The Special Education Team Leader Institute (SETLI) Model
Our Approach
We know that equipping team leaders with the knowledge, confidence, and perspective to create positive systems change on behalf of students can leapfrog significant improvements in delivering special education services and build future leadership capacity.
The Special CES Education Team Leader Institute model is in its 9th year in 2024-25, and across the two states over 490 professionals have successfully been trained and coached to date. This year-long, rich experience build competencies in facilitation, mediation, understanding the law and compliance, and collaborative problem solving, to increase the effectiveness of participants in this role.
CES is available to bring the Institute model to your state or district. State departments of education may wish to discuss a statewide approach to leadership development, or districts can customize this learning for their own district teams.
To inquire about bringing the program to your state or district, please email aburke@collaborative.org.
A Proven Model
The SETLI model, delivered to cohorts of educators in Massachusetts since 2016, grew out of the Collaborative for Educational Services consulting and coaching for special education teams throughout the state. The institute’s mission, in partnership with and supported by the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE)’s Office of Special Education Policy and Planning, is to equip special educational team leaders with tools to foster family and community engagement and improve student outcomes by facilitating team meetings that are collaborative and compliant with regulations and best practices in the field. That work was adopted and expanded to the state of Connecticut in 2019 with the Planning and Placement Team Leader Institute (PPTLI). Of particular interest to Connecticut was the way educators were engaged in interactive learning, collaboration, and the development of a job-alike community of practice across the state.
The SETLI Model
The Course
The Institute model provides a year of learning and technical assistance that fosters participant’s ability to lead Individualized Education Plan (IEP) teams in the development of educational plans that reflect the individual needs of students. From the value and process of involving families as a key part of the team to employing data in the work of process improvement overall and with each student, participants will learn to facilitate team meetings; foster good faith relationships and collaboration; develop data collection and analysis systems to monitor student outcomes; and develop support networks to foster the implementation of best practices in the education of students with special needs. The Institute model offers face-to-face sessions and online learning, a variety of assignments, coaching, and communities of practice, ending with a capstone project, where participants partner with district leaders to identify and implement a project that addresses a needed change in practice to improve compliance and collaboration. In each case, applicants work with their district leadership, in particular their Special Education Director, to file their initial application to the Institute.
Building the Community
The value goes beyond the initial year of involvement. CES consultants send out a monthly IEP Team Leader Update to a large and growing community of IEP team leaders. The updates contain monthly guidance and perspective about leading these meetings. It is part of the ongoing work to create a network of successful professionals in this critically important role in special education across the states receiving training. SETLI members and alumnae of the Institute are also often members of ongoing Communities of Practice that are outgrowths of the SETLI experience; meeting regularly throughout the school year. The community is a foundational part of the learning.
Special Education Consulting Team
Laurel Peltier
Laurel Peltier holds an Ed.D. in Special Education Leadership and C.A.G.S. in Special Education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as well as a professional license as a Special Education Administrator in Massachusetts. She has over 25 years of experience in transition assessment, planning and service delivery, and has provided leadership for transition in public schools and at the college level. Laurel is a co-author of Responsive Collaboration for IEP and 504 Teams (CORWIN, May 2022) to support all stakeholders at the IEP or 504 table – educators, related service providers, parents/caregivers, and students – with tools and strategies to experience more satisfying collaboration. She is also the designer and leader of the Special Education Team Leader Institute.
Prior to joining the team at CES, Laurel developed and led public and private secondary school programs for students with disabilities, taught undergraduate and graduate courses in special education and writing, and acted as a consultant and professional development provider for more than 20 school districts in Massachusetts. Her most recent post was with the Amherst Pelham Regional High School. In addition to her professional experience, Laurel brings experience as the parent of a child with autism and intellectual disabilities.
Position: Curriculum and Instructional Specialist in Special Education
Email: lpeltier@collaborative.org
Mary Geiring
Mary A. Geiring is a CES Special Education Co – Teaching and Inclusion Specialist in the Professional Development Department. She holds a Special Education Ph.D. from the University of New Orleans in 2018, a Masters of Science in Special Education from Southern Connecticut State University, and a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Sacred Heart University. She is a member of the American Education Research Association, the National Association for Special Educators, the National Association for Multicultural Education, and the Council for Exceptional Children. Her major areas of research include teacher collaboration, teacher preparation, responsive classroom, teacher induction, and inclusion practices. Prior to joining CES, Mary was an LEA Facilitator at Muscogee County Schools in Columbus, GA. Her previous experience includes Program Director of the Special Education and Habilitative Services Department at the University of New Orleans, and over nine years of experience as a special education instructor in school settings.
Position: Curriculum and Instructional Specialist
Email: mgeiring@collaborative.org