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March 10, 2011

CCS honored for special education practices

BY MICHELLE MILLER

STAFF WRITER

Cooperstown Central School has been awarded a $10,000 grant to improve outcomes for students with disabilities.

The State Personal Development Grant was given by the Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs. Each state’s grant is designed to address specific needs identified by the state, resulting in a wide range of projects and activities.

New York’s project, S3TAIR, is designed to improve outcomes for students with disabilities by helping educators increase skills in literacy, positive behavior intervention and special education instruction.

Through the project, districts and schools that have effective, evidence based practices in these areas will mentor schools in need of assistance or intervention as they implement similar practices.

The S3TAIR Project operates through seven regions in the state with CCS located in the Hudson Region. A project team, comprised of representatives of higher education and the state education department, visited the Cooperstown Elementary School on  Jan. 27, 2010, and validated the district as having best practice in the area of special education and literacy.

Mary Catherine Moran, S3TAIR regional field facilitator, presented a certificate of recognition at the district’s March 2 board of education meeting. She said as a S3TAIR Mentor School, Cooperstown was given the grant to build on the current best practice and to support a school designated as being in need of assistance.

Moran said there has not been a school designated to CCS yet, but she is looking forward to working with members of the school district with future collaborative efforts.

At the board meeting, Moran read some of the general comments made by the visiting team, which observed teachers providing literacy instruction and intervention, interviewed teachers and administrators and reviewed documentation of student progress during the visit.

“Cooperstown has a well-oiled system in place to monitor each student’s progress. The same can be said for measuring teacher gain in terms of skills and knowledge,” she read.

“Common language and commitment has been carefully nurtured over a long term period so that all staff, including new hires, are aware of the goal of responsive education for all students,” she continued.

Moran said another thing the team noted was, “there was real evidence of long-term planning.” She said there is a framework and protocols in place on how to respond with children with disabilities, how to support teacher instructional strategies and so forth.

“I know in days of fiscal crises, often professional learning for teachers is one of the things that goes by the wayside.

There is so much research to support the fact that good teachers and good teaching results in academic progress for students so I applaud you for remaining committed to the professional learning to the staff you have,” Moran said.

According to Moran, CCS has a well-thought-out process of comprehensive data collection and analysis.

“When you look at data, it speaks to how students are doing,” Moran said. She said there is evidence to suggest that practice has changed as a result of reviewing student data. In other words, Moran said, the system is responsive to the evidence.

Laura Bliss Lamb, CSE/CPSE chairwoman at CCS and the school liaison for the project, said the funds awarded will be used for professional development, (things such as conferences, workshops and brining consultants to Cooperstown), curriculum work, literacy materials and reimbursement for travel to other schools.

“As long as the funding source doesn’t change, we will be able to reapply for the next two years for an additional $10,000 each year,” Lamb wrote in an e-mail.

“We are thrilled to be recognized for our hard work and the strategies we have put in place over the last six years. It is the culmination of a great deal of research, training, and commitment on the part of all of our general education, academic intervention and special education teachers,” she continued.

Lamb said CCS is updating its practice and looking for ways to improve supports for all students, including those with disabilities.

“We have been working to improve literacy instruction for the last 10 years, with a particular focus on identifying individual student’s specific areas of weakness, such as vocabulary, phonemic awareness, or comprehension, and then matching the most effective, research-proven interventions to address their weaknesses,” she said.

Over the last six years, according to Lamb, the district has developed a school-wide universal screening program to identify trends and track the progress of all students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade.

“All students are screened three times a year, and the Response to Intervention team meets three times per year to review the data and discuss educational strategies” Lamb said. “We develop individualized intervention plans in place for those students who need additional support, while other students receive additional supports within the classroom setting. We are constantly updating our practice and the progress our students are making is a testament to the dedication of the staff and their constantly learn more and improve our instruction.”

Lamb said the district was first nominated to apply for validation as a model school, and once it was validated and selected as a school with best practice it was eligible to apply for the grant.

She said she believes dedication and commitment to best practice and true desire to continue to learn about the best ways to instruct all students is what made CCS stand out compared to other districts.

She also contributes the ability to work as a team with all staff and review instructional data to identify trends and modify instruction to meet student needs.

“This has been a true team effort of the entire district,” Lamb said.

The Response to Intervention Committee includes the following people: Michael Cring, Teresa Gorman, Mary Beth Murdock, Katie Baldo, Anne Olmstead, Miciah Abts, Diana Garcia-Pollock, Jennifer Rightmyer, Stephanie Nelen, Michele Townsend, Betsy O’Brien, Mary Tedesco, Bridget Bertram, Katie Lambert, Deb West-Arnot, Lisa Zoller, Lori Wrench, Adrienne Lentini, Michealle Cole, Donna Amberman and Lamb

There is a website on the S3TAIR project, which showcases mentor schools and their effective practices.

The website can be viewed at http://www.s3tairproject.org/ and video taken of CCS will soon be featured.

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