Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD)

The Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) Unit provides professional development for staff working with students with disabilities and assists Arizona schools with recruitment, preparation, and retention of highly qualified special education personnel.

Directors Institute

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DIRECTORS INSTITUTE

Please visit the Directors Institute page for more information.

Click here for information about the 2012 Directors Institute. The program at a glance and presentation materials will remain on this website until July 1, 2013.

Teacher Conference

Register Today

First Annual ADE Special Education Teacher Conference:
Common Core Connections and Collaborations

July 11 – 12, 2013

Please visit the Teacher Conference page for more information.

Principals Institute

This two-day regional training provides an opportunity to receive information on current legal issues that school administrators need to be aware of relating to special education that school administrators may encounter. Institute presenters will be Kacey Gregson, attorney and currently Director of Dispute Resolution for the Arizona Department of Education, and Shannon Chavez, Arizona Department of Education complaint investigator for the Exceptional Student Services unit. The presentation and session materials will provide school administrators with guidance on special education as a service along with the applicable special education law requirements that are vital to know in their role as school leaders.
Principal’s Institute Part I Power Point  New!
Special Education Handbook for Principals Part I
Principal’s Institute Part II 2012 Power Point “Procedural Safeguards Under the IDEA”
Special Education Handbook for Principals Part II Appendices:
Special Education Acronyms
Glossary of Special Education Terms
Disability Classifications in Arizona
Handbook Part II Appendix

Personnel Development

To enhance personnel development, CSPD provides varied training opportunities for educators/schools working with students with disabilities. Trainings include professional development models that achieve high results for implementation. School teams for our trainings must include the building administrator, a special education teacher, and a general education teacher. Other team members are selected based on the needs of the school or the specific training. CSPD designs their trainings to follow the National Staff Development Council Guidelines.

Recruitment

CSPD works to bring qualified applicants to Arizona. We sponsor the Arizona Education Employment Board (AEEB) a website that brings districts/charters and applicants together. It lists the positions available statewide. Weekly updates are sent to everyone who registers on the site. We sponsor the annual Great Arizona Teach-In, a job fair for all districts/charters in Arizona. Our marketing brings over a thousand applicants from around the country. We are involved in numerous ongoing recruitment efforts and designs for increasing the number of qualified candidates to fit the needs of Arizona.

State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG)

The State Personnel Development Grant is a federal grant awarded to Arizona to accomplish two goals:
Goal 1:  To recruit, prepare, and retain sufficient numbers of ethnically diverse, fully-certified special education teachers and SLPs (including those individuals who are Hispanic, Native American, African American, of another minority, or who have a disability) to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population of students with disabilities.

Goal 2: Students with disabilities or at-risk for having a disability within participating schools will receive scientifically-based research reading and math strategies to attain significant reading and math gains over baseline levels. Referrals to special education will be reduced and accuracy of appropriate identification of students for special education services will improve.