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Transcript of NTA Conference Call Presentation held on 1/12/99 Strenthening Professional PracticeSchool to Work and Youth with Disabilities
Dr. Henry Marockie, State
Superintendent of Schools, |
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| Dan Wiltrout: Welcome
to today's audio conference call, Strengthening
Professional Practice. I'm with the Council of Chief
State School Officers in Washington, DC. I asked Dr. Marockie to highlight some of the work of the Council of Chief State School Officers, particularly that work undertaken in the November 1998 annual meeting on strengthening professional practice. I especially appreciate him being willing to do this. Dr. Marockie was named State Superintendent of Schools for the State of West Virginia in 1989. But before doing that, he was a highly successful superintendent of a local county school system for seventeen years. So, he not only has been a national leader but he is grounded well in the day-to-day experiences of running a school district. In particular, on the national scene, he has worked in a number of leadership areas, including National Chairman of the Telecommunications Project in cooperation with the US Department of Commerce; served on the advisory panel of the National Education Goals Panel, which all of us know is a driving force behind the standards movement in the nation; and as a member of the Arts Ed Tech, a national committee for embracing arts through technology. Now, there are other boards and so on here, but I think the important business at hand is to have some discussion about the professional practice and strengthening that work that's a national initiative right now. And so, I will take no more time with the introduction but let Dr. Marockie go ahead. Dr. Marockie: Thanks, Dan, and welcome all of you to this audio conference. I want to take a few moments to highlight parts of the working draft from the Council of Chief State School Officers paper that we are attempting to put together as our major policy practice. We have entitled it, Strengthening Professional Practice. Bill Cody, the Chief in Kentucky is presently serving as president and he has chosen as his theme for his presidency, Strengthening Professional Practice. As a result of that, the Council and its study commission has been working diligently to put together a policy paper on that. So, let me go through very quickly some of the things here that hopefully will set the stage for discussion, and then we can get feedback from the group and questions and answers that may give us some direction on where the Council may take this in the near future. First was our priority for action. It became the Council's chief goal and responsibility and the essential overriding issue there is ensuring that every classroom and administrative position is held by a highly qualified teacher and school leader. And I need not tell you why that's a major problem and what's happened over the course of time with diminishing people. Highly qualified teachers and school leaders, because of what they do in the practice of these professions, is at the heart of the educational opportunity and we need those in order to accomplish all of the standards and assessments now that are hopefully bordering on world class standards, programs across the state. And each state now pretty much is on board with their own respective standards. In this area, we have got to have people who are well-versed not only in the areas in which they teach, which is getting a great deal of debate and discussion in any program that deals with professional practice, but we have at least concluded that they need some effective pedagogical strategies also. Example after example go both ways, but it's our final conclusion that they must have a passion for learning and caring for the progress of each student in addition to just simply knowing their subject matter, although both are certainly important. We have also concluded that to be effective with strengthening professional practice, each state must have a comprehensive policy in order to do this that affects both teachers and school administrators. And when we mention the word “comprehensive,” we are talking about attention to recruiting, to preparing, to licensing, to inducting new teachers and personnel, to continuing professional development, to the re-licensure wherever that's effective, career patterns, and to satisfying compensation and rewards. That we consider to be the component parts of a comprehensive plan for truly affecting strengthening professional development. And, lastly under this particular part of the comments, is that all of these hopefully will take place at the center of school improvement plans for high student achievement. Our recommendation is that if it doesn't get to the school level, it's not effective. And that's obviously where it needs to start. Number two, let me share with you the Chief's best thoughts in terms of some five state actions. The Council thinks five simultaneous actions are necessary. Our first one is the act of recruiting. We have seen some excellent examples of where some states have attempted to get into that for bringing people into the field in light of the ensuing shortage that's around the corner. Assuring that these candidates who come in are well-prepared for teaching and administration when they finish their programs; Finding and keeping support programs for teachers and principals in their initial years in practice — it's all determined that that's critical for success in a continuing way; Continuing their academic and pedagogical professional growth while they are in the profession, and; Creating some career patterns with lasting satisfaction. That is a little bit different than the traditional form whereby if a teacher in the classroom wants to think about a promotion, then the only avenue we presently have is for them to think about going into administration. And while that certainly isn't the worst of the world, it's a place where some teachers would rather not go for career advancement but would rather stay with children and in the profession of that nature. But we don't have any kind of career patterns for them at this particular space. At least, not on a major scale across the country. The Council's commitments are a couple in order to make this happen. We will provide support to the states on five action items: 1) To effectively implement the new federal programs that are designed to recruit teachers — this is as a result of the new legislation that was just passed. 2) To strengthen licensing and teacher preparation through the new federal authority of the Higher Education Act under Title II, which gives broad general powers to the states in order to try to get involved in strengthening licensing patterns and teacher prep. It would appear from a reading of that particular bill, that even something as broad as a national reciprocity agreement for people who could be certified anywhere in the country once they are certified to teach would be possible. But that needs obviously some work and dealing with the reactions that one gets whenever one talks about that. 3) To use this new federal authority under the Reading Excellence Act for development of teachers, especially on school-wide improvement programs that are mentioned directly in there. 4) To assist in the integration of the Twenty-First Century Community Services Center after-school programs where state and federal programs can be used to serve youngsters with particular needs instead of having them hit the streets. 5) New technology obviously can be a part of this and we want to integrate professional development programs with all of those federal titles as much as we can. In conclusion, let me just site a couple of things that the Council is working hard at in order to try to get at this issue of strengthening professional development. And that is, advancing state licensure standards and assessments for teachers and school leaders through two items — one is called In Task, which I think most are familiar with, and the other is called ISLLC, which is also a major initiative of the Chief State School Officers. The second one is to assist states in working with teachers and school leaders as regular policy advisors for state educational agencies. Under the direction of Dan and Jack McDonald at the Chief State School Officer offices in Washington, we have been providing a lot of technical assistance to states in order to try to get started and provide support staff in these areas. The third is to link our agency and other agencies together on a national level. For example, the Council of Teacher Education, the Partnership for Excellence and Accountability in Teaching, the Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the Policy Board for Ed Administration, the Commission on Teaching and America's Future, Learning First Alliances — all of those are functioning at a national level. And the hope is that all of those can come together whenever it deals with this concept called “Professional Practice in Education and Strengthening” and bring the best of all of what they have to the table so that we might jump on it. So that is where the Chiefs are at this point. We still have a good thirty-five minutes to get into this discussion and responding to questions from the audience. Also, we have Paula Kohler from the Transition Research Institute at the University of Illinois with us, who will provide some resources in this area. Paula, maybe you would like to make a couple of comments and then we'll get to the questions. Paula Kohler (NTA): Sure. I've been involved in three different ways that might assist others who want to contact the National Transition Alliance for information. One is that we have developed some professional development materials that are focused at both the in-service and the pre-service levels. And those are the levels that we have identified that — if we're going to improve the outcomes of kids with disabilities — we need to address people who are preparing to be teachers and those who are in the field. So, we have some materials available that we have developed focused specifically on transition issues and student outcome issues that we think may be helpful for people. Secondly is we developed a process for identifying new skills that specific stakeholders need to help improve transition outcomes for kids with disabilities. I'm talking here specifically with respect to transition specialists. That appears to be an emerging position related to both transition and school-to-work that plays a collaborative role in helping bring all these stakeholders together to really do much more than education has ever been required to do in the past. That process has utilized research-based knowledge that we generated and linked that knowledge to identify specific competencies that these transition specialists need. And we have worked real closely with the Council of Exceptional Children through this process of people in the field. And those competencies have now been adopted by CEC as part of their skills that every special educator should know. What's interesting again is that it's a great link between research and practice. And we can provide you with some specific examples from Ohio where they have utilized the knowledge that we identified in developing their credentialing process at the state level. Again, that movement from research to practice to application. And then thirdly, we have recently developed a conceptual model that helps people understand the relationship between what they are doing at the state level and how they influence in practice at the local level. And developing some specific strategies that they can use to leverage the initiatives, such as school-to-work, that are occurring in their state — standards-based education, et cetera — through their typical roles as state agencies and policy makers and funding agents, et cetera. And, again, link research and problem- specific strategies to what's happening in schools. So, I thought those are three resources that will help people pull together the information that you've provided. Dr. Marockie: I think that sets kind of the framework and now we even have three items that can be considered resource items and resource models. So, let us then open it up and see what kinds of responses or questions we may have from members on the conference call. Sue (Idaho): Hi, I'm Sue from Idaho but I also work for vocational rehabilitation. And the reason I'm on the conference call is because part of the topic was school-to-work and youth with disabilities. In Idaho we have a lot of VR counselors actually stationed in the high schools. And we're wondering if this is common, but also what kind of certification and training are you going to give, are trying to give, or are trying to develop for the teachers and administrators to deal with youth with disabilities? Paula Kohler: What I would suggest is we can actually go back to the legislation and this shared definition of transition services that's shared in IDEA and in the Rehab Act amendment. And I think those two pieces of legislation really attempted to remove some barriers that we had between rehab and educators working together before students left school. Now, we've identified a number of different practices, both through the Taxonomy for Transition Planning and through the NTA Transition Practices Framework that focus on collaboration. We've done some studies that looked at who is responsible for implementing practices that were identified through research as being related to improving student outcomes. Again, focus on collaboration in particular. We looked at some of the things that rehabilitation counselors would do in the process of developing educational activities. So, I think if you start there, then we have to look at those are the things that through their programs we need to teach rehabilitation counselors to do and actually have them do those in applied settings in their pre-service training. Some of the things I'm talking about are just fundamental knowledge about how the education system works, how schools operate. Because, again, it's a totally different system than the rehab system and people have to have a shared knowledge of how each of those systems work. Secondly, would be methods of collaboration — the IEP process, the expectations for that, the participants. General knowledge about education, special education, and effective transition practices. And then teach them specific skills on using and developing their rehabilitation services in those educational settings. And then on the other hand we have to teach teachers to do the same thing, those teachers who are going to be responsible for linking with rehabilitation counselors. And maybe that's where we see a position such as the transition specialist emerge. But we also need to expect teachers to have some knowledge about what options are available for their students in the communities, including certain agencies like rehabilitation. And then, again, collaboration skills so that they can work effectively with those folks from those agencies. So, I just throw those out as some ideas to work from. Janis Chadsey (NTA): This is Janis Chadsey also from the University of Illinois. And you had asked a question about how common it is for VR counselors to be in high schools. And I think that really varies from state to state and local school districts. But I think that is something that is really wonderful that's occurring. Where you are they have VR so closely connected. I would have to agree with Paula. There's a lot that we need to do on the education side to prepare teachers to understand about the world of work and about all the different adult service agencies that are available in communities and to try and force those collaborative relationships between the two. And while there is no specific certification nationwide, I know that in the state of Illinois you can get a vocational training certificate through education but there is not a specific certification for a transition specialist. Do you know if that occurs anywhere else in the United States, Paula? Paula Kohler: Well, Ohio has recently developed a certification in that area. And I think they are one of the first. I think some other states are thinking about it, but to my knowledge Ohio is first. Janis Chadsey: Yeah. So, it depends on the pre-service program at the university as to whether or not faculty are working to prepare teachers who are going to be in secondary school placements to understand about the world of work and the kind of experiences that they need to offer youth with disabilities besides traditional academic course work. And that really varies from university to university. Dr. Marockie: I think Sue raised the question a little bit in her initial question dealing with certification. Is there really a need to officially certify — other than based upon marketplace skills — people like rehab counselors who go into schools with a certain kind of function for rehabilitation of particularly disabled young people? And, number two, the transition people that we're talking about now coming into this new dimension whose apparent real function is to bring together people in a collaborative role. Other than marketplace high quality skills, do we need to get those people into another certification process, which sometimes just becomes so means to the ends rather than the ends themselves that it's more discrediting than crediting to the program? Betty Karr (California): This is Betty Karr from the California Department of Education. I'd like to ask a question because most of the consultants who are in the California Department have come from the field in various teaching and administrative positions. As we look at the Department of Rehabilitation and the collaboration between it and the public schools, this morning in one of our team meetings we discussed the issue that most people are qualified and are trained. And there is a need for ongoing staff development. But we are more concerned with the students who don't seem to be in the special education department anymore and who don't reach a severity of disability. And so, there are nine thousand and some-odd students who are not in any program, no matter whether the people are qualified or not. So, what are you, across the nation, doing about those students who seem to be falling through the cracks, the youth with disabilities? Sue (Idaho): I guess the comment I'll make from Idaho is that we're serving many more people who are not served under IEP's with department or special education. We are getting a lot of kids with ADD, we are getting kids with adjustment disorders leading to psychiatric mental illness, as well as people with physical disabilities and substance abuse. Betty Karr (California): Are they still in the public school system or are they in the Department of Rehabilitation then, the adult population? Sue (Idaho): These are kids that are still in high school. Betty Karr (California): We understand that. We are saying that when these students don't qualify on the severity of disability scale and Department of Rehabilitation does not address their needs because they don't reach the minimum qualification, what happens to them? Do you use the scale? Sue (Idaho): — California or wherever is under the order of selection — is it? Betty Karr (California): Yes. Sue (Idaho): Okay. We are not. We are trying to stay out of it if at all possible. Paula Kohler: How many states that are online are in an order of selection? Is California the only one right now? Anonymous: I thought Illinois was. Anonymous: I think Oregon is. Betty Karr (California): But is this agency then, your agency, going to act as a clearinghouse collecting information and data and numbers from throughout the states? Because I'd be interested in seeing what they are doing to address the needs of the population that falls between exiting high school and those who qualify under order of selection. Anonymous: Well, I think that not only order of selection is an issue, but I think there are kids who are LD and EBD who are identified in the schools but may not be eligible under VR criterion. And I know in Missouri that's a big issue in my region, what do you do with those kids that fall through the cracks. And there I think transition planning becomes really important. I had a question too about inclusion in professional preparation or professional practice in terms of there being many more students with more severe disabilities in the classroom than there have been in the past. Has the Council looked at that issue? The issue of teacher preparation in terms of their knowledge base on dealing with students with disabilities? Dr. Marockie: For the particular purpose of inclusion? Anonymous: There are a lot of issues that come along with inclusion, so it's not just inclusion by itself but also instructional practices, transition planning. I think many educators feel intimidated when they have a student with severe disabilities in their classroom. Anonymous: I agree with that. And, you know, I've got some friends who are teachers and they are not special education teachers, they are just ordinary classroom teachers who kind of get faced with having to deal with kids who are put in their classroom. Oftentimes they are disruptive. Dr. Marockie: That is clearly still an issue across the country when we deal with the topic of special education. And the unfortunate part, I think, that most people find is that when a youngster is identified and goes through the legitimate process and establishes an IEP and then the IEP says that the youngster should be placed in the least restrictive environment and then the committee decides that the least restrictive environment in this case would be into a regular classroom, there is also a caveat that goes with that. And that may be that that placement should not take place until such time as their support staff for the regular classroom who is going to receive that student — either in the way of a teacher aide or some additional financial resources or whatever the case may be — in order to provide that regular classroom teacher who is receiving a new student with support. But unfortunately, that second part is oftentimes lost in that whole procedure. And so what we end up with too often is a regular classroom teacher receiving another classroom student on a particular day — no previous discussion, no support system coming in with the student. And as a result, it becomes chaos in the classroom. Most unfortunate, but until we, across the country, come to the recognition that there are two parts to this inclusion process, we are always going to find ourselves with regular classroom teachers finding themselves on a particular day with a new student and no help. And I think the point is well taken here. There are a lot of things that have to happen for staff development and professional practice for the regular classroom teacher when that happens. And there is also staff development in the regular classroom for the students in that classroom because they are all of a sudden going to have a youngster in there who may have a unique kind of behavior pattern that they need to deal with. Janis Chadsey: I think that we are seeing a lot of pre-service programs now where departments of special education are working in collaboration with curriculum instruction departments — and they would be the departments preparing elementary and secondary teachers for general education kids. Programs are being developed where resources are exchanged between faculty and where students are sitting in on classes across departments. And perhaps some placements are being made out in the field where the emphasis is on training — both of a general and a special educator — to function as co-educators so that they learn those collaboration skills to work together. I agree that it's not helpful to anyone to have a student in a classroom where there is no help available. So, at the pre-service level if we can do a better job of preparing both general educators and special educators to work together to act as co-teachers, hopefully this will help with the problem. And I think that's a more sensible solution than just assigning say an aide to the student who is just with that student all the time. I don't think that's forging the kind of relationships that we really want to occur between educators. I think that's a better way to go, better for all students as well. Richard Horne (NTA): Janis, that's an excellent point. This is Richard Horne at the Academy for Educational Development. I think that there are also a couple of issues that have to be dealt with, not only at the pre-service level but with our existing workforce and our teachers who are out there. I am currently working on a model demonstration project in Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland with SED kids and six general high schools. And I think that one of our biggest challenges is how do we leverage other state and federal programs that will continue the ongoing professional development of the workforce we have. And I think that perhaps with the Council of Chief State School Officers and with our other NTA partner, the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE), we might begin to explore some of the opportunities that present themselves as part of the new state improvement grant process. How we can leverage our secondary education training dollars and our rehab dollars in terms of training that existing workforce. Certainly there is that new competition out called Partnerships, which is a new professional development opportunity for IEG's and state departments of education and other kinds of opportunities to strengthen the practice as well of our existing workforce. And so, I think having that kind of a balance is another thing that we need to look at. Dr. Marockie: That's good. We have been focusing primarily on children with disabilities. We haven't done much yet raising any questions or any suggestions with regard to the school-to-work issues. And I know we have a group who obviously work in the area of school-to-work who is with us. Why don't we hear from that group. What are you sensing are the professional staff development issues that are coming to the surface in your particular school-to-work program? Richard Horne: We have partnered with the Maryland School-to-Work Office, Career Connections and the State Department of Education to do teacher externships. We are finding that our secondary education faculty need a better understanding of the world of work and how to integrate those standards, workforce standards as well as academic standards, in a real contextual way in the curriculum. And that's where this summer we are going to be sending forty-five teachers out to externships with businesses for a four- week period. We have nine career cluster areas as part of our Career Connections. The teachers are going to observe businesses in five of those nine clusters. We expect to pay them some salary dollars during the summer to actually go back and revise curriculum units at the nine through twelve grade levels to incorporate that new knowledge in their course work — algebra, geography, US citizenship, et cetera. Anonymous: That's great because then when the secondary teachers are teaching their content, they can relate that to actual skills that will be needed in the work setting, which I'm sure will make it even way more enjoyable for all the students. They conceptualize it. Richard, that's great. Richard Horne: And it's going to create a partnership between Career Connections, special education, and general education to find some money to do this. And it would be great to see more of that. Dr. Marockie: Great. Let's hear from some others. What's your observations of what's happening in your field in school-to-work and what kind of staff development needs are you sensing in order to make the program more effective? Gary Clark (Utah): This is Gary Clark with the Utah group. I am at the University of Kansas, so I'm somewhat of an outside insider or an inside outsider, I'm not sure which. But in working with this particular committee on special populations and school-to-work, this committee developed to try to — (inaudible) — access for kids with disabilities in school-to-work. And right from the beginning it has been a problem getting people representing special education populations statewide — (inaudible) — so that it's — (inaudible) — issues are discussed that will make sure that our kids are included. And so, this committee has been working on that and there is more and more fear that it is difficult to crack a system that doesn't really think of this population at all. You're reminded of it. So, when we look at the charge of this committee and what it can do to help that. Certainly in-service and staff development — (inaudible). But with respect to the special certification issue, for about twenty-five years I have been advocating that, anybody who works in the area of placing kids out in the community needs a special kind of skill and knowledge that is not going to be provided through regular pre-service kinds of programs. It is strange to me that states require an exam and certificate for cosmetologists, for funeral directors, for contractors, for electricians and not for somebody who is going out and putting kids at risk and being asked to do things that they were not prepared to do. And in most cases, in states across the country — with the exception of one or two states — there's no requirement that these people who are doing this have any kind of special training. I think the Council ought to be aware — in terms of liability and best professional practice — that if we acknowledge that other related sources or other specialists need special kinds of training — (inaudible) — teachers. Someone who is doing this needs special training. And if certification is the only way to get it, then maybe that's what we should do. Dr. Marockie: Your comments with regard to working on the problem and bringing the two groups together is a good one. Have you found the problem in bringing the disabled student into the school-to-work program a problem of logistics? Or have you found it to be a problem where the staffing people who are working with two programs just aren't sufficiently trained to do it or aren't interested in doing it? What are your findings with regard to that, number one. And, number two, is it your proposal that staff development in-service will be a way to go to solve that issue? Gary Clark (Utah): I think the answer is yes to all three of those scenarios. It's been pretty — (inaudible) — in just trying to get philosophical foundations for school to careers made in all of our schools and districts throughout the state. As people have come on board to entertain different aspects of doing that, we have had them address the issue of how are you going to make sure that these opportunities are afforded to all students because that whole dichotomy is a different classification of at-risk students there to address that. There is still that aspect that they really don't know how to address it because they don't work with that student or all of those different kinds of students on a routine basis. So, what we're trying to push for is to access those people in their buildings who do work with those students to get the necessary support. I just might also add that one of the things that we're doing in Utah this year is going to our legislature for a building block for funding that will put a work-based learning coordinator in each cone site in our state. And we define a cone as a high school and all of the feeder elementary and junior high middle schools that feed into that school as well as the local postsecondary training and business partnerships in the community. And so, there will be at least one coordinator in each of those cone slots that will be responsible for setting up those kinds of various different kinds of work-based learning options for students and faculties. And one of the things that we're asking them to do is to coordinate closely with special populations representatives in doing that. And so, one of the things that we're doing out of the state office is we're putting together a specific vocational endorsement and specific criteria so that those people can be trained and qualified in order to perform those activities and duties. Because we're seeing that a lot of those people are coming to us from workforce services or other origins who don't have a specific educational background but who need a specific training and understanding of education and different aspects of that. So, we are in the process now of putting together that endorsement. Janis Chadsey: How has your state reacted to that or what do you think the reaction will be? Gary Clark (Utah): I've been received very positively in the discussions to this point. Certainly one of the things our legislature is going to look at as they fund this is what we're doing to ensure the quality of service is going to be there. Dan Wiltrout: By the way, folks from Utah, we were just talking with some people here in Minneapolis at Washburne High School where each of the high schools has under the budget for the school district a school-to-work coordinator in each of the schools, the very model I think you're talking about. If you want more information, I'd be glad to chat more with you about it. Another one of the points that I think is interesting as a thread throughout the discussion here today about how do you prepare adults to work with kids who have diverse interests and diverse gaps in their learning and whose experiences in their communities vary widely in terms of their readiness to come to school benefit and progress in school. Some of the discussions that I am hearing have to do with research environments moving into the schools rather than having adults come to the research environment and get the discussion there. There is a movement toward closer linking on the ground of the research and professorial staff and the actual working classroom day-to-day activities. When you start to do that, research and practice about whoever is in that classroom becomes part of the discussion. And I think that that's going to be quite a challenge. I know, for example, little Alverno (phonetic) College in Milwaukee is doing that kind of thing and I think there are some others too, but they don't come to mind right now. Dr. Marockie: In keeping with this thought, there is also a third element that's in play here that might have some great opportunities and that's this welfare-to-work program. If we could get the incentives in the schools like they have put into the welfare-to-work program, I am convinced we could make every school in America a highly achieving school. There are so many incentives for businesses to start participating in the welfare-to-work program that it almost seems like it's very difficult for a business not to want to participate. And we may find if we could link the school-to-work, the children with disabilities, et cetera, together along with the welfare-to-work initiatives, we may find ourselves with a tremendous opportunity across the country that I'm not sure we've ever had before in terms of incentives for the people out there to be a participant in receiving our students and our teachers into their workforces. Paula Kohler: That's a very great observation. I'd like to throw in some other things along these same lines. I think when I continuously think about professional development at the in-service level as well as the pre-service level, I think of what Dan brings to mind. These school communities that have a variety of students in them, we've learned a lot and we have a lot to learn with respect to how to increase student learning and how to improve their outcomes when they leave school. I think one of our greatest challenges is for the people who are doing professional development, those within say state departments of education, regional offices of education, and the local levels, and universities. How do we take that new knowledge that's being generated, that research that's generated on effective practices that improves student learning and improves student outcomes, and translate that and get it into what we're doing as quickly as possible. Schools move slowly and universities move slowly. I think we're all slow when it comes to applying research, much slower than the business community is. But I think that our challenge is that we're generating new knowledge from the research communities as well as from the applied situations, the schools and community settings. How do we get that information into our professional development programs? It's a huge question that everyone struggles with, at least in the discussion groups that I've been involved with around the country with other people who are doing professional development at the university level. There are only 800 universities in this country that are listed in the OSEPS Guide on Personal Development Programs related to kids with disabilities. And we know that there is a diversity of people in those universities. Some have knowledge about school-to-work, some have knowledge about transition, some have knowledge about inclusion, some have knowledge that gets really specifically focused on individual disabilities and strategies for working with specific disabilities. How do we move these people, ourselves included, so that we're teaching the most current things to the people who are going out to work with kids? Dan Wiltrout: Paula, thanks, I appreciate that. I want to thank Paula Kohler and Janis Chadsey from the Transition Research Institute at the University of Illinois and Richard Horne for coming on from the Academy for Educational Development. These are our Alliance colleagues. And I especially want to thank Doctor Marockie for taking time out to join this call and to lead the discussion. I think you get the last word. Dr. Marockie: Well, the last word is I think we ought to just conclude as we often do on conference calls of this nature that I'm not sure any major questions were answered but I know that there are a lot of thought-provoking things that were stated. And I think on behalf of Dan and the Chiefs, what we would like each member of this conference call to reflect upon the discussions, take a one-pager and ship it to Dan Wiltrout at the Council Office in Washington DC. I know that we all appreciate it as we work further in developing the policy statement for the Chiefs to affect these things. Some of these thoughts about working with staff development for bringing into play the various teaching staff and the workforce staff with regard to the disabled student in the school-to-work program have interesting prospectus to them. And to tell you the truth, I'm not certain at this point that our draft policy statement covers that in its entirety. We probably need that information to incorporate into the statement and would appreciate having it. Richard Horne: One other thing, Dan. Any suggestions that you get from people on this conference call, the NTA will be doing a newsletter dedicated to professional practice and development in May dealing with school-to-work and transition. If you get any ideas from people's reactions or if people have ideas they would like to share with us on what should be included in that newsletter, what people would like us to investigate to include in the newsletter, you can certainly go to the NTA web site and e-mail us directly and make your suggestions known. That address is http://www.dssc.org/nta. Dan Wiltrout: Thank you. Okay, folks. We're out of time. I appreciate everybody's participation and again thanks a lot, Dr. Marockie, for joining the call. |
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