Laurel Peltier, Ed.D. is a Curriculum and Instruction Specialist in Special Education at the Collaborative for Educational Services. Her work focuses on special education leaders and leadership, and particularly on facilitating the IEP team process with people inside of schools and in community settings who support kids who have disabilities.
We recently asked Laurel whether at this time, the role of special education team leader is more important than ever.
She responded, “Special education funding has been an issue for as long as I have been in the field of education, and while there is and has always been a need for the U.S. government to fully and equitably fund the federal mandates that are spelled out in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, the primary reason that excellent education team leaders are more important now than ever is not so much about the very real funding issues we face, but about our current culture around communication and collective action. In the past five years, for many reasons that go far beyond my understanding or expertise, we have become a nation where it’s OK to speak to people we rely on and people we serve in ways that are disrespectful, unkind, and, frankly, cruel. In the past five years, I have seen many more students with disabilities who are unable to leave their homes, unable to attend school regularly, unable to be in close proximity to other students than I did in the first 30 years of my career. In the past five years, people who are committed to students with disabilities–their parents, their teachers, their counselors and community agency partners–are approaching the IEP and 504 team process with levels of fear, distrust, conflict and anxiety that seem untenable to me and that undermine the ability of educational teams to bring all of the good talents and resources of each individual team member together in service of kids.
So when you ask “are excellent education team leaders more important than ever?” — the answer is absolutely yes, because these people are the ones who are charged with bringing teams together to partner–to brainstorm and imagine a positive, possible future–and to do the work of mapping out the pathway to that future together by listening to the students they serve and to one another. Without team leaders who are skillful and committed to building responsive teams, what we’re doing around the IEP or 504 team table becomes confusing and chaotic. No kids are served well by divided teams. Right now, communication, collaboration and unity are not easy. Someone needs to make a way for us to work together and bring our best to students with disabilities. That’s the job of the education team chair. That’s why team chairs are more important than ever.”
Laurel has developed tools for helping the people who chair IEP teams to understand that they are educational leaders, and that building these networks on behalf of each child they serve is important. When she provides professional development, she will often invite in folks from outside agencies to participate in panels. Says Laurel, “I love doing panels. For instance, I bring in parents to talk about what we wish you knew. And a lot of the panel process is not presentation, it’s conversation. So we train team leaders how to ask questions, and become more comfortable talking to people whose perspective about what an IEP is and what it’s supposed to accomplish and what the outcomes are that kids experience as the result of a team process that really works.”
“A great team is a team that doesn’t shy away from what seems impossible, but tries to think about all the many, many pathways by which this thing that is possible could happen and also is very clear, upfront, and transparent about the reality that publicly funded education is publicly funded education and what the constraints are by law and regulation. But that’s not to say it can’t happen for this kid. We just are going to have to be really creative and think about all the possible ways.”
You can hear more in our interview with Laurel on the CES Podcast, Brilliant Minds, Caring Hearts.
As an organization, the Collaborative for Educational Services (CES) has engaged directly with people who are at risk of being marginalized and who have historically been excluded from the opportunities that education affords. One of the many ways CES has made a commitment to serving people at risk of exclusion is by supporting education team leaders (professionals who lead IEP and 504 teams) to understand how to lead teams serving students with disabilities in a way that is collaborative and compliant with current regulations and guidance. Our work with education team leaders is to help them gain knowledge about current regulations, applicable court decisions, and guidance documents from educational authorities. We also encourage team leaders to facilitate decision-making in ways that include input from all team members. To do this, CES trains education team leaders in techniques including active listening, transparent documentation activities, responsive team collaboration practices, and data-informed approaches to making decisions together.
Laurel also coordinates an Annual Education Team Leader Seminar each spring. While only one part of all the work and professional development she leads for team leaders, it has become an anchor event each year, convening multiple speakers and panelists along with over 200 team leaders from across the state; and is coming up on April 30th this year. To learn more about the special education team leader work at CES, visit the CES website.
