Leadership for Personnel Development: State, Local and Higher Ed collaboration

1
Leadership for Personnel Development State,
Local and Higher Ed collaboration

• Phoebe Gillespie, Ph. D.
• Director
• The National Center for Special Education
  Personnel and Related Service Providers
• _at_ NASDSE

2
Can the State DOE do it alone?

• Districts deal with the problems and need to
  implement solutions.
• States can assist in identifying problems and
  implementing solutions.
• Higher Ed can help bridge the gap between supply
  and demand.

3
Focus Areas for Collaboration on Personnel Needs

• Data Planning and Management
• involves all three partner- State, locals and
  IHEs.
• Strategic Action Planning
• should reflect wide, diverse stakeholder input
  and involvement.
• Recruitment
• is everyones job!
• Personnel Preparation
• can provide innovative program development and
  delivery.
• Retention
• happens at the building level, but is clearly
  influenced by the quality of preparation.

4

• State Models for Leadership in Personnel
  Development

5
Personnel Development Strategic Action Planning

• Challenges and Barriers
• Image of the special educator is a deterrent to
  recruiting persons to the field.
• Working conditions, lack of administrative
  support and need for high quality special
  ed-specific mentoring programs are major
  contributors to both attrition and lack of
  persons coming into prep programs.
• Financial aid is lacking for interested
  candidates.
• Prep program entry requirements and lack of
  access to prep coursework and programs deter
  minority candidates from entering field.

6
Solutions

• State staff must take leadership to both plan and
  implement.
• Designated state staff to assist the taskforce in
  completing the plan (NJ).
• Funding to pay for the implementation work to be
  completed (CA SIG, KY).
• State resources to fund a state recruiter for
  special ed personnel (RI SIG).
• District buy-in is essential to implementation
  assist in bringing other local staff on board.
• State staff must have working relationships with
  district staff at the HR, special ed director and
  superintendent levels.

7
Solutions

• Higher ed is the lynch-pin in making solutions
  work at both the state and district level.
• Try innovative approaches (RI, NJ)
• Assist districts in PD and training of
  administrators for support (NH, NJ)
• Act as leaders in bringing new recruits into the
  field (RI, NH and MA)