High Leverage Practices
Ongoing Training Opportunity
#302504 | SES-PCG High Leverage Practices for Special Educators: Playbook
In partnership with the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE-SES), Public Consulting Group (PCG) and the American Institutes for Research (AIR) will facilitate a novel, ongoing virtual professional development experience for special educators focused on the incorporation of High Leverage Practices. CLICK HERE to register! You can also view a shareable flyer reviewing this opportunity here.
What teachers are saying about Playbook:
“I have really enjoyed these Plays! I have just completed my first-year teaching in the self-contained environment. I loved every second of it, but these Plays were essential in my growth. I especially loved the one on progress monitoring. I fully intend to sign up for more opportunities in the future. These Plays should be given to all first-year teachers!”
“This {Play} was very helpful, and I will use the steps and strategies to help train and remind myself and my paraprofessionals of things that we can use.”
High Leverage Practices (HLPs) are part of a widely recognized and celebrated paradigm for maximizing instructional impact for exceptional learners. These highly regarded strategies are intended to optimize educators' impact to drive student growth.
This professional development opportunity builds teachers' capacity to implement HLPs in their practice by providing tools, resources, and professional learning and coaching designed specifically for working special education teachers. These experiences are intended to build upon the work that teachers are actively engaged in during their day-to-day roles. This experience is designed for active teachers and is intended to complement and enhance their day-to-day activities. Teachers are able to progress at their own pace while discovering strategies that can be immediately implemented in their classrooms. Participants then receive implementation support through guidance, coaching, and feedback from an American Institutes for Research (AIR) coach. Registration ensures access to Playbook and coaching resources and training for teachers.
HLP Playbook is a professional learning platform that combines self-paced modules, called Plays, with coaching, mentoring, and collaboration experiences. The first play is released after the initiation of the Playbook, with subsequent plays released monthly. Playbook topics span the entirety of the High Leverage Practices paradigm, emphasizing assessment and progress monitoring practices, supporting students in the social, emotional, and behavioral domain, improving instructional strategies, and developing IEPs.
Through HLP Playbook, special education teachers will complete activities and interact with resources and research designed to hone their implementation of High Leverage Practices. They will then engage in coaching sessions with American Institutes for Research coaches to receive feedback on their implementation and learning as they progress through the array of HLP Plays.
The eight plays in HLP Playbook include:
Play 1 - HLP 8: Provide Positive and Constructive Feedback
Play 2 - HLP 16: Use Explicit Instruction
Play 3 - HLP 7: Establish a Respectful Learning Environment
Play 4 - HLP 9: Teach Social Skills
Play 5 - HLP 4: Use Information to Understand Strengths and Needs
Play 6 - HLP 6: Use Data to Improve Student Outcomes
Play 7 - HLP 14: Teach Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategies
Play 8 - HLP 20: Provide Intensive Instruction
HLP Playbook will kickoff with a live Zoom event. Registrants will receive an overview of the platform and have the opportunity to ask questions before starting the plays.
For questions about this offering or registration issues, please contact Colin Butler at cbutler@pcgus.com
Trainings and Materials
#306501 | SES-PCG High Leverage Practices: Facilitating IEP Meetings and Collaborating with the IEP Team
This course is open to Alabama special education teachers, coordinators, and administrators. Through this half-day training session, participants will develop a deeper understanding of the essential components of High Leverage Practices in special education aligned with facilitating Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings and collaborating with the IEP team, including:
HLP 1: Collaborate with professionals to increase student success.
HLP 2: Organize and facilitate effective meetings with professionals and families.
HLP 3: Collaborate with families to support student learning and secure needed services.
HLP 5: Interpret and communicate assessment information with stakeholders to collaboratively design and implement educational programs.
Training Materials:
Link to Collaborating with the IEP Team Pre-Activities
Link to Assessment Summary Sheet
Link to Collaboration Plan - Five Step Process
Link to HLP 1 Self Reflection Rubric
Link to IEP Facilitation and Reflection - Identifying Current Practices and Areas for Improvement
Link to IEP Meeting and Document Review
Link to IEP Meeting Follow-up Activities
Link to IEP Meeting Agenda Template
Link to Virtual IEP Meeting Tip Sheet
Link to What Do You Notice Activity
#306502 | SES-PCG High Leverage Practices for Special Educators: Facilitating IEP Meetings and Collaboration (Train-the-Trainer)
Special education, school, and district leaders across Alabama are invited to attend a virtual train-the-trainer session designed to empower them to bring the High Leverage Practices: Facilitating IEP Meetings and Collaborating with the IEP Team training to their teachers. Participants in the train-the-trainer session will be provided with facilitation materials (including a presentation, accompanying facilitator’s guide, and implementation resources) and the knowledge necessary to replicate and facilitate this professional development session for their staff.
Training Materials:
#302484 | SES-PCG High Leverage Practices for Special Educators: The Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Domain
Through this full day training session, participants will develop a deeper understanding of the essential components of High Leverage Practices in special education, and then dive deeply into the social, emotional, and behavioral domains of the paradigm. Participants will learn the essential implementation components of:
-HLP 7: Establish a consistent, organized, and respectful learning environment.
-HLP 8: Provide positive and constructive feedback to guide students’ learning and behavior.
Training Materials:
Link to The Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Domain Pre-Activities
Link to High Leverage Practices: Effective Teaching Practices
Link to Opportunities to Respond Tip Sheet
Link to Developing Rules and Procedures
Link to Classroom Procedures Template
Link to Classroom Routine Lesson Plan
Link to Systems and Routines Reflection Template
Link to Observation Tool: Features of Effective Instruction
Link to High Leverage Practices in Special Education Handout
Link to HLP 7 Leadership Guide
Link to HLP 8/22 Leadership Guide
#302678 | SES-PCG High Leverage Practices for Special Educators: The Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Domain (Train-the-Trainer)
Participants in the train-the-trainer series will be provided with the materials (including slide-show presentation, accompanying facilitator's guide, and implementation resources) and knowledge necessary to replicate and facilitate this professional development session for their staff. Through this training, participants will develop a deeper understanding of the essential components of HLPs in special education, and then dive deeply into the social, emotional, and behavioral domain of the paradigm. Participants will learn the foundational leadership principles necessary to support the essential implementation components of:
-HLP 7: Establish a consistent, organized, and respectful learning environment.
-HLP 8: Provide positive and constructive feedback to guide student learning and behavior.
Training Materials:
Link to Facilitator Guide Part 1
Link to Facilitator Guide Part 2
#302510 | SES-PCG High Leverage Practices for Special Educators: IEP Procedural and Substantive Requirements
Through this full day training session, participants will develop a deeper understanding of the essential components of High Leverage Practices in special education aligned with Individualized Education Programs' (IEPs) procedural and substantive requirements, including:
-HLP 4: Use multiple sources of information to develop a comprehensive understanding of a student's strengths and needs
-HLP 6: Use student assessment data, analyze instructional practices, and make necessary adjustments that improve student outcomes
-HLP 11: Identify and prioritize long and short-term goals
-HLP 12: Systematically design instruction towards learning goals
-HLP 13: Make adaptations
This professional development opportunity will cultivate a deep understanding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's procedural and substantive requirements, and equip participants with the tools and resources necessary to successfully develop and implement IEPs to serve their students. Key topics will include: Child Find, Evaluation, Parental Involvement, IEP Development, Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance, Measurable Annual Goals, Statements of Aids and Services, and Progress Monitoring.
Training Materials:
Link to IEP Procedural and Substantive Requirements Pre-Activities
Link to IEP Activity-Participants
Link to IEP Activity-Procedures
Link to Connecting Supplementary Aids and Services to PLAAFP and Measurable Goals
Link to IEP Team Member Roles in Informing PLAAFP
Link to IEP Tip Sheet: Measurable Annual Goals
Link to PLAAFP Component Rating Scale Learning Extension
Link to PLAAFP Elements and Guiding Questions
Link to Planning for Progress Monitoring Learning Extension
Link to Writing Measurable Goals Activity
#306500 | SES-PCG High Leverage Practices for Special Educators: IEP Procedural and Substantive Requirements (Train-the-Trainer)
Special education, school, and district leaders across Alabama are invited to attend a virtual "train-the-trainer" session designed to empower them to bring this training to their teachers. Participants in the train-the-trainer series will be provided with the materials (including slide-show presentation, accompanying facilitator's guide, and implementation resources) and knowledge necessary to replicate and facilitate this professional development session for their staff.
Through this training, participants will develop a deeper understanding of the essential components of HLPs in special education, and then dive deeply into IEP Procedural and Substantive Requirements, including: Child Find, Evaluation, Parental Involvement, IEP Development, Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance, Measurable Annual Goals, Statements of Aids and Services, and Progress Monitoring. Participants will learn the foundational leadership principles necessary to support the essential implementation components of:
-HLP 4: Use multiple sources of information to develop a comprehensive understanding of a student's strengths and needs.
-HLP 6: Use student assessment data, analyze instructional practices, and make necessary adjustments that improve student outcomes.
-HLP 11: Identify and prioritize long and short-term goals.
-HLP 12: Systematically design instruction towards learning goals.
-HLP 13: Make adaptations.
Training Materials:
Register for a training
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