Northampton, MA — The Collaborative for Educational Services (CES) in Northampton, MA has announced the launch this fall of the Special Education Team Leader Institute. The Institute’s mission, in partnership with and supported by the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE)’s Office of Special Education Policy and Planning, will be to equip special educational team leaders with tools to foster family and community engagement and improve student outcomes by facilitating team meetings that are collaborative and compliant with regulations and best practices in the field. CES will be coordinating and delivering the Institute to educators statewide.
The Institute will provide up to thirty participants annually with a year of courses and technical assistance that foster their ability to lead Individualized Education Plan (IEP) teams in the development of educational plans that reflect the individual needs of students. Participants will learn to facilitate team meetings; foster good faith relationships and collaboration; develop data collection and analysis systems to monitor student outcomes; and develop support networks to foster the implementation of best practices in the education of students with special needs. Institute participants will be full time education team leaders or coordinators in a MA public or private school.
Said Albert Mussad, Director of Professional Development at CES: “The Institute will engage individuals actively facilitating IEP teams in their schools in learning experiences aligned to professional standards and best practices in special education leadership, and will ultimately cultivate a statewide network of professionals who will collaborate toward improved outcomes for students. We’re very excited that Dr. Laurel Peltier and Sharon Murphy Jones will be co-leading a team of seasoned professionals in the delivery of the Institute.”
The Leadership Institute model will consist of multiple courses and activities, offering face-to-face sessions and online learning, a variety of assignments, coaching, and communities of practice, ending with a capstone project.
More details and application information for the Institute are available on the CES website at www.collaborative.org/SETLI.