Last week, over 6,500 professionals concerned with the education of children and youth with disabilities and/or gifts and talents gathered in Nashville, Tennessee for CEC’s Annual Convention and Expo. In addition to the 900 professional development sessions offered at the Convention, attendees heard directly from policymakers and leaders on the future of special and general education laws.
As the keynote speaker, Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, emphasized how far the nation has come in educating students with disabilities, while recognizing the need to continue to focus on ensuring all students are college and career ready by 2020. To achieve this goal, Secretary Duncan pointed to the reauthorization – revision – of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (recently known as No Child Left Behind), and the need to revamp the current law and ensure greater alignment with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Click here to read or watch his speech.
Numerous other officials from the U.S. Department of Education, including Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Alexa Posny, joined Secretary Duncan in presenting at CEC’s Convention. Responding to concerns in the field, many presentations focused on the need to have ESEA and IDEA work better together. Additionally, Larry Wexler, Director of the Research to Practice Division within the Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Education, unveiled a new technical assistance resource: Learning Port, a national online library of professional development resources complied to help bridge research, policy, and practice.
In addition to officials from the U.S. Department of Education, Convention attendees heard directly from other leaders in education policy, including Gene Wilhoit, Council of Chief State School Officers who spoke about the common core standards movement; Matthew Springer, Vanderbilt University who spoke about the research base for differentiated compensation models; Fred Weintraub, Independent Monitor for Los Angeles Unified School District who spoke about children with disabilities in charter schools; and Doug Fuchs, Vanderbilt University who spoke about the future of special education.
In the coming days, CEC will provide powerpoints from the Convention on its website. Stay tuned!
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