA, and copyright laws as your teams start to utilize AI tools.

• How AI is creating challenges for special educators and IEP teams and what you can do to help navigate those challenges.

Presenter: Anne E. Mickey, Esq.

AI has made its way into classrooms before we’ve had a chance to fully understand what it is, how it works, and how it can support K–12 education. Amidst this whirlwind, special education administrators find themselves grappling with unprecedented legal intricacies. In this session, Anne Mickey, Esq., will uncover essential insights to help safeguard your district from the legal quagmire of AI in special education and navigate the future with more confidence and clarity. By attending, you’ll learn:

• Potential positive and negative effects of incorporating artificial intelligence into special education processes.

• Considerations to help assess whether AI platforms and technologies can be utilized in a manner that will comply with your district’s obligations to maintain the confidentiality of personally identifiable student information; and

• Guiding principles for the types of policies and/or procedures your department should consider adopting regarding the use of AI platforms and technologies in special education.

Presenter: Andrew Wall, Ph.D.

As administrators, we want to plan for everything but often have so much on our plates that it can be challenging to clarify what work is moving the needle vs. what work is pulling us away from our core initiatives. An effective and proven way to solve this is by creating and incorporating a tailored logic model into your work. In this session, you’ll be guided through a proven process to develop a strong logic model for your department that will frame your theory of action into one simple visual representation that you can use as a guiding document and tool to inform your work and communicate it to all stakeholders. By attending this session, you’ll learn:

• The power of logic models and how other education departments have used them to align on initiatives, identify key results, and allocate appropriate resources and activities to ensure the projects are completed

• The key components of an effective logic model and how you can identify them for your own department

• A turnkey logic model framework that you can complete for your own department to build coherence across your staff and focus results

• Proven communication tips that you can use to leverage your logic model and garner support when talking with superintendents, school board members, staff, and other key stakeholders

Presenter: Brandon Wright, Esq.

IDEA’s due process protections for student discipline have always been one of the most complex areas in special education law. With the rising national trend of the frequency and severity of behavioral issues, the challenges have never been greater when it comes to some disciplinary removals. The procedural protections are complex, and missteps can have serious ramifications for a local educational agency. In this session, special education attorney Brandon K. Wright, Esq. will provide practical insights into the IDEA’s student discipline procedures during these more challenging times. You will learn:

• What counts as a removal? Full day? 1 hour? Bus suspension?

• When does a removal equal a change in placement?

• When is an MDR needed?

• What is the difference between a pattern of removals and a pattern of behavior?

• Considerations for student discipline and remote learning

Presenter: Elizabeth Bettini, Ph.D. and Ayana Bass, M.Ed

Special education teacher shortages have never been more challenging and the need for a diverse workforce to support students with disabilities is paramount to help all students succeed. A longstanding and growing body of robust research indicates a diverse workforce is beneficial for all students, especially for students of color. Special education is no different; hiring educators of color and sustaining them in the profession is crucial for improving the quality of special education services in our schools. In this session, Dr. Liz Bettini and Ayana Bass, M.Ed., will discuss how districts can collaborate with teacher preparation programs to attract and sustain a more racially diverse special education workforce. You’ll learn: 

• Underlying reasons our teacher workforce is disproportionately white 

• The evidence for why teachers of color are important 

• Collaborative, long-term strategies for attracting a more ethnoracially diverse special education workforce

• The crucial importance of providing supportive, racially, and culturally affirming working conditions for retaining special educators of color

Presenter: Alefia E. Mithaiwala, Esq.

Should this student be referred and evaluated under Section 504 or IDEA? Should Section 504 be considered a necessary step before making a referral for IDEA assessment? Conversely, is a Section 504 Plan a necessary “step down” when a student is no longer eligible under the IDEA? These are simple questions, but the answers are complex because one of the most confusing areas of special education law lies in the interplay of Section 504 and IDEA. In this session, special education attorney Alefia Mithaiwala, Esq., shares practical clarifications and guidelines of child find obligations under both the IDEA and Section 504 as well as compare and contrast eligibility determinations and the provision of FAPE under both laws. By watching this session, you’ll learn:

• How Section 504 and IDEA differ—and how they are similar—with respect to serving students with disabilities

• Key nuances about the criteria for eligibility under each law

• Defining case law that sheds light on how these two laws are ruled on in court

Presenter: Jose Martín, Esq.

The discipline of students under IDEA is a complex dynamic that requires collaboration between IEP teams and campus administrators to achieve compliance with legal requirements. In this session, special education attorney Jose Martín, Esq. will review the fundamental limiting doctrines of IDEA applicable to disciplinary removals, including limits on short-term disciplinary removals, the manifestation determination review (MDR) requirement for disciplinary changes in placement and long-term removals, dealing with accumulations of short-term removals, the role of In-School Suspension (ISS), special offenses under IDEA, and pre-eligibility discipline protections for students that may be IDEA-eligible. In addition, the session will address the options available to schools in dealing with challenging and serious behaviors, including Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBAs) and Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs), as well as extraordinary removal options, including hearing officer removals for dangerous behaviors and the potential for court injunctions. You’ll learn:

• Key public policies underlying the IDEA discipline rules

• How to approach the MDR requirement before disciplinary changes in placement

• Limitations on accumulations of short-term removals in a school year

• Situations where pre-eligibility discipline protections may apply

• The key role of FBAs and BIPs in managing student behavior

• Available options for challenging and serious behaviors, including extraordinary removal options

Presenter: Kristin Brooks, Ed.D.

Mindset is often the biggest barrier to inclusive and equitable systems, practices, and outcomes in our schools. In this session, Kristin Brooks, Ed. D., a leader of a technical assistance organization that supports inclusive practices, will share tried and true practices that you can implement to create a positive culture of inclusion and collective accountability. By attending this session, you’ll learn:

• How and why culture and mindset are the foundation of inclusion

• Practical tips for building an inclusive culture through policy, practices, and cohesive leadership

• How to address the experiences, beliefs, and actions that inform our mindsets and ultimately our results

• Tangible takeaways to initiate mindset shifts in support of inclusive and equitable school communities

Presenter: Christina Henagen Peer, Esq.

It never seems to get easier. Ever-changing regulations and policies combined with wide variances in staff levels of readiness make training your special educators to write legally defensible IEPs and effectively monitor progress a constant challenge. In this session, special education attorney, Christina Henagen Peer, Esq., will help prepare you to support your team in 2024. She will take a deep dive into the latest, most important concepts and practical approaches that your team can use to craft legally compliant IEP goals and measure student progress. You will also learn new ways to test for knowledge with hypothetical scenarios that you can review with your team. During this session, you will learn: 

• New insights into the core concepts and legal requirements you need to know as an administrator about the development of IEP goals and monitoring of student progress

• Practical strategies to use with your team to support them in developing legally compliant IEP goals and effectively measuring student progress

• How to analyze student progress and identify appropriate and legally defensible next steps once such data is analyzed

Presenters: Elizabeth Bettini, Ph.D.

Chronic shortages of special education teachers have long threatened schools’ capacity to serve all students with disabilities effectively, and high attrition rates exacerbate shortages. Resolving this enduring problem requires systemic strategies to (1) Understand what working conditions contribute towards special educator turnover, and (2) Improve those conditions to sustain special educators in their jobs. In this session, Dr. Liz Bettini, an associate professor and researcher who examines factors shaping the special education teacher workforce, discusses what key factors are contributing to attrition along with systemic approaches you can implement in your district to sustain and retain special educators. You’ll learn:

• Insights into the specific working conditions that are most essential for optimizing special education teacher retention

• Key misconceptions leaders often have about special educators’ working conditions and causation of how they correlate to retention

• Turnkey strategies you can use to gain a more accurate understanding of special educators’ working conditions in your district

• Helpful, high-leverage strategies for improving those working conditions that are most associated with sustaining and retaining special educators in your schools

Presenters: Jose Martín, Esq.

With the ever-increasing complexities of Dyslexia programs, navigating the intersection between general education and IDEA is an increasing challenge for special education administrators. In this session, special education attorney Jose Martín, Esq. will provide practical takeaways you can use to navigate this intersection, including implications for IDEA child-find and eligibility, legal considerations when using RTI/MTSS, and how to conduct defensible Dyslexia/SLD evaluations. Additionally, Jose will review representative caselaw from across the U.S. to illustrate how real-life disputes over Dyslexia are addressed in the courts. By attending this session, you’ll learn:

• How to avoid common pitfalls when Dyslexia and IDEA eligibility intersects

• Turnkey guidance and best practices on assessing for Dyslexia/SLD

• How to incorporate protocols for Dyslexia instruction for legally defensible IEPs

• Important nuances of progress monitoring of Dyslexia reading programs

• The proper role of early intervention in both IDEA child-find and evaluation

Presenters: Robert Avossa, Ed.D. and Dana Zorovich-Godek, Ed.D.

Superintendents value data-driven results, and special education administrators have access to ample data. However, sharing a narrative that effectively communicates the full impact of the work to improve outcomes for SWDs to superintendents, cabinet members, and boards is remarkably challenging. In this session, Dr. Avossa, seasoned superintendent, and Dr. Godek, policy strategist, will provide valuable insights and strategic communication best practices to help you navigate politics and move the needle in your department. By attending this session, you’ll walk away with an action plan for clear, concise messaging and learn:

• Practical approaches to messaging with senior executives that elevate key issues for increased decision-making power

• How to understand and apply the difference between FYI and Strategic communications

• How to align special education goals to the direction of your district

• The science behind district politics 

• Turnkey tips for coaching your teams

Presenter: Kate Martin

If you build a classroom for the average student, how many students have you built it for? Is an “inclusion” classroom actually inclusive? The answers to these questions are rooted in research on supporting variability, engagement, and the effect of school climate. This session will focus on helping provide special education leaders with practical and research-based approaches to supporting teachers in developing and refining the mindsets and practices that engage, challenge, and support all students. In this session, you’ll learn:

• Turnkey, high-leverage activities that you can redeliver to your educators

• The critical shifts to improve the mindset, climate, and practices that accelerate equity and belonging

• Effective ways you can help your educators harness the power of safety, language, and perception to maximize instructional impact

Presenter: Kate Martin

Nearly half a century into implementing “quality access to education for children with disabilities,” there is still much work to do. One reason so much work remains is that we may be trying to solve the problem at a high level when the solutions lie at the foundational level in the root causes and persistent barriers that still exist. In this session, you’ll gain:

• New insights to the major pitfalls of “inclusion” implementation

• Methods for moving beyond LRE data and pseudo inclusion to meaningful inclusion

• Practical strategies to build shared ownership of meaningful inclusion with your general education colleagues

Presenter: Allison Posey

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a proven framework to improve specially designed instruction and inclusivity for special education students. Yet, implementing this powerful framework in classrooms is challenging. In this webinar, Allison Posey helps you dive deeper into UDL and shows you how you can help your special education teachers align their practice with the latest brain science to meet the diverse needs of all learners. By watching this session, you'll learn:

• Insights and research on how UDL reduces learning barriers and increase engagement, representation, and expression for all students

• Practical strategies to help you implement and improve UDL best practices in your district to support students with disabilities

• Efficient ways your educators can create learning experiences that challenge and inspire every student to unlock their full potential

Presenter: Allison Posey

Modern brain research shows that when special education students are engaged, they learn better. However, special education teachers often find it challenging to plan and deliver specially designed instruction that truly engages individual students. In this session, Allison Posey—a curriculum and design specialist at CAST and author of Engage the Brain: How to Design for Learning That Taps into the Power of Emotion— shows you how you can help your special education teachers leverage emotion, one of the key components of engagement, to deliver more effective instruction that is aligned to an IEP. Throughout this session, you’ll learn:

• How to help special education teachers understand the unique role emotions play in learning and how they can use knowledge to enhance opportunities for your special education students

• What teachers need to know about the fundamentals of how the brain learns and instructional strategies that have been proven to make a real impact on student learning

• How to help your special education teachers clarify learning goals, make them relevant, and connect them to authentic experiences to activate students’ physiology and engage their brains

Presenter: John Comegno, Esq.

In Perez v Sturgis, the Supreme Court made a stunning decision to up-end decades of law requiring parents to first bring student disability legal claims against districts through state-administered Due Process Hearings. Parents were not permitted to file ADA or Section 504 disability discrimination lawsuits in federal or civil courts until IDEA Due Process procedures were “exhausted.”

But no longer. In Perez, the Supreme Court ruled that parents may now go directly to federal court to seek money damages by asserting discrimination claims under the ADA or Section 504, regardless of whether IDEA Due Process is sought.

In this timely webinar exclusively designed for special education administrators, school law litigator and law professor, John Comegno, Esq., explains how this ruling impacts your legal exposure and what you can do about it. You’ll learn:

• Whether this surprising change in law exposes school administrators to individual, money damages?

• Should district special education and Section 504 procedures change in light of this new risk?

• When facing “dual track” claims, what must be addressed in mediation and settlement agreements?

• Practical suggestions to be immediately turn-keyed, to reduce school and administrator liability, today.

Presenter: Nathan Levenson

All 50 states report a shortage of special educators and the pandemic made a bad situation worse. Being a special educator has always been a hard job, and two years of remote/hybrid learning has pushed some staff to the breaking point and next year’s acceleration plans will further tax staff. In this session, Nate Levenson shares practical and impactful strategies to make the work of special educators, school psychs, and related service staff easier, more rewarding, and more impactful even if schools have fewer special educators than they need. You’ll learn:

• How general education can help lighten the load of special education

• How to allow staff to play to their strengths

• How to streamline meetings and paperwork so staff have more time with students and less time working nights and weekends

• How to make working in multiple schools less stressful

Presenter: Andratesha Fritzgerald, Ed.S.

The typical structure of traditional special education communications often miss some of the needs of a diverse family population, and it’s likely having a negative impact on the way your students are served in your schools. To properly design communications with families for things like IEP meetings and progress reports, we need to look at a new way of communicating and ensure each communication is inclusive, culturally responsive, and engaging for both the learners and their families. In this session, Andratesha Fritzgerald provides you with practical ways to:

• Design student- and family-centered communications in your district using principles of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

• Evolve the way your special education department creates progress reports for students with special needs to ensure they’re inclusive and culturally responsive

• Help your special education teachers leverage their communications to ignite family and student agency and input

Presenter: Brandon Wright, Esq.

We know that disproportionality in restrictive placements creates a negative impact on equity and outcomes, but how can special education leaders make progress to address this complex problem?

The evaluation and re-evaluation procedures of the IDEA are an essential framework upon which FAPE and the creation of an appropriate IEP rests, but how do you guide staff members to use the evaluation and re-evaluation data effectively in an IEP? In this session, School Attorney Brandon K. Wright provides you with effective ways to help your staff turn compliant evaluations into model IEPs: from present levels to goals to progress monitoring. You’ll learn:

• Tips to help your staff effectively use the evaluation process to plan for the eventual drafting of the IEP, both for an initial and re-evaluation

• Recent and important court and agency guidance that indicates how the evaluation process serves as the foundation of the IEP

• Practical steps to help your staff craft specially-designed instruction based on a sound evaluation or re-evaluation

Presenter: Sowmya Kumar

We know that disproportionality in restrictive placements creates a negative impact on equity and outcomes, but how can special education leaders make progress to address this complex problem?

The answer lies in understanding the foundational causes in your district and knowing what efforts you can take as a special education leader to address them. In this session, Sowmya Kumar will help you analyze your practices and help identify more effective and efficient ways to address over-representation in a systematic and sustainable way. By attending this session, you’ll learn:

• The most critical data points and planning steps to focus on as a leader to address causes and contributing factors

• Strategies, policies, and systems of support that lead to more equitable access in the least restrictive environment and improved outcomes for all students

• Examples of continuous improvement plans and how you can create your own as a district leader

Presenter: Judy Heumann

In this unique session of the Spotlight Series for Special Education Administrators, we had an open conversation with Judith Heumann, an internationally recognized leader for disability rights, special education, and civil rights. In 1975, Judy helped write the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which was reauthorized in 1990 as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Later, she was instrumental in enacting Section 504. She also served as the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the Department of Education. Judy became the first Special Advisor for International Disability Rights at the U.S. Department of State and starred in the documentary “Crip Camp” (Winner of the 2020 Documentary Award at the Sundance Film Festival). Judy is also the author of two books: Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist and Rolling Warrior: The Incredible, Sometimes Awkward, True Story of a Rebel Girl On Wheels Who Helped Spark a Revolution. Throughout our conversation, we touched on key lessons Judy has learned through her vast experience and gleaned impactful ways to support and advocate for students with disabilities.

Presenter: Anne E. Mickey, Esq.

When your IEP team outlines the accommodations, supports, services, and placement they anticipate the student will require in order to accomplish their goals, they have the best intentions in mind.  But even the most comprehensive and creatively drafted IEPs can create legal exposure for school districts if the IEP fails to effectively communicate how a special education program must be implemented by responsible school personnel. In this webinar, School Attorney Anne Mickey will highlight common areas within an IEP where imprecise or ambiguous language can create significant problems for IEP implementation. As a special education administrator, you’ll walk away with:

• An understanding of pitfalls in the IEP relating to IEP goal progress monitoring, accommodation frequency, and service delivery

• Practical tips on IEP drafting that set the stage for more compliant implementation

• IEP monitoring strategies that will help staff foster a culture of consistent IEP implementation

Presenter: Andratesha Fritzgerald, Ed.S.

If you’re looking for effective ways your teachers can foster genuinely equitable and inclusive learning environments, then this session is for you. Andratesha Fritzgerald starts by exploring how behavioral expectations can create equitable and inclusive learning environments. We examine the power of choice, empowerment, and the restorative practices as intentionally antiracist actions will equip teachers and providers with insight that invites all students to powerful positions by honoring their identity, culture, and learning needs. You’ll learn:

• The definitions of honor and power in a K–12 context

• How to evaluate power-filled choices and examine the implications of power in equitable access to learning

• How to create a community of educators and providers who are conscious of how to use power to honor all learners

• How to co-create behavioral expectations and reduce and eliminate culturally assaultive practices.

Presenter: Nathan Levenson

In this session, Nathan Levenson shares three common-sense, yet not commonplace, strategies for helping students with disabilities catch up academically. Pre-pandemic, these shifts helped close the general education – special education achievement gap by 40 points in some districts and drove 2 years of growth in just one year in others. Coincidentally, it’s what many students need post-pandemic as well. By watching this session, you’ll learn:

• How to ensure students with disabilities in your district receive high-quality core instruction

• Why extra time to learn is critical

• How you can engage your general education counterparts to help students with disabilities catch up

• How to identify the most appropriate staff to provide extra help in reading, writing, and math

• Two common strategies that many special education administrators use that might hurt more than help

Presenter: Katie Novak, Ph.D.

Many students face barriers that prevent them from accessing grade-level instruction and opportunities to learn with their peers. To ensure classrooms are more equitable and inclusive, we need to build educators’ skillset in inclusive practices, but inclusive practices are often seen as competing initiatives (e.g. Universal Design for Learning (UDL), social-emotional learning (SEL), trauma-informed instruction, culturally responsive pedagogy, and differentiated instruction). If educators see these are separate initiatives, they’ll likely feel overwhelmed. In this session, Katie Novak will show you how to frame these practices under the single umbrella of inclusive practice to help ensure first, best instruction for all learners. Special education administrators will:

• Learn more about inclusive practices and how they impact first, best instruction

• Examine numerous analogies to explain to colleagues how inclusive practices work together

• Brainstorm how to share the connection of inclusive practices in your school or district using the principles of UDL

Presenter: Anne E. Mickey, Esq.

As the hallmark document for showing a school district’s compliance with the IDEA, a student’s IEP is naturally the central focus of most special education litigation. Based on her experience reviewing thousands of IEPs and representing school districts in IDEA litigation, School Attorney Anne Mickey will share valuable insights and processes you can implement to create a systemic approach for reviewing IEPs in your district. You’ll learn:

• Practical solutions to improve your district’s IEP process and drafting decisions to reduce special education litigation

• Tips and processes to identify IEP procedural compliance gaps

• How to audit for a legally defensible IEP that reduces your district’s exposure to litigation

Presenter: Jose Martín, Esq.

How often have you seen special education cases result in monetary damages being awarded? That may be changing. In the past, cases involving special education students primarily focused on denials of FAPE and obtaining educational remedies for IDEA violations. More recently, however, parents of students with special needs are suing schools in federal courts for money damages under Section 504. In this session, School Attorney Jose Martín reviews the three main sources of these cases: disability harassment, retaliation, and serious FAPE violations that may involve injuries to a child. As a special education administrator, you’ll learn:

• Useful lessons on how your district can avoid these situations and the resulting potentially damaging cases

• How your administration should respond in tandem with your IEP teams to reports of disability-based harassment

• How you should train your administration and IEP teams to promptly investigate and take action when staff act improperly with respect to students with disabilities

• How to prevent retaliation claims from arising after parents engage in protected advocacy actions

Presenter: Jose Martín, Esq.

An increasingly vexing problem for special education administrators is the dilemma of students with disabilities who are excessively absent from school or resistant to school work. The problem inherently impacts the students’ progress and is challenging to address. In this session, School Attorney Jose Martín will provide actionable takeaways about:

• Common decision-making pitfalls made in the IEP process for school-avoidant students that administrators should regularly look for

• How specially designed instruction will look different for school-avoidant students than traditional academic assistance

• Ideas administrators can implement for IEP goals to address attendance and work refusal

• The role of counseling and behavior intervention plans

• The role of truancy actions under state laws

Presenter: Katie Novak, Ph.D.

Do you ever wonder if you’re measuring the right things for your special education department? With so much paperwork and pressure, it’s easy to feel like the outputs are the focus rather than outcomes, and you’re not alone! In this session, Katie Novak walks you through an effective step-by-step process you can use to help your department design for outcome data—not output data—that includes new approaches to focus groups with teachers, survey data from parents, and changes in eligibility or referrals based on updated procedures. You’ll learn how to:

• Design action plans with clear outcome data, data cycles, and communication plans to increase transparency and maximize outcomes

• Universally design improvement goals

• Compare and contrast outputs and outcome data

• Practice transforming goals to reflect outcomes instead of outputs using the principles of UDL

Presenter: Tracey Benson, Ph.D.

Every hour in schools, special educators make decisions that have consequences for students. Many of these decisions—often quick and instinctive—are unconsciously influenced by racial bias. In order to help all students succeed, it’s essential to help your special education team understand the phenomenon of unconscious bias, how it can show up in your schools, and how it can impact students. In this session, Dr. Tracey Benson will teach you effective methods you can use to help your special education staff:

• Analyze data to identify where bias is impacting student learning

• Use data to establish the conditions necessary to address unconscious bias

• Shift conversations among educators to a more productive, collegial approach to help normalize talking about race and bias amongst your team to help all students succeed

Presenter: Brandon K. Wright, Esq.

Do you feel like you could benefit from some fresh ways to make decisions around student behavior? If so, this session is for you. From IEPs to BIPs and FBAs, Attorney Brandon K. Wright will point out the red flags for special education leaders associated with the IDEA’s least restrictive environment requirement in the context of student behavior. You’ll learn:

• Insights into what the law and regulations say about behavior

• Recent court and hearing officer interpretations of the laws 

• How to use data in the decision-making process for IEP teams and how to ensure your teams are using data properly

• Practical guidance for special education leaders on how to navigate student behavior decisions

Presenter: Carol Kosnitsky

Do you feel like progress monitoring is a weak link when it comes to improving outcomes for your students with disabilities? If so, be sure to join this session. As an administrator, you’ll walk away with concrete strategies to expand your district’s capacity to track student growth and use data to improve student outcomes. After this session, you’ll be able to:

• Identify barriers to effective progress monitoring and tools to assess your district’s capacity

• Identify strategies to address tools and time

• Train and coach staff toward more effective progress monitoring

Presenter: Christina Henegan Peer, Esq.

Could you benefit from having more vetted strategies for handling “difficult” special education cases in your district — including those where a formal complaint has (or may soon be) filed? If so, register for this session where you’ll learn:

• Practical knowledge about potential “pitfalls” that can derail a special education case (and how to avoid them)

• Best practices for parent communication, record keeping, and procedural compliance

• Insights into important nuisances in the formal compliant mechanisms under IDEA

• How to strengthen data collection and record-keeping to best support the district’s case and demonstrate the provision of a free appropriate public education

• Tips and tricks for working with your district’s legal counsel

Presenter: Christina Henegan Peer, Esq.

The legal standard changed years ago, but is there an opportunity to further shift teacher practice and mindset to create more appropriately ambitious goals?

We can certainly help teachers create appropriately ambitious goals, but what qualifies as “appropriately ambitious,” and how do we know if we’re meeting the mark?

The answer lies in the evaluation team report (ETR), and in this session, we’ll explore how you can train staff members to leverage the ETR data to develop appropriately ambitious goals and data collection processes that will create a more comprehensive and impactful plan to address student needs. You’ll learn how to:

• Conduct truly comprehensive evaluations that clearly identify student needs

• Turn student needs into measurable goals that foster student success

• Leverage the vital link between evaluation, needs, goals, and progress monitoring

Presenter: Andratesha Fritzgerald, Ed.S.

Too often, the typical structure of an IEP meeting misses some of the needs of a diverse student population, and it’s likely having a negative impact on the way your students are served in your schools. In this session, we’ll explore the new way of conducting IEP meetings which ensure each meeting is inclusive, culturally responsive, and engaging for both the learners and their families. You’ll learn how to:

• Evaluate and challenge the traditional format of IEP meetings

• Design student- and family-centered meeting experiences with principles of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

• Igniting student agency and input within the IEP development phase

Presenter: Sowmya Kumar

Are you looking for a proven system to continually improve the quality of services your district provides for students with disabilities in a systemic and sustainable way? If so, register for this session where you’ll learn how to do that as well as:

• How to develop a measurable and continuous improvement plan based on needs

• How to implement, monitor, and evaluate the plan

• How systems and processes can lead to shared responsibility and accountability of stakeholders and staff

Presenter: Jeffrey Sprague, Ph.D.

Do you feel like your district’s FBA and BIP process could benefit from research-based practices around high-quality assessments, intervention design, and progress monitoring?

If so, this session is for you. Join us to discuss the best practices and concrete steps you can take back to your staff to transform assessments and support plans from all-too-often vague and subjective exercises to effective components of the IEP. You’ll learn: 

• The research supporting best practices in moving from FBA to BIP

• Best practices for the major functional assessment methods

• How to implement reliable, valid, and feasible progress monitoring and data-based decision-making practices

• How to generate an effective support plan from FBA summary statements

Presenter: Katie Novak, Ph.D.

As a Director of Special Education, designing instruction for students with needs is one thing, but getting your general education counterparts to collaboratively implement services and instructional supports aligned to the student’s IEP often presents a high hurdle. In this session, we discuss how you can facilitate conversations with your general education counterparts at the leadership level to better support all students with special needs in the LRE.

Key takeaways from this session include:

• An enhanced understanding of how Universal Design fits into a Multi-Tiered System of Support to meet the needs of all learners

• How to help shift mindsets and support colleagues with systems change to ensure all students’ needs are met

• The importance of using PLCs and data meetings to help facilitate change in the classroom

Presenter: Andratesha Fritzgerald, Ed.S.

If you’re looking for effective ways your teachers can foster genuinely equitable and inclusive learning environments, then this session is for you. 

We explore how equitable and inclusive learning environments are built on the choices of individuals and how your teachers and providers can leverage antiracism and Universal Design for Learning to invite all students to powerful positions. You’ll learn:

• The definitions of honor and power in a K–12 context

• How to evaluate power-filled choices and examine the implications of power in equitable access to learning

• How to create a community of educators and providers who are conscious of how to use power to honor all learners

Presenter: Sowmya Kumar

Would you like fresh ideas and processes for inclusive practices that are effective and consistent across all of your schools?

In this session, we explore innovative ways to create a district-wide system that does just that while saving you time and improving student outcomes. You’ll learn how to:

• Create an infrastructure of supports that build the capacity of teachers and leaders 

• Implement effective practices that benefit students in a proactive and preventive manner

• Strategically support all schools based on their data

• Collaboratively develop support plans to ensure each school receives the help it needs in a timely and personalized way

Presenter: Julie J. Weatherly, Esq.

As an administrator, have you ever wondered what other options you have when a student with disabilities presents dangerous or disruptive behavior? 

If so, review this session to gain new strategies for managing dangerous and/or severely disruptive students with disabilities. You’ll learn:

• Non-disciplinary strategies you can use to address dangerous and/or severely disruptive behaviors

• Interim alternative educational settings for students exhibiting dangerous or severely disruptive behaviors

• When IDEA’s “special circumstances” exist (which allows removal of a student)

Presenter: Katie Novak, Ph.D.

Inclusive practices are more than the physical placement of our students. Students with special needs are required to spend as much time as possible in the general education classroom, which begs the question: “How can we design general education in a way where students with moderate to severe support needs can have access to grade-level instruction in relevant, authentic, and meaningful ways?” We’ll answer that question in this session. Key takeaways from this session include:

• A deeper understanding of how Universal Design for Learning helps us meet the needs of all learners in an inclusive classroom

• How implementing UDL in the general education classroom reduces barriers for students with IEPs, allowing them to reach grade-level rigorous standards

• How Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction are different and where they are most useful 

Presenter: Julie J. Weatherly, Esq.

Discover new approaches to increase teacher capacity and develop higher-quality IEPs by avoiding substance and content errors, including how to use a simple but powerful two-pronged model that improves teacher self-efficacy in identifying IEP compliance issues. You’ll learn:

• The top IEP mistakes that special education teachers and providers should avoid

• The most common legal challenges made to IEP content (and how courts are ruling concerning those challenges)

• Strategies for avoiding the most common substantive and content mistakes to ensure IEP defensibility

Presenter: Carol Kosnitsky

If you want to shift teacher and parent mindsets from deficit- to strengths-based IEPs, then this session is for you. Join us to discuss the self-defeating practices common in IEP writing and gain fresh strategies to change conversations with teachers and parents so that you can move towards more effective strength-based IEPs. You’ll learn:

• The current research and literature on teacher efficacy, mindsets, and UDL that underpin strengths-based IEPs

• Strategies to change the IEP conversation and content from deficit- to strengths-based language

• Helpful tools and models to support changes in practice (before, during, and after the IEP meeting)