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2019 Leadership Conference Speaker Bios

OSEP, OSERS and Other Key Personnel

Johnny Collett Johnny Collett is the assistant secretary in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) at the U.S. Department of Education. In this capacity, he serves as the advisor to the U.S. Education Secretary on matters related to the education of children and youth with disabilities, as well as employment and community living for youth and adults with disabilities. The mission of his office is to improve early childhood, educational, and employment outcomes, and to raise expectations for all people with disabilities, their families, their communities, and the nation. Prior to joining the department, Collett served as the program director of special education outcomes at the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). Collett also served at the Kentucky Department of Education as the state's special education director, as an assistant division director, and as an exceptional children consultant. Collett, a former high school special education teacher and church pastor, graduated from Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky in 2005 with a Master of Arts in education. In 1994, he graduated with a bachelor's degree from Clear Creek Baptist Bible College and in 1991 he received an associate degree from Southeast Community College, at that time a part of the University of Kentucky college system. Collett also holds a certification in learning and behavior disorders from the University of Kentucky.

Laurie VanderPloeg Laurie VanderPloeg is the Director of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), at the U.S. Department of Education. VanderPloeg ensures the effective implementation of OSEP's legislative mission, advises the Assistant Secretary on federal education policy related to individuals with disabilities, and provides leadership in addressing issues of American education for infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities through OSEP activities and within the context of the policies of OSERS, the Department, and Congress.

Prior to joining the Department, VanderPloeg served as Director of Special Education at Kent Intermediate School District (Kent ISD) in Michigan. Also, at Kent ISD, she served as assistant director for monitoring, compliance and parent support. Prior to Kent ISD, she served as a local supervisor of special education, and a special education teacher in the Grand Rapids Public Schools. VanderPloeg also served as an adjunct professor at Grand Valley State University in the special education administration program. She is a parent of an adult with disabilities.

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VanderPloeg graduated from Grand Valley State University with a master’s degree in special education administration and holds a bachelor’s degree from Grand Valley State College. She also holds administrative approvals as both supervisor and Director of Special Education and certification in learning disabilities, cognitive impairment, emotional impairment, and K–8 regular education.

Gregg Corr Gregg Corr is the director of the Office of Special Education’s (OSEP’s) Monitoring and State Improvement Planning (MSIP) Division. MSIP carries out major activities related to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B (611 and 619) and Part C formula grant programs. The Division is responsible for State grant application review and approval, the review of States’ Annual Performance Reports and monitoring OSEP's formula grant programs to ensure consistency with Federal requirements and that States and other public agencies continue to implement programs designed to improve results for infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities. MSIP is taking a lead role in providing guidance and technical assistance to States in the development of their State Systemic Improvement Plans (SSIPs).

Gregg has worked in OSEP for 30 years and has been the MSIP director since 2011. Prior to becoming the Division Director, he served as an Associate Division Director within MSIP, leading a team responsible for working with 15 States. Before coming to Washington, D.C. , Gregg was the director of a student-parent advocacy organization in Louisville, Kentucky which provided assistance to low-income and minority students, as well as students with disabilities. Gregg received Masters and Doctoral degrees in Educational Foundations from the University of Cincinnati, as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University.

Larry Wexler Larry Wexler, Ed.D. has been a special educator for 44 years, having been a teacher of students with severe disabilities, program director, principal, State mental retardation specialist, executive assistant to the State Director of Special Education, director of State monitoring, OSEP State contact, OSEP project officer, Deputy Director of the Monitoring and State Improvement Planning Division, and Associate Division Director responsible for OSEP’s National Initiatives Team. Dr. Wexler is currently the Director of OSEP’s Research to Practice Division. Dr. Wexler also represented the United States for four years on the Council of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO’s) International Bureau of Education. Dr. Wexler holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the School of International Service at American University, a master’s degree in teaching with a concentration in mental retardation from Howard University, and a doctorate with a concentration in severe disabilities from the Johns Hopkins University.

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Ruth Ryder Ruth Ryder is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Policy and Programs – Formula Grants in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) at the U.S. Department of Education. OESE has responsibility for implementing programs under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). In this role, Ms. Ryder oversees a broad range of management, policy, and program functions related to formula and discretionary grant programs under the ESSA.

Ms. Ryder was previously the deputy director of the Office of Special Education Programs in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, which she joined in 1988. In that position, she provided national leadership for moving special education accountability to a more results-oriented focus. In addition, Ms. Ryder focused on ensuring that the needs of children with disabilities were addressed in the major initiatives of the Department, such as the ESSA, family engagement, school climate transformation and early learning.

Prior to joining the Department, Ms. Ryder was a program administrator in a Washington state school district. There she had responsibility for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title 1 and Title II programs, state-remediation, gifted education, outcome-based education, and state- and district-wide testing programs. She also administered an ED-funded demonstration project, examining integrated service delivery models for including children with disabilities in general education. Additionally, Ms. Ryder has been a special education consulting teacher and a general education classroom teacher. Ms. Ryder has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and elementary education and a master’s degree in special education.

Keynote “A Conversation with Pennsylvania Stakeholders”

Pedro Rivera Pedro A. Rivera was appointed as the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education by Governor Tom Wolf and confirmed unanimously by the state Senate in 2015. Currently, Rivera also serves as the President of the Board of Directors for the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), a nonpartisan organization of public officials who head state departments of elementary and secondary education. As President, he focuses on promoting equity in education and elevating the ways states can improve the conditions for learning to ensure all students have access to the supports they need to be successful inside the classroom.

Rivera brings extensive experience in public education to his leadership roles. Prior to his appointment to Governor Wolf’s Cabinet, he served as superintendent of the School District of Lancaster, PA. Additionally, he was a classroom teacher, assistant principal, principal, and executive director for the School District of Philadelphia, as well as a staff member with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.

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In September 2014, he was honored by the White House as a Champion of Change for his efforts to transform urban education with his holistic approach to student success – one of ten recipients nationwide to receive the prestigious honor.

As Secretary of Education, he has traveled the Commonwealth meeting with educators, administrators, and students on the Schools That Teach tour, discussing their priorities and needs, and taking those insights back to Harrisburg. Under his leadership, the Pennsylvania Department of Education has engaged thousands of stakeholders – including educators, parents, policymakers, business and industry leaders, higher education officials, and advocates – to inform the Department’s work on issues like reforming graduation requirements and improving school accountability measures. Through establishing the PA Future Ready Index and crafting Pennsylvania’s Every Student Succeeds Act State Plan, Rivera has continuously shown his commitment to educational equity. Rivera also spearheaded the creation of the Superintendent’s Academy, a first-of-its-kind, two-year professional development program designed for district leaders serving in high poverty areas, urban and rural, across the state.

Carl Beck Carl Beck is the Director of Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Early Intervention Services and Family Support. For the past three years, Carl has been the Director of the Bureau that oversees Pennsylvania’s Part C and Part B-619 programs as well as the home visiting and family center programs. He has 39 years of experience working in the field of supports for people with disabilities with the last 15 years working specifically in Early Intervention.

Patricia Hozella Coming Soon

Cecilia Lee Cecilia Lee’s passion is doing whatever it takes to promote inclusion for people with disabilities since the birth of her son, Alex. Whether it’s working on photo campaigns with her husband for the PA Office of Child Development and Early Learning and showcasing images of children with various disabilities or visiting legislators and other policy makers with her kids to make sure everyone sees the importance of inclusion, her family has been on the forefront when it comes to advocating for inclusion for all. She has been involved with many different advocacy organizations in PA, including the PA Developmental Disabilities Council and the Arc of PA. She has also been a member of the PA State Interagency Coordinating Council since 2011. She currently co-chairs the State Interagency Coordinating Council (SICC) and is a member of the PA Special Education Advisory Panel and PA Early Learning Council, as well as a DS Ambassador for the National Down Syndrome Society. Most importantly, she is a proud mom of 2 children, Isabelle and Alex.

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Large Group Panels Alignment Across the AGES- The Continuum of Multi-Agency Alignment from Birth to Twenty-One

Rorie Fitzpatrick Rorie Fitzpatrick is Program Director at WestEd, supporting the organization’s work to provide professional development, technical assistance, policy guidance, and research and evaluation focused on services and outcomes for children and youth with disabilities, their families, and the professionals who serve them. Fitzpatrick directs the National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI), a technical assistance project of the US Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) designed to help state agencies transform systems to improve outcomes for children with disabilities ages birth through 21. She is also a leadership team member for the National Deaf Center and the National Center on Educational Outcomes. Additional work in her WestEd portfolio includes systems analyses with state and local programs and coaching on continuous improvement. Prior to joining WestEd, Fitzpatrick served as superintendent of public instruction for the state of Nevada, having worked with the state education agency from 1998-2013. Fitzpatrick was also on faculty at the University of Nevada, Reno, working for the NV University Center for Excellence in Disabilities (UCED). Her teaching background is in early childhood special education and early intervention.

Danielle Howes Danielle Howes, with a Masters Degree in Social Work, has been Vermont’s Part C Administrator since 2014. Ms. Howes has worked for the State of Vermont for 24 years. Developing Vermont’s State Systemic Improvement Plan, with input from stakeholders, Vermont determined that developing a Comprehensive System of Personnel Development was critical to addressing Vermont’s personnel shortages across disciplines and improving outcomes for children and families.

Nancy Mader Nancy Mader is the Director of The LINK Center, a project of the Federation for Children with Special Needs. The LINK Center oversees the transition initiatives at the Federation including a collaborative project with the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission. Nancy received her undergraduate degree in Business Management from the University of Wyoming and her graduate degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Northern Colorado. Prior to her work at the Federation, Nancy worked in employment services helping individuals with disabilities prepare for, obtain, and maintain employment. Through this work Nancy realized the importance of effective transition planning in high school to prepare youth and young adults for employment, postsecondary education, independent living, and all other aspects of life after high school. Her time at the Federation has been spent educating

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and engaging families and professionals about the importance of transition planning throughout the state of Massachusetts.

Barbara Van Haren Barbara Van Haren is currently the Assistant State Superintendent of the Division for Learning Support at Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, overseeing special education, student services/prevention/wellness and the two state schools for the blind/visually impaired and deaf/hard of hearing. She was formerly the State Director of Special Education in Wisconsin for five years. Barb has over thirty years of experience working as a special education teacher and an assistant superintendent at the district level, a director of special education/pupil services at the regional level and an assistant professor in special education in higher education prior to coming to the state level. She has worked in rural, suburban, and urban settings across Wisconsin. Barb continues to teach as an Ad Hoc Professor of Special Education at Carroll University. Barb is a lifelong resident of Wisconsin, attending Wisconsin public schools and the University of Wisconsin system, completing her doctorate in educational administration from UW Madison. She currently serves on the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) Board of Directors and previously served as the president for Wisconsin’s Council of Administrators of Special Services and The ARC Fox Cities.

Kristin Wright Kristin Wright is the California State Director of Special Education. Kristin brings a wealth of professional and personal experience to as a policy expert, former special education student teacher, and mother of a child with disabilities. She has spent more than a decade working in education with a focus on special education and advocating for students with disabilities. Wright previously worked for the California State Board of Education as an Education Policy Consultant and liaison between the State Board of Education and the California Department of Education (CDE) on a variety of subjects, including special education, child nutrition, foster and homeless youth, and computer science. She has served as a State Senate appointee to the Advisory Commission Special Education (ACSE) from 2006 to 2013 and was chair of the advisory commission from 2009 to 2013. From 2010 to 2013, she was a contract consultant providing special education research and other support to organizations that included the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Her work there included researching special education services provided by U.S. charter schools.

Trauma Informed Care: Evidence Based Framework for Improving Outcomes for Children and Students

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Jennifer Barrett-Zitkus Jennifer Barrett-Zitkus is an Education Program Specialist and State Lead for the Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), Monitoring and State Improvement Programs (MSIP) Division. Jennifer began her career as an early interventionist for an OSEP-funded research and demonstration project at East Tennessee State University (ETSU). She also served as an adjunct faculty member at ETSU. Jennifer established an Inclusive Early Childhood Special Education Program for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers for Johnson City School System. She was a Pediatric Consultant and providing technical assistance and quality assurance for the Early Intervention program in Illinois. She was appointed to the Governor’s Taskforce charged with reviewing Illinois’ Early Intervention Program. Jennifer was an instructor at the Erikson Institute in Chicago and a Regional Training Consultant for the Illinois Early Intervention Training Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Catherine Corr Catherine Corr, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois with an interest in supporting the well-being of young children with disabilities (birth-8 years old) and their families. She addresses issues of maltreatment, abuse, neglect, trauma, toxic stress, and poverty in the context of early childhood special education research, policy, personnel preparation, and practice. Dr. Corr also examines ways to utilize mixed methods approaches to social inquiry in special education. Prior to the University of Illinois, Dr. Corr was a Research Associate in the Department of Special Education at Vanderbilt University. Currently, she is the project coordinator for a multi-site randomized control trial examining the use of the Practiced Based Coaching model with preschool teachers to support embedded instruction practices in classrooms for children with disabilities. She has extensive experience working with infants, toddlers, and their families through her role as an infant/toddler teacher and as an Early Intervention professional. Through her work as a consultant for Erikson Institute, the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center, the Court Appointed Special Advocates program, and the Early Intervention Training Program at the University of Illinois she has developed comprehensive curricula and professional development opportunities for early childhood and child welfare professionals who support vulnerable and underserved infants and toddlers.

Lucille Eber Lucille Eber, Ed.D. is a Senior Advisor with the Midwest PBIS Network and a Technical Assistance (TA) Director for Mental Health Integration with the Department of Education’s National Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) TA Center. In this role, she provides support to states and school districts nationwide on school-wide PBIS, including integration of mental health into school-wide systems of positive behavior support, implementation of wraparound and interagency initiatives for students with complex emotional and behavioral challenges. She previously served as the Director of the Illinois Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities (1993-1999) which transitioned to the Illinois Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Network (1999-2014), facilitating PBIS implementation for

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over 1,800 Illinois schools. Dr. Eber is a former board member of both the Illinois Federation of Families (IFF), and the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health (FFCCMH) and the Association for Positive Behavior Supports (APBS). She regularly publishes articles and chapters on school-wide positive behavior supports, and interconnected systems for mental health in schools.

Lise Fox Lise Fox, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies in the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences of the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. Dr. Fox is a Co-Director of Florida Center for Inclusive Communities (a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities), a faculty member with the Early Childhood Technical Assistance (ECTA) Center, and an investigator with an Institute of Education Sciences (IES) funded research project examining the implementation of the Pyramid Model within community early care and education programs. She also provides training and technical assistance to programs through the Pyramid Equity Project. Her research is focused on practical approaches to addressing issues surrounding the inclusion of young children with problem behavior in community settings, program-wide implementation of the Pyramid Model, and individualized positive behavior support.

Access and Opportunities: Educating Children with Disabilities in Charter School

Lauren Morando Rhim Lauren Morando Rhim is a nationally recognized advocate and expert in creating and sustaining high-quality public schools for all students. In 2013, she co-founded the National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools (NCSECS) to ensure that students with disabilities are able to access and thrive in charter schools. A researcher at heart, over her 25-year career, she has published extensively about school reform and consults frequently with federal, state, and local policy leaders and holds a B. A. from the University of Vermont, an M.A. from The George Washington University and a Ph.D. in Education Policy from the University of Maryland.

Gina Plate Gina Plate is a Vice President at the California Charter Schools Association, currently overseeing the special education technical assistance and policy work across the State. Additionally, appointed by the Governor, Gina is the Chair of the California Advisory Commission on Special Education, which acts as an advisory body to the Governor, Legislature and State Board of Education on special education issues relevant to the field. As a former teacher and administrator, Gina is passionate about creating settings that are designed to meet the needs of all students. Most recently, Gina served on a task force called for by Governor Newsom to make significant updates to the Charter School’s Act in California.

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Courtney Salzer Courtney Salzer, Esq. is the Executive Director of Wisconsin Family Assistance Center for Education, Training, and Support, Inc. (WI FACETS). She serves as Co-Director of the OSEP-funded Wisconsin Parent Training and Information Center (PTI) and the Director of the OSEP-funded Region C Parent Technical Assistance Center (RPTAC). Courtney also serves as the Parent Partner on the Wisconsin Special Education Mediation System. Courtney received her Law Degree and Bachelor’s Degree from Marquette University. She earned her Professional Certificate in Non Profit Management from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Prior to her work with WI FACETS, Courtney was an attorney in private practice, where she did a variety of civil litigation including school and special education law. Courtney is a founding board member of the National Center for Parent Leadership, Advocacy, and Community Empowerment (National PLACE) and also serves on the National Advisory Board for the Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE). Courtney and her husband are the parents of two amazing school-aged children with disabilities.

Allison Trentman Allison Trentman is the Director of Student Support Services at AppleTree Early Learning PCS in Washington, DC. She oversees special education, positive behavior supports, language acquisition and multi-tiered systems of supports for the early childhood charter school network with 11 school sites. Her primary focus in this role is to ensure that the needs of all students are prioritized at the leadership and school levels by initiating and monitoring implementation of evidence-based practices across programs. She previously supported district-level MTSS implementation following her role as a school-based school psychologist in Fairfax County Public Schools. Allison received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota.

Jamie Wong Jamie Wong has been serving as the Special Education Director at the Louisiana Department of Education since 2014. Under her leadership, Louisiana has made significant gains in improving outcomes for students with disabilities, including establishing rigorous graduation pathways for all students and redesigning programs that serve students with low incidence needs. Prior to this role, Jamie worked in Washington, DC as a Legislative Correspondent on Capitol Hill and in DC Public Schools as both an early childhood special education teacher and director of an early childhood special education evaluation team. Jamie has served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) since 2016 and currently serves as the Board President.

Ready for Reading: Preparing teachers to implement the science of reading

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Paula Crawford Paula Crawford, Ed.D, has served since 2012 as the Section Chief of Program Improvement and Professional Development with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Exceptional Children Division and the Project Director of the North Carolina State Improvement Project. She leads a statewide and regionally-based team implementing continuous improvement in evidence-based instructional practices for preservice and in-service K–12 classroom teachers. Crawford was awarded the University of Kansas 2018 Gordon R. Alley Partnership Award. Additionally, she has taught as adjunct professor for several UNC-System and private colleges and universities. Crawford earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Concord College and both her master’s and doctorate of education degrees from North Carolina State University in curriculum and instruction and adult and higher education, respectively.

Lillian Durán Lillian Durán has a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Minnesota and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Special Education and Clinical Sciences at the University of Oregon. She holds a B.A. in Elementary Education from Antioch College and a M.A. in Education and Human Development from the George Washington University. Her research is focused on improving instructional and assessment practices with preschool-aged dual language learners (DLLs). She is currently a Co-Principal Investigator on an IES measurement grant to develop a Spanish version of the Individual Growth and Development Indicators (S-IGDIs), a preschool language and literacy general outcome measure designed for screening and progress monitoring. Dr. Durán frequently delivers presentations nationally on the topic of recommended practices in assessment and intervention with young DLLs with and without identified disabilities. Prior to Dr. Durán’s work in higher education, she worked for 9 years as an early childhood special education teacher both in Prince George’s County, Maryland and in rural Minnesota.

Stephanie Gurski Stephanie Gurski is a special education teacher in Louis County Public Schools, Louisa, VA. She has been teaching special education in grades K-5 for seventeen years. She received a B.A. in Elementary Education from the State University of New York at Fredonia in 2001 and a Masters from Regent University in Special Education and Reading Specialist in 2014. She is a certified Orton Gillingham educator. She serves as the Dyslexia Advisor for Louisa County Public Schools and is on the Invention Team for Thomas Jefferson Elementary School. She also privately tutors students in reading. In her time away from work, she likes to spend time with her husband, Brad, and two children, Kaden, age 13, and Ryelyn, age 9.

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Holly Lane Dr. Holly Lane is a professor of special education at the University of Florida and Director of the School of Special Education, School Psychology, and Early Childhood Studies. She is also the Director of the University of Florida Literacy Initiative and the James Patterson Literacy Challenge. Her research focuses on the prevention of reading difficulties through effective early literacy instruction, the remediation of reading skills for students with dyslexia, and methods for helping teachers develop the knowledge and skills they need to be effective literacy interventionists.

Kristen Rhoads Kristen Rhoads is an Education Program Specialist at OSEP. She has been with the U.S. Department of Education for nearly 17 years, splitting time between OSEP and the National Center for Special Education Research in the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). She is the project officer for the National Center on Improving Literacy, model demonstration projects focused on adolescent literacy and improving academic outcomes for students with intellectual disabilities, parent training and information centers, and the Center to Improve Program and Project Performance (CIPP). She received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in Human Development with a focus on Cognitive Studies in Education.

Sarah Sayko Sarah Sayko is a Senior Research Associate at RMC Research Corporation in Arlington, VA. She is the Deputy Director and parent and family strand leader for the National Center on Improving Literacy (NCIL) that seeks to increase access to, and use of, evidence-based approaches to screen, identify, and teach students with literacy-related disabilities, including dyslexia. She is also the West Virginia State Coordinator for the Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center (ARCC), which provides capacity-building technical assistance to State Departments of Education in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Sarah was a literacy content specialist for the Center on Instruction, a technical assistance provider with the National Reading Technical Assistance Center (NRTAC) and the Reading First Sustainability Project, and an elementary reading coach and literacy specialist in two public schools. She is a certified K-12 reading specialist in Massachusetts.

Leadership at every level for effective teaching at every tier

Kaylan Connally Ms. Kaylan Connally currently serves as Program Manager for Student Expectations at the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) where she supports States’ efforts to improve teacher and leader development for the success of students with disabilities. Prior to joining CCSSO, she held positions at

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New America and DC Public Schools where she worked on teacher and leader workforce policy and implementation. Connally began her career as a sixth-grade English teacher and holds an Ed.M. in education policy and management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Phelton Cortez Moss Mr. Phelton Cortez Moss serves as the Bureau Director for Educator Talent Acquisition and Effectiveness at the Mississippi Department of Education. He was a Teacher in Residence at the Department of Education working on Innovative High Schools and the Third Grade Gate Exam. Mr. Moss has experience as a Literacy and Data specialist and Assistant Principal. He notably served as the turnaround Principal of Quitman County Middle School leading the school’s improvement from being identified as a failing school up two letter grades and cleared of all accreditation violations. Through a competitive process, he was recently named to the 2019 School Systems Leaders Fellowship program.

Sheryl Cowart Moss Dr. Sheryl Cowart Moss is a Clinical Associate Professor at Georgia State University, where she directs the Advanced Programs (Tier II and EdD) in Educational Leadership. Dr. Cowart Moss is President of the Council of Professors of Instructional Supervision (COPIS), and an Implementation Specialist for the Council for Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the CEEDAR Center. Dr. Cowart Moss is also President of the Georgia Educational Leadership Faculty Association (GELFA) and a member of the Board of Directors for the Georgia Association for Educational Leaders (GAEL). She received the Exemplary Service Award from GAEL in January 2018.

Tieawasa Hodack Mrs. Tieawasa (Tie) Hodack has served as the Director of Exceptional Education for Metro Nashville Public schools (MNPS) since 2016. In this capacity, she collaborates with other district leaders, the TN Department of Education, parents, education preparation programs, and other stakeholders to effectively support students, teachers, school administrators, and parents. Tie has been focused on the MTSS framework as well as the special education framework as levers to move the district toward growth for all learners. Prior to joining MNPS, she served in many roles including: Literacy and behavior coach, school psychologist, coordinator of Response to Intervention, Director of Data and Executive Director of Instructional Programming for the TN Department of Education. During her tenure at the TN Department of Education, Tie was a co-lead on building the RTI 2 framework for the state.

Erica D. McCray Dr. Erica D. McCray (moderator) is an Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of Florida. Currently, Dr. McCray is a Co-Director for the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) Center and an OSEP leadership preparation grant, Project Studying Teacher Effectiveness, Education, and Policy (STEEP). Prior to becoming university faculty, she served as

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a special educator for students with behavioral and learning disabilities in Title I elementary and middle school settings. Dr. McCray has been recognized on multiple levels for her teaching and research, which focuses on teacher quality and faculty development in the context of diversity.

Addressing the Needs at the Top of the MTSS Triangle: Implementation Lessons From the Field

Jill Pentimonti Dr. Jill M. Pentimonti is a Principal Researcher at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). She serves as Principal Investigator on two grants from the Institutes for Education Sciences (IES); a psychometric evaluation of an early childhood classroom observation tool and an efficacy evaluation study of an early literacy program in New York City’s PreK for All classrooms. Dr. Pentimonti also leads an internally-funded grant to evaluate the implementation of a language-based intervention in infant-toddler programs throughout the state of Pennsylvania. Additionally, she serves as lead of Knowledge Development for the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII). She earned a doctorate in Reading and Literacy in Early and Middle Childhood from The Ohio State University.

David Sienko J. David Sienko is currently the Director for the Rhode Island Department of Elementary & Secondary Education, Office of Student, Community & Academic Supports (OSCAS). This office manages the state responsibilities for multiple federal programs (e.g., IDEA, Title I, School Health, 21st Century Learning Communities). Prior to becoming the Director of OSCAS, he was the IDEA Secondary Transition Coordinator for the RI Department of Education, administered several state and federal grant projects at the Sherlock Center on Disabilities (University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities) at Rhode Island College, and was also the Program Director for the Blackstone Valley Arc in Pawtucket, Rhode Island and developed transition service programs for youth with intellectual disabilities in Pawtucket, Central Falls and East Providence schools. David has a master’s degree in Special Education from Rhode Island College and is a former adjunct faculty member at Rhode Island College and Providence College.

Brandi Simonsen Dr. Brandi Simonsen is a professor of Special Education in the Department of Educational Psychology at the Neag School of Education and the Co-Director of the Center for Behavioral Education and Research (CBER; www.cber.org) at the University of Connecticut. She is also the Co-Director of the National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS; www.pbis.org), a Senior Advisor to the National Center on Intensive Interventions (NCII), and an editorial board member

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for the Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. Currently, Dr. Simonsen conducts research, publishes, teaches, and provides training/technical assistance in the areas of (a) school- and class-wide PBIS, (b) positive and proactive professional development supports for teachers, and (c) applications of PBIS in alternative education settings. In addition, Dr. Simonsen coordinates UConn’s Graduate Certificate Program in School-wide Positive Behavior Support. Before joining the faculty at University of Connecticut, Dr. Simonsen was the director of a non-public (alternative) school serving students with disabilities who presented with challenging educational and behavioral needs. In addition to serving as an administrator and clinician, Dr. Simonsen has previously been certified as a teacher of elementary general education and middle-secondary special education.

Susan Zeiders Susan Zeiders, M. Ed., BCBA, is a consultant and project manager with the PA Training and Technical Assistance Network/Early Intervention Technical Assistance (EITA). She is a board-certified behavior analyst, focuses largely on the areas of behavior and autism, and is the coordinator for Pennsylvania's Early Childhood Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports initiative. Prior to joining EITA, Susan held various positions with Snyder, Union, Mifflin Child Development's Head Start Program, including coordinating the components on mental health and disabilities. Her educational background includes a BA from Shippensburg University in Social Welfare and M. Ed. from Penn State University in Rehabilitation Counseling.

Rebecca Zumeta Edmonds Dr. Rebecca Zumeta Edmonds is a Principal Researcher at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), where she co-directs the National Center on Intensive Intervention. She also previously coordinated technical assistance for the Response to Intervention (RTI) Center and led the Knowledge Utilization service area of the National Center on Systemic Improvement (NCSI). Before AIR, she worked for the Washington State Department of Special Education supporting RTI and alternate assessment implementation. In addition, she has worked on randomized-controlled trials of mathematics interventions and has extensive experience presenting to researchers, policymakers, and practitioners. She also has authored, co-authored, or edited over a dozen journal articles, books, chapters, and essays on multi-tiered systems of support, intensive intervention, mathematics intervention, special education policy, implementation, and assessment. She taught in Seattle-area public and private lab schools and holds a Ph.D. in Special Education with a concentration in quantitative research methods from Vanderbilt University.

Coaching Essential Features, Strategies, and Evaluation – What We Are Learning Across Setting

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Lisa Backer Lisa Backer has been with the Minnesota Department of Education since 2000 and currently supervises MDE’s Early Childhood Special Education team, including Part C and Part B/Section 619. She was an ECSE teacher and district administrator for 13 years before transitioning to MDE.

Jennifer Coffey Jennifer Coffey, Ph.D., is an Education Program Specialist in the Office of Special Education Programs in the US Department of Education. She is the Program Lead for the State Personnel Development Grants (SPDG) Program and the Project Officer for the State Implementation and Scaling Up of Evidence-based Practices TA Center. Before coming to the US Department of Education, she was a Program Specialist for the Oregon Department of Education, focusing on statewide initiatives for response to intervention and positive behavioral interventions and supports. Dr. Coffey also taught students with disabilities in elementary school, both in a self-contained classroom and as a resource specialist. Prior to receiving her doctorate in Special Education, she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Lesotho.

Barbara Guy Dr. Barbara Guy is the Director of Special Education at the Iowa Department of Education. In this role she has worked with regional and local special educators to build state infrastructures and capacity to provide quality special education services and supports. Prior to her current work, Barb was Iowa’s education consultant for secondary transition. Her broad perspectives of secondary transition derive from her work at the University of Minnesota with state systems change grants on transition, her experiences at the University of Kansas and teaching students with significant intellectual disabilities. This background has led to her recognition of the diverse needs of learners with disabilities and the belief that services and practices need to be flexible and broad enough to meet that diversity. She is the author of several articles and book chapters on secondary transition of youth with disabilities. In 2009, she was honored with the Mark Gold Innovative Practices in Transition Award from DCDT.

Tanya Ihlo Tanya Ihlo, Ph.D. is an Advanced Implementation Specialist with the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) and State Implementation and Scaling-up of Evidence-based Practices Center (SISEP) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Ihlo has extensive experience supporting teams in building infrastructure and cultivating capacity to support implementation of evidence-based practices. Prior to joining the NIRN and SISEP teams, Dr. Ihlo served as the Director of the Nebraska Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS) Implementation Support Team and Co-Principal Investigator for a randomized control trial study (Project READERS) examining the impact of professional learning with coaching on teachers’ knowledge, self-efficacy, and practices related delivery of evidence-based reading interventions and the impact on student outcomes in rural schools across 8 states. Dr. Ihlo has co-

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authored book chapters, peer-reviewed articles, and briefs on positive behavior supports, multi-tiered reading interventions, early childhood consultation, and databased coaching.

Systems Change: Maximizing High-Quality Opportunities for Young Children with Disabilities.

Amy Bunnell Amy Bunnell is the Early Childhood Special Education Supervisor with the Nebraska Department of Education. She also serves as the IDEA Part C Co-Coordinator and has been in this role since 2007. Amy provides consultation, training and technical assistance regarding Early Intervention and special education regulations, policies and procedures. Additionally, she is responsible for administering grants to agencies in support of improving outcomes for infants/toddlers with disabilities and their families. Amy is involved with and co-chairs many State/national projects, committees, and task forces in a variety of areas that promote children’s development, healthy families, community involvement and best outcomes for infants/toddlers with disabilities. She has four years’ experience as a Corrections Case Manager in both Kansas and Nebraska and has worked for over 11 years in Nebraska Child Protective Services, five of those years as a supervisor. She earned her degree from the University of Nebraska and is married with four children and two rescue dogs.

Julia Martin Eile Julia Martin Eile is an Education Program Specialist in the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) within the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) at the US Department of Education. Julia has spent her career working in the field of early childhood special education. She began her career as a Vision Teacher at The Jewish Guild for the Blind in New York City. Julia earned her master’s degree in education in developmental disabilities administration from Columbia University Teachers College. After moving to Washington, D.C., Julia served as a State consultant for Part C in Virginia. She joined OSEP in 2001. She is the Project Officer for the Early Childhood Systems Technical Assistance Center (ECTA) and works on early childhood special education policy issues in the Research to Practice Division of OSEP.

Ruth Gallucci Ruth Gallucci has served as Rhode Island’s 619 Coordinator for the last eight years. She coordinates IDEA early childhood special education (ECSE) initiatives relative to child outcomes, EC environments, transition from EI and developmental screening. Ruth has recently introduced “Rhode Island’s Itinerant Early Childhood Special Education (RI IECSE) Service Delivery Model” and coordinated the creation of the associated professional development and technical assistance supports. She represents early childhood

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special education on several State committees and serves as Vice-Chair and Executive Council member of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) 619 Affinity Group. Ruth has led multiple statewide initiatives, such as the creation of a comprehensive ECSE assessment system, the development of ECSE core competencies and the design and establishment of a data system for developmental screening results.

Phil Strain Phil Strain, Ph.D. is the James C. Kennedy Endowed Chair in Education at the University of Denver. He is the author of over 300 professional papers that focus on inclusion, development of peer friendships, comprehensive services to young children with autism (Leap Preschool) and prevention and intervention for challenging behavior. He is the recipient of numerous career achievement awards for his research, mentoring and technical assistance activities over the last five decades.

Parent Centers Empowering Youth Self-Advocacy

Josie Badger Dr. Josie Badger received her Bachelor’s degree from Geneva College in Disability Law and Advocacy, a Master’s from the University of Pittsburgh in Rehabilitation Counseling, and a Doctorate from Duquesne University in Healthcare Ethics. In 2014, Josie founded J Badger Consulting Inc. where she provides youth development and disability consulting services for organizations on transition and leadership development. She is the Co-Director of the national RSA-Parent Training and Information Center technical assistance center (RAISE). She is also the Campaign Manager of the #IWantToWork Campaign, to improve the employment of people with disabilities. She serves as a board member of the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, The Woodlands Foundation, and FISA. In 2012, Dr. Badger was crowned Ms. Wheelchair America.

Young Seh Bae Young Seh Bae, Ph.D., is the founder and Executive Director of Community Inclusion & Development Alliance (CIDA), a Community Parent Resource Center funded by OSEP. After working as a special education teacher, she earned her Ph.D. in special education from Teachers College at Columbia University, and an M.A. in Business Education from NYU. She is the former President of Korean-American Behavioral Health Association (KABHA) and a faculty member of the Teachers College and St. John’s University. Dr. Bae initiated the parent education programs and assistance for Korean-American families with disabilities in New York. She is also a mother of two young men. One of her sons, Eugene, is a person with disabilities.

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Susan Barlow Susan Barlow, Executive Director of the Parent Network of Western New York, has 38 years of experience working in the disability field since starting her career in 1981 working in both day and residential services. She has developed numerous transition programs and conducted hundreds of presentations at national, state and local conferences on topics such as family engagement, effective communication, and transition to adulthood. In 2001, Susan was a leader in restarting Parent Network of WNY, serving as Executive Director since 2007. Susan is also a board member of the Developmental Disability Alliance of WNY (DDAWNY) and NYS Families Together, and a member of Buffalo Schools Transition Committee and Special Education Parent Advisory Committee (SEPAC).

Jane Heaphy Jane Heaphy, Deputy Executive Director for Programs, INCLUDEnyc, has 30 years of experience in nonprofit educational programming including roles as Executive Director of Learning Leaders, a family engagement and school support organization, and Director of the OPTIONS Center for Educational and Career Choice, a college access and success center, where she oversaw a multi-borough program replication, and led the development of a college access professional development institute for NYC DOE school counselors and administrators. In her role at INCLUDEnyc, Jane oversees Parent and Family Services, Program Operations, and Youth and Transition Services.

Debra Jennings Debra Jennings, the Co-Executive Director of the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network, is an experienced non-profit leader and advocate who is committed to ensuring that the voices of parents, families and communities are not left out of policy and practice decisions that impact children and families. She currently leads State and national parent leadership development efforts at SPAN Parent Advocacy Network, an independent non-profit organization that equips state, local and community-based parent-led organizations as they support individual parent advocacy and engage in systems change. Jennings serves as an advisor and also provides consultative services to state and national organizations including the National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI), the National Association for Family School and Community Engagement, the National Center for Learning Disabilities, the Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center and other organizations that are committed to engaging the diversity of stakeholders in improving outcomes for children. She is a graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Economics and has completed coursework in business, finance, public administration and non-profit management at the Kellogg School of Management and Seton Hall University Center for Public Service.

Adam Shand Adam Shand is currently a Family Liaison at Parents Reaching Out, in the PTI department. Despite being born with Cerebral Palsy, Adam has always worked hard on his inclusion into life. After high school,

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Adam set his sights on higher education and being a productive member of the community. He began his work in 2005 in the Center for Self-Advocacy at the Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (DDPC), working on projects like Anti-bullying, which became the anti-bullying campaign for the DDPC. Adam then became the “People First” statewide advisor for the ARC of New Mexico. Through his stay at the ARC, the program started with one chapter and grew to 15 across the state of New Mexico. During that period, Adam testified on numerous self-advocacy topics that helped those in the community with disabilities. His testimonies still have impact to this day. In 2015, Adam began work at Parents Reaching Out as a Family Liaison where Adam continues to teach others how to be their own best advocate. He currently specializes in transition for youth.

IDEA plus ESSA: Supporting All Students Through Strategic Alignment

Steve Goodman Steve Goodman, Ph.D. is director of Michigan’s Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative, a partner with the National PBIS Center, an advisor to the National Center on Intensive Intervention(NCII), and advisor to the State Implementation and Scaling-up of Evidence-based Practices (SISEP) Center. Steve served as president of the Association for Positive Behavior Support and he serves on Michigan’s Literacy Commission. Steve has authored a number of publications on the implementation of Multi-Tier Systems of Support.

Courtney Jenkins Dr. Marian Wright-Edelman said, “Service is the rent we pay for being.” Courtney Jenkins has “paid her rent” through two decades of work in the nonprofit and government sectors – always with a clear focus on eliminating institutional barriers to success for underserved students. She started her career in education as a paraprofessional in a segregated school for students with disabilities, which literally paid for – and informed the focus of – her legal training. Since then, she has conducted legal investigations under federal and state civil rights laws for the State of Wisconsin; managed systems-change state initiatives focused on gender and racial equity in Colorado, Idaho, Iowa and Wisconsin; and served on the senior management team of a national civil rights organization. She currently works on the Special Education Team at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Courtney focuses on justice in education in honor of her mother, who grew up white in the segregated south, and her daughters, to whom she wants to leave a fairer world.

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Travis Poulsen For the last six years, Travis Poulsen has been the Special Services Director for the Lewiston School District in Lewiston, ID, overseeing Special Education and Federal Programs. While in Lewiston, he hasworked collaboratively with elementary schools to implement PBIS. A major highlight is his partnership and collaboration with the State Department of Education through the Special Education Directors Advisory Council and the Cultivating Leaders to Grow Young Readers Project to improve outcomes for students with disabilities in the area of Literacy. The district has been making great strides in the area of Literacy across the whole system through professional development. This evolved through Special Education and Federal Programs, and they are now partnering with the State;s curriculum department to impact all kids. The goal from the outset was to align evidence-based practices and routines in the delivery of reading instruction across general education and our Special Programs. The positive impact on student performance has been the keys to these changes. His vision has been to work hand in hand with General Education and Special Education so that as not to compartmentalize programs, but working towards alignment across all programs. This is what leads to the most powerful outcomes for kids.

Jana Rosborough Jana Rosborough, J.D., M.S.E., is a Senior Program Associate for WestEd’s Center for Prevention and Early Intervention. Her work with the National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI) focuses on assisting States in transforming systems of early intervention and special education, leveraging her legal background to drive systems alignment, to improve outcomes for all students, including students with disabilities. Ms. Rosborough has served as a consultant, facilitator, and coach, assisting SEAs and school districts with outcome-driven accountability across systems, special education compliance, special education fiscal requirements, and Multi-Tiered System of Support. Prior to joining WestEd in 2015, Ms. Rosborough was an Assistant Director on the Early Childhood, Special Education, and Title Services team with the Kansas State Department of Education. She is also a licensed attorney in Kansas and Missouri.

Caryn Ward Dr. Caryn Ward is the Associate Director for Education and Measurement of the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) and Director of the State Implementation and Scaling up of Evidence Based Practices Center (SISEP). SISEP is a national technical assistance center funded by the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). Dr. Ward has extensive experience in leading and developing infrastructure and capacity development with State Education Agencies, Regional Education Agencies, Local Education Agencies, and Office of Head Start Regions nationally through her work on the SISEP center and national center for Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning (NCDTL). For SISEP, Dr. Ward serves as a State liaison for SISEP’s active SEAs and their respective agencies, co-manages the administrative and supervision of staff, and co-leads the development of the assessment and database system. As part of her technical assistance with SEAs, Dr. Ward provides training and coaching for executive leadership and other agency staff. Dr. Ward oversees and contributes to the development of products and materials for universal (i.e., Active Implementation

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Hub) and targeted learning (e.g., Building State Capacity Community of Practice). In addition to supporting SEA’s and their local agencies, Dr. Ward leads the collaboration work with other Department of Education-funded TA centers in their use of implementation science practices within their respective work. Within NIRN, Dr. Ward leads the development of implementation capacity measures and fidelity measures for use within education as well as other disciplines including serving as the Principal Investigator for the implementation informed evaluation of Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS) for the fourteenth largest LEA in the country. Previously, she has provided direct and indirect services as a school psychologist, as a Response to Intervention (RTI) District Coordinator, an RTI trainer and consultant for an SEA, and as the project director for the North Carolina RTI Consortium. The consortium developed several implementation tools under Dr. Ward’s leadership, such as the Implementation Roadmap and others to support implementation capacity development and problem solve sustainability and scale-up. Dr. Ward’s research and evaluation work is published in journal articles, book chapters, briefs, and technical manuals.

Using data to drive improved results for children with disabilities Mary Corey Mary Corey, Ph.D. serves as a coordinator for Special Education data in the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), Office of Special Education. In this role, she is the data manager for Part B and C. Mary has been with DESE for over 18 years, and is currently serving as the chair of the Special Education Data Manager Affinity Group of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE).

Ginger Elliott-Teague Dr. Ginger Elliott-Teague is the Director of Data Analysis in the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Office of Special Education Services. Her primary responsibility is the collection and reporting of all special education data for Part B, Part C and 619. She is the Part B and Part C Data Manager, lead evaluator for the Part B and Part C State Systemic Improvement Plans, Part C SSIP Manager, co-lead on the design and implementation of the State’s results-based differentiated monitoring system, and lead on the design and implementation of significant disproportionality oversight. Ginger has conducted program-level research for the Part B and Part C programs, and is the Principal Investigator for a pilot project to improve post-secondary outcomes for students with intellectual disabilities. She has also planned and led district training on root cause analysis and statistical inference. She has been with the Oklahoma State Department of Education for three and a half years. Laura Jergensen Laura Jergensen Is the assistant director on the Special Education and Title Services team at the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE). Laura brings her expertise as an attorney to the oversight of the team’s integrated accountability efforts in this role. This includes dispute resolution, integrated

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monitoring and technical assistance across special education and title requirements, SPP/APR responsibilities, significant disproportionality, and oversight of the state’s seclusion and restraint requirements and technical assistance. Laura has been with KSDE for nearly seven years, five as an attorney and two in her current position.

Naomi Younggren Naomi Younggren, Ph.D., is the Part C/Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) Coordinator for the Department of Defense Army Educational and Developmental Intervention Services (EDIS) Early Intervention Programs and an independent early childhood consultant focusing on early intervention and preschool processes and best practices. Naomi is a co-author of The Measure of Engagement Independence and Social Relationships (MEISR), The Early Intervention Workbook: Essential Practices for Quality Services, and The COS-Team Collaboration (COS-TC). She is also a contributor to the Universal Online Part C Early Intervention Curriculum, and is collaboratively involved with other efforts focused on promoting quality practices in early childhood special education. Naomi’s years of experience include being a direct provider working with children with disabilities and their families in early intervention and preschool programs, providing technical assistance, developing early intervention guidance and training materials, and serving in a program development and leadership capacity.

Improving Student Outcomes Through Funding Flexibilities

Kathleen Airhart Kathleen Airhart serves as Program Director for Special Education Outcomes at the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). She is responsible for leading the work supporting students with disabilities and helping to lead key elements within the strategic plan, primarily to “Ensure Each Student Benefits from College and Career Ready Expectations”. Kathleen brings with her many years of educational experience, including working at the Tennessee Department of Education as a Deputy Commissioner. Prior to her time at the SEA, Kathleen served as a superintendent of schools in Tennessee and was named Tennessee Superintendent of the Year in 2011. She started her public education career as a special education high school classroom teacher and served as the special education supervisor for several years. Kathleen has built her educational career on a firm belief that all students can be successful regardless of personal circumstance if optimistic adults provide for their potential.

Eve Carney Eve Carney serves as the Chief Schools Officer at the Tennessee Department of Education overseeing the department’s school improvement supports, the state’s Achievement School District, and the implementation of other school models and programs. Since joining the department in 2008, Dr. Carney

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has administered federal education grants including the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) programs. Her early work at the department was in the area of school improvement supporting school districts in the implementation and oversight of Federal and State funds to support turnaround work and its most at-risk students. As the Executive Director of the Office of Consolidated Planning and Monitoring, she spearheaded division efforts to emphasize both compliance and positive student outcomes - developing a comprehensive, results-based monitoring protocol for ESEA and IDEA programs. Dr. Carney reworked the state’s district and school planning processes and tools to support the development of actionable and student-focused plans. She led the development and implementation of ePlan: Tennessee’s electronic planning and grants management system that annually catalogs over 6 billion dollars in State and Federal funding to districts. She has also developed resources to maximize funding flexibility and served as the State’s lead in the development of Tennessee’s ESSA plan.

Glenna Gallo Glenna Gallo is the Assistant Superintendent of Special Education in the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in Washington. Prior to that, she spent seven years as the State Director of Special Education for the Utah State Board of Education. She has over 20 years of public education experience teaching students with disabilities and adults, and 15 years of experience in State-level educational leadership with expertise in the planning, management, and monitoring of public special education programs. While at the Utah State Board of Education, she successfully implemented large scale changes in the use of data, collaboration, and delivery of evidence-based professional development, all of which resulted in positive changes in the outcomes of students with disabilities. Glenna has a B.S and an M.S in Special Education, an administrative license, and an M.B.A. Glenna feels strongly that application of the intent of IDEA requirements results in improved outcomes for students with disabilities and works with administrators, special education staff, advocates, and parents of students with disabilities at the LEA, State, and national levels to review research, current student achievement, and compliance data to ensure efforts are addressing instructional issues that impact results for students with disabilities. Collaboration is a priority for her work, and collaborative efforts are infused within all State efforts regarding students with disabilities. Sheara Krvaric Sheara Krvaric is an attorney that focuses on federal education programs. She helps States, school districts, and other education-related organizations navigate federal laws to maximize the reach of their federal grants. Sheara co-founded Federal Education Group, a law and consulting firm, in 2009. Before that, she worked at a State Educational Agency as in-house counsel and at an education law firm. Sheara and her partner led the development of a CCSSO guide designed to help states create effective guidance on use of funds under all state-administered ED programs including programs under ESEA, IDEA, and the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act.

Susan Murray Susan Murray is originally from Arkansas where she began her career as a teacher of deaf students. She has worked in special education and rehabilitation services in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Washington DC,

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Texas, and New York. She has been a school Principal and instructional director at PreK-12 levels, a special education administrator in a large urban/suburban district, an SEA consultant to LEAs for low-incidence disabilities in a rural State, and National Outreach Director for Gallaudet University’s elementary and secondary programs. Her current work in OSEP focuses primarily on IDEA fiscal accountability, rights of children with disabilities in charter schools, and serving as OSEP State Lead for California and Colorado Part B programs.

Dean Zajic Dean Zajic is the State and Federal Program Coordinator for the Special Education and Title Services team of the Kansas State Department of Education. Dean provides training and technical assistance to Kansas school districts on IDEA and ESEA requirements, MTSS implementation, blending and braiding of programs, disproportionality analysis, and best practices to improve outcomes for all students. What’s Coming Down the Pike? A Policy, Funding, and Futures Discussion

Renee Bradley Renee Bradley, Ph.D., has over 30 years’ experience in special education. She began her career as a teacher of students with emotional and behavioral disabilities. During those eight years, she worked in a variety of settings from self-contained to an inclusion program to providing homebound services working with children in preschool through high school. In 1997, Renee joined the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) as a program specialist and now serves as the Deputy Director of the Research to Practice Division. Among her responsibilities, she is the project officer for the National Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS Center). She coordinated the OSEP Learning Disabilities Initiative and served as the project officer for the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities and the Partnership Project. She has written and contributed to numerous publications, serves on several professional publication boards, and is a frequent presenter on special education issues. Renee has both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in special education from the College of Charleston and her Ph.D. in Leadership and Policy from the University of South Carolina.

Lindsay Jones Lindsay Jones is the Director of Public Policy and Advocacy for the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD). She leads a team that designs and implements NCLD's legislative strategy in Washington, D.C., aimed at advancing government policies that support the success of individuals with learning disabilities in school, at work and in life. She also develops advocacy campaigns and works closely with NCLD's grassroots network of committed parents to execute them. Before joining NCLD, Lindsay was the Senior Director for Policy and Advocacy at the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) where she led CEC's federal legislative advocacy and worked with dedicated educator advocates across the country. She was instrumental in developing and pushing forward many policies at CEC that

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supported classroom teachers in their work with children with disabilities and their families. Lindsay has a lifelong passion for education. She grew up in a family of advocates committed to working for individuals with disabilities. Prior to her national policy work, she was a partner with the law firm of Gust Rosenfeld in Phoenix, Arizona. As a practicing attorney, she advised schools and families on special education compliance and litigation. Her practice included Office of Civil Rights investigations, State department of education complaints, IDEA and Section 504 due process hearings and litigation. She is admitted and has litigated before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the federal district courts, state and administrative courts in Arizona. Lindsay is a frequent speaker at professional conferences on issues of policy, advocacy and special education law. She earned her undergraduate and law degree from the University of Arizona, and has a Masters in Latin American Studies from the University of New Mexico.

Stacy Kalamaros Skalski Stacy Kalamaros Skalski, Ph.D. is the Director of Professional Policy and Practice for the National Association of School Psychologists. In this capacity, she works collaboratively with national and state leaders, education and mental health professionals, and public officials to advocate for the alignment of research, policy and practice at the state and federal level. Her primary focus is on promoting high quality educational practices and student services, and comprehensive coordinated school-based mental health services. Dr. Skalski has 30 years of professional experience in the field of school psychology having previously served as the Coordinator of Mental Health Services for the Douglas County Schools (CO), as an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Colorado-Denver, and as a school psychologist practitioner for the Douglas County and Cherry Creek Schools (CO). Dr. Skalski earner her B.A. degree in psychology from Hanover College (IN), and her M.A. and Ph.D degrees in School Psychology from the University of Denver (CO).

Sharon Walsh Sharon Walsh, Co-Director of Walsh Taylor Incorporated, has worked in the field of special education and early intervention for over 30 years. Sharon currently is a consultant on the federally-funded Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (ECTA) and the Center for IDEA Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy) projects. Sharon also is the Governmental Relations Consultant for the Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children (DEC) and the IDEA Infant and Toddler Coordinators Association (ITCA), which is the national association representing the state Part C lead agencies. In addition, she also provides consultation to state and local agencies (e.g. SEAs, state lead agencies for Part C, school districts and local lead agencies) on the implementation of Part C and Part B of IDEA.

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Jane West Jane West, Ph.D. is a visiting professor at the University of Maryland and policy advisor to several national education organizations, including the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (http://aacte.org/), the National Network of State Teacher of the Year (http://www.nnstoy.org/), the Higher Education Consortium for Special Education (http://www.hecse.net/) and the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children (http://www.tedcec.org/). For eight years, she led AACTE’s advocacy and policy work as senior vice president. In the mid-1980s she worked as Senior Education Advisor on the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions where she led the national effort to craft multiple federal education statutes. In addition, Dr. West is a former teacher and education administrator.

Focusing on bringing the voice of expert education practitioners into the national policy dialogue, Dr. West supports professionals – teacher educators, expert teachers, researchers, principals, doctoral students and others – in engaging in the policy making process by honing their message, supporting it with evidence, engaging at the right time during the process and building effective political alliances.

Deborah Ziegler Deborah A. Ziegler is the Director for Policy and Advocacy and Professional Standards at the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), one of the world's premier education organizations. She has broad public policy experience at the international, national, state, and local levels. Dr. Ziegler works to further the overall goals of CEC through improving policies affecting exceptional children and youth and the professionals who work with them, at all levels of government. In her position, she is responsible for providing leadership and direction for the association's public policy agenda, including policy development, implementation, and analysis; information collection and dissemination; and maintaining a grassroots network of Children and Youth Action Network (CAN) Coordinators. She works closely with the White House, the United States Congress, and the Federal Agencies including the U.S. Department of Education to advocate for policies that guarantee a free appropriate public education for children and youth with disabilities and gifts and talents.

Using Early Childhood Personnel Standards to Guide Professional Practice

Mary Beth Bruder Mary Beth Bruder, Ph.D., is professor of Community Medicine and Health Promotion, Pediatrics, and Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut (U.S.A.) where she directs the A.J. Pappanikou Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCEDD) and the Leadership Program in Neurodevelopmental and Other Disabilities (CT LEND). She has been in the field of early childhood intervention for 43 years, and has directed over 80 federal and state research, demonstration and training grants and contracts. Her primary research interests focus on capacity

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building of qualified and effective personnel, at both the individual and systems level. In particular, she is involved in the development of inclusive early childhood settings and systems and the implementation of strength-based family engagement practices. Dr. Bruder is the editor of Infants & Young Children and is a board member of the International Society on Early Intervention. She currently directs the Early Childhood Personnel Center, a TA center funded by OSEP.

Mary Harrill Mary Harrill is Senior Director of Higher Education at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). In this role, she oversees NAEYC’s higher education accreditation system for early childhood degree programs and NAEYC’s national recognition system of higher education program through its partnership with the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). She is also shepherding the revisions process for the Professional Standards and Competencies and supporting Power to the Profession efforts. Prior to working at NAEYC, Mary worked at Achieving the Dream (ATD) as an Associate Director overseeing grants to improve student success in community colleges and managing the recruitment and retention of colleges in the ATD network. From 2001 until 2014, Mary worked for the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) in many roles – including overseeing federal and state policy, managing state chapters, overseeing governance operations, and leading initiatives to improve principal preparation and advance clinical preparation of educators. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from Stetson University and a M.T.S. from Candler School of Theology at Emory University.

Peggy Kemp Peggy Kemp, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of the Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). Dr. Kemp is a recognized leader and tireless advocate devoted to quality services to young children with disabilities, their families, and the professionals who serve them. Dr. Kemp's over 30 years of experience includes as a direct service provider as well as a local, state, and national leader in Early Childhood/Early Childhood Special Education. She holds a Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Kansas. Her life experiences as a family member of persons with disabilities fuels her passion to support policies and practices that enhance the lives of all families.

Vicki Stayton Vicki Stayton, Ph.D., is Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education (IECE), School of Teacher Education, Western Kentucky University (WKU). At WKU, she coordinated the BS and MAT blended Early Childhood and Early Childhood Special Education (EC/ECSE) programs. Her research/scholarly activities have focused on personnel preparation. Dr. Stayton was PI or Co-PI on 5 state and 7 OSEP grants specific to preservice education and professional development

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totaling over 6.5 million dollars. She has been active in both State and national initiatives, having served as a Past-President of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), as chair of DEC’s Personnel Preparation Committee, and co-chair of the personnel preparation strand for DEC’s recommended practices. She has served on CEC, NAEYC, and State committees specific to personnel standards and accreditation. Currently, she is a member of the CEC Standards Development Workgroup which will be drafting new CEC personnel standards, DEC’s representative to CEC’s Knowledge and Skills Subcommittee, and chair of the DEC Personnel Preparation Committee for which she facilitated the 2017 revalidation of DEC’s Specialty Sets and revision of its Personnel Standards Position Statement. She currently is an Associate Director of the Early Childhood Personnel Center, a TA center funded by OSEP.

News you can use: Updates on IDEA Section 618 Data

Richelle Davis Richelle Davis is an Education Program Specialist in the Research to Practice Division at the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the US Department of Education. She is co-project officer for the IDEA Data Center (IDC) and the Center for IDEA Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy). Additionally, she manages the "Annual Report to Congress on IDEA" and the Personnel Development Program Data Collection System. Richelle and her colleagues are responsible for the collection and management of the IDEA Section 618 data submitted to the US Department of Education via the EDFacts systems. Prior to joining OSEP, Richelle taught middle school special education and served as an Instructional Specialist in Richmond, VA. She earned a Master of Public Policy degree and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Education Policy at George Mason University.

Liz Fening Liz Fening is a Program Management Analyst and serves as an EDFacts liaison for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), Office of Safe and Healthy Students (OSHS), Charter and the Homeless Program Office. She has been with NCES for the past 4.5 years, but before that worked as a contractor on the EDFacts Partner Support Center (PSC). In total, Liz has been working on the EDFacts project for 10 years. As an EDFacts Liaison, Liz works closely with the different program offices on various data analysis and program initiatives that drive K-12 data collections and decision making.

Meredith Miceli Meredith Miceli is an Education Program Specialists in the Research to Practice Division at the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the US Department of Education. She is responsible for the collection and management of the IDEA Section 618 data submitted to the US Department of Education via the EDFacts systems. Additionally, she is a co-project officer for the IDEA Data Center (IDC), the

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Center for IDEA Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy), and the Center for the Integration of IDEA Data (CIID). Prior to joining OSEP, Meredith taught high school special education in Connecticut. She earned a M.Ed. and Ph.D. in Special Education at University of Maryland, College Park.

Julia Redmon Julia Redmon is a Data Management lead and Business Analyst at Applied Engineering Management. She has ten years’ experience in data management, data collection, and reporting and analysis in large education and consumer safety databases. In her current role as the Data Management Team lead for the EDFacts Technology and Support Services (ETSS) II contract with the Department of Education (ED), she oversees the team that conducts EDFacts data analyses and produces data files (including data visualizations) for ED program offices. As part of this effort, Ms. Redmon provides strategic direction to numerous ED program offices, designing systems and material to assess data quality. Ms. Redmon led the effort to document and improve the process to perform the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) data quality assessment activities on 12 data collections authorized under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Section 618, as well as produce the public data files for the IDEA data collections. As a Business Analyst at AEM, Ms. Redmon was responsible for gathering requirements, and designing data collection material and software to collect annual performance report, including the OSEP IDEA Part B and Part C state performance plan and annual performance report (SPP/APR). Ms. Redmon received her B.S. in Mathematics from Christopher Newport University.

Beth Sinclair Beth Sinclair is a Senior Education Analyst and a Data Management lead at Applied Engineering Management. Sinclair has over 30 years of experience working with State and local education data. She has successfully managed all aspects of large projects including instrument development, site visits, data analysis, and reporting that involved synthesizing qualitative and quantitative data. In her current role as the Data Management and CCD Team Leads for the EDFacts Technology and Support Services (ETSS) II contract with the U.S. Department of Education, she leads data usage and data quality work for the broader team and works with ED program offices, data users, and data providers. As a Senior Analyst with Policy Studies Associate, Ms. Sinclair co-authored reports on youth development programs and early reading programs and was responsible for instrument development, data analysis, and site visits. During her 20 years with Westat, she was responsible for State follow-up and data quality efforts for a number of large federal programs. Ms. Sinclair received her B.A. in Political Science from Rice University.

Becca Smith Becca Smith is an Educational Program Specialist and Data Steward for the 618 data collections at the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). Her work includes supervising the collection, analysis,

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dissemination and use of Section 618 data. Ms. Smith works closely with the Monitoring and State Improvement Program (MSIP) team in the creation of the Results Driven Accountability (RDA) matrices each year. Ms. Smith has been with the Department of Education for 2.5 years. Prior to that time, she worked as a Community Work Incentives Coordinator (CWIC), database programmer, Employment Network manager, and Project Coordinator for various grants supporting individuals with disabilities.

Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Research and Evaluation on to Support Learners with Disabilities

Jacquelyn Buckley Jackie Buckley joined IES in 2006 and is the Team Lead for disability research at NCSER. She serves as the Program Officer for the Social Behavioral Outcomes to Support Learning, Families of Children with Disabilities, and Transition Outcomes for Secondary Students with Disabilities research topics. In addition, she is the Program Officer for the special topic, Career and Technical Education for Students with Disabilities. Her prior research focused primarily on prevention and early intervention services for students with emotional and behavioral disorders as well as mental health services in schools. Jackie received her Ph.D. in educational (school) psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Prior to graduate school, she joined Teach For America, where she served as a middle school special education teacher in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas.

Erica Johnson Erica Johnson is a Research Scientist in the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE) within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at the U.S. Department of Education. She has designed and led impact studies of K-12 education interventions and national studies of State and local implementation of core Federal education legislation, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Title I and Title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). She has worked for the U.S. Department of Education for 9 years and has a Ph.D. in applied economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Yumiko Sekino Miller Yumiko Sekino is a Research Scientist at the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance within the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Since joining IES in 2007, Yumiko has led various descriptive studies on the characteristics and outcomes of students with disabilities. She currently serves as Project Officer for the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012, the third in the series conducted by the Department examining the characteristics and transition experiences of youth with disabilities. In addition, she is Project Officer for an impact study of a tiered instructional model to promote the social, emotional, and behavioral development of children in

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inclusive preschool classrooms. Yumiko received her Ph.D. in School, Community, Clinical Child Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Amy Sussman Amy Sussman joined the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) in 2010 and is currently serving as the Program Officer for the Early Intervention and Early Learning in Special Education portfolio and the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Research Network within the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER). Before arriving at IES, she was the Program Director for the Developmental and Learning Sciences program at the National Science Foundation, an adjunct faculty member and researcher at Georgetown University, a Research Analyst at the American Institutes for Research, and an American Psychological Association Congressional Fellow. Her prior research focused on cognitive and social development within early care and education settings. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Yale University.

Impact Panel

Melissa Cosgriff Melissa Cosgriff, A Saint Joseph's University graduate in 2002, Melissa received her bachelor's degree in Marketing and began working in the business world. After realizing that she wanted to pursue her interest in teaching, she went back to Saint Joseph's and obtained her Master's Degree in Education and earned her Educational Leadership Certificate. As the school year begins next month, Melissa will be entering her seventeenth year of teaching. She has taught in 4th, 5th, and 8th grade classrooms, but has found the 5th grade to be her true passion.

Alex Lee Alex Lee, who just finished 5th grade at Upper Merion Middle School, has been 100% included at school since preschool. Since coming to middle school last year, he has made Distinguished Honor Roll every single marking period, has been doing the video morning announcements for the whole school, and just having an awesome time trying to teach the world about the importance of full inclusion in middle school. At age 11, he already has an impressive resume that includes modeling for Toys R Us, doing a TV appearance on a Sprout show, singing opera in Italian on various stages, and speaking at the UN Headquarters in NYC.

Daniel Sherlock Daniel Sherlock is a special education teacher with District of Columbia Public Schools. He works also as a research assistant at the University of Maryland, College Park in the Cognition and Development and

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the Bilingual and Biliteracy research labs. He has worked for the past 15 years with individuals with disabilities in a variety of educational, clinical, and recreational settings. He has an undergraduate degree in psychology from George Mason University and a master’s degree in special education from Vanderbilt University.

Isabelle Lee Isabelle Lee, thanks to her brother who continuously provides the most entertaining stories along with the most profound messages, has been leading quite an amazing life getting invited to do keynote speeches at various educational conferences to just retell these incredible stories. The soon-to-be 9th grader has been advocating for inclusion for all students since she was 4 years old and doing keynote speeches since she was 11 years old. This young, naturally gifted public speaker has been having lots of fun in the past 3 years making the audiences all over PA laugh and cry with her talks. She has recently been given the Good Citizenship Award by Senator Daylin Leach in PA.