Draft Summit Agenda: A draft agenda is available for download.
2009 PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT AND INFORMATION
ConferenceMissionand Purpose:
The Mission of the National Summit on Deaf Education is to promote and advance knowledge and leadership through professional and parent stakeholder partnerships that result in collaborative state education systems and improved outcomes for children and youth who are deaf or hard of hearing.
The National Summit on Deaf Education joins leaders in education and administration with parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing for the purpose of designing educational systems and services that will successfully launch every DHH student from birth to young adulthood to his/her highest academic and social potential.
State leadership teams will learn strategies about systems change as they are applied to accountability in deaf education. State leadership teams will develop action plans to apply the information gained in their respective states.
Expected Outcomes of theSummit:
Participants will connect with others across the country and will leave with ideas and information that they?ve learned from the facilitated discussions and interactions for improving their own state system.
States will have formed or strengthened their stakeholder teams that include parents, and state department of education, state school, and regional program leaders, individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, higher education representatives, and other critical players.
Participants will identify relevant data to be used for improvement planning and selection of improvement strategies/programs and practice applying data analysis tools that can be used by the full team upon return home.
Teams will assess their state?s progress in meeting the goals of the National Agenda.
Who Should Attend? The Summit is dedicated to creating an environment where vested parties work together. This unique conference provides the opportunity for planning within states, as well as shared-problem solving across states. To effectively plan, it is essential that key stakeholders are at the table including at a minimum representation from:
Parents (those with a non-parental professional role cannot be considered as the parent representative)
State Department of Education
State, or other, Special Schools and Programs for the Deaf
Additional team members to consider include representatives from higher education, early childhood deaf education, local programs, or others who have a vested interest and potential influence in improving educational outcomes for children and youth who are deaf or hard of hearing.
To best address the Summit goals it is recommended that state teams attend the Summit together. However, this year the state team registration requirement has been modified to accommodate states who cannot send team members on-site by adding a web-based conference option for participation off-site. It is possible to have some members of your team at a centralized location ?back home? while one or more of your team members attend in person. If no team member is able to travel, it is possible for the whole team to participate off-site. Due to the facilitated experiential activities that are built into the schedule to work on state data analysis, you will want to have your off-site team members at the same location. Team members who are on-site will have the opportunity to work with participants from other states to practice using data and to gain additional insight into issues and solutions that various states are experiencing. Individuals representing relevant national organizations or agencies are exempt from the team requirement.
Specific remote access instructions will be provided shortly before the conference. Off-site participants should meet in a conference room setting that has a high speed internet connection (required), speaker phone, and the ability to project the computer image on a large screen. Off-sites participants will be able to see the presenter through web-cam technology as well as be able to submit questions either by phone or web-conferencing.
Registration: For teams that register prior to April 15, 2009, the registration cost is $225 per person, except for parent leaders who as team members will have their registration fee waived. The off-site registration fee for teams is $700 regardless of the number or participants. If your team has participants both on-site and off-site both fees apply. Registration after April 15 is $250 of individual registrations and $725 for remote registration. To register, go to http://www.usu.edu/mprrc/dhhsummit/summitregistration.cfm. Your team may also qualify for an additional $500.00 stipend to support parent travel.
The parent participation stipendincentive is intended to provide parent travel support from theSummitfor up to $500 to promote and encourage parent participation. Start now to identify your parent leader, or if you are a parent interested in this opportunity?make yourself known to the state department of education and/or superintendent of the school for the deaf in your state. In every state there is a dependable parent who is committed to systemic improvement and is capable of representing the collective issues faced by parents and students from a parent?s point of view (please note that parent leaders should be there in the role of parent and not a professional in another capacity who also happens to be a parent of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing). The Parent Participation Stipend is available on a first-come, first-served basis to states that have exhausted all other means to cover the cost of bringing a parent leader to theSummit. To apply for a Parent Participation Stipend, go to www.ndepnow.org. Stipends are limited, so early registration is encouraged to obtain the full savings benefit that is available.
Payment: There is a registration fee which is to be paid either by check or purchase order (sorry, no credit cards) to the Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center. If you or your team registers before April 15, your registration fee is $225 per person (except for the parent leader registration fee which is waived). If you or your team registers after April 15, your registration fee is $250 per person. Please mail payment to the following address:
Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center
Attn: Kath Richman
1780 North Research Parkway, Suite 112
North Logan, UT 84341
Fax:
Confirmation: All team members registered will receive e-mail confirmation upon registration. A second e-mail confirmation will be sent in March to every registered participant.
Cancellation: All cancellations made prior to April 21, 2009 will receive a full refund. No refunds will be provided for cancellations made after April 21.
Hotel Accommodations: A block of rooms is being held at the Hilton Santa Fe Historic Plaza, at the rate of $179/night. To receive this special rate you must make your reservation by calling . Specify your participation with the State Leader's Summit to get the negotiated rate. If you have any problems while making reservations, contact Kath Richman at
or , ext. 26. Please note: If you plan to also attend the CEASD Conference, please let the hotel know. You will need to make reservations under two different room blocks.
Airport Ground Transportation: There are some flights directly into Santa Fe via Great Lakes Airline, but the best option is to fly into Albuquerque. It is about an hour drive from the Albuquerque airport to Santa Fe, if you choose to rent a car. In addition, shuttle service is available through:
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