Personnel Development and Training
Descriptions, Web sites, and contact information are provided below for 11 personnel development and training programs focused on improving school and transition outcomes for students with disabilities. Training and professional development may be provided to districts, schools, school and district administrators, special education teachers, interpreters and transliterators for the deaf, and other professionals. Contact information is also provided for the program liaison at the Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services in the Florida Department of Education.
Access to the Common Core for Exceptional Student Success (ACCESS)
Project
Provides lesson planning, instructional tools and professional
development in the Common Core Standards for teachers to support positive
outcomes for students with significant cognitive disabilities taking the
Florida Alternate Assessment.
Bureau Liaison: Karen Denbroeder,
Karen.Denbroeder@fldoe.org
Contact Person: Randy LaRusso, larusso.randy@brevardschools.org
Accommodations and Modifications for Students with Disabilities
Project initiatives include training educators on best practices
concerning individual educational plan (IEP) development, ensuring that
students with disabilities have appropriate accommodations to help them
succeed, and revising course descriptions for exceptional student education,
grades 6-12.
Bureau Liaison: Bethany Mathers, Bethany.Mathers@fldoe.org
Contact Person: Marty Beech, mbeech@lsi.fsu.edu
Website: http://www.cpt.fsu.edu/ese/index.html
Critical Initiatives in Visual Impairment Project (CIVI)
This project provides teacher training that addresses the critical
shortage of highly qualified personnel; effective practices in braille
instruction; and the effective use of residual vision for learning by using low
vision devices.
Bureau Liaison: Leanne Grillot, Leanne.Grillot@fldoe.org
Contact Person: Sandra Lewis, lewis@coe.fsu.edu
Website: www.careersinblindness.com
Educational Interpreters Project
Florida's Educational Interpreters Project is a state-funded initiative
to improve the skills of K-12 interpreters and transliterators working with
students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Bureau Liaison: Leanne Grillot, Leanne.Grillot@fldoe.org
Contact Person: Len Roberson, len.roberson@unf.edu
Website: http://www.interpreterproject.org/
Institute for Small and Rural Districts (ISRD)
The mission of ISRD is to improve outcomes for students with
disabilities in the thirty-four small and rural school districts through staff
development, information dissemination, technical assistance, product
development, and support for district initiatives.
Bureau Liaison: Anne Glass, Anne.Glass@fldoe.org
Contact Person: Renée Speisman, speismrf@sbac.edu
Website: http://www.nefec.org/isrd/
Partnership for Effective Programs for Students with Autism
The Statewide Centers for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD) staff
join together in partnership with Florida educators to provide training and
technical assistance in developing a plan for implementing innovative and
effective practices in the school environment.
Bureau Liaison: Anne Bozik, Anne.Bozik@fldoe.org
Contact Person: Donna Casella, dcasella@fmhi.usf.edu
Website: http://doepartnership.usf.edu/
Personnel Development Support Project
This project develops and provides technical support for multimedia
products, including databases, websites, online courses, and other electronic
and print materials that support the implementation of BEESS initiatives.
Additionally, the project provides leadership to the State Personnel
Development project through collaboration with state universities and colleges.
Bureau Liaison: Cathy Bishop, Cathy.Bishop@fldoe.org
Contact Person: Lezlie Cline, lezlie@fcim.org
Website: http://www.florida-ese.org/personneldevelopment/index.aspx
Positive Behavior Support: Response to Intervention for Behavior Project
(PBS:RtIB)
This project is committed to building the capacity of school districts
so that they may better assist schools to develop effective discipline, social
skills teaching, and behavior support strategies for all students. The
statewide Florida Positive Behavior Support Project, Florida
Problem-Solving/RtI Project, and the Technology and Learning Connections for
Assistive Technology and UDL Team, will work together to support district-wide
implementation of an integrated (academic and behavior) data-based
problem-solving system supported through technology.
Bureau Liaison: Zoe Mahoney, Zoe.Mahoney@fldoe.org
Contact Person: Donald Kincaid, kincaid@fmhi.usf.edu
Website: http://flpbs.fmhi.usf.edu/
Problem Solving and Response to Intervention State Project (PS/RtI)
This project facilitates the implementation of the problem-solving and
response to intervention (PS-RtI) framework to improve academic and behavior
outcomes statewide for at-risk general and special education students, and
meets the goals of Florida’s Differentiated Accountability Plan. This project
results in the high quality implementation of statewide training, technical
assistance, and building sustainable capacity for the PS-RtIframework in all
sixty-seven Florida school districts, with an emerging research focus on
secondary level implementation. Thirty-four elementary pilot schools in seven
demonstration districts, established over a three-year period by this project,
are maintained in order to serve as resource and technical assistance sites to
other districts for the implementation of the PS-RtIframework. The PBS: RtIB
Project, PS/RtI Project, and the Technology & Learning Connections for
Assistive Technology and UDL Team, will work together to support district-wide
implementation of an integrated (academic and behavior) data-based
problem-solving system supported through technology.
Bureau Liaison: Zoe Mahoney, Zoe.Mahoney@fldoe.org
Contact Person: George Batsche, Batsche@tempest.coedu.usf.edu
Website: http://www.floridarti.usf.edu/index.html
Project 10: Transition Education Network
The mission of Project 10: Transition Education Network, hereinafter
referred to as "Project 10," is to assist Florida school districts
and relevant stakeholders in building capacity to provide secondary transition
services to students with disabilities in order to improve their academic
success and post-school outcomes.
Bureau Liaison: Judith White, Judith.White@fldoe.org
Contact Person: Dr. Lori Garcia, lorigarcia@usfsp.edu
Dr. Mary Podmostko, maryp@usfsp.edu
Website: http://www.project10.info
State Personnel Development Project
This project supports initiatives that help to prepare and retain highly
qualified personnel to provide instructional and related services to students
with disabilities. This includes tuition
support to paraprofessionals enrolled in special education pre-service training
programs, to ESE teachers earning an endorsement program in autism or
prekindergarten disabilities, and speech/language teachers earning a master’s
degree in speech/language pathology. Initiatives also include the development
and provision of blended certification programs at state colleges. Through Working
with the Experts, the project supports professional development activities for
speech/language pathologists, teachers of students who are deaf or
hard-of-hearing, and occupational therapists and physical therapists.
Bureau Liaison: Cathy Bishop, Cathy.Bishop@fldoe.org
Contact Person: Peg Sullivan, msulliva@fgcu.edu
Websites: http://www.flwwe.net/
Technical Assistance and Training System for Programs Serving Young
Children with Disabilities (TATS)
TATS is a statewide system of technical assistance and training that
promotes high quality programs which lead to and support positive outcomes for
prekindergarten children with disabilities and their families.
Bureau Liaison: Karen Hallinan, Karen.Hallinan@fldoe.org
Contact Person: Sue Donovan, sdonovan@mail.ucf.edu
Website: http://www.tats.ucf.edu/index.php
