Professional Development Topics

Writing High-Quality, Compliant IEPs

Build an effective IEP from present levels through goals, services, accommodations, progress monitoring, and placement considerations.

Present Levels That Drive the IEP

Write data-based present levels that clearly describe strengths, needs, disability impact, baseline performance, and priority educational needs.

Writing Measurable Annual IEP Goals

Develop measurable goals with clear conditions, skills/behaviors, criteria, baseline alignment, and progress-monitoring methods.

Specially Designed Instruction: From Need to Service

Distinguish SDI from accommodations, interventions, and general instruction; align SDI directly to identified student needs and goals.

IEP Alignment: Connecting MET, Present Levels, Goals & Services

Create a defensible line of alignment from evaluation data and eligibility through needs, goals, services, accommodations, and placement.

Accommodations vs. Modifications

Select, document, and implement appropriate accommodations and modifications while maintaining clarity about their different purposes.

Progress Monitoring That Actually Informs the IEP

Choose appropriate data sources, collect meaningful progress data, report progress, and use results to guide instructional and IEP decisions.

IEP Quality Self-Auditing

Use a structured pre-meeting and post-meeting review process to identify missing components, weak alignment, and compliance risks.

Arizona Special Education Timelines

Understand key Arizona and IDEA timelines for evaluation, reevaluation, IEPs, parent requests, transfers, discipline, complaints, and records.

Arizona IEP Compliance Essentials

Review common Arizona IEP compliance expectations and practical strategies for stronger documentation and implementation.

Arizona Evaluation & MET Compliance

Review evaluation timelines, review of existing data, comprehensive evaluation considerations, MET documentation, eligibility, and IEP handoff.

Prior Written Notice: Documenting Decisions Clearly

Write PWN that clearly documents proposals/refusals, rationale, data considered, alternatives, and other relevant factors.

Procedural Safeguards & Parent Participation

Strengthen practices related to notice, informed consent, meaningful parent participation, meeting access, and procedural documentation.

Special Education Compliance for Administrators

Administrator-focused overview of high-risk compliance areas, oversight responsibilities, timelines, implementation, documentation, and monitoring.

Preparing for an Arizona Special Education File Audit

Learn how to conduct internal file reviews, identify patterns, prioritize corrections, and build sustainable quality-control systems.

From Referral to Eligibility: The Evaluation Process

Walk through referral, consent, evaluation planning, assessment, multidisciplinary review, eligibility, and next steps.

Comprehensive Evaluations: Assessing All Suspected Areas

Strengthen evaluation planning so teams address all suspected areas and use multiple relevant sources of information.

Reevaluation: More Than a Three-Year Requirement

Use reevaluation to answer meaningful educational questions, determine continued eligibility, and update educational needs.

MET-to-IEP Alignment

Ensure evaluation findings and identified needs are accurately carried into the student's IEP.

Eligibility Decisions & Educational Impact

Improve team documentation and discussion of disability criteria, adverse educational impact, need for special education, and data-based decisions.

Writing Meaningful Secondary Transition Plans

Use transition assessment data to create measurable postsecondary goals, transition services, course of study, and aligned annual goals.

Age-Appropriate Transition Assessments

Select and use formal and informal transition assessments to identify strengths, preferences, interests, and needs.

From High School to Employment, Education & Independent Living

Translate student goals into actionable transition activities, agency connections, coursework, work-based learning, and skill development.

Student-Led IEPs & Self-Advocacy

Build student participation, self-determination, disability awareness, goal ownership, and preparation for adult systems.

Transition Compliance Audit

Identify common transition compliance gaps and use a practical checklist to strengthen secondary IEPs.

IDEA Discipline Requirements for Students with Disabilities

Understand removals, change of placement, services during removals, procedural safeguards, and discipline documentation.

Manifestation Determination Reviews: A Team-Based Process

Prepare for and conduct MDRs using relevant data, disability information, IEP implementation evidence, and clear documentation.

Behavior Needs in the IEP

Connect behavior data and functional needs to present levels, goals, supports, services, and progress monitoring.

Functional Behavior Assessment & BIP Alignment

Strengthen the connection among FBA findings, behavior hypotheses, intervention strategies, IEP supports, and data collection.

Special Education Basics for General Education Teachers

Understand IEP responsibilities, accommodations, modifications, SDI collaboration, progress data, confidentiality, and implementation.

Making Accommodations Work in the General Education Classroom

Move from accommodation lists to consistent, practical implementation across classes and staff.

Co-Teaching That Supports Students With Disabilities

Use purposeful co-teaching models, shared planning, roles, differentiation, and data to improve access and instruction.

Differentiation vs. Specially Designed Instruction

Clarify how differentiation, intervention, accommodations, and SDI differ and how they work together.

Building Executive Function & Organization Supports

Teach and monitor organization, task initiation, planning, time management, self-monitoring, and assignment completion skills.

Special Education Case Management 101

Build systems for timelines, meetings, data, communication, IEP implementation, progress reports, records, and follow-through.

Documentation That Protects Students and Schools

Improve objective documentation of communication, decisions, implementation, progress, concerns, and follow-up.

Running Effective IEP Meetings

Plan and facilitate efficient, collaborative meetings while maintaining meaningful participation and clear team decision-making.

Managing a Compliant Special Education Caseload

Use calendars, trackers, checklists, file-review routines, and workflow systems to prevent missed deadlines and incomplete documentation.

Progress Reports: From Data to Meaningful Parent Communication

Write progress reports that clearly connect data to IEP goals, progress expectations, and instructional decisions.

Building a District Special Education Compliance System

Develop repeatable systems for timelines, file reviews, quality assurance, staff accountability, data monitoring, and corrective action.

Special Education Leadership for Principals

Build administrator confidence in IEP implementation, meetings, staffing, discipline, parent concerns, compliance monitoring, and instructional leadership.

Using IEP Audit Data for Continuous Improvement

Turn file-audit findings into trends, targeted professional learning, corrective action, coaching, and measurable system improvement.

New Special Education Teacher Induction Series

Structured onboarding covering IEPs, goals, SDI, progress monitoring, case management, meetings, timelines, documentation, and collaboration.

Special Education Coordinator / Director Boot Camp

Practical leadership training on compliance systems, staff support, difficult cases, quality assurance, professional learning, and program improvement.

Creating a Culture of Compliance and Quality

Move beyond checklist compliance by establishing shared expectations, coaching, monitoring, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Meaningful Parent Participation in the IEP Process

Improve communication, preparation, meeting practices, follow-up, and documentation that support meaningful family participation.

Difficult IEP Meetings: Prevention, Facilitation & De-Escalation

Use preparation, neutral facilitation, clear communication, issue identification, and documentation to navigate challenging meetings.

Building Strong General Education–Special Education Partnerships

Clarify roles, improve collaboration, share data, coordinate supports, and create consistent implementation across settings.

Student Voice in Special Education

Increase meaningful student participation in goal setting, IEP meetings, self-advocacy, and transition planning.

Trauma Informed PBIS

Explores how trauma-informed practices can be integrated within a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework.

Getting Started with PBIS

PBIS implementation frameworks and strategies.

PBIS for Students with Disabilities

How PBIS can be effectively implemented while addressing the individualized behavioral, instructional, and accessibility needs of students with disabilities.

Using Data to Strengthen PBIS

Effective PBIS relies on more than discipline reports. How to use behavioral data to identify patterns, evaluate interventions, and make informed decisions.

Rebooting PBIS: When Your PBIS System Has Lost Momentum

What to do about inconsistent implementation, declining staff participation, ineffective rewards systems, and increasing behavioral concerns.

PLC Foundations: From Meetings to Meaningful Collaboration

Helps educators transform PLC meetings from routine conversations into focused, results-driven collaboration.

Using PLCs to Improve Outcomes for Students with Disabilities

Focuses on making students with disabilities an intentional part of PLC conversations.

Inclusive PLCs: Strengthening General and Special Education Collaboration

How to create PLC structures in which general and special education educators share responsibility for student success.

PLCs and the IEP: Connecting Collaboration to Student Goals

How PLC conversations can support — not replace — the IEP process.

Building High-Functioning PLC Teams

Focuses on the systems and interpersonal practices that allow PLCs to function effectively.