Early Childhood Special Education Professional Development Through Higher Education Consortium
Minnesota professionals who work with young children with disabilities and their families face a constantly evolving array of new issues in the field. These challenges include changes in the populations they serve and choices between service delivery models they implement. Those already working in the field of early childhood special education (ECSE) and related fields require ongoing professional development opportunities to remain responsive to the needs of young children and families.
For more than 20 years the Early Childhood Special Education Higher Education Consortium has provided specialized university-level training to address the need for ongoing inservice training to early childhood professionals from across the state through the Minnesota Early Intervention Summer Institute. The Summer Institute is presented through the collaborative efforts of the Consortium, comprised of representatives from seven Minnesota universities offering ECSE licensure programs: Minnesota State University—Mankato: Minnesota State University—Moorhead; Southwest Minnesota State University; St. Cloud State University; University of Minnesota Duluth; University of Minnesota Twin Cities; and the University of St. Thomas.
Recently the Consortium has expanded its role to include two evaluation activities focused on exploring the implementation of evidence-informed practices. These activities will assist the Department of Education and related agencies in prioritizing resource allocation in the area of professional development.
The goals of this project are:
- to provide intensive, high quality professional development opportunities in critical content areas for early intervention (EI), early childhood special education (ECSE) and related professionals in Minnesota;
- to contribute to the knowledge base within the field of early intervention through preliminary research focused on implementation of the Minnesota Technical Assistance Center for Social Emotional Interventions (TACSEI) Project;
- and to contribute to the knowledge base within the field of early intervention through preliminary research focused on the use of reflective consultation in early intervention and ECSE programs.
Project Staff
Christopher Watson, Principal Investigator
Kellie Krick Oborn
Funding
Minnesota Department of Education