Thanks to the Bob and Carol Henderson family, who provided an endowment in memory of their son, Britt, the VKC continues to host annual workshops for local and state educators. The Britt Henderson Training Series (BHTS) is funded by an endowment, founded in 1996, that allows attendees to participate at no cost.
The 2019-2020 workshops focused on distance training and tutoring in the area of reading. The VKC Reading Clinic trained two cohorts of educators through Project ECHO Reading, a distance learning model for educators serving students with reading challenges.
The Project ECHO model as a way to deliver instruction has been crucial throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s “all teach, all learn” approach set the stage for connecting educators and specialists in virtual learning communities. Participants collaborated with each other and the hub team at Vanderbilt to collectively identify solutions and resources. Its collaborative, case-based learning approach helps bridge the gap between research and practice in reading instruction, while connecting various disciplines.
In Winter 2022, the BHTS invited special educators from rural and urban school districts to learn how to incorporate the LifeCourse Trajectory Tool into their transition planning and assessments with students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Surveys and discussions with stakeholders found that special education students inconsistently participate in their own IEP meetings and transition planning discussions. The four-session workshops were developed to explore addressing this problem and helping teachers facilitate more active participation from students in their own transition planning, transition assessment, and post high school goal development.
“So many resources available that I was unaware of. Thank you for a great learning experience!” commented one of the participants.
Top photo by Adobe Stock