Special Education Plan 2012-2013 - Algoma District School Board

Staff Professional DevelopmentThe overall goal of the special education staff development plan is to improve the knowledge andskills of the employees involved in the delivery and support of special education programs. Staffhas regular input through surveys and as part of meeting agendas to decide on areas of focus forprofessional development. Special education department staff set priority needs with theSuperintendent for Special Education for schools, teachers, administration and special educationstaff. Special education staff receives copies of the Special Education Plan, copies are availableon the Board web site under Special Education.Special Education coordinator attend all SEAC meetings and present professional developmentreports. In addition, members of S.E.A.C. share their opportunities for professional developmentwith staff and present their concerns for staff in-service. Staff speak at community meetings forexceptionalities and staff also attend local community workshops.Special Education Department visit schools on a regular basis, consult with the special educationresource teachers, and provide input on needed areas of professional development to theSuperintendent of Education with the portfolio of special education. As a result, training sessionsare developed to instruct specific staff on areas, which are needed in order to deliver services tospecial needs students.A train-the-trainer model is used for most professional activity sessions. Experienced teachersand board professionals run workshops and web based professional development for otherteachers and educational assistants. When new legislation and ministry policy is developed, thespecial education coordinators attend Ministry training sessions. They, in turn, run trainingsessions for the special education resource teachers and principals of their family of schools whothen train the personnel of their schools. The special education resource teacher in each schoolis responsible for much of the training in the school and several training sessions for S.E.R.T.s areheld each year. The resource contact for the S.E.R.T. is the special education coordinator forthat school.When specialized training is needed which is outside the experience of Board personnel,arrangements are made with other agencies to share costs associated with the workshops.Regular workshops are on-going and notices are sent out to the schools of the opportunities toparticipate. One particular workshop is a two-day, certificated course in Non-Violent CrisisIntervention (CPI), which is offered on a regular basis by our behaviour consultant. Each fall afull-day workshop for educational assistants takes place in the central board area with workshopsprovided by special education staff and local agency professionals on topics identified in surveyscompleted by educational assistants and others recommended by the Special EducationDepartment. In addition, workshops for new special education resource teachers are heldregularly highlighting specific exceptionalities, testing and role clarification.Appendix 13June 2012 30 of 68