One of the most challenging tasks for many early childhood providers is how to support families who are facing tough, difficult issues like death of a parent, PTSD, abuse, and neglect. Not only do these issues impact the family’s overall functioning and well being and the quality of parents’ interactions with their young children but they also affect the relationship between the family and the early childhood providers (e.g., missed appointments and adversarial interactions). Dr. Carol Trivette will cap her yearlong webinar series sharing resources and discussing evidence-based practices that providers can implement when they are working with military families in particular, who are facing difficult situations. Participants are encouraged to engage and share challenges, resources, and successes they have experienced working with families of young children with disabilities.

Come join the Military Families Learning Network Early Intervention team on Weds. March 30 from 12:30-1:30 ET for an interactive discussion related to the webinar held on Mar. 17. We want to hear your thoughts, opinions, and experiences related to the Key Points Carol Trivette, PhD shared during the webinar and how you've applied these points recently in your own practices. Were you not able to participate in the webinar on the 17th? No worries! We'd still love to hear from you! Come share your expertise and learn from others during this interactive forum.

Come join the Military Families Learning Network Early Intervention team on Wed., June 29, from 12:30-1:30 ET for an interactive discussion related to the webinar "Engaging Families to Focus on Intervention Strategies" held on June 23. We want to hear your thoughts, opinions, and experiences related to interactions you have had with families of young children with disabilities and how those interactions strengthen the family’s ability to support their child’s learning. Were you not able to participate in the webinar on the 23rd? No worries! We would still love to hear from you! And if you want, you can go to the archived webinar and listen to it before the Lunch & Learn. Come share your expertise and learn from others during this interactive forum.

Join the Military Families Learning Network Early Intervention team on Wednesday, December 14 from 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm ET for an interactive discussion related to the webinar Strategies to Support Families Experiencing Difficult Circumstances held on December 8. We want to hear your thoughts, opinions, and experiences related to interactions you have had with families of young children with disabilities and how those interactions strengthen the family’s ability to support their child’s learning. You can share with us verbally** or via the chat pod! (***login using a mic-enabled headset ten minutes before the session begins) Not able to attend the related webinar on December 8? No worries! We would still love to hear from you! And if you want, you can go to the archived webinar (posted by December 10) and listen to it before the Lunch & Learn. Come share your expertise and learn from others during this interactive forum. The cover image by StockSnap for this webinar is licensed CC0 Public Domain.

The Department of Special Education at West Virginia University offers an online graduate certification and/or degree program in six areas of specialization: (a) Autism Spectrum Disorders; (b) Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education; (c) Gifted Education; (d) Low Vision/Blindness; (e) Multicategorical Special Education; and (f) Severe/Multiple Disabilities. All courses in all program options are offered entirely online, using a combination of live online class sessions from 5-7 pm Eastern Time on alternate weeks plus multimedia content modules and other learning activities available on demand with scheduled due dates across the semester. Field and clinical experiences are arranged in the students’ home communities, with on-site supervision by local personnel and online supervision by university faculty. Students do not need to come to campus for any part of the program; they apply for admission, register, take courses, complete field and clinical experiences, seek advising, and apply for graduation online and can even participate in the graduation ceremony through a live webcast. Although this program was designed to serve prospective and practicing teachers throughout the state of West Virginia, it also enrolls students from many other states and several international locations.

Bullying is a serious problem on its own but emerging research suggests that bullying may present differently in students with disabilities and affect them more severely than previously thought. The purpose of this study was to explore the multi-layered issue of bullying involving students with disabilities, examine the programs and legislation developed around this issue, and determine the training and knowledge teachers and teacher candidates have regarding the problem. An exploratory survey was completed by 105 teachers and teacher candidates in northeast Tennessee. Descriptive statistics and T-tests revealed that in-service teachers were more knowledgeable in identification of bullying and the components of Tennessee’s anti-bullying law than pre-service teachers. Additionally, this study found that elementary teachers answered more general bullying knowledge questions correctly than upper grade teachers. The limited utilization of evidence-based bullying prevention and intervention programs and strategies was also noted. Implications for teacher training programs will be discussed.

Diploma thesis "Education of Roma children in the Czech Republic" deals with the issue of the status quo in education of Roma children. The aim is to analyze the situation in the education of Roma children in the Czech Republic and to compare it with other European countries and find examples of good practice. The educational situation of Roma pupils remains unsatisfactory, not only in the Czech Republic but also in other European countries. Roma pupils continue to be subject to exclusion in quality education resulting from variety of many interrelated factors including poor living conditions of parents, especially high unemployment, low education level and living in social exclusion. It is necessary to make systemic changes in order to increase the quality education chances of Roma children, because the Roma population belongs among the most socially vulnerable groups affected by a variety of risk factors that often result in cumulative disadvantages and often bring the Roma into the spiral of mechanisms leading to social exclusion.

The dissertation thesis deals with the shadow education phenomenon, which has yet not been explored in the Czech context. In the international literature, the term shadow education entails various forms and types of paid private supplementary tutoring. The dissertation provides a diagnostic-analytical inquiry on taking paid private tutoring lessons and preparatory courses for university entrance examinations by students of upper-secondary schools in programmes concluded with maturita examination in Prague and Moravian-Silesian Region. Its objectives are: 1) to describe the chosen types of private supplementary tutoring at upper secondary level of education concluded with maturita examination (scale, subjects, intensity, organisational forms, providers etc.), 2) to analyse the contextual factors underlying the demand for these types of private supplementary tutoring. The research employed multi-phase mixed-method research design with priority given to quantitative data. Three research methods were used: 1) quantitative content analysis of the internet mediated notice board for private tutoring lessons, 2) the quantitative questionnaire survey research of randomly chosen students studying in academic and technical track upper-secondary schools in Prague and Moravian-Silesian Region (n=1265), 3)...

The purpose of this narrative inquiry study is to explore the barriers and opportunities women in K-12 leadership face, particularly with how they navigate conflicts in their work-life balance and in what ways they have been afforded opportunities. Work-life balance will be generally defined as the reconciliation of the conflicting demands and obligations between a women’s professional requirements and her personal life. Opportunities will be defined as events that lead to a woman’s career advancements and accomplishments. The study was designed to identify perceived barriers and opportunities during both the ascension to and experience of holding a public K-12 educational leadership position in order to explore successful strategies and factors future female leaders might use to address career ascendency and leadership development challenges. For this study, a narrative research design was used to explore, examine, and understand the female K-12 public educational leaders’ personal reflections of events and experiences, and the meaning that was extracted from those experiences. Using a categorical content analysis, themes were inductively identified within the narrative. Although the public education workforce has historically been dominated by women, evidence remains that there is a disproportionate number of women in senior leadership positions. As suggested by the review of literature, it is necessary to investigate the journey of women’s leadership development to identify how to best develop future female leaders in public K-12 education.

With the changing laws and effective integration of assistive technology into the classroom environment, students can have the provision of multiple means to complete their work with greater independence. In post secondary education, any student who discloses a sensory, cognitive, or physical disability is eligible to request and receive assistive technology and other services. When used correctly, assistive technology can help students with reading, writing, math, and communication skills. With a possible influx of students, disability support staff must be prepared and willing to meet the needs and address issues relating to students with disabilities. If their needs are not met, this student population may be left to face accessibility challenges that will hinder their academic success. The goal was to make the college experience positive for all students by producing a resource guide for Disability Support Staff (DSS). This was accomplished by conducting an extensive literature review along with collecting data from DSS professionals from various community colleges within North Carolina. Analysis of the data resulted in recommendations on topics including, specific assistive technology solutions according to disability, training for students and faculty along with various outreach activities that can be used to increase awareness of services and accommodations provided by DSS.