2026 ESSU Fall Directors Meeting

Registration check-in tables will be located in the main hallway.

This session explores how a Colorado school district is addressing adolescent literacy gaps through an innovative model of credit-bearing structured literacy courses for middle and high school students. Presenters will outline the program's development, including teacher training, student placement processes, and implementation strategies. Buidling on a similar session presented at last year's conference, this updated sesssion shares a full year of implementation data, emerging student outcomes, and key lessons learned throughout the rollout. Participants will gain a practical framework for designing and implementing comparable initiatives in their own schools or districts, with the goal of empowering striving readers with the skills necessary for academic success.

This session will highlight common questions, areas of need, and recurring concerns Colorado teams are experiencing related to special education evaluations, eligibility determination, and educational impact. Participants will explore practical strategies for strengthening multidisciplinary evaluation practices, improving evaluation consistency across teams, and supporting legally defensible decision-making aligned with IDEA and ECEA requirements. The session will also focus on leadership considerations for building systems that support high-quality evaluation practices across schools and districts.

Learn practical leadership strategies for building an implementable continuum of social, emotional, and behavioral supports. This session explores role clarity, protected staff capacity, coaching, data-based decision making, and system barriers that impact implementation. Participants will leave with strategies for strengthening and sustaining supports across schools and districts.

This session will provide updated guidelines for participation and instruction on the Extended Evidence Outcomes (EEO), the COAlt, and the WIDA Alternate Access assessment. It will also highlight resources and strategies to support students with the most significant cognitive disabilities through standards-based instruction and meaningful participation in assessment. We will also introduce DLM's Instructionally Embedded Assessment, which can be used for the READ Act.

The first year of high school sets the foundation for students' future success. Students who are engaged, connected, and supported during ninth grade are more likely to earn credits, remain on track for graduation, and achieve positive postsecondary outcomes. For students with disabilities, intentional systems of support during the first year of high school can make a significant difference in both academic achievement and long-term success.
This session will explore systemwide practices that schools can implement to strengthen support during the first year of high school. Participants will examine considerations for course scheduling, student support services, relationship-building, family engagement, progress monitoring, and cross-functional collaboration that help students successfully navigate the transition into high school. The session will also highlight strategies for identifying and responding to early indicators of disengagement before students fall off track. Participants will leave with a customizable Ninth-Grade Success Planning Checklist that school and district teams can use to evaluate current practices and strengthen supports that promote student engagement, persistence, and graduation.

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a comprehensive special education evaluation is used to determine eligibility for special education and the child’s educational needs. To produce reliable and accurate information on what a Multilingual Learner (ML) knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally, assessments and other evaluation materials must be provided and administered in the child’s native language or other mode of communication, unless clearly not feasible (34 C.F.R. § 300.304(c)(1)(ii)). Administrative Units must also ensure that assessments and other evaluation materials are selected and administered so that they are not discriminatory on a racial or cultural basis. (34 C.F.R. § 300.304(c)(1)(i)). Evaluations that fail to account for a child’s linguistic and cultural background risk producing evaluation data that are inaccurate and unreliable for determining eligibility and educational need. (34 C.F.R. §§ 300.304-300.305). For Non-English Proficient (NEP) and Limited English Proficient (LEP) MLs, the multidisciplinary team should always engage in a data-based discussion regarding which areas of assessment should be conducted in the child’s native language or bilingually.

High quality assistive technology (AT) services support preschool participation, assessment performance, retention, and graduation. This session highlights the role of comprehensive AT service delivery, which includes assessment, training, implementation, and follow up and introduces resources from the StateWide Assistive Technology Augmentative and Alternative Communication (SWAAAC) Program. Participants will learn how AT supports equitable curriculum access and effective Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) and how SWAAAC supports educators in providing quality AT services.

From Access to Instruction: Adaptations and Specially Designed Instruction outlines the critical points for distinguishing the differences and connections between accommodations and modifications, and the components of effective specially designed instruction (SDI). Participants will examine how supports impact access, participation, and learning for students with disabilities while strengthening their understanding of IDEA and ECEA requirements. We will share some updated CDE resources. The session is designed to help educators make informed, student-centered decisions and align supports to individualized student needs and educational outcomes.

This session is for administrative unit leadership to understand the evolving landscape of Adapted Physical Education (APE). APE in Colorado and nationwide continues to meet the needs of students with diverse abilities through innovative practices and expanded programming. Updated information will be provided on licensure pathways and university programs.