Consortium Meeting Minutes

May 15, 1998

Welcome: Ted Kelly welcomed everyone and thanked them for their support this past year. He introduced the two new members to CSPD board and ULRC Leadership Team, Steve Hirase and Mary Vaughan. Ted thanked Cindy Maw and Vicki Ahlstrom, who have served on the board for six years. He also thanked Mae for her continued support and asked her to say a few words about Cindy and Vicki's service. Ted and Bruce thanked them also and presented them with gifts from the Consortium.


UPDATES:
ULRC: Bruce Schroeder excused the rest of ULRC staff because they were at Utah Mentor Teacher Academy final training of the year. He distributed a corrected overhead for the NICHCY books which each district received at the February 10 training meeting in Provo. Bruce told about Utah Special Educator being available on our web site (www.ulrc.org). Marilyn Likins discussed the Paraeducator conference in November.

INSTITUTES OF HIGHER EDUCATION:
University of Utah: Jeanette Misaka discussed the summer schedule for classes at the U. She also announced that Randy Schelble had received the Outstanding Alumni Award this year. It was also mentioned that Jeanette would be retiring this year.


USOE: -
Mae Taylor-Sweeten said that Ken Reavis is recovering from surgery. She said that they have received requests from other state agencies to participate in some sort of Mentoring activities. She proposed that these agencies (Mental Health, etc.) participate on Best Teams rather than the Mentor Academy.
Dan Morgan, Utah State University discussed the alternative prep program which is a two year program and students end up with "mild/moderate" certification.
Brenda Broadbent said that the preschool conference planning committee has sent out letters and wants responses. They will be planning for conferences in the fall.
Mae announced the Fall Administrative Conference, Sept. 17-18 with the Consortium meeting the afternoon of Sept. 18 in Park City. SARS week will be March 22-26, with CEC Spring Conference on March 27, 1999.
Tim McConnell handed out BEST Times for Deb Andrews and a call for papers. BEST is looking to replace specialist so there is a job announcement.
Tim told about Tooele electing a student with Down Syndrome as vice president of the student council and the expectations for the school.

Marilyn Likins distributed new LRBI packet and training video to each district. She also announced that there will be a paraeducator program at SLCC starting in the fall.

PRESENTATION:
Jane Pemberton ,Utah State University gave a presentation on distance education. Helping her with this presentation were Anna LeFever, Paula Martinsen, Doreen Smith, , Shannon Deets under Diedra Massey and Karin Binner. (And via computer principal Larry Cline, Maeser Elementary, Vernal.) Distance Education is a year-long project through USU aimed at connecting through technology to areas outside the main campus. There are huge implications because of the lower cost (around $700) and the available software.

When Jane came to USU she saw the challenge in supervising their student teachers out in the field. This is used with student teacher programs. For example, Anna LeFever can observe student teacher on site and Karin Binner can observe via computer. The system has a chat feature, so that both can communicate their observations immediately. It can be used to do direct instruction observation. It gives immediate feedback from more than one person. Connection goes through internet or phone line, but internet is faster and more immediate.

The software used was developed through Sorensen Vision Link
Sorensen is coming out with new program that will interface with any other system (by next fall). The possibilities are limitless for use of this program.


Cheryl Hostetter (USOE) and Dr. Tim Slocum (USU) gave a presentation on the Accelerated Student Achievement Project (ASAP) sharing data gathered in the first three years of implementation. The project provided major collaboration with Utah State Dept. of Education, 3 Utah school districts, 3 elementary schools, USU, University of Oregon, SRA (publisher of materials). Study saw major reform of staffing patterns, instructional grouping, organization of curriculum, design of instruction, and student-teacher interactions. The system change process was a result of commitment from all partners, provision of materials, intensive and extensive training, ongoing supervision and remediation, support for educational problem solving, and accountability. There was close comparison with matching schools through continuous testing. ASAP schools showed marked increase in test scores, scoring higher in most areas than the matching school. For more information about program, materials, etc. call Cheryl Hostetter at the USOE.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Tammy Abernathy, Weber State University, is moving to Reno to take a position at the University of Reno. She has served on CSPD board for last three years.
Steve Hirase introduced Peggy Milligan as his replacement in Murray district. Mary Butler introduced Annene Hoage who is an administrative intern in Davis district.
Mae announced the new special education director in Davis is Ellen Stantus.
Tentative dates for next year's Consortium meetings were given.


Meeting adjourned at 12:00 noon.