Message from OSEP Director,
Ms. Valerie C. Williams

Dear friends,

May was a heartbreaking and grievous month with at least two mass shootings; one in Buffalo and one at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX. May was also National Mental Health Month which, according to the youth.gov website, “raises awareness of trauma and the impact it can have on the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of children, families, and communities.” This calls us to reflect on how violent and tragic shootings in communities and schools impact us — individually and collectively — and cause grief and trauma within the school community.

The Washington Post has calculated that 311,000 children have experienced gun violence at school, since the Columbine shooting in 1999. Some of the high school students who survived Columbine are now 40 years old, and some of the children who survived Sandy Hook are graduating from high school.  They are still suffering from the impact of the school shootings they witnessed and have reported being  retraumatized each time a new act of violence occurs. While the Department of the Education’s “School Emergency Response to Violence” grant funds short-term education-related services for school districts and institutions of higher education to help them recover from a violent or traumatic event in which the learning environment has been disrupted, it is not enough to support these 311,000 children and the life-long trauma they may endure. It is not enough to prevent these tragic events from continuing to harm — physically and emotionally — our children.

In addition to the thoughts and prayers offered by politicians, over the coming months there will be legislative proposals to prevent the needless killing and trauma caused by firearms. These proposals are a necessary step toward truly preventing gun violence in our nation’s schools. Importantly, they should include meaningful engagement and input from students, families, educators, and school officials.

As we all do our part to meet students’ whole-child needs and help ensure our students feel safe and secure in school buildings, please take a moment to look at and share a few of the resources ED has made available. These include resources related to trauma, disaster, and emergency preparedness, many of which are from the OSEP Funded Technical Assistance Centers & Other Federally Funded Organizations.

• Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (ECTA) Disaster Planning and Trauma Response
• National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI): Trauma
• The Center for Parent Information and Resources (CPIR): Trauma
• Comprehensive Center Network: Trauma Informed Practice
• National Child Traumatic Stress Network: Community Violence

I hope you’ll assist us in disseminating information as widely as possible, so we can ensure the well-being of our students.

In solidarity,

Valerie

Differentiated Monitoring and Support (DMS)

There will be no OSEP Technical Assistance (TA) Call on DMS during the months of June and July as our teams will be conducting Phase II monitoring with States.

To review other resources and documents related to our monitoring activities (e.g., DMS 2.0, DMS Reports, and older monitoring reports), please refer to the DMS section on our IDEA website.

The Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety is delighted to invite you to a keynote address with Heather McGhee on Thursday, June 9, 2022, 10:00–11:00 a.m. PT (1:00–2:00 p.m. ET). She is the author of the widely acclaimed book, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. The webinar will focus on the Zero-Sum Paradigm and the Solidarity Dividend learning concepts, illustrated by key stories of race and racism in America and delving into ways that participants, as state leaders, can work together through policy and funding to address structural racism. Click here to register.

The National Center on Accessible Educational Materials for Learning (AEM Center) has launched a new four-part video series, Accessible Learning Across the Lifespan. These multi-purpose videos apply to K-12, higher education, and workforce training. Use them for your own individual learning or in courses, training, and professional development. Designed to initiate both conversations and actions, these videos feature individuals who rely on and design for digital accessibility as they share their experiences and strategies. The video series will increase your understanding of how learners with disabilities use digital materials, and you’ll learn about the wide range of accessibility features that are built into the technology we use every day. And you’ll begin to understand the relationship between accessibility and Universal Design for Learning. Start broadening the conversation about accessible materials and technologies by watching the trailer on the AEM Center’s homepage.

In SY 2020-21, students with Emotional Disturbance (11.75%) were more likely to receive services in a separate school than all students with disabilities (2.64%). 

Most environments are not designed with deaf people in mind — assistive listening systems can help! In education settings, deaf students may choose personal hearing systems like hearing aids, cochlear implants or BAHAs as effective tools to support communication.

Understanding the range of systems available is important to effectively serve deaf people who use amplification devices on your campus. Selecting the most effective system is no easy task, and a number of factors should be taken into consideration. Disability Service Professionals need to know how to gather information from students to identify the best assistive listening systems for their individual needs.

The National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes (NDC) has a range of tools, resources and videos, to explore to increase your knowledge and support effective use of assistive listening systems in various educational settings.

The Institute for Education Science’s NCSER funds research designed to expand knowledge and understanding of learners with and at risk for disabilities, from infancy through postsecondary settings. We share an update below on findings related to special education.

• Understanding the Co-Development of Language and Behavior Disorders in the Context of an Early Career Grant spotlights Dr. Jason Chow with an interview on how his experiences shaped his early career in research on the co-occurrence of language and behavior disorders.
• Checking Up: School Transition Support for Students at Risk for Behavioral Problems and Their Families features an interview with Dr. Elizabeth Stormshak about her research on Family Check-Up, an intervention to address emotional and behavioral challenges during times of school transition for students with or at risk for disabilities.

 Visit the OSERS Blog

Visit our blog for powerful stories and useful information from parents, families, educators, and practitioners in the field. Be sure to bookmark sites.ed.gov/osers for future posts!