AABS Virtual Conference
Enhancing District Capacity and Outcomes--Connecting School Leaders and Behavior Analysts
Held on January 26, 2024
CEUs:
BCBA's - $30 for 3.5 CEUs, including 1 Ethics CEU
Conference Topics and Speakers:
"Creating Inclusive Multi-Tiered Behavior Support Systems in Public School Settings: Moving the Needle From Reactive to Proactive Practice," with featured speakers: Shelby Roberts, BCBA, and Kelly Miller, LCSW, BCBA
"The Impact of ABA in Turn-Around School Leadership," with featured speaker: Dr. Michelle Baker
"The Intersection of Ethics and Legal Considerations of ABA on Schools," with featured speakers: Dr. John Molteni, BCBA-D, and Michelle Laubin, Esq.
Audiences: School Leaders and BCBAs
In Partnership with:
The SCSU Department of Applied Behavior Analysis
The SCSU Center of Excellence for Teaching and Learning
Questions? Email: AABS@southernct.edu
From Workshop to Classroom - A Holocaust and Genocide Professional Development Day
Tuesday, November 7, 2023
SCSU Adanti Student Center - Theater
This FREE in-person seminar will discuss the Holocaust, the Bosnian Genocide, the Armenian Genocide, and the relationship between Nazi Germany and Jim Crow U.S. Refreshments will be provided.
In partnership with: The Holocaust Education Resource and Outreach Center, Voices of Hope, Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, Yale Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale MacMillan Center Genocide Studies Program, Southern Connecticut State University Center of Excellence For Teaching and Learning, and Connecticut State Department of Education
Questions? Contact: herocenter@ctvoicesofhope.org
Near-Peer Tech Time: Tech for Assessment
Thursday, November 2, 2023
10am-12pm
In-person or Online (Bring your device!)
Interested in exploring technology for learner assessment? Come to have dedicated exploration time!
Near Peer Tech time is designed to provide faculty time to explore with technology to embed or create activities within their courses. Individuals who are familiar with the tools will be available to assist.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Lauren Tucker, Ed.D.
Associate Professor
Area Coordinator, SCSU Graduate Program in Assistive Technology and Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
Email: tuckerl7@southernct.edu
Reading League of Connecticut Book Event:
7 Mighty Moves: Research-Backed, Classroom-Tested Strategies to Ensure K-to-3 Reading Success, by Lindsay Kemeny
September 2023
Barack Obama Magnet University School, New Haven
Lindsay presented an overview of her book, followed by a panel discussion with Connecticut teachers about ways each has transformed their practices based on embracing the Science of Reading. Time was provided for Q&A, networking among the attendees, and book signing by Lindsay. Presented by The Reading League of Connecticut, in collaboration with the SCSU Center of Excellence for Teaching and Learning and the Barack Obama Magnet University School.
College and Career Readiness Summer Institute
Now an annual program, the 2023 Institute was held on August 1, with more than 70 high school students attending from around the state! Look for us again in the summer of 2024!
Under the CTL, the College and Career Readiness Summer Institute works to close achievement gaps by instilling students with a growth mindset and the skills to succeed.
In the summer of 2021, Olcay Yavuz, associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies, and Kelvin Rutledge, associate vice president for institutional inclusive strategies and change management, collaborated with Connecticut high school counselors and Connecticut school leaders to conduct the first College and Career Readiness Summer Institute.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Olcay Yavuz
Associate Professor/ Internship Coordinator
SCSU, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
Email: yavuzo1@southernct.edu
Administrator–School Counselor Collaboration: The Key to Comprehensive School Counseling Programs
SOLD OUT - REGISTRATION CLOSED
Thursday, 3 August 2023
10:00am – 3:00pm
Ballroom, Adanti Student Center, Southern Connecticut State University
Guided by the essential question: How can we make our school counseling program genuinely comprehensive?, the aim of this event is to afford school-based teams of administrators (principals/assistant principals) and school counselors a much-needed opportunity – in the presence of/with support from knowledgeable peers – to:
- Unpack and become (re-)acquainted with the Connecticut Comprehensive School Counseling Framework
- Assess their school’s implementation of – or preparedness to implement – the CCSCF
- Design/refine their schools’ plans to implement the CCSCF
What is a "team?":
A “team” consists of at least one School Counselor and one School Leader, and we welcome larger teams. Register here by clicking the online form or pointing your camera at the QR code. Only one registration must be completed per team, with that registration providing all the contact information for individual team members.
Thank you to our sponsors and partners for their support, and for providing lunch for the event:
Connecticut ASCD
Connecticut School Counselor Association Connecticut
State Department of Education
SCSU Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies
SCSU Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
For details and agenda: View Flyer
New Haven Public Schools Summer Academy
From June 20-30, 2023, the Southern Connecticut State University Center of Excellence for Teaching and Learning (SCSU CTL) collaborated with New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) to introduce high school students to the many possibilities that exist in the education profession.
Nine days of workshops were designed to align with the theme of "Innovative Approaches to Inspiring and Preparing Future Educators.” Conducted by faculty from SCSU and Yale University, these workshops were highly engaging, hands-on learning experiences that were broadly applicable and not limited to those with an expressed interest in becoming teachers. We also welcomed students who were interested in leadership and other professions that center innovative ways of gaining and imparting knowledge.
Overall Goal: The Summer Academy aimed to support NHPS students in exploring various disciplines, providing clear pathways for potential teacher training candidates and other professional roles that require the transferable and high-demand skills of educators. Through the use of engaging activities related to education, the Academy explored thinking and learning as well as creativity and play. Students also had the opportunity to experience SCSU's campus as a possible future college choice.
Thank you to our NHPS partners, and to all of the faculty and staff who made this program a success!
International Youth Leadership Academy
Designed as a social justice project in education, the Southern Connecticut State University International Youth Leadership Academy (IYLA) was developed to support immigrant, refugee, and international student success, including academic, social-emotional, college, and career readiness needs.
Since 2020, the IYLA has provided international students and their families with support, resources, strategies, knowledge, skills, a network, and a safe nurturing environment where all students with international background can succeed.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Olcay Yavuz
Founding Director of The International Youth Leadership Academy
SCSU, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
Email: yavuzo1@southernct.edu
Phone: (203) 392-5442
Interdisciplinary Collaboration Institute
African American/Black & Puerto Rican/Latino Course of Study
Pilot program scheduled for: October 25, 2023
Offered by the SCSU Center of Excellence for Teaching and Learning, this institute is facilitated by faculty in the College of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences, and in partnership with the State Education Resource Center (SERC) at SCSU.
The institute will bring together teachers from multiple schools and/or disciplines in a way that facilitates standards-based and collaborative lesson development as they implement the African American/Black/Puerto Rican/Latino Course of Study.
The program will provide students with greater opportunities to understand the scope of African American, Black, Puerto Rican, and Latino contributions to United States history, society, economy, and culture, so that teachers can better support each other and their students, while demonstrating cross-curricular connections and developing innovative instructional approaches along with additional opportunities for differentiated assessment.
For more information, contact:
Regine Randall
Associate Professor
Curriculum and Learning
randallr1@southernct.edu
SCSU 2023 Literacy Conference
Half-day program for K-12 educators
Held in May 2023
In-person program at the Barack H. Obama Magnet University School
Keynote: "We're All Screen-Agers: How Literacy Shapes K-12 Teaching, Learning, and Citizenship in Digital and Online Spaces," presented by Jeffrey Wilhelm, Distinguished Professor of Boise State University and Director of the Boise State Writing Project.
In addition to the keynote, the conference offered a selection of workshops:
- Logging into the VPN of Our Children’s Vocabularies: Programming Word Consciousness
- Pushing Past the Single Story: Looking Closely at the Literature in Our Students’ Lives
- It’s Not Fast Food: Serving Up a Gourmet Interactive Read-Aloud with a Dash of Technology
- Why It Takes a Village: Fostering Positive and Powerful Family Literacy Partnerships
- Ignite Learning and Boost Comprehension by Building Background Knowledge
Sponsored by the SCSU Graduate Reading Program, Department of Curriculum and Learning, College of Education, and the SCSU Center of Excellence for Teaching and Learning.
Social Engagement Program for Autistic Youth
Social Engagement Program for Autistic Youth between Berlin Public Schools, Meriden Public Schools, Meriden YMCA, and Southern Connecticut State University
Offered as a pilot program, this project was a multi-agency effort involving the collaboration of two public school districts: Berlin Public Schools and Meriden Public Schools, two Centers of Excellence at Southern Connecticut State University: the Center of Excellence for Teaching and Learning (CECTL) and the Center of Excellence on Autism Spectrum Disorders (CEASD), and the Meriden YMCA.
To create the first cohort, a group of middle- and high-school-aged students with autism spectrum disorder were identified by the districts and invited to participate in this 8-session program, which met at the Meriden YMCA twice weekly for four weeks. Concurrently, a parent/caregiver parallel support program was offered while the youth were engaged in a variety of social and recreational activities.
Prior to the initiation of the youth program, a two-part training was delivered to YMCA staff, designed to increase the knowledge and skill of YMCA employees in employing successful strategies to benefit individuals with autism.
This training was designed specifically for this purpose and delivered by staff from the SCSU Centers of Excellence (CECTL & CEASD). Materials and tools were distributed to trainees for use within their programming.
Overall, data suggest that this experience had a positive impact on the student participants’ desire to engage in similar programming in the future, parents’/caregivers’ confidence in the ability of YMCA staff to support their children in similar programming, and the ability of the YMCA staff to effectively engage and support youth with ASD.
For more information about autism-related programs and resources, visit the Center of Excellence for Autism Spectrum Disorders: https://www.southernct.edu/asd-center
Contact:
Kari Sassu
Director of the Center of Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Sassuk1@southernct.edu
Routine Traffic Stop Practice for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder
For everyone, a traffic stop can create some anxiety. For an individual with autism, it may have an even greater impact. This program is designed to alleviate some of the stress associated with a traffic stop by providing an opportunity for drivers and officers to interact in a safe, predictable manner.
Police officers perform practice routine traffic stops with drivers with autism. These traffic stops will allow participants to engage with an officer and experience a routine traffic stop in a controlled setting. It is expected that this experience will familiarize participants with the typical steps of a traffic stop and prepare them for the experience elsewhere. Participants will learn how to effectively utilize the Blue Envelope when stopped by a police officer.
Blue Envelopes will be available for drivers should they choose to use them. The Blue Envelope is a Connecticut DMV resource that provides a blue-colored envelope with written instructions to assist a motorist with autism spectrum disorder navigate a traffic stop. The envelope also alerts police officers that the individual has autism so that enhanced communication can be reached between the two. You can read more at the DMV Website here.
For more information, visit the Center of Excellence for Autism Spectrum Disorders
Or Contact:
Kari Sassu
Director of the Center of Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Sassuk1@southernct.edu