Special ed cooperative still innovative after 40 years
Special education teachers kicked off the start of the new school year Monday by celebrating a rare milestone: the 40th anniversary of the Northwest Suburban Special Education Organization.
Formed in 1968 as one of the first special education cooperatives in the state, its pooling of faculty and resources from eight Northwest suburban school districts continues to be a model.
"You are a beacon in the state," said Christopher Koch, Illinois superintendent of education. "When I look for better practices in IT, transition plans, assessment and responses to intervention, I look here."
Koch was a featured speaker at the celebration, which drew more than 400 faculty, staff and board members to fill the ballroom at the Sheraton Chicago Northwest in Arlington Heights, before school starts on Wednesday.
Included were teachers who marked their own milestones, including three who have taught for 30 years: Lynn Sommer and Marion Timmins of Kirk School in Palatine; and Cindy Marcinkowski from Miner School in Arlington Heights.
A Power Point presentation, took them through 40 years. Teachers reminisced about the years before computers and teacher salaries that just tipped $5,000; to today's classrooms that incorporate technology, especially in special education, where adaptive equipment helps students achieve.
"We simply do better when we embrace the changes of the times," Marcinkowski said. "It's all about progress."
Koch assured teachers that despite deep concern over the state budget and education funding, there was no better opportunity for reform than right now.
He described improvements being made at the state level in assessment procedures and ways to measure student learning. He discussed an improved data collecting system through which school officials track children's progress from preschool through college.
"As practitioners, we want you to have less mandates and less paperwork, allowing you to focus on students' learning," Koch said.
"Our sole purpose is looking at what students can do, as opposed to what they can't, and focusing on their disabilities."