November 2022 - Special Educator e-Journal
Table of Contents
- Special Education Legal Alert. By Perry A. Zirkel
- Buzz from the Hub
- U.S. Department of Education Hosts Raising the Bar: Literacy & Math Series to Address Academic Recovery
- U.S. Department of Education Awards Nearly $120 Million Over Five Years to Support Educators of English Learner Students
- U.S. Department of Education Communicates Vision to Advance Digital Equity for All Learners
- A Case Study of Compounding Views of Paraprofessional Roles and Relationships in Preschool Classrooms: Implications for Practice and Policy. By Tiara Saufley Brown, Ph.D. and Tina Stanton-Chapman, Ph.D.
- The Scarlet Letter: Applying a Scaffolded Reading Intervention to Engage Reluctant Readers. By Emmett Neno
- Book Reviews:
- Latest Employment Opportunities Posted on NASET
- Acknowledgements
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Special Education Legal Alert
By Perry A. Zirkel
© October 2022
This month’s update identifies two recent court decisions addressing two IDEA issues—eligibility determinations and settlement-agreement waivers. For related publications and earlier monthly updates, see perryzirkel.com.
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Buzz from the Hub
All articles below can be accessed through login:
Early Childhood Reopening Resource Collection
This CPIR resource collection spotlights materials, videos, and webinars that early childhood programs throughout the country can use to guide their reopening efforts. The majority of the resources have been produced by the 5 early childhood centers funded by OSEP.
Webinar | Sharing Info about State Assessments with Families of Children with Disabilities (Also available in Spanish)
In February, CPIR teamed with NCEO to spotlight NCEO’s amazing new resource, the Participation Communications Toolkit. The highly customizable toolkit is designed for participants to use in discussing and making decisions about how children with disabilities participate in state assessments.
Webinar | Return to School: Development and Implementation of IEPs
This webinar focuses on important guidance from the U.S. Department of Education, entitled Return to School Roadmap: Development and Implementation of IEPs in the LRE. The guidance stresses the importance of revisiting the needs of students with disabilities as they return to classrooms.
Webinar | Providing Required Compensatory Services That Help Students with Disabilities in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
This webinar is a great way to learn when a school district must provide compensatory services under Section 504 and the IDEA to students with disabilities who did not receive the services?to which they were entitled due to the pandemic. How to do so is also discussed.
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U.S. Department of Education Hosts Raising the Bar: Literacy & Math Series to Address Academic Recovery
As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s ongoing efforts to support the academic recovery of students from the impact of the pandemic, the U.S. Department of Education will host five sessions focused on strategies and programs to boost student literacy and math outcomes.
These sessions will highlight strategies and best practices to help states, districts, and schools improve learning outcomes for students especially in literacy and mathematics. The series seeks to build engagement from the field; identify collaboration opportunities among research, practice, and funding; and lift best practices and resources for practitioners and policymakers to take action to address learning loss and academic recovery.
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U.S. Department of Education Awards Nearly $120 Million Over Five Years to Support Educators of English Learner Students
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) recently announced awards of nearly $120 million over five years under the National Professional Development Program (NPD) to support educators of English learner students.
The NPD program provides grants to eligible Institutions of Higher Education and public or private entities with relevant experience and capacity, in consortia with states or districts, to implement professional development activities that will improve instruction for English Learners (ELs). Following the education priorities of the Biden-Harris Administration as stated by Secretary Cardona, these grants align with his call to boldly address opportunity and achievement gaps by investing in, recruiting, and supporting the professional development of a diverse educator workforce, including bilingual educators so education jobs are ones that people from all backgrounds want to pursue.
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DU.S. Department of Education Communicates Vision to Advance Digital Equity for All Learners
Today, during the National Digital Equity Summit hosted by the U.S. Department of Education, the Office of Educational Technology (OET) launched Advancing Digital Equity for All: Community-based Recommendations for Developing Effective Digital Equity Plans to Close the Digital Divide and Enable Technology-Empowered Learning. This resource provides recommendations for equitable broadband adoption to support leaders crafting digital equity plans, an aspiration that became an emergency for many schools and families during the pandemic. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed earlier this year supports that goal, allocating $2.75 billion under the Digital Equity Act to ensure that all people and communities can reap the full benefits of the digital economy.
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A Case Study of Compounding Views of Paraprofessional Roles and Relationships in Preschool Classrooms: Implications for Practice and Policy
Tiara Saufley Brown, Ph.D.
James Madison University
Tina Stanton-Chapman, Ph.D.
University of Cincinnati
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative case study is to extend a previous study by Brown & Stanton-Chapman (2014) by exploring the dynamics between teachers and paraprofessionals in preschool classrooms. Specifically, researchers examined the relationship between eight paraprofessionals’ perspectives of job responsibilities and satisfaction in comparison to their assigned eight teachers’ perspectives of these same ideas. Data collection included semi-structured interviews of the 16 participants as well as classroom observations and document collection. Four key themes emerged from data collection: responsibilities are often influenced by the level of teacher and paraprofessional motivation; paraprofessionals often assimilate to match the lead teacher’s demeanor and perspectives; teachers and paraprofessionals view recognition and appreciation very differently; and the majority of classroom outcomes are primarily influenced by structured school policies. Considering these findings, implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.
Keywords: paraprofessional, teaching assistant, educational assistant, relationship, preschool
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The Scarlet Letter: Applying a Scaffolded Reading Intervention to Engage Reluctant Readers
By Emmett Neno
School of Education, Liberty University
Abstract
A scaffolded reading experience typically involves using specific activities before, during, and while reading a text to help students understand the material in that text and to connect it to their lives in order to foster increased engagement (Appleman & Graves, 2012). Epstein (2020) found that such activities can help students interact with difficult texts that are difficult to understand and that might appear to be difficult to relate to. In this case, a scaffolded reading experience intervention was applied for a senior class in an alternative high school in order to increase the students’ engagement with The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne, 2007). Students were asked to act as social workers in order to diagnose issues with one of the characters, and in the end, this activity increased student engagement and motivation in analyzing and assessing the text as well as in responding to the problems the characters faced.
Keywords: Scaffolded Reading Experience, struggling readers, reluctant readers, student engagement, student motivation
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Book Review: Start with Why
Frank Andres Lorenzo
“Start with Why” has the purpose of getting individuals involved by inspiring them to work and adapting the leadership mentality of inspiring one’s mind to go out and about to reach for the stars. In the thesis, Sinek states the fact that many of us start doing something we are capable of and goes on to explain that we as people get to the point to realize the purpose of why is it that we partake in the activities and actions we take part of. One of the main themes is the fact that if you want to be someone to inspire others, it is essential to explain why you want to inspire others. To make an impact on another individual, it is essential that you show them why it’s important to start the path. Another essential theme is that excited employees are the backbone of the most successful businesses. The purpose of that theme is that one has to be motivated and happy where they are in order for the business to work. No company can run efficiently if they have individuals who do not want to be there.
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Book Review: Leadership in Special Education
By Melissa Goldstein
The purpose of the book I have chosen for this book report is to guide the reader how to become a great leader in the field of special education. It is a manual to cultivate leadership and a great resource to empower and embrace change in the special education field. As we have learned in Fullen’s book there are many ingredients needed to embrace change. There are also many important components that play a role in becoming a leader. Building relationships is a key component of leadership, which both this book and Fullen’s book spend a great deal of time discussing. Communication is another ingredient needed to become successful leaders, both in and outside education. The last ingredients leaders need to consider is team building. When done right team building can aid to build a solid team and a successful year.
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Book Review: Culturally Responsive School Leadership
By Tajasia Prawl
CRSL (Culturally Responsive School Leadership) is a book that Muhammad Khalifa writes to assist school leaders in the creation of an education system which provides a rich multicultural environment minoritized students. Khalifa discusses how traditional leadership methodologies do not properly treat children in urban areas. In teaching underrepresented groups, CRSL considers state policies such as housing and the experiences of specific communities, such as settler colonialism and incarceration rates.
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Book Review: Hacking Leadership 10 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Learning That Teachers, Students and Parents Love
By Kerin Neely
Leadership within the educational atmosphere plays a huge role in every other aspect of the school day. The leaders within a school can be the key to making the environment pleasant and foster learning for students and staff every day. Students, teachers, parents, and administrators each have their own role to play in creating a positive school culture. Joe Sanfelippo urges everyone in the school system to but their best foot forward in creating a welcoming and fun place to learn and work.
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Latest Employment Opportunities Posted on NASET
* Special Education Teacher- Multiple Positions - STRIVE Prep is a Denver-based community of public charter schools that challenges every student to strive for college and thrive throughout life by helping them to discover and develop the knowledge, skills and confidence necessary to succeed in college and beyond. We encourage you to read our 2021 Impact Report and learn more about what a career at STRIVE Prep is like here. To learn more- Click here
* Special Education Resource Teacher - Galapagos is looking for driven educators who truly believe in the ability of all children to succeed at the highest levels. Our staff works incredibly hard to deliver rigorous, individualized, data-driven and explicit instruction to our scholars. To learn more- Click here
* [2022-2023] Reading Intervention Specialist - Like all DREAM employees, the Intervention Specialist should demonstrate a strong commitment to the mission and values of DREAM and should have substantial expertise in all areas of responsibility. Candidates must also value DREAM's comprehensive approach to education and desire to make a lasting impact in underserved communities as part of a growing organization. To learn more- Click here
* Special Education/Transition Teacher - Do you want to play an integral role in a dynamic organization? We are looking for a Special Education/Transition Teacher who wants to assist our organization. The right candidate will enjoy learning new tasks and taking on a variety of responsibilities while working in an up-beat, nonprofit environment. To learn more- Click here
* Special Education Teachers $50/hr -Maxim Healthcare Staffing is looking to hire a Special Education Teacher provide quality services to special education students, kindergarten through grade 12, through a commitment to team participation in planning and implementation of student programs including special instruction, tutorial assistance and consultation with general education staff. To learn more- Click here
* Teacher of the Deaf/Special Educator - Early Intervention - The Early Intervention preschool classroom teacher is a Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, though candidates with Early Childhood Special Education certification will be considered, who works with students ages three to five in a classroom setting and is responsible for planning and leading all aspects of the daily learning environment. To learn more- Click here
* Teacher - Virtual - Interested in teaching online courses? You can work full time or part time for supplemental income. Set your own hours, work from your own home, and earn your equivalent teaching salary or more! To learn more- Click here
* School Principal - We strive to give our clients support, resources, and the ability to heal through the work of animal-assisted therapy and nature-based learning all while developing the skills and confidence to grow into independent young adults. To learn more- Click here
* Special Education Teacher, Learning Disabilities - Provides and is accountable for the planning, assessment, instruction, communication, human relations, safety, and management of a classroom or assigned instructional setting. Supports FCPS mission to "inspire, enable, and empower students to meet high academic standards, lead ethical lives, and demonstrate responsible citizenship." To learn more- Click here
* Special Education Teacher, Multiple Disabilities ES/MS/HS - Provides and is accountable for the planning, assessment, instruction, communication, human relations, safety, and management of a classroom or assigned instructional setting. Supports FCPS mission to "inspire, enable, and empower students to meet high academic standards, lead ethical lives, and demonstrate responsible citizenship." To learn more- Click here
* Special Education Teacher Preschool - Provides and is accountable for the planning, assessment, instruction, communication, human relations, safety, and management of a classroom or assigned instructional setting. Supports FCPS mission to "inspire, enable, and empower students to meet high academic standards, lead ethical lives, and demonstrate responsible citizenship." To learn more- Click here
* Special Education Teacher-(Elementary, Middle, or High School) - The EC Teacher plans and provides for appropriate learning experiences for students with disabilities in a variety of educational settings. To learn more- Click here
* Special Education - Elementary Teacher - Career opportunities where you can choose your path. From coaching to administration, there are many options to grow your career, while pursuing your interests and passions. We are hiring immediately for a full-time Special Education - Elementary Teacher. Come grow your career with the Clark County School District! To learn more- Click here
Acknowledgements
Portions of this or previous month’s NASET’s Special Educator e-Journal were excerpted from:
- Center for Parent Information and Resources
- Committee on Education and the Workforce
- FirstGov.gov-The Official U.S. Government Web Portal
- Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals (JAASEP)
- National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth
- National Institute of Health
- National Organization on Disability
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
- U.S. Department of Education
- U.S. Department of Education-The Achiever
- U.S. Department of Education-The Education Innovator
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- U.S. Department of Labor
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- U.S. Office of Special Education
The National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) thanks all of the above for the information provided for this or prior editions of the Special Educator e-Journal