What's happening around Utah's professional development scene. Stay up-to-date by visiting here often for breaking news and information.

May 14, 2010 - Utah State University: New Doctoral Program for Language and Literacy

WHAT: New USU multidisciplinary doctoral program track for language and literacy

WHEN: Applications now accepted

SUPPORT AVAILABLE: Accepted students will receive a stipend of $20,000, health insurance, plus tuition for four years!

INFORMATION: For more information on the Disability Disciplines Doctoral Program, see the website at http://sped.usu.edu/doctor/ or email disability.doc@usu.edu.

May 11, 2010 - Utah Early Childhood Special Education Conference Save the Date!

October 28-29, 2010 - Marriott, Provo, Utah - Save the Date Flyer (.pdf) | Presenter Proposal Form (.pdf)

We need presenters!  If you are interested in presenting at the conference, please submit a proposal at connie.nink@schools.utah.gov
Proposals are due no later than June 1, 2010.  Notice of acceptance will be received by June 30, 2010.

Questions contact: Connie Nink 801-538-7948 - connie.nink@schools.utah.gov -  <<- Read More

May 2010 - New Additions to the Website

U of U - Evidence Based Training for SED/BD  (Behavior Resource by Topic) - this resource is for training school psychologists to be experts in evidence based practices for tertiary students with serious emotional disturbance/behavior disorders (SED/BD).

Safe & Civil Schools (Behavior Resource by Topic) - Randy Sprick and associates refine decades of research on effective teaching methods into practical, easy-to-use principles and procedures.

Spring 2010

Safe & Civil Schools Newsletter Feature - Recently ABC-UBI Schools were featured in the Spring 2010 Safe & Civil Schools Newsletter.  They discuss strategies using the Tough Kid series in their classrooms.

April 9, 2010 - Significant Disabilities Conference

April 7, 2010 - Reauthorization of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act

On Saturday, March 13, the Obama administration released its blueprint for revising the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which would ask states to adopt college- and career-ready standards and reward schools for producing dramatic gains in student achievement. The proposal challenges the nation to embrace educational standards that would put America on a path to global leadership.  <<- Read More

March 3, 2010 - More Additions to the UPDC 2.0 Website

Special Education Directors Data Dashboard - This is a new web tool that Utah Special Education Directors can go visit to view UPDC/USOE Activity Reports for every District, Charter School and Other Agency that receives professional development services from the UPDC.  The reports require a password to view the data.  Directors may contact UPDC leadership to get their password.

New Anita Archer Video Clips! - Anita recently sat down with UPDC staff to record these excellent video snippets.

Utah Coaching Network Presentation Handouts - This section was newly added and new content it to come soon!

Teaching Science to Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities - Presentation by Glenna Roundy (Jordan District) given Dec 2, 2008 at the USOE's Significant Disabilities Focus Group. The Quicktime movie of the presentation is 26 minutes long and 145MB.

Two new useful documents entitled: A Comparison of Math Curricula for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities (.pdf)  & A Comparison of Reading Curricula for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities (.pdf) were also posted on our Significant Disabilities page.  These documents were compiled by the Significant Mentoring and Access to Resources Task force (S.M.A.R.T).

Teaching Sequential Tasks - Manuals, Presentation, and Data Collection Forms are now available for this new resource for teachers of students with Significant Disabilities.

Utah Symposium for Special Education Personnel Preparation - This annual meeting was held on February 12, 2010, a full Wimba archive & binder handouts are available on this new page. 

24 Evidence Based Practices - These resources are for parents and teachers. Used for students with autism and significant cognitive disabilities. (.pdf)

UPDC Supports for Teachers of Students with Significant Disabilities - is a list of resources, publications, instructional videos, partnerships and tools that UPDC uses as it supports teachers.

UMTA Conference Technology Tools Page - From iPads to Smart Boards: What’s in Your Teacher Toolbox? This page has links to resources on how to create a $50 interactive board, and handouts from Jeremiah Fiero, Devin Healey and Tom Johnson's presentation at the UMTA Conference on Friday, February 19, 2010.

ABC-UBI Partners & Sites Listing - Utah's Multi-tiered System of Support page was updated to include a listing of it's partners and sites.  The page also contains PowerPoint presentations from many of the schools that participate in UMTSS.

ABC-UBI Applications - UMTSS also just posted new updated applications for 2010-11 year.

Feb 3, 2010 - Quick Update:

CBM Focus 2.10 and the new Progress Monitoring Focus are updated, and now available at: http://www.cbmfocus.com/

December 31, 2009 - Latest Additions to the UPDC 2.0 Website

Here are some recent pages and links that we have added to our site:

Transition Resource:  I'm Determined - Virginia DOE Self-Determination Project.  Provides direct instruction, models, and opportunities to practice skills associated with self-determined behavior. (Elem-student’s educational career). Students learn how to set & achieve goals and have a greater understanding of personal strengths and how to get support for areas of need. 

Multi-Tiered System of Support (ABC-UBI) - We are working to transition the older ABC/UBI website to our new UPDC 2.0 look and feel.  Many of the tools & resources that were formerly on the the ABC-UBI page have been moved to the Behavior Resources by Topic Section.  New additions to the MTSS (ABC-UBI) page will be a section on Presentation Resources from recent ABC-UBI trainings (Jan 2010), also we we'll be adding a page where Utah educators can request resources such as: The Behavior Education Plan DVD, 200 Club DVD, Bully Blockers program & DVD and Superheroes Program & DVD (Feb 2010).

Utah Special Education Paraeducator Handbook - This new resource is now available through our website.  This handbook can help paraeducators understand their role as they support teaching and learning. It can also give their supervisor and administrator information on how they can support their paraeducators. It is available in PDF format and has an introductory presentation as well.

David Forbush Instructional Fidelity Resource - Article and presentation prepared for the Utah Consortium for Special Education and the Utah Special Educator Journal.  Focuses on Maximizing Student Outcomes: What does instructional fidelity have to do with it?

December Issues of the Utah Special Educator - For this Winter Edition(s) we focus on two subjects, so we built two Journals and stuffed them into one book.  The subjects that it covers are:  Academics & Behavior: What you teach and reinforce ....

Anita Archer Shared Resources - Over the past year Anita Archer has generously allowed the UPDC to share many resources and tools that she has developed and used with all Utah educators.  She visited Utah by way of UPDC twice this past year:  November 16-19 in St. George & Provo, and March 25-28 in Salt Lake City & Provo.  The resources include handouts, powerpoint slides, articles, and video Clips.

New Conferences and Events have been added to our conferences and events registration page, watch for online registration to become available soon for those events.

Maps & Directions - This page has been updated with addresses to many of the venues and locations that UPDC uses for conferences and trainings.  Also below each address is a link for Google Maps and directions from the north and from the south.  We also included a requested link to the UTA trip planner for those who utilize public transit to attend our meetings.

Consortium for Special Education - The full 2009-2010 schedule for consortium has now been posted.  Links to the Agendas, handouts, and Wimba Streams (live events & Archived events) are now available.  Links to minutes from past meetings will be available in Feb 2010.

Social Networks - Don't forget to join our Facebook group and Twitter feed.  On these feeds we post new additions, conference announcements, breaking news and etc. on a regular basis. 

November 13, 2009

UPDC is pleased to announce our new webpage "UPDC 2.0."  Our agency has gone through many changes over the past few months with seven new staff members, the creation of the Utah Coaching Network, and rolling out this new website.

The goal of the newly re-designed website is to bring quality "Universal" professional development tools and resources to the finger tips of Utah special educators, administrators, paraprofessionals, related service providers, and parents.

The website will continue to grow and we will be creating many professional development modules, podcasts, and open educational resources (OER) for your use.  We also need you.  We know that districts all over our great state have exceptional educators who are developing useful resources.  We want to be a warehouse for sharing these resources.  Take a look at the "Resources by Topic" section and see what is currently available.

Please pardon our dust, as we finish making changes to our new UPDC Website.

Thanks - UPDC Staff

 

Visit our old site at: wiki.updc.org