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Free resources for special education leaders

Each of these is free to read and use without an email.

Where there is a printable copy, you can ask for it by email. We send it with our newsletter, From the Field.

• Diagnostic · 5 minutes

  The Special Education Readiness Diagnostic

  For special education and student services directors who want a quick read on where their department stands.

  Fifteen questions give you three exposure scores, your stage on the four-stage model, and a dated list of next steps.

• Calculator · free

  The Provider Workload Calculator

  For a provider, or the director who supervises one, who needs to show what one week really holds.

  You leave with the share of the contract week the work takes, and a one-page summary to print.

• Calculator · free

  The Vacancy Cost Calculator

  For a director or business manager deciding how to cover an open special education position.

  You leave with the service minutes owed while the position is open, the cost of covering them and a one-page summary.

• Guided form · free

  The Staffing Request Builder

  For a director preparing a staffing request for a superintendent or a school board.

  You leave with a one-page request in five sections: the need, the current staff, what happens without it, the ask and how you will know it worked.

• Open data · Observatory

  Special Education Staffing by State

  For anyone comparing special education staffing across states, from federal data.

  You leave with special education teachers, certification and school psychologists for every state, each figure with its source and school year.

• Field guide

  The First 90 Days as a Student Services Director

  For a new special education or student services director in the first months of the role.

  You leave with a plan for reading the department you inherited before you change it.

• White paper

  The Measurement Gap

  For district and regional leaders who need to explain to a board why staffing requests keep coming back.

  You leave with the Capacity Gap, the four-stage Sustainability Maturity Model, and the costs that never show up as a budget line.

• Planning tool

  The AAC Capacity Toolkit

  For school based AAC teams, speech-language pathologists and the administrators who support them.

  You leave with your barrier scores, a map of who holds each AAC role, a screener and a cost comparison for your district.

• White paper

  From Caseload to Workload

  For leaders and providers working through the move from caseload counts to a workload model.

  You leave with a measurement model that says what a workload percentage is a share of.

• Short lesson · captioned

  The Measurement Gap in Six Minutes

  For a leadership team that wants the argument in one short video before a meeting.

  You leave with the four-stage model and a quick way to place your own district on it.

• Slides, briefs and open data

  The Observatory Toolkit

  For anyone presenting their state’s special education figures to a board, a council or a team.

  You leave with a state brief, a slide deck and the open data behind both, each citing its source.

• Guides

  PULSE for Education guides

  For districts getting started with PULSE for Education, and the technology directors who support them.

  You leave with step-by-step guides for sign-in, file uploads, staff invitations, the data agreement and funding.