Archive for category: Spotlight

Spotlight on David Guardino

We all want change. We want our schools, communities, families, and even our own lives to change—and change for the better. It is easy to tweak something. It is no issue to edit a few details here and there, put some finishing touches on a project, or polish things up a bit. However, when we want to transform something big—a whole system—we need not only perseverance, but also the ability to see the big picture in perspective. Sometimes, we must step outside of the box before we can adjust what is inside of it.

 

David Guardino understands this. Before his work as a program lead in the Research to Practice Division in the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), he started out on a small scale, as many systems changers do. During his undergraduate studies in psychology, he volunteered to work with international students. Upon graduation, David opted for an adventure. He moved to South Korea for two years to teach English in small group and classroom settings. He met his wife in Korea and subsequently returned to his home state of Oregon to pursue a degree in education counseling. He worked as a family therapist in a variety of settings, including foster care and drug abuse facilities for adjudicated youth. It was easy for him to see that the students faced a myriad of issues that affected all aspects of their lives from school and social interactions to their home environments. However, when David zoomed out—when he stepped outside of the box and looked into it—he saw that these issues are symptoms of a complex web of social maladies; they are part of a system that is not inherently evil, but is wholly indifferent to personal struggles. David realized that if he wanted to help as many students as possible, he needed to tackle the system as a whole.

 

Under the direction of Dr. Robert Horner and others at the University of Oregon, David expanded his scope of influence in 2001 by pursuing a doctorate in special education. He worked in varying capacities for the Oregon Department of Education. His counseling background lent well to leading early Response to Intervention (RtI) initiatives concerning implementing Positive Behavioral Supports (PBS). He helped launch a web-based data management application for districts to better collect and utilize data. David directed various initiatives in both special and general education at the state level before moving to OSEP in the U.S. Department of Education.

 

David believes that the most difficult component of transforming research to practice is providing the appropriate level of support to teachers and leaders who are learning to administer evidence-based practice (EBP) in education. He laments when teachers do not receive the necessary support to carry out EBP and come to the faulty conclusion that the practice does not work when they have never had the opportunity to use it with fidelity.

 

In order to improve the system, David believes we need to work from the top down, improving teacher preparation programs that can equip educators with wide skill sets so they can accomplish successful teaching practices. The CEEDAR Center team is accomplishing this work, and David believes the CEEDAR Center has a tremendous opportunity to improve the way the teacher preparation system works.

 

David is in the right place at the right time to influence the landscape of American education through his work at OSEP. He does not back down from a challenge, either. An avid skier and former slalom racer, he is not afraid to face new adventures with tenacity. He also has two daughters in elementary school, which is a challenging adventure in and of itself. He and his wife love to take their daughters hiking. They are still exploring all of the nature the East Coast has to offer after moving there from Oregon.

 

The CEEDAR Center team is fortunate to partner with David in order to not only fine-tune education, but also to fundamentally and systematically improve educator preparation in the United States.

Dr. James McLeskey

Specific interests steer some researchers while they are in college. Professors in graduate school heavily influence others. Family members also push individuals in certain directions. However, an impersonal, steel Quonset hut behind a vocational school forged James McLeskey’s academic identity.

The architectural wonder did not have air conditioning. It did not even have a functional bathroom—students were forced to travel to the main building each time they needed to use the restroom. What the Quonset hut did have was a group of disabled students segregated from the rest of the school population. James remembers his bewilderment the first time he walked into the hut: “Wow,” he recalls. “I didn’t know we treated people this way.” The Quonset hut transformed James from a young man with an uncertain professional path into a staunch advocate for students with disabilities. Advocacy is the concept that weaves throughout James’s career.

James did not start out with the hut in mind—or even with education as a career goal. He began college aiming to become a counselor, so he majored in psychology and then pursued graduate work in counseling. After completing his master’s degree, James accepted a job teaching students with intellectual disabilities at the vocational school—the site of the Quonset hut. James spent several difficult years laboring to include his students in mainstream educational and social activities, and he enjoyed moderate success. Several of his students played varsity basketball and football, and many were included in general education classrooms. James soon decided that he wanted more leverage so that he could influence a wider range of students. He had already become an advocate; he just needed a bigger platform.

While pursuing his doctorate at Georgia State University, James became even more convinced of the necessity of being an advocate for students with disabilities, and he focused his efforts on inclusion and developing quality teachers and leaders. “Teachers ultimately make it happen every day, but principals provide a setting where effective inclusive schools can occur,” he says. He believes that CEEDAR Center professionals can deliver assistance in improving teacher and leader preparation programs, which will equip leaders with the necessary tools for creating inclusive schools with positive learning environments. He also envisions CEEDAR Center staff members helping general education teachers to better understand how to educate students with disabilities in their classrooms.

James has mixed but optimistic feelings about the state of special education today. He laments that many students are still in their own Quonset huts. He acknowledges that these may not be steel buildings out back; they could be separate wings or halls, but exclusion still exists. However, he is hopeful about the fact that 80% of students with disabilities spend a significant amount of time in general education classrooms. Like a true advocate, though, James’s work is never finished.

While discussing his legacy, James is uneasy. He does not believe in striving for a legacy. He believes that real change happens in the accumulation of day-to-day victories. He admits that throughout his life, he has seen solid successes and definite failures. Ultimately, when he retires, he hopes that he will have been a Quonset-hut demolisher. He hopes that fewer students with disabilities will be excluded and that more teachers and leaders will become well-equipped to teach these students.

Like many of our CEEDAR Center team members, James is a spirited basketball fan. He is confident that the Gators will win it all this year (a conclusion shared by many on our team). What he likes about the team is how well-coached they are. Growing up in the Bob Knight era, he appreciates how a talented coach can take a group of players and form a positive team synergy. He equates a good principal with a good coach. He wants to help develop in our education system some Billy Donovans who can help teachers work well together to improve student outcomes.

Aside from basketball and academic pursuits, James enjoys an active lifestyle. He and his wife are planning a week-long bike ride through Italy this summer. This culinary cycle tour from Cremona to Bologna will include beautiful scenery and delectable Italian delicacies. (He is making the rest of the CEEDAR Center staff very jealous.) James is also a huge Rolling Stones fan. In fact, a walk straight past his “Dr. James McLeskey” office sign will often lead to the sounds of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. James is amazed that a band plagued by so many personal issues has been successful for such a long time. Although he does not want Mick Jagger’s lifestyle, he claims that if he could choose any other skill set, he would love to be a great musician. “Time is on Your Side,” James. You could be the first special education professor to have books, articles, and Billboard Top 10 hits on your CV.

CEEDAR Spotlight: Dr. Suzanne Robinson
Nov. 5, 2013

Dr. Suzanne Robinson is driven by an intense curiosity. Although she recalls teaching her dolls in a mock-classroom in her basement at age 4, she wasn’t always sure that research was going to be her life’s work. Her passion for educating teachers developed out of curiosity. While in college, sociology and anthropology stoked her interest. Those fields explore the depths of the human experience. They attempt to answer the “why” behind the status quo. Sometime later, Suzanne was working with a child who was struggling to read. At the time, she didn’t realize that the student likely had a learning disability, but her mind immediately jumped to the “why?”. However, even behind the “why?” the child was struggling was the bigger question of “how?”-how could she make a difference? Special Education research exists at the intersection between “why” and “how”. Her intense curiosity of why people think the way they do led her to want to understand how she could help students with learning disabilities and how she could help the teachers who teach those students.

Suzanne has always been a researcher who likes to stay close to teachers at the school level. When asked who was the biggest influence in directing her career goals, her answer was obvious, “The teachers have kept me on my path,” Suzanne claims. Keeping herself in the path of the people her research is influencing helps keep her mindful of current issues in teacher educator preparation. Aside from being influenced by the very people she seeks to help, Suzanne is thankful for Don Deshler’s encouragement in her career. He is a prolific and influential researcher who convinced her to come to the University of Kansas. Dr. Deshler is also a content area expert in our Disciplinary Literacy focus in CEEDAR.

The CEEDAR Center is fortunate to have Dr. Robinson on our team. She claims that the level of expertise involved in the CEEDAR Center’s collaboration is astronomical and due to the level of state involvement we are seeing, she believes she can be a part of CEEDAR having an enormously influential impact on teacher education. Suzanne’s curiosity also inspires he to explore the world. This year she plans to travel to Greece and Turkey while next year she plans to move on to Africa. She also loves the arts and cooking. She is always exploring how to perfect something she hasn’t yet mastered. This extends all the way from the classroom to the kitchen. Although one might make culinary assumptions based on her geographic location, Suzanne really isn’t into the Kansas City BBQ scene. She actually claims that her specialty is Mexican food although she has recently gone through a stage of perfecting how to bake the perfect tart. CEEDAR is certainly fortunate to have Suzanne on our team. Her curiosity to explore better ways of doing things surely contributes to our goal of creating opportunities to learn for teachers and leaders.