Check out this series of videos and podcasts from the Reading League on the science of reading!
The Reading League (TRL) is a national education non-profit led by educators and reading experts dedicated to promoting knowledge to reimagine the future of reading education and accelerate the global movement toward reading instruction rooted in science. Our purpose is to increase knowledge of science-based approaches to teaching reading as well as research that demystifies how people learn to benefit the lives of millions of students. We train and support educators and school leaders. By extension, we also serve parents, specialists, and researchers. We believe all children deserve to learn to read and all teachers can learn to teach them. Learn more at www.thereadingleague.org
Essentials of the FIE
The following series is designed for educational diagnosticians who are interested in developing or deepening their skills as an evaluator. These may be taken as a group or individually.
Part 1: Planning for the FIE from Referral to Consent for the Educational Diagnostician
(8/15/2023) 9:00-4:00
Part 2: Selecting and Administering and Interpreting Assessments for the Educational Diagnostician
(8/16/2023) 9:00-4:00
Part 3: Writing Impactful FIEs for the Educational Diagnostician
(8/22/2023) 9:00-4:00
(11/2/2023) 9:00-4:00
Virtual Lunch and Learn Series
Dates and Topics Coming SOON!
The Virtual Lunch and Learn sessions will be offered from 11:30-1:30 and will cover a variety of topics critical to your success as an evaluator and will include interactive activities and group discussions. Attendees may opt to participate during the live session or asynchronously during the week following the live session.
ON Demand TEA Course: Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) Committee Manager Training
This professional development session is a self-paced, online course that is intended to provide participants with best practices to ARD committee managers for local education agencies (LEAs) that choose to use this model. This course is intended to provide information, guidance, and best practice for successfully achieving the expectations, roles, and responsibilities of an ARD committee manager, including scheduling ARD committee meetings, preparing and finalizing required ARD committee paperwork, facilitating the ARD committee meeting, and supporting families and school personnel with the ARD committee processes. Participants who complete the course will receive 12 hours of professional learning credits.
Virtual Lunch and Learn Series for ARD Managers
The Virtual Lunch and Learn sessions will be offered from 11:30-1:30 and will cover a variety of topics critical to your success as an ARD Manager and will include interactive activities and group discussions. Attendees may opt to participate during the live session or asynchronously during the week following the live session.
DATES and TOPICS COMING SOON!
Child Find Evaluation and ARD Supports Network: Updates and Resources
Register now for the Aligned Conference! July 17th and 18th (in addition you will receive access to 14 pre-recorded sessions for the following 30 days)
COST: the conference is FREE to all attendees
AUDIENCE: Evaluation Personnel, ARD Managers, and Administrators.
Participants will register through Region 4 and need to create an account in their system in order to sign up for the conference.
REPRINTED FROM JIM WALSH’S “DAILY DAWG” WITH PERMISSION FROM THE WALSH GALLEGOS LAW FIRM.
“…SHE DID NOT ADMINISTER THIS TEST IN ACCORDANCE WITH PUBLISHER GUIDELINES…”
The court in Pennsylvania cited the usual standard about disputes over educational methodology:
…there is no requirement that it [an IEP] use specific language or terminology to define the method or approach that will be used by educational professionals…. A lack of specific methodology in an IEP is not a procedural error warranting compensatory education or tuition reimbursement.
The court also noted the extensive communication and numerous meetings with the parents, concluding that the parents were “intimately involved in the process of crafting [the student’s] IEP.” They were not denied “their participation rights.”
Standard stuff. But what stood out to me was the casual comment the court made about the testing done by the independent expert retained by the parent:
Along with her battery of testing, Ms. Ganges administered the Dynamic Evaluation of Motor Speech Skill (“DEMSS”); however, she did not administer this test in accordance with publisher guidelines. Ms. Ganges used only 19 of the words out of the 65 from the DEMSS—she did not note this deviation in her expert report.
The publisher guidelines are important. Failure to follow them, or to have a good explanation why you did not do so, will undercut the credibility of the expert’s report.
It’s M.S. v. Downingtown Area School District, decided by the federal district court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on October 28, 2022. It’s published in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Law Reporter at 82 IDELR 32.
DAWG BONE: FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES.
Got a question or comment for the Dawg? Let me hear from you at jwalsh@wabsa.com.
Amy Smith, Evaluation Consultant
Email: amy.smith@region10.org
Website: https://www.region10.org/programs/evaluation-special-education/overview/
Location: Region 10 Education Service Center, East Spring Valley Road, Richardson, TX, USA
Phone: 972-348-1784