1

• Compliance with Ministry of Education directives, regulations, and initiatives

 2

• Response to urgent needs of students, staff and board

 3

• Response to demographic needs as identified by system personnel, community support agencies, medical staff, advocacy groups, and response to health and safety issues

 4

• Related area of emphasis to specialized supports and/or services

 5

• Response to Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) results and Canadian Cognitive Abilities Test

System

• Interdepartmental Collaboration
• Specialized Services Team
• Executive Council
• Grand Erie Multi-Year Plan
• Grand Erie Annual Operating Plans
• System Committees
• Secondary Department Heads
• Leadership Steering Committee

School

• Administrators and staff request training for capacity building and responsive intervention supports or services 
• School Councils and Home andSchool Associations request training or learning
• School Teams or Resource Teams request training
• School-based professional development committees

Family

• Learning Resource Teachers (LRTs) and Special Education classroom teachers request training
• Teacher Consultants – Specialized Services identify family needs
• CUPE Professional Development Committee
• School Professional Development Committees

Area

• Administrators
• Area support staff

Special Education Advisory Council (SEAC)

   Consulted about staff development in the following ways:

• Monthly meetings
• Access through Grand Erie’s web page
• Participation in Ministry of Education training sessions

1 - Staff are made aware of training by:

• School Resource Team Meetings, and Support Staff Meetings;

• Staff Portal, PD Offerings and registration system;

• Staff email and calendar invites;

• Trending, Educator News, Administrator News 

• Grand Erie web page;

• Family of Schools Administrators’ Meetings.

2 - Training regarding to the Legislation and Ministry policy on
     Special Education:

• System staff are current in their understanding of Ministry policies and legislation that have an impact on Special Education;

• Changes in practice, and new information is presented to Principals and Learning Resource Teachers who are responsible to implement new policy and legislative directions at the school level; If staff experience challenges, or have implementation concerns further training and support is provided by the system Specialized

3 - Budget allocation dedicated to the staff development
      plan around Special Education:

• Special Education Teachers can access monies as dictated by their collective agreement and their school Professional Development Committees;

• Professional Student Support Services staff and Educational Assistants have a budget determined by their collective agreement to attend conferences/training related to their role;

• Coordinators, consultants and coaches responsible for Special Education can access funds to attend professional development;

• A percentage of total funds allocated for professional development is dedicated to Special Education.

 4 - Cost-sharing arrangements for staff development
       with other ministries or agencies:

• Entry to School Program - (Ontario Autism Program), Lansdowne Children’s Centre and Haldimand-Norfolk REACH;

• Regional Autism Forum - Ministry of Education;

• Job Readiness Training - NACL (Norfolk Association of Community Living);

• Early Child Development Centres and Launch Pads;

• Geneva Centre;

• Ministry of Education (MOE)-Funded Autism Training: Online, courses created by Geneva Centre;

• Autism School Support Program- Hamilton Health Sciences;

• Transitional Aged Youth Protocol with Contact Brant;

• LD@School Educators’ Summer Institute.

Digital Learning on Brightspace/D2L

• Professional Learning Environment (PLE) for Specialized Services houses current information, self-directed learning and resources related to special education

Program and Tech Training

• TeachTown

• Apple Training

• Assistive Devices, Accessibility Features 

• Special Equipment Amount (SEA) Training with LEARNStyle

Learning Resource Teachers Collaboration and Training

• System Processes

• Changes to specialized services database (LITE) system

• Transition planning

• Individual Education Plan (IEP) Development Support

• Alternative programming

• Training in best practices and Ministry initiatives

• Community Collaboration about Supports, Programs and Resources

• Assessment Tools

 Safety and Prevention Training

• Behaviour Management Systems Training (BMS)

• Training and/or review Suicide Risk Protocol, Non-Suicidal Self- Injury Behaviour Protocol and Traumatic Response Protocol

 New Teacher Training

• New Teacher Induction Program

 School Request Training

• Targeted Skill Development

• SEA Process

• Behaviour Data Tracking and BeSafe Plans

• Moving Students Toward Independence

• Teaching in an Inclusive Model

• Special Education Pathways in Secondary

• Communication Supports

EA Training

• Collecting and analyzing data to create behaviour support plans 

• Stabilizing behaviour 

• Teaching skills 

• Increasing student independence 

• Introduction to Universal Design for Learning 

After-School PD (open to all educators) 

• Introduction to Universal Design for Learning 

• Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) Teaching Methods 

• Behaviour Skills Training 

• High yield strategies and tools to support complex learners 

• Teach Town (technology) 

• Bits Board (technology)