MAASE Focus Areas:

We will align and organize the strategic priorities and work of MAASE to focus on the following elements:

High Quality Student Evaluations

Specially Designed  Instruction

Skilled Staff

Program Evaluation

Through the platforms of:

Association Partnerships

Legislative Action and Advocacy

Professional Learning

Membership Services

EdCamp is an open format where group members sharethoughts to help one another in implementation of "real life" practice. These notes reflect the thinking of someone in the group but do not represent an official position on behalf of MAASE. Anyone using this as a resource is encouraged to use their best judgement in interpreting the suggestions.

MAASE EdCamp Format:

Notes:

SOP:

• CEC article discussing the use of “portfolios” of SOP using both formative and summative assessments (Lauren Ringle)

  Who is doing what around the state?

• Would a portfolio be the most beneficial for students (Google folder, student powerpoints, etc.); what is the most meaningful for students to bridge the gap from secondary to post-secondary

• Some are using hard copy portfolios and are being appreciated by potential employers as they can review the information

  Difficulty with SOP’s because it is difficult to get students to discuss and understand their disability as it relates to the area of interest

• Use of a portfolio throughout the school years so that teachers can show evidence of progress and so that the students understand the progression over time

• SOP is not being utilized for what its intent was meant to be

  • Who is the audience for the SOP?

  • What do employers really want?

  • What is the value of the SOP?

  • Cater the SOP or portfolio to a specific area of employment

• Colleges don’t seem to be looking at SOP’s; they are more interested in seeing the IEP when determining how to best serve those students (Paul D.)

  Audience continues to be the key and is very critical when making decisions as to what to create if anything other than the SOP

• What is the interest of local agencies in regards to the idea of portfolios? What would MRS for example, use the portfolio for?

  Collect/poll agencies and employers as to what they would like to see in regards to formats or platforms of sharing information

• Electronic platforms that “dump” the SOP information into their system have to ensure completion and thoroughness of the document

• Do staff really understand the SOP and its purpose? The “Why”? If they understood the why, and what colleges really need, would this be the key to improving the process?

• When a student is 26 years old and exiting a center program it is challenging to have information that is meaningful because everything is accommodated? Suggestion was to go back and look at what accommodations are they getting in the workplace that they wouldn’t otherwise get from an employer? Really think about those accommodations that you just do naturally to help them be successful on the job and use that as your meaningful data.

• How do we take this on as a leadership challenge and really emphasize the why, what our expectations are, how we reinforce these being done well, etc.

• When you have documents that need to align (EDP, IEP transition page, SOP) how do you do them in a way that makes sense and data from one is driving the other and they align.

Transition:

• Leadership around the importance of the transition process. Char-Em is looking at transition for all students, which shifts the focus. They have a tiered process, where all students develop post-secondary goals. It can be challenging as a GE administrator to show how this aligns with what they are already doing, not something separate. This may be something MAASE takes on as an area to grow leadership in.

• How do we shift our focus away from the check-list and towards some of the things that are more meaningful? What is the right first step as a leader?

• How do we focus on quality in a way that other states are (different from MDE’s approach)? Paul D. (Kent) has looked at what some other states are doing. Over 50% of states are not using checklists, they just have fields that indicate dates, etc. These states have the ability to focus on quality.

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