Facilitated Course Catalog

This course enables educators to develop, increase and demonstrate knowledge and skills in identifying the purposes, legal and ethical principles, appropriate formal and informal instruments, and alternate strategies for the assessment and evaluation of students with disabilities. Course emphasis includes interpretation and application of assessment results.

This course has been designed to assist educators in identifying the components of effective transition planning and the essential elements that must be in place for an individual with disabilities to successfully transition from school to work or continued education and adult living. Participants will learn how to identify resources to assist students with post-secondary success that is centered around their strengths, preferences, and interests. Participants will gain an understanding of the timeline and legislative changes that have resulted in a positive impact on individuals with disabilities related to transition services. The content and activities in this course will prepare participants to implement best practices to prepare students for transition to post-secondary education, work, and adult living.

This course enables educators to develop, increase and demonstrate knowledge about using the guidelines for differentiation and strategies that support differentiation to improve instruction for all students, especially students with persistent or significant reading difficulties. Emphasis is on the instructional design principles and teacher delivery methods that can be applied at appropriate levels of intensity and duration to increase the explicitness and intensity of language arts instruction in order to achieve optimal results for students who are challenged by learning to read or reading to learn. Conspicuous strategies, strategically integrated skills, and judicious review, delivered with appropriate pacing and precise monitoring, are all part of carefully scaffolded instruction to ensure that each learner is able to comprehend increasingly complex text. This course aligns with current Florida reading initiatives and awards credit for competency four of the Florida Reading Endorsement.

This course enables educators to develop, increase and demonstrate knowledge and skills about students with disabilities as related to state and federal legislation and case law. The course provides information about appropriate legal and ethical practices and different disability categories. The course content includes information on how to create a successful learning environment, the components and team members of the individualized education process and using models of support for students with disabilities to ensure success with the general education curriculum.

This course enables educators to develop, increase, and demonstrate knowledge to select instructional practices to meet individual learner needs. Participants will learn about analyzing educational activities to effectively develop and implement accommodations that allow students with disabilities to participate in a meaningful general curriculum. Course content includes instructional interventions and tools, as well as communication, consultation, and collaboration with other stakeholders.

This course provides information on how to assess, design, and implement and monitor positive behavior supports. It enables educators to develop, increase and demonstrate knowledge of the components within the positive behavior support process and provides intensive supports to teachers to help them address the needs of students with more challenging behaviors.

The Exploring Structured Literacy course was designed in response to the 2021 updates to section 1012.585(3)(f), Florida Statutes (F.S.) requiring an applicant for renewal of a professional certificate in any area of certification identified by State Board of Education rule that includes reading instruction or intervention for any students in kindergarten through grade 6, with a beginning validity date of July 1, 2020, or thereafter, must earn a minimum of 2 college credits or the equivalent in-service points in evidence-based instruction and interventions grounded in the science of reading specifically designed for students with characteristics of dyslexia, including the use of explicit, systematic, and sequential approaches to reading instruction, developing phonological and phonemic awareness, decoding, and implementing multisensory intervention strategies.

This course enables educators to develop, increase and demonstrate knowledge about how to apply the guidelines of differentiating instruction to mathematics instruction. Emphasis is on evidence-based practices structured by a responsive decision-making framework in order for all students to achieve at the highest possible level. Content includes how to use pre-assessment, continuous assessment, and summative assessments to design and deliver effective lessons for initial instruction in mathematics and how to effectively use flexible small group instruction to respond to individual learner needs.

This course enables educators to develop, increase and demonstrate knowledge about applying the guidelines of differentiation to science instruction for the purposes of increasing student achievement for all learners. Content and activities emphasize how to use pre-assessment, continuous assessment, and summative assessments to design and deliver effective science lessons for whole group initial instruction and how to effectively use flexible small group instruction and individualized instruction, when needed, to respond to each student's needs.

Participants will learn and apply each step of the formative assessment process to increase student achievement. Participants will develop skills for using data-based decision making to be responsive to each student’s needs.

This course enables educators to develop, increase and demonstrate knowledge about assistive technology devices and services and the process of helping students with disabilities select, obtain, and use assistive technology. Content includes information about the impact of identified areas of disability including vision, auditory, physical, communication, intellectual, and cognitive processing, and how assistive technology devices and services provide support.

This course enables educators to develop, increase and demonstrate knowledge about proactively providing a universally designed and differentiated environment in order to maximize student achievement for all students. Emphasis is on the importance of having clarity about the learning targets and proactively adjusting instruction utilizing a data-based decision making process that considers students' readiness for the content, interests, and learning preferences. Content and activities emphasize how to proactively provide important, engaging, and appropriately challenging work via flexible grouping methods and utilizing a variety of instructional strategies and supports.

This course has been designed to assist in identifying the components and frameworks of Universal Design for Learning, instructional technology, accessible instructional and educational materials, and assistive technology. The course will address these frameworks and how to use them to support diverse learners in the classroom.

This course was designed to provide a deeper understanding of the process of reading comprehension, evidence-based instructional practices for teaching reading comprehension, and to introduce a variety of technology supports and tools that educators and students can use to enhance the understanding of text. This knowledge building will enable you to recognize the complexity of reading comprehension, where students may need support in acquiring grade-level content, and practices and supports educators can provide to support students.

This course enables educators to develop, increase and demonstrate knowledge about the Matrix of Services. Content and activities examine the requirements for matrix completion and provide the opportunity to accurately complete a matrix for students with disabilities. The course identifies how student educational needs and services impact the matrix funding document.

This course enables participants to develop, increase and demonstrate knowledge about the requirements and steps involved in becoming a surrogate parent, from application through completion of services. This course also provides an opportunity for participants to become acquainted with background information on the district's responsibility in recruiting, training, appointing and terminating surrogate parents. The course reviews which students are eligible for a surrogate parent and why the need exists for such services.