HARVARD INSTITUTE
Collaborative Executive Director, David Riley, co-chairs Harvard University's Annual Summer Institute on Critical Issues in Urban Special Education. Institute topics change yearly and are intended for urban public school leaders.
Critical Issues in Urban Special Education
Improving
Outcomes for Young Children at Risk
July 16-20, 2007
This year's Institute on Critical Issues in Special Education will focus on what schools and districts can do to improve educational outcomes for children with disabilities and children placed at risk, birth to 5 years of age. Recent research developments have demonstrated the potential of early intervention and high-quality pre-school programs to prevent later school-related problems. The institute examines current best practices and opportunities for innovation in the design and funding of service delivery systems for young children, and explores how schools can collaborate with other providers to develop more effective programming.
Using evidence from research in brain science, early intervention, early literacy development, and closing the achievement gap, the institute analyzes factors that should inform the investment of scare resources. The institute also considers planning frameworks and practical approaches with promise for improving student outcomes.
For more information and to register, please click here.
2006 Harvard Institute Faculty and Presentations
Dr. Loujeania Williams Bost is the Director of the National Dropout Prevention Center for Students With Disabilities. Dr Bost holds a Ph.D.in Special Education from Pennsylvania State University. She has an extensive background in working with students with disabilities and was the chief of statewide compliance, monitoring, and technical assistance for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. She has been a public school teacher, a program administrator for agencies serving adults and adolescents with mental retardation, and a researcher. Please click here Part 1 of 2 and here for Part 2 of 2 of Dr. Bost's presentation.
Dr. Thomas F. Hehir, Institute Co-Chair, joined the Collaborative as its Senior Policy Advisor in September 1999 after a six-year tenure as Director of the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Hehir is also a former special education leader of both the Chicago Public Schools and the Boston Public Schools. He currently holds the prestigious position of Professor of Practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. To download Dr. Hehir's presentation, please click here.
Dr. Karen Mapp is a lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). Her research and practice expertise is in the areas of educational leadership and educational partnerships among schools, families, and community members. Dr. Mapp joined the HGSE in January 2005 after serving for 18 months as the interim deputy superintendent of Family and Community Engagement for the Boston Public Schools (BPS). While working with the BPS, she continued to fulfill her duties as president of the Institute for Responsive Education, a research, policy, and advocacy organization that conducts research on and advocates for effective school, family, and community partnerships that support the educational development of children. Click here to download Dr. Mapp's presentation.
Dr. Margaret J. McLaughlin is a Professor in the Department of Special Education and serves as the Associate Director of the Institute for the Study of Exceptional Children which is a research institute within the College of Education, University of Maryland. She directs several national projects investigating educational reform and students with disabilities, specifically related to standards, large-scale assessments and accountability. One of these projects, the Educational Policy Research Reform Institute (EPRRI) has been studying new accountability reforms, including the requirements of NCLB and how they are being interpreted and implemented for students with disabilities at state, local and school levels. Dr. McLaughlin has co-chaired and/or served on several National Academy of Sciences committees related to students with disabilities and national educational reform policies and has consulted widely with local school districts on the implementation of standards and assessment with students with disabilities. Click here for Dr. McLaughlin's presentation.
Dr. Jack P. Shonkoff is a board-certified pediatrician whose professional interests focus on the intersection of science, policy, and practice. He currently chairs the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, a multidisciplinary collaboration comprising leading scientists in early childhood and early brain development, whose mission is to bring sound and accurate science to bear on public decision-making affecting the lives of young children. Under the auspices of the National Academies, Dr. Shonkoff chaired the Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development for the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, and co-edited its final report, From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development. He is the Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold Professor of Human Development and Social Policy and former Dean of The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Click here for Dr. Shonkoff's presentation.
Dr. Mary Wagner is director of the Center for Education and Human Services at SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute) in Menlo Park, California. Dr. Wagner currently is principal investigator of the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2), a study that is following more than 11,000 secondary-school-age youth with disabilities as they transition to young adulthood. NLTS2 is a reprise of the original National Longitudinal Transition Study, directed by Dr. Wagner from 1984 through 1993. She also co-directs OSEP’s Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study (SEELS). These child-based studies provide the only information on the characteristics, experiences, programs, and results of children and youth with disabilities nationally. Please click here for Part 1 of 2 and here for Part 2 of 2 of Dr. Wagner's presentations.
Registration Information
Members of the Collaborative receive a 10% discount off the Institute's tuition. For more information about this year's Institute, to request a program brochure, or to register, please contact:
Harvard Graduate School of Education
14 Story Street, 3rd Floor
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: (800) 545-1849
Fax: (617) 496-8051
Web: http://www.gse.harvard.edu/ppe/
