Skip to main content

Volume 12, Issue 45

November 14, 2018

Adverse Effect Documentation Required for 2018

Audience: Special Education Administrators
Historically, determining whether a disability has an adverse effect on a student’s educational performance has been inconsistent throughout the state. In 2016, through a collaboration of stakeholders, criteria, training, and resources for determining an adverse effect were updated. This new information can be found on the agency's Special Education Educator Resources page. Please remember that on or before December 15, 2018, each special education administrator is required to submit signed Adverse Effect Training documentation showing that all special educators new to their supervisory union have been trained in the area of adverse effect.
Contact: Tonya Rutkowski at aoe.specialed@vermont.gov

Professional Learning: Relationship Building and De-escalation Skills

Audience: Staff supporting students who need targeted and intensive level supports
Registration is open for Relationship Building and De-escalation Skills. This one day workshop on November 29, 2018, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Franklin Conference Center in Rutland focuses on relationship building, de-escalation, and conflict resolution skills needed by staff working with students who need targeted and intensive level supports. Participants will learn how to support students with self-defeating behaviors using applied behavior management skills and building positive restorative relationships.
Contact: Sherry Schoenberg at sherry.schoenberg@uvm.edu or (802) 656-9656

Registration Open: Statewide Battelle Developmental Inventory Training Opportunities

Audience: School District/Supervisory Union-based Early Childhood Special Educators and Related Service Staff
The Agency of Education Early Learning Team has opened registration for the Battelle Development Inventory, Second Edition (BDI-2) Normative Update training opportunities. This is an early childhood assessment that tests five global developmental domains and 13 subdomains. The training will primarily focus on how to administer, score, and interpret the BDI-2 NU. Background, development, and organization will also be introduced as will technical adequacy and scoring and reporting options. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. and training is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. The deadline to register is December 3, 2018. Each site will be limited to 30 participants. Each School District/Supervisory Union that has a registered participant will receive a BDI-2 kit.
Contact: Leslie Freedman at (802) 479-1412 or leslie.freedman@vermont.gov

MTSS Educational Equity Brief: Supporting Our Vulnerable Students Living in Poverty

Audience: Superintendents, Principals, Leadership Team Members
Welcome to the second brief in the AOE MTSS Team's Educational Equity series. This issue focuses on students living in poverty. This brief offers suggestions that address these students’ needs through an MTSS framework. Practical resources also provide tangible approaches to the systemic work of leadership teams. Read the MTSS Educational Equity Brief, Vol. 1 Issue 2 on the AOE website.
Contact: Emma Louie, Ed.D. at (802) 479-1336 or emma.louie@vermont.gov

Announcing the 2019 Growing Works of Art Contest

Audience: Grade One to Eight Educators
This contest invites educators to celebrate Arbor Day and the trees we love by creating tree art with their students. This year, the Growing Works of Art contest theme is Trees are Terrific in Every Shape and Size: Share Your Tree Story. Students will write a short story capturing their fond memory of their chosen tree, and create art illustrating the beauty of their tree. Eight students (one per grade) will be chosen to have their artwork professionally printed and developed into a poster that will be distributed to schools across Vermont and will appear on WCAX’s Across the Fence television show. The deadline to enter is March 15, 2019.
Contact: Rebecca Roy, Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, at rebecca.roy@vermont.gov or (802) 522-0780 


Courtesy Posts

The views, opinions, and resources shared in this section of the WFM are solely those of the original contributors. The Agency of Education does not endorse the views expressed by these contributors and reserves the right to refuse submissions. Questions related to any of these resources should be directed to the organizations, people, and opportunities as shared.

Help JumpStart Vermont’s Financial Literacy in K-12 Schools

The Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College, in partnership with the Agency of Education (AOE), will lead a two-year project to develop sample PBGRs, resources and exemplars to support Vermont schools in the implementation of Vermont’s K-12 financial literacy standards. As part of this project, the Center will support three concurrent Professional Learning Communities (PLC) and a PLC Administrator.  The Center is looking for a Curriculum Coordinator/Director to fill this part-time, paid role. The PLC Administrator will work with the Center, the AOE and 15 high, middle and elementary school educators. The PLCs will provide educators access to the tools, resources and training they need to successfully integrate new personal finance education standards into their classrooms. For more information read the Center for Financial Literacy’s Press Release.
Contact: John Pelletier at jpelletier@champlain.edu or (802) 860-2744. 

Grant Writing Workshop

Registration is now open for Grant Writing from the Lens of a Grant Reviewer with Casey Boyle-Eldridge at White River Valley Supervisory Union in South Royalton on November 19, 2018, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. How grant reviewers score grants is the foundation of the day. This full-day workshop will explore potential funding resources for school and/ or community projects and programs. The workshop costs $125 for the day.
Contact: Casey Boyle-Eldridge at casey@cbeeducationalservices.org or call (802) 754-2616

Professional Development: Autism Spectrum Disorder Course

Registration is open for Autism Spectrum Disorder: Stimulating Language, Social Communication and Social Emotional Learning from Birth through Third Grade. This professional development course by the Stern Center for Language and Learning focuses on assessment, intervention and clinical application of evidence-based practices for children who are living with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Registration is due by January 3, 2019.
Contact: SJ White at swhite@sterncenter.org  or (802) 878-2332, ext. 320

Professional Learning: Complex Trauma in Our Schools

The Center for Health and Learning is offering a  3-graduate credit course: Complex Trauma in Our Schools:  Using Non-verbal Communication and Intervention for Improved Classroom Outcomes starting in January 2019 in Lebanon, N.H. This course is offered so that teachers and health and guidance personnel have a sufficient level of professional development to enable them to competently teach or provide other services required in the school to children and families impacted by trauma. The course is taught by Betsy Graziadei, MPS ATR-BC.
Contact Catherine Diduk at info@healthandlearning.org or at (802) 254-6590.  

Sensory Friendly Dance Workshop

Kayla's Directory and the Flynn Center present Dance for All - A Free, Sensory-Friendly Experience,  a music and movement-based workshop designed for individuals on the spectrum, with sensory sensitivities, with movement disabilities, or anyone who wants a safe, joyful way to experience dance on Sunday, December 2, 2018 from 1 to 2 p.m. No experience necessary.
Contact: Sarah Caliendo at flynnarts@flynncenter.org or (802) 652-4537

Professional Learning: Using Coding and Robots for Critical Thinking in Young Children

Registration is open for Coding from Littles to Middles: Teaching and Learning with Robots in Elementary Schools on December 7, 2018, at Lake Morey in Fairlee. The course covers how to integrate critical thinking, problem-solving, sequential thinking, spatial reasoning, and collaboration, while also teaching math, science, and literacy through coding and building robots. This workshop will highlight various access points to integrate these skills and strategies, as well as share a model for robotics integration across the K through Grade Six continuum. All activities will be modified versions of science, math, and technology instruction from the presenters’ K-6 setting.
Contact: Julie Medose at julie.medose@vthec.org or (802) 498-3350


Subscribe Online

The field memo has time-sensitive and relevant information designed for students, teachers, and staff. The agency encourages principals, headmasters, and superintendents to share the memo with their education community. Additionally, individuals can subscribe or unsubscribe online.

Questions? Email Ted Fisher at ted.fisher@vermont.gov.