K-12 Intensive Training for School-based Teams
Supporting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders
NOTICE: An invitation to HOST the START K-12 Intensive Training for the 2016-2017 School Year
DATE: December 14, 2015
TO: Intermediate School Districts, Local School Districts, and Public School Academies
FROM: Statewide Autism Resources and Training (START) at Grand Valley State University
DUE: Applications due January 25, 2016
The START K-12 Intensive Training focuses on evidence-based practices to increase knowledge and skills that enhance the educational programming and outcomes for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and related disabilities from kindergarten through high school. Intensive training is provided to multidisciplinary teams including teachers, administrators, ancillary staff, and parents. Each team is comprised of 6 individuals who attend each training session and work collaboratively to develop implementation plans for a target student and school building.
This training offered through START is part of a grant funded through the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special Education. Since 2001, the START Project has provided professional development and resources to school-based teams to increase capacity and create leadership teams to build and sustain the supports and interventions that improve outcomes for students with ASD across the state of Michigan.
Eligibility:
Intermediate School Districts, Local Education Agencies, and Public School Academies should be the primary applicant. Preference will be given to schools and districts:
§ that demonstrate a significant need for training and support.
§ with high numbers of students with ASD.
§ in geographic areas that have not received START Intensive Training recently.
§ that work in collaboration with other schools, local agencies, or other organizations.
§ that have applied to START previously but could not be accommodated in the schedule.
Role of Host Site:
Secure a venue with room for approximately 125-140 participants with tables that seat 6 participants, an audio visual system with an LCD projector, and a sound system with both lapel and handheld microphones. Host site also arranges for lunches, applies for and coordinates State Continuing Education Clock Hours (SCECH) and social work continuing education units (CEUs), and assists with other general logistics in collaboration with the START office staff. The host site will work with the START staff to set up a training schedule for the year with a final schedule set by mid to late February.
The Host Site should be able to identify at least 9-10 teams for the training in order to host. These teams may come from an ISD, district, or the region. The Host Training site will be allocated at least 50% of the training slots. Once the schedule is set, an application will be made available statewide for teams to apply to join the host site teams, based on availability.
Logistics:
Module presenters and training materials will be provided by START. The costs to your ISD/district include: venue, meals, mileage, and sub costs, as necessary. Reasonable cost for meals may be covered through the RCN START-contracted funds if agreed upon by the RCN members, however RCN will not be allocated additional funds to cover these costs.
Host Site/Training Location:
The training location will be determined through this application.
Training Duration: Two Years
Year one: September 1, 2016 through June 15, 2017 with up to 14 days of Intensive Training for district teams.
Year two: September 1, 2017 through June 15, 2018 with up to six days of Intensive Training for district teams. Additionally, a small number of teams that participate in the training will receive follow up technical assistance and coaching support.
Application:
The application is available on the START website at www.gvsu.edu/autismcenter under “K-12 Intensive Training” and must be completed and submitted electronically. Applicants will be notified by early February.
Questions:
If you have questions about the project’s purpose or questions regarding the training or application process, contact:
Amy Matthews Ph.D., Project Director
P: 616-331-3513 or
Jana Benjamin, Project Manager
P: 616-331-6482 or
GVSU reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals. Approval is dependent upon continued funding by the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special Education.
What is START K-12 Intensive Training?
I. Description of K-12 Intensive Training
The START intensive school-based training offers knowledge and skills to educators serving students with ASD with a primary emphasis on building teaming and collaboration skills within the school. The ultimate goal is to increase local capacity through an increase in knowledge, skills, and teaming and collaboration for supporting students with ASD.
School-based teams may be comprised of team members with varying levels of knowledge about ASD. Training will be offered at no cost; however, the school system is responsible for the costs of professional time away from the classroom or other responsibilities, and schools must cover lunch and travel costs for participants.
This training is available to school districts and ISDs that are able to:
Year one:
1. Assemble a team of professionals and parents who attend all training sessions and demonstrate an active commitment to further developing evidence-based practices to support students with ASD in their school building and community.
2. Identify team leaders to facilitate and coordinate the intensive training.
3. Evaluate program delivery and related supports for students with ASD using the START program assessment tools.
Year two:
1. Implement the strategies from the year one START training sessions to expand evidence-based practice programming for students with ASD and serve as demonstration sites for other buildings in the district/county.
2. Commit to recruit and train Building Coaches as supports in each building for students with ASD.
3. Evaluate program delivery and related supports for students with ASD using the START program assessment tools.
Note: START has provided intensive training to numerous school-based teams from across the state. If you are interested in learning more about our START training, we can provide you with contact information for team leaders and administrators from other districts/ISDs that have worked with START.
II. Description of Training Curriculum
The intensive training offered to schools is based on “evidence-based practices.” We believe that evidence-based practice means using empirically supported practices informed by professional judgment, parent involvement, and data. We are not endorsing a particular program, but review the research literature to identify the practices and systems with the most empirical evidence. Although we may specify strategies, we are not endorsing a single approach, and presentations reflect an emphasis on the use of evidenced-based strategies. We also emphasize teaming and collaborating, and parent-school and community-school partnerships to better serve students with ASD.
For the training, we use a general curriculum framework that will build a foundation in the understanding of ASD, the teaming process, effective teaching and behavior support, and systems changes that support student outcomes in your school program. Presentations will be delivered by experts in various areas of ASD such as behavior support, educational strategies, peer to peer support, and systems level change. (See Attachment 2 descriptions.)
Target Students and Building Teams
Training teams will be organized around target students and school buildings. Each sub-team (comprised of 6 multidisciplinary team members and a parent) will utilize the information learned during the training to develop assessments and interventions for a target student. The target student selected should have learning and behavior needs particularly in the areas of independence, engagement, and social interaction. Additionally, teams will expand the information learned to consider changes in building level supports. More information about developing teams will be made available upon acceptance.
Training Curriculum – Evidence-Based Practices for Working with Students with ASD
YEAR ONETraining Content / Schedule
Module 1: Orientation and Foundations in ASD / 2 days
Module 2: Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports / 2 days
Module 3: Looking at ASD Differently and the Teaming Process / 2 days
Module 4: Educational Strategies and Supports / 2 days
Module 5: Peer to Peer Support / 2 days
Module 6: IEP Development & Implementation for Students with ASD / 2 days
Module 7: Transition /Planning for the Next Year / 1 day
Administrator Module (invite District / ISD Administrators; teams need not attend) / ½ day
Centralized Evaluation Team (CET) / Eligibility Determination
(may be held in year one or year two) / 1 day
YEAR TWO
Training Content and Technical Assistance (TA) / Schedule
Module 8: Systems Change through Coaching Part 1 / 1 day
Module 9: Systems Change through Coaching Part 2 / 1 day
Module 10: Asperger Syndrome (open to a region) / 2 days
Module 11: Self-Management (open to a region) / 1 day
Technical Assistance / TBD
Note: The details of the schedule, such as order, may be modified but the overall number of training days will not change.
Intensive training sites will have access to a START Autism Education Specialist who will be assigned to the site to provide assistance during the training series. This individual will assist the district in organizing the training days, applying new learning, and integrating the information across training sessions.
III. Training Impact
We anticipate observable changes in the following areas:
1. Target Student – progress in the core areas: behavior, social-communication and interaction, academic, independence, and family involvement.
2. Team – ability to communicate, problem solve, make decisions, work collaboratively, understand the various disciplines and their different roles in supporting students with ASD.
3. Team Members – increase in content knowledge and ability to apply that knowledge and serve as a more competent and successful team member within a multidisciplinary team.
4. Program/System – positive changes in how students with ASD are supported within classrooms and buildings, identification of barriers to effective teaching and support and initial steps to address those barriers, and administrative support.
5. Family –family members are active members of the team and participate in the development of goals, supports, and strategies to enhance learning and school engagement.
IV. Evaluation
Because this is a grant-funded project, the training and support provided will be evaluated for effectiveness through pre-and post-questionnaires, surveys, student progress, building level supports, and other measures. The evaluation will be arranged so that it is reasonable and meaningful to participants. It is critical for teams participating in the training to work collaboratively with START staff to collect and share data during the two years of training and at follow up.
START K-12 Intensive Training
APPLICATION for ’16-17
Directions: Please submit this application electronically by e-mail to Melissa Kurek by January 25, 2016.
Applicant School/District/County:
Number of Teams Requested by Host Site:
Team Leaders
Provide names of team leaders that will have primary responsibility for coordinating the training. The team leaders will be responsible for overall team leadership, program development, and scheduling and logistics.
Contact Person/Team Leader #1:Name: Title:
Address:
Phone number:
Summer Phone number/contact info if different:
E-mail:
Contact Person/Team Leader #2:
Name: Title:
Address:
Phone number:
Summer Phone number/contact info if different:
E-mail:
Application Narrative –
1. Describe the principal reasons for requesting START training (e.g., desired outcomes for students with ASD, system change).
2. Describe the level of need for your program or region (e.g., lack of ASD expertise, high number of students with ASD).
3. Identify the districts/buildings/agencies who will be involved in the training and the rationale for choosing them. Describe how team members from these districts/buildings/agencies will use their training to build capacity within your system (e.g., create and modify programs for students with ASD, share knowledge with other staff, coordination across initiatives).
4. Describe how you will recruit and support parents of each target student to participate in the training as active team members.
5. Describe your ability to develop and support a two-year plan for change in the programming and support students with ASD in your buildings. Include how you will support staff to make changes.
6. Answer demographic questions below. If applicant is an ISD/RESA, complete for the entire county. If the applicant is a district, provide local district information.
Check one: ISD/RESA District
# of Students:
# of Special Education Students:
# of Students with ASD:
# of ASD Teacher Consultants:
7. State your commitment to provide the resources that your school and community would be able to contribute to host the training.
Host site responsibilities/requirements:
· Provide a venue with room for approximately 125-140 participants with tables that seat 6 participants: (1) provide the name and size of your venue:______; and (2) state whether your venue offers the technological capability to livestream the training to other locations, and/or to record trainings: ______.
· Provide an audio visual system with an LCD projector and a sound system with both lapel and handheld microphones at the venue.
· Arrange for lunches and coordinate with participating ISD/districts outside the region with regards to invoicing for meal reimbursement.
· Apply for and coordinate State Continuing Education Clock Hours (SCECH) and social work continuing education units (CEUs),
· Assist with other general logistics in collaboration with the START office staff.
· Work with the START staff to set up a training schedule for the year with a final schedule set by mid to late February.
Meal reimbursement for team members – required.*
Establish a Sub-team leader for each training team attending.
Provide release / sub time for team members as needed.
Provide support for parent participants.
Other Contributions
Describe
*Note: Funding for meals may be requested through the RCN as part of the RCN START-contracted funds, but it is up to the entire RCN to agree to this use of funds. RCN funds may not be used for venue, travel, or sub costs for the IT.
8. Name of administrator supporting this application including contact information.
Name:
Position:
Email:
Phone:
Attachment 1
Sub Team Member Form