Member Meetings>Fall 2007 Member Meeting
Fall Meeting
Increasing School Completion and Graduation Rates for Students with Disabilities
October 24-27, 2007
JW Marriott Buckhead
Atlanta, GA
For information regarding registration for the Fall Meeting in Atlanta, please contact Kyla Graves at kgraves@edc.org or call 617-618-2447 . Please review the Collaborative's travel and cancellation policy before proceeding.
The formal portion of our meeting will open at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 25, and adjourn on Saturday morning, October 27. Optional pre-meeting sessions are being planned for Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, and more detailed information will be available soon.
The primary topical focus for our Fall Meeting is “Increasing School Completion and Graduation Rates for Students with Disabilities” . As we know, students with disabilities drop out of school at two to three times the rate of their non-disabled peers and, in urban schools, the rate is even more alarming.
Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Festus E. Obiakor is currently a professor in the Department of Exceptional Education at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. A teacher, scholar, and consultant, he has served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at a variety of universities. He has more than 100 academic publications including, It Even Happens in "Good" Schools: Responding to Cultural Diversity in Today's Classrooms and his most recent book, Multicultural Special Education: Culturally Responsive Teaching which focuses on strategies for making education better for multicultural learners with and without exceptionalities in inclusive settings.
Dr. Obiakor has been the recipient of many distinguished awards such as, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Education Outstanding Research and Scholarship Award. In 1992, he was honored with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Horace J. Traylor Minority Leadership Award. In 1995, he received the Emporia State University Presidential Award for Distinguished Service to Diversity.
A proponent of the Comprehensive Support Model, Dr. Obiakor has also focused on the issues surrounding the misidentification of black youth as behavior problems, the disproportionate representation of minority children in special education, and meeting the needs of African-American learners with exceptionalities.
Preliminary Agenda
| Wednesday, October 24, 2007 | |
|---|---|
| 1:30 - 4:30 p.m. | Consultancy Session with Atlanta Public Schools (optional) |
| Thursday, October 25, 2007 | |
|---|---|
| 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. | "Size-alike" Meetings (optional) |
| 10:15 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. | Collaborative Partner Focus Groups (optional) |
| 1:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. | Welcome and Keynote Speaker |
| 3:45 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. | Q&A with Keynote Speakers |
| 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. | Reception |
| Friday, October 26, 2007 | |
|---|---|
| 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. | Partner Expo |
| 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. | Continental Breakfast |
| 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. | General Session |
| 9:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | Concurrent Sessions |
| 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. | Lunch |
| 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. | Concurrent Sessions |
| 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. | Size-Alike Cocktail Hour |
| Saturday, October 27, 2007 | |
|---|---|
| 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. | Continental Breakfast |
| 9:15 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. | Size-Alike Round Table Discussions |
| 10:15 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. | Wrap up and adjournment |
Session Descriptions
Concurrent Sessions:
The Collaborative is currently issuing a Call for Presentations for our Fall Meeting. At this meeting, we are interested in learning more about what our Member School Districts are doing to keep students with disabilities in school and provide them with maximum opportunities to graduate. These might include:
- Enhanced transition planning and services
- Effective parent and/or family engagement
- Progressive discipline policies
- Flexible scheduling
- Community-based educational opportunities
- Partnerships with local colleges and universities
- Innovative curricular offerings
- School re-entry projects
- Use of effective instructional practices and learning strategies
- Student self-determination and resiliency programs
If your school district has a program, service, and/or a combination of initiatives that data indicate are working to increase school completion and graduation rates, we look forward to hearing from you!
Proposals must speak to an organizational, programmatic, instructional, professional development, policy, and/or management strategy that has been implemented over at least a three-year period and that has student performance or other data to support its consideration by other Collaborative Members.
One final point: As you are well aware, a critical dimension of our organization's purpose is to promote collaboration between general and special education leaders. This particular meeting topic offers a terrific opportunity for you and your general education colleagues to share, learn, and plan. I very much encourage you to consider inviting your general education leadership colleagues to join you for this important meeting.
Please return the presentation proposal form form to us via email (preferred method) or fax, no later than September 17, 2007.
Click here to download the presentation proposal form.
Optional Pre-meeting Sessions:
On Wednesday and Thursday, there will be several optional pre-meeting sessions and corporate focus groups, including the following:
- Consultancy Session with the Atlanta Public Schools
- "Size-alike" Meetings on Critical Issues in Urban Special Education
- More information on the corporate focus groups to follow
Registration Information
How to Register:
It is important for us to know if you and/or designated representatives will be joining us in October.
Click here to download Registration Information.
Please read the following steps carefully:
Step 1) Register
To Register, please contact Kyla Graves at kgraves@edc.org. Upon receipt of your registration, you will receive a confirmation via email.
- Follow the instructions to complete and submit the registration form. Please note, you must complete the email field with a unique email address. You can not use the same email address for multiple registrations.
- If you are registering as an additional participant you must complete payment information for the registration to be confirmed.
- Additional participant registration fees are non-refundable, unless cancellations are made by October 9th. Additional participants who do not cancel before October 9th are still responsible for their registration fee.
- Upon receipt of your completed registration form, you will receive a confirmation via email.
- Please be sure to read our revised Travel & Cancellation Policy
Step 2) Book your flight
Please contact Stewart International Travel by October 2nd at 1-800-738-1575 and ask for Pilar to book your flights and arrange for your ticket. For fast and efficient service when calling, please state that you are calling for the Urban Collaborative meeting and have the preferred dates and times of travel ready. Please be sure to take into consideration the pre-meeting sessions when booking your flight.
Step 3) Make your hotel reservation
Hotel reservations must be made ASAP . If you try to make hotel reservations after October 2nd, the Collaborative cannot guarantee availability or that you will receive the reduced rate.
MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS NOW TO ENSURE AVAILABILITY AT THE REDUCED ROOM BLOCK RATE!
You may cancel your reservation up to 72 hours prior to arrival, so book now and cancel later if need be!
To make your reservation via telephone: (You will need a credit card to guarantee your reservation.)
- Call toll free 1-800-228-9290 or 1-404-262-3344
- Be sure to mention the “Urban Collaborative” room block to receive the reduced room rate
- Please have dates for your check-in and check-out ready
- Please be sure to take into consideration the pre-meeting sessions when booking your room
To make your reservation via the internet: (You will need a credit card to guarantee your reservation.)
- Navigate to www.marriott.com and search for the JW Marriott Buckhead in Atlanta
- After being directed to the JW Marriott Buckhead site, fill in all information regarding your overnight stay under “Check Rates & Availability”. Do not forget to enter the Group Code: URBURBA to ensure you receive the discounted rate.
- Confirm room rate of $173.00 per night, and click on “Reserve a Room”. Specify your room preferences and click “Continue”.
- Review details of your stay and click “Continue”.
- Complete your personal and credit card information, and click “Complete Reservation”.
JW Marriott Buckhead
www.marriott.com
3300 Lenox Road
Atlanta , GA 30326
Phone 1-404-262-3344
Fax 1-404-262-8689
The room rate per night for a single or double room is $173 (plus 15% state/local taxes.)
Things to Do in Atlanta
- 50 Fun Things to Do in Atlanta
- October Events
- Atlanta History Center
- Buckhead Information
- Georgia Aquarium
- World of Coca-Cola
- Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site
- Centennial Olympic Park
- Atlanta Botanical Garden
Travel Policy
Extra Participants:
Districts are welcome to register additional participants to attend Collaborative meetings. The standard registration fee for extra participants is $350. Please make checks payable to Education Development Center, Inc., and send to: Kyla Graves, Education Development Center, Inc., 55 Chapel Street, Newton, MA, 02458. All extra participants are responsible for their own transportation, room charges, meals, and incidentals. Extra participant registration fees are non-refundable, unless cancellations are made by October 9, 2007. Extra participants who do not cancel on or before October 9, 2007, will still be responsible for their registration fee. To cancel, please call Kyla Graves at 617-618-2447.
Travel Policy:
Q: What does the Collaborative pay for?
A: As you know, one of the benefits of membership in the Collaborative is paid airfare to our bi-annual meetings. The number of airline tickets paid for by the Collaborative is dependent upon your school district's membership status:
- If you are a small urban school district, with enrollment of less than 15,000 students, your membership fee pays for one participant's airfare.
- If you are a medium urban school district, with enrollment of between 15,000 and 50,000 students, your membership fee pays for two participants' airfare.
- If you are a large urban school district, with enrollment of more than 50,000 students, your membership fee pays for three participants' airfare.
- For each auxiliary membership enrollment, you can add one paid airfare.
All participants are responsible for their own hotel fees, ground transportation, meals, and incidentals.
Q: Can I choose the flight I want?
A: The Collaborative and Stewart Travel will try their best to accommodate your travel preferences. However, in order to keep volatile airfare rates within budget, we seek out the most reasonable airfare at the time of booking and, in some cases, require a Saturday night stay over.
Q: Can I send additional representatives from my district?
A: Districts are welcome to register extra participants to attend Collaborative meetings. The standard registration fee for each extra participant is $350. Please make checks payable to Education Development Center, Inc., and send to: Kyla Graves, Education Development Center, Inc., 55 Chapel Street, Newton, MA, 02458 .
Q: What if I live locally and do not need to fly to the meeting?
A: For members that do not require airline travel, the district can substitute their airline cost benefit for extra participant registration fees. As with airline tickets, the number of registration fees paid for by the Collaborative depends upon your membership status. That is:
- For large districts, instead of paying the airfare for three participants, the Collaborative will waive the registration fees for three extra participants for a total of six registrants at no cost.
- For medium districts, instead of paying the airfare for two participants, the Collaborative will waive the registration fees for two extra participants for a total of four registrants at no cost.
- For small districts, instead of paying the airfare for one participant, the Collaborative will waive the registration fee for one extra participant for a total of two registrants at not cost.
- For each auxiliary membership enrollment, districts can substitute one extra participant registration fee.
In addition to the participant registration fees covered by the Collaborative, districts can send additional participants at their own expense. The registration fee for extra participants is detailed above.
Q: What if I need to make changes or cancel?
A: Please call Kyla Graves at 617-618-2447 by Tuesday, October 9, 2007 if you need to cancel. In terms of airfare, once a ticket has been issued, the ticket holder is responsible for the costs associated with any changes and cancellations. Change fees include a $100 airline fee and a $40 Stewart Travel service fee along with the difference in airfare.
Extra participant registration fees are non-refundable, unless cancellations are made by October 9, 2007. Extra participants who do not cancel before October 9 will still be responsible for the $350 registration fee.
