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The Advisory Commission on Special Education (ACSE) provides recommendations and advice to the State Board of Education, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Legislature, and the Governor related to research, program development, and evaluation of California’s special education system. The ACSE addresses issues related to student outcomes, incarcerated youth, positive behavioral interventions, interagency agreements, teacher credentialing, parity for families and integrated services. Last week the ACSE met and provided, among other updates, some great presentations related to inclusive practices in distance learning, and supporting the needs of families and students with disabilities that are English learners.
The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence is a statewide agency that provides specialized services to Local Education Agencies in order to help make sure the needs of students and families are met. They have a tremendous amount of free online training that is specific to distance teaching and learning. To learn more about the free resources visits: https://ccee-ca.org/resources/distance-teaching-learning/
Supporting Inclusive Practices gave a presentation that highlighted model inclusive practices during the pandemic and opportunities to address long-term barriers. The California Department of Education (CDE) created a workgroup of stakeholders to gather and share innovative strategies, ideas and resources that others have found successful as they provide access to students with disabilities in distance learning. To learn more about the strategies, ideas and resources from the stakeholder workgroup visit: https://www.sipinclusion.org/distance-learning-resources/
The ACSE is committed to fulfilling its role as an advisory body and public input is an essential part of being able to fully inform policymakers about needs of families and students with disabilities, as well as educators. They meet five times a year and work very hard to address issues brought forth in public comment. Their meeting schedule can be found at: https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/as/acsemtg.asp. I encourage all families that have children in special education to participate in the process and take the opportunity to provide public comment. Public comment is accepted by phone or email on the day of the meeting, as well as in advance through email ACSE@cde.ca.gov.