Professional Learning Events

Equitable Multi Level Systems of Support (EMLSS) Project Conference, August 8-9, 2023

CESA #1 is excited to announce an amazing summer learning opportunity through a partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction! The EMLSS Project Conference will be held August 8-9 at the Kalahari Resort. This year's conference experience will have a focus on supporting the whole child - meeting all students' academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs. The conference will be an opportunity for participants to learn from experts in the field and one another as we share best practices and network with fellow educators across the state. Conference details, including registration and keynote information, are available on the EMLSS conference flyer  or on CESA 1’s website.

Updated Disability Category Resources

Several new resources have been posted to each of the disability category web pages for PI 11 administrative rule changes that went into effect August 1, 2021. Visit DPI web pages for Blind and Visually Impaired, Deafblind, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and Speech or Language Impairment and click on the “criteria” dropdown to view the following resources. Deafblind is a new disability category criteria and school teams should review updated resources from deaf and hard of hearing and blind and visually impaired in addition to the new deafblind resources. In addition, disability category criteria videos are being completed for each disability category to provide an overview of each criteria. The speech or language impairment video is posted with the link below and additional videos for other disability categories will be completed in the coming weeks.

Several new resources have been posted to the disability category web page for PI 11 administrative rule change for Emotional Behavioral Disability that went into effect December 1, 2021. Visit the DPI web page for Emotional Behavioral Disability and click on the “criteria” dropdown to view the resources below.

Blind and Visual Impairment Criteria

• Summary of Changes for Blind and Visual Impairment Rule Change
• Blind and Visual Impairment Rule Change Comparison Chart
• Required Documentation of Criteria for Blind and Visually Impaired

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Criteria

• Deaf and Hard of Hearing Rule Change Comparison Chart
• Required Documentation for Criteria for Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Deafblind Criteria

• Required Documentation for Criteria for Deafblind

Emotional Behavioral Disability Criteria

• Revisions to Emotional Behavioral Disability Identification Comparison Chart - Side by Side
• Revisions to Emotional Behavioral Disability Identification Comparison Chart - Alternate Format
• Summary of Rule Change for Emotional Behavioral Disability
• Criteria for Determining Emotional Behavioral Disability (video playlist)

• Webinar Slide Deck with Speaker Notes- Digging Deeper: Rule Change for Emotional Behavioral Disability 

Speech or Language Impairment Criteria

• Speech or Language Impairment Rule Change Comparison Chart
• Summary of Changes for Speech or Language Impairment
• Speech or Language Impairment Criteria within a Comprehensive Special Education Evaluation (video playlist)
• Speech or Language Impairment Criteria Forms Guide

Specific Learning Disability Criteria

• Specific Learning Disability Evaluations in Homeschool and Private School Settings

Wisconsin DPI CARES Act Projects to Support Continuous Learning in 2021-2022

Comprehensive Special Education Evaluation

The Wisconsin DPI Special Education team will provide a variety of free professional learning webinars throughout the 2021-2022 school year to support schools and districts in implementing state and federal requirements related to conducting Comprehensive Special Education Evaluations. Please pass along the following free learning opportunities to anyone who may be interested.

Overview of DPI Special Education Evaluation Bulletin and Updated Disability Category Criteria Worksheets

Thursday August 19 from 3:00 to 4:30 - all professional learning videos will be posted to the Wisconsin DPI Comprehensive Special Education Youtube Playlist.

DPI recently published Bulletin 21.01: Special Education Evaluation. This webinar will provide an overview of the bulletin and highlight a few of the questions and answers selected by DPI staff and grant funded colleagues. This presentation will also provide an overview of updated disability category criteria worksheets so IEP teams can begin using them now to provide accurate and useful information for documenting any of the 12 disability categories before they become required IEP forms in the 2022-2023 school year.

Comprehensive Special Education Evaluation (Part 1)

Tuesday September 21st from 3:00 to 4:30 - all professional learning videos will be posted to the Wisconsin DPI Comprehensive Special Education Youtube Playlist.

Wisconsin DPI special education team staff developed a framework to support schools and districts in ensuring special education evaluations are “sufficiently comprehensive to identify all of the child’s special education and related service needs, whether or not commonly linked to the disability category in which the child has been classified.” 34 CFR 300.304 (c)(6). The framework aligns with state and federal requirements for conducting special education evaluations and provides guidance to help educators shift mindsets from a “label based” evaluation process to a “needs based” process. The framework expands on the Culturally Responsive Problem-Solving resources, developed by Dr. Markeda Newell, for applying culturally responsive problem-solving and vulnerable decision points to the special education evaluation process. It also includes recommendations for how to “not miss anything” by considering six areas of academic and functional skills at the start of an evaluation, and by using developmentally and educationally relevant questions to identify student strengths and needs. Finally, the framework provides actionable recommendations for use throughout the evaluation process to “Start," Plan,” “Implement,” and “Complete” an evaluation. This webinar will be recorded and posted to the new DPI Comprehensive Special Education Evaluation web page coming this September.

Comprehensive Special Education Evaluation (Part 2)

This webinar will continue the overview of the framework developed by the Wisconsin DPI special education team to support schools and districts in ensuring special education evaluations are “sufficiently comprehensive to identify all of the child’s special education and related service needs, whether or not commonly linked to the disability category in which the child has been classified.” 34 CFR 300.304 (c)(6). This webinar will be recorded and posted to the new DPI Comprehensive Special Education Evaluation web page coming this September.

Note: The live webinar was cancelled and instead DPI will record the presentation and develop supplemental learning resources for on-demand use. Our plan is to record the part two webinar and post the recordings into the same Wisconsin DPI Comprehensive Special Education Evaluation YouTube playlist by January 2022.

Community of Practice: Supporting Students with IEPs During COVID-19

The Wisconsin DPI Special Education team provided a series of Community of Practice meetings from August 2020 through May 2021 for professionals who support students with IEPs. These meetings provided ongoing guidance from DPI as well as opportunities for participants to collaborate, share ideas and resources. All CoP meetings were recorded and available for viewing in the below links.

Community of Practice for Related Service Providers

The Community of Practice for Related Service Providers is an online collaboration for occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and physical therapists to share best practices relating to the provision of services in schools. This series will be interactive using Zoom Meeting to amplify the voices of all who participate. Collaborative partners of related services providers are welcome to attend. Participants will be introduced to a topic and then break into virtual groups to share resources and hear from each other.

Community of Practice Flyer and Registration.

Participant Folder for Related Services Providers Community of Practice (RSP CoP)
The participant folder contains information related to each CoP meeting, including slide decks and any additional documents related to each CoP meeting topic.

For questions, contact Andrea Bertone andrea.bertone@dpi.wi.gov or Carlynn Higbie carlynn.higbie@dpi.wi.gov

Recorded Related Service Providers Community of Practice Meeting Videos

2021-2022 Educational Equity Leadership Series

The Network is inviting all Wisconsin educators to continue their equity journey and participate in the 2021-2022 Educational Equity Leadership Series. Local and national content experts who are knowledgeable in navigating our current racialized landscape from a place of strength and resilience have been identified for this series. A cadre of authors, professors, practitioners, and community leaders have been invited to share their wisdom with Wisconsin educators as part of this series. These speakers will provide learning opportunities around educational equity and justice from each of their unique perspectives. Each webinar will be delivered through a virtual platform, with opportunities for discussion and resources. This series is tailored to increase capacity for racial equity leadership among our Wisconsin educators. There is NO registration fee to participate in these webinars.

Webinar Dates

October 28, 2021, November 18, 2021, December 16, 2021, January 27, 2022, February 24, 2022, March 24, 2022, April 28, 2022, May 26, 2022

On EACH of the days, there will be 3 different webinars scheduled at the following times: 8:30 AM - 9:45 AM (CT), 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM (CT) , 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM (CT).

Each of THREE webinars scheduled for the dates above are different and have unique presenters and content. They are NOT repeated sessions. You may register to participate in ONE or ALL sessions.

Go to The Network 2021-2022 Educational Equity Series web page for more information and registration.

UDL Forward! Professional Learning Events

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for proactively designing learning environments and experiences – from the beginning – that enable ALL students to gain knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm for learning that is needed so all students can be expert, lifelong learners. A new project, UDL Forward!, supports Wisconsin educators’ use of UDL core competencies and technology resources as a means to provide effective remote and in-person learning experiences during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The project is supported through regional CESA networks and CAST, the national technical assistance center for UDL. All meetings and events are free of charge and open to any school, public, private, or charter in Wisconsin.

The UDL Forward! project provides four intersecting options:

1. UDL Blasts – Engage with UDL fundamentals and free technology tools for putting UDL into action with these UDL Blasts Facilitator and Self-paced resources.
2. UDL Learning Design Coaching Labs - Apply UDL to real-world learning scenarios and access technical assistance for specific student needs, particularly those who have traditionally been underserved. Contact your UDL CESA Consultant for information and support.
3. UDL Community of Practice (CoP) - Learn and share what's working and troubleshoot solutions to challenges to address learning barriers. Please register for the monthly UDL CoP Meetings!
4. UDL Forward! Virtual Conference: October 7-8, 2021 – Free Registration for any WI educator

Updates and additional resources can be found on the UDL Forward! website. For questions or support requests, please contact Jayne Bischoff at jayne.bischoff@dpi.wi.gov.

Teleservice Forward

Visit the Teleservice Forward webpage for recorded webinars on teleservice, strategies for engaging learners online during instruction or while providing related services virtually. Bookmark the page and keep an eye out for soon to come 5 minute “mini modules on the following topics: Looking to the Future, How to Maintain LREs in a Teleservice Model, Promoting Self-Determination and Assessment in Teleservice. Finally, if have questions or are seeking technical assistance related to teleservice, visit the webpage and click “Contact Help Desk.” 

Unpacking Assumptions: An Introduction to Equity-Centered Language and Implicit Bias

The Transition Improvement Grant (TIG), in partnership with the National Technical Assistance Center: The Collaborative (NTACT:C), is excited to offer Wisconsin educators the Unpacking Assumptions: An Introduction to Equity-Centered Language and Implicit Bias series. This is an amazing opportunity to hear from Dr. Natasha Mitchell, Dr. Bettie Ray Butler, DJ Ralston and RaQuaam Smith from the NTACT:C, along with Jen Hilgendorf and Pam Jenson from the Transition Improvement Grant, as we explore together implicit bias, reflection, goal setting, building partnerships and an opportunity to ask questions and explore concerns in a safe space.

Register soon as our first virtual session begins December 8th from 2:00-4:00 pm! We look forward to this rich discussion with Wisconsin educators. Please see the event flyer for to register for more details on the series and bios on each of our presenters.

Trainings, Workshops, and Professional Learning Events

Go to the DPI Special Education team Supports for Educating Students with IEPs page to learn about DPI supported grant projects. Many of these projects have web sites links for calendars of events relating to transition, RtI / PBIS, very special arts, neurodiverse learners, WI FACETs Parent Trainings, and addressing disproportionality and racial equity. Events across Wisconsin are also listed on the DPI Wisconsin Education Calendar.

College and Career Ready IEP Trainings