See you at the NYCASE 17th Annual Summer Institute! New York Council of Administrators of Special Education (NYCASE) will host its annual Summer Institute from July 22-July 24, 2019 at the Albany Capital Center, and this year, the theme is Supportive Practice: New Horizons for All. [More]
What MTSS boils down to “At-Risk, Disproportionality, Over-Identification, Child Find, Student Outcomes…” These words, often associated with Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), haunted me as a former director of students with disabilities in need of special education supports and services – but I thought to myself, do they need to be? I often woke up in the middle of the night pondering what I could do differently to help ensure the appropriate students were being identified for special education and the services they received were fitting. [More]
New American School Board Journal article examines disproportionality in urban school districts Disproportionality in urban school districts, specifically as it relates to instruction, is the focus of a new American School Board Journal (ASBJ) article out this month. The article, “Urban districts strive to solve disproportionality in their schools,” features several experts from across the U.S. who share ways districts are addressing this issue—one of those experts, is PCG’s own Dr. Jennifer Meller. According to the article, minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged students are more likely to be identified for special education than any other students. Meller argues that by implementing culturally responsive interventions, schools can begin to address this overrepresentation in special education programs. [More]
White Paper: Reducing Disproportionality in New Jersey Schools Our latest white paper: Reducing Disproportionality in New Jersey Schools: Practical Ideas and Promising Strategies for Intervention & Referral Services (I&RS) Teams, authored by Dr. Jennifer Meller and Matthew Korobkin, was recently released at our second annual New Jersey Special Education Summit. [More]
NJ Special Education Summit: Theme of Second Annual Summit Announced The theme of the second annual New Jersey Special Education Summit will be Exploring Disproportionality: Discovering Root Causes and Solutions-Based Approaches. This summit provides a forum for Superintendents, Special Education Directors, Supervisors of Special Education, and other special education professionals to discuss and learn about this complex and critical issue. [More]