Best Practices in the Assessment of English Learners for Special Education: Applications Session

This workshop provides participants with practical follow-up training to the initial full-day session.  Given the audience comes from various backgrounds (i.e. administration, special education, EL, speech/language, intervention teachers, etc.), there will be some flexibility in regards to which structured activities will help support implementation practices in their buildings while other activities will apply to all. While the initial training was primarily content being presented, this application session will provide participants with time to further learning via the below activities. The following activities are based on participant feedback from the initial training:

• Walk through of five case studies- participants will receive a little bit of info to start conversations and apply elements of the Best Practices framework, then given more info, then more conversations, then more info, etc. The final case study will involve an actual report and teams will determine if they are eligible for special education services based on Wisconsin criteria
• Structured opportunities to review certain digital resources and discuss their relevance to your buildings
• Spending time identifying how teams will assess various areas in a less discriminatory way for EL students, both during the problem-solving phase as well as during the evaluation phase
• Comparing/contrasting a traditional write-up for a standardized assessment versus a write-up for an EL student
• Taking one of your own standardized assessments (bring your own test results to training) and writing them up in a less discriminatory way without reporting scores
• Identify how to gather new and existing data on an EL student in your building and make comparisons to comparable EL peers
• Identify how you will assess first language proficiency as well as acculturation
• Develop data-gathering forms for the problem-solving process in your building
• Develop procedures/flowchart for initiating interventions and referrals
• Define who needs to be on your problem-solving teams as well as roles/responsibilities

Presenter Info: Tyson Zitzow works for St. Cloud Area Schools as a school psychologist. He also consults with school districts around Minnesota on a variety of topics. He holds special education teaching licenses in school psychology, specific learning disabilities and emotional/behavioral disorders. He graduated from Min¬nesota State University Moorhead with a B.S. in Special Education, M.S. in School Psychology, and Ed.S. in School Psychology. He works at Talahi Elementary School and serves as St. Cloud Area Schools' EL Evaluation Consultant. He has served on the Executive Board of the Minnesota School Psychologists Association (MSPA) and as the editor of School Psychology Minnesota, the official publication of the MSPA.

Who Should Attend? School psychologists, special education teachers, EL teachers, school social workers, speech/language pathologists, special education coordinators, and administrators. While schools may opt to send any of these individuals, it is recommended consideration be given to sending a team. Evaluating a student from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds requires a team of diverse and knowledgeable members.

Cost:     No charge to CESA 10 CSPD member school districts; $50 to non-member districts.

Contact:  Details:    Sarah James, sjames@cesa10.k12.wi.us
               Registration:    Shari Owen, sowen@cesa10.k12.wi.us, 715-720-2060

Registration Deadline - October 3, 2016