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Institute on Community Integration 30th anniversary celebration November 10 at McNamara Alumni Center

October 20, 2015

30_anniversary_logo_2-inch-wide“We believed that the world was changing and that it should be our mission to push the boundaries of innovation in advancing the ideal of full inclusion for people with disabilities in all walks of life,” says former University of Minnesota President Bob Bruininks, recalling the founding of the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) in 1985. “That focus put us in the forefront of the whole inclusion and community integration movement that really had its origins in the early Civil Rights movement, and the Rehabilitation Amendments of the 1970s.”

On November 10th, President Emeritus Bruininks, who is the Institute’s founding director, and over 150 other past and present ICI staff, community partners, and friends will gather to reflect on the Institute’s legacy, and look ahead to its future, at the 30th anniversary event: “Celebrating a Community’s Vision: 30 Years of Innovation, Collaboration, and Influence.” It will be held from 5:30-8 p.m. at the McNamara Alumni Center. David R. Johnson, ICI’s current director, will emcee the event.

The Institute is a federally-designated University Center for Excellence in Disabilities, part of a national network of similar programs in major universities and teaching hospitals across the country. In partnership with over 200 community advocacy organizations, state and federal agencies, K-12 schools, disability service providers, and professional associations nationwide, the Institute engages in research and knowledge translation that improves community services, supports, policies, and opportunities for people with intellectual, developmental, and other disabilities and their families.

“The Institute has had the privilege to influence a wave of social change that has made great strides in supporting equality and inclusion for people with disabilities in the U.S. and around the world,” observes David R. Johnson. “On November 10th, we pause to acknowledge the progress of the past 30 years, and look to the opportunities ahead as we continue to innovate, collaborate, and influence a shared vision of inclusion.”

Speakers at the event include Bob Bruininks; CEHD Dean Jean Quam; Sue Swenson, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education; and David R. Johnson.

For more information about the ICI’s 30th anniversary, contact Tony Baisley, Communications Manager, at baisley@umn.edu or 612-625-4789.

Institute on Community Integration showcases artist Jimmy Reagan

April 30, 2015

Viewing Jimmy Reagan's paintings.On April 24th, the College’s Institute on Community Integration hosted Celebrating Artist Jimmy Reagan, an art exhibit and reception in its Changing Landscapes series that showcases the work of artists with disabilities. Jimmy Reagan is a Twin Cities artist with a passion for color, texture, and the simplicity of an image. Diagnosed with complex autism at age 2 1/2, today he is a young adult whose artwork offers him a means to illustrate his perspective of the world. As his mother, Peg Reagan, observed about the exhibit, “Jimmy’s art helps to tell a story. His story impacts people in very different ways, causing us to think about many aspects of life: art, disability, access, communication, different visual perspectives, healthcare… the list goes on.” The event drew nearlPeg Reagan discusses her son Jimmy's artwork.y 150 participants, and in addition to showcasing Jimmy’s artwork, a portion of proceeds from sale of items will go to support the Stephanie Evelo Arts & Disability Memorial Fund at the Institute. The exhibit continues through June 11th in Pattee Hall on the University of Minnesota East Bank campus and is available for viewing Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. For more information about the exhibit, and the Institute’s arts initiatives, visit http://ici.umn.edu/art or call 612/626-8649. To learn more about artist Jimmy Reagan visit http://www.throughjimmyseyes.com.

ICI’s Check & Connect marks 25th year improving K-12 student engagement

April 21, 2015

c&cCheck & Connect, the K-12 student engagement intervention developed at the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) in CEHD, turns 25 this year, and ICI is marking the occasion by holding the first-ever Check & Connect National Conference on October 7-8 at the University of Minnesota. Check & Connect is a comprehensive intervention designed to enhance student engagement at school and with learning for marginalized, disengaged students in grades K-12. The conference will bring together leading experts and practitioners from around the country to address the topic of student engagement among at-risk youth, share lessons learned, and gain tools for implementing and sustaining Check & Connect to support youth in reaching their goals and graduating from high school.

Check & Connect began in 1990 when the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs awarded a five-year grant to enable a group of ICI researchers to develop a dropout prevention program in collaboration with the Minneapolis Public Schools. The project targeted about 200 middle school students with emotional/behavioral disorders and/or learning disabilities for intervention, with mentors checking their students’ performance of alterable variables weekly (e.g., attendance, behavior, academics) and providing timely intervention focused on problem solving, skill building, and support from school personnel, families, and community service providers to enhance engagement. The program succeeded. Compared to control groups, many more students who received the Check & Connect intervention stayed in school and were, by grade 9, on track to graduate within five years.

Since 1990, Check & Connect has been implemented in K-12 schools in over 27 states, including statewide use in three states, and in other countries. Of the dropout prevention interventions reviewed by the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse in 2006, Check & Connect was the only program found to have strong evidence of positive effects on staying in school. It has also been adapted for use in other settings, including postsecondary education and the juvenile justice system. One of the model’s developers, Sandy Christenson, Professor in the University of Minnesota’s Department of Educational Psychology, notes the importance of Check & Connect’s approach to the whole student: “Engaging students is more than promoting academic engaged time or attendance. We must pay attention to students’ emotional and intellectual responses to school in order to improve their schooling experiences and school completion. Enhancing students’ sense of belonging and motivation to learn is a core feature of Check & Connect.”

The Check & Connect National Conference will be held at the McNamara Alumni Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, on October 7-8. It is for professionals interested in learning more about student engagement in general and Check & Connect specifically, as well as current sites implementing Check & Connect’s model. In addition, on October 6, there will be a pre-conference training offering a condensed version of Check & Connect’s typical two-day implementation training for those considering or beginning use of Check & Connect. For information on the implementation manual, training, and consultation services, visit http://checkandconnect.umn.edu.

FFI and registration visit http://checkandconnect.umn.edu/conf/. Or contact checkandconnect@umn.edu or 612/624-2097.

Thurlow receives special education lifetime achievement award

January 28, 2015

1Martha L Thurlow web quality photoMartha Thurlow, director of the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) in the college’s Institute on Community Integration (ICI), has been selected to receive the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) J. E. Wallace Wallin Lifetime Achievement Award for 2015. The award will be presented to her during an awards ceremony
on April 8 at the CEC 2015 Convention & Expo in San Diego.

“This award recognizes an individual who has made continued and sustained contributions to the education of children and youth with exceptionalities,” according to CEC.

In 1990, Dr. Thurlow was part of the team that founded NCEO, a research center that provides national leadership in designing and building educational assessments and accountability systems that appropriately monitor educational results for all students, including students with disabilities and English language learners (ELLs). From 1990 to 1999, she worked as an assistant and associate director for NCEO and in 1999 became its director, a role she has maintained for the past 15 years.

In a nomination letter for the award, ICI director David R. Johnson observed, “For the past 40-plus years, Dr. Thurlow has established herself as one of the pillars of special education services in the United States. She has amassed a body of research and professional publications that has served to influence and guide public policy and professional practice. Her work has influenced the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Department of Education, state legislatures, state education agencies, institutions of higher education, and schools throughout the nation. Dr. Thurlow is one of those rare academics who is able to comfortably integrate research, policy, and practice, to achieve broad levels of impact on the life circumstances of children with disabilities and their families.”

Bruininks receives Lifetime Achievement Award for disability work

November 17, 2014
Bob Bruininks (center) with current ICI director David R. Johnson and AUCD President Leslie Cohen.
Bob Bruininks (center) with current ICI director David R. Johnson and AUCD president Leslie Cohen.

Former University president and CEHD dean emeritus Robert Bruininks received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of University Centers on Developmental Disabilities (AUCD) on November 11 during its annual conference in Washington, D.C. The award is given “… to individuals making a lifetime commitment to serving people with developmental disabilities and their families,” and includes recognition of his work as founding director of the college’s Institute on Community Integration.

The institute, which marks its 30th anniversary next year, is a national leader in improving services, policies, and practices that impact people with disabilities across the lifespan.

In a nomination letter for the award, current ICI director David R. Johnson noted, “Over the past four decades, Dr. Bruininks has established himself as one of the pillars of disability research and policy in the United States. He has amassed a body of research and professional publications that has served to influence and guide professional practice, as well as disability policy, with a specific focus on intellectual and developmental disabilities…. He is one of those rare academics who is able to comfortably integrate research, practice, and policy to achieve broad levels of impact on the life circumstances of individuals with disabilities and their families.”

ICI’s Amy Hewitt part of training team in Malawi

November 6, 2014

Dr. Amy Hewitt, from the Institute on Community Integration and Minnesota LEND, recently completed a visit to Africa where she participated in a collaborative training project with long-time colleague Mikala Mukongolwa of the Baulini Project and Dr. Jason Paltzer, director of the Kingdom Workers Lutheran Health Alliance. The team made stops in Zambia and Malawi, where they taught volunteers from Kingdom Workers how to assess the needs of, and implement strategies to improve the lives of, children and adults with disabilities in a number of southern villages in Malawi, where the need for education and training is great. For more see the Association of University Centers on Disabilities Member Spotlight.

ICI staff elected to APSE board

April 18, 2014
Jeffrey A. Nurick
Jeffrey A. Nurick

Kelly Nye-Lengerman LGSWThe board of Minnesota APSE (Association of People Supporting EmploymentFirst) recently elected ICI’s Kelly Nye-Lengerman as Board Co-President and Jeffrey Nurick as Board Secretary. Nye-Lengerman’s term is two years (May 2014-May 2016) and Nurick’s is one year (May 2014-2015). The mission of Minnesota APSE is to improve and expand integrated employment opportunities, services, and outcomes for persons experiencing disabilities.

New juvenile justice project: Making a Map, Finding My Way Back

January 22, 2013

1_ICIYouth with disabilities, in particular, youth with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) and learning disabilities (LD), are overrepresented in correctional facilities across the U.S. They also have a high rate of recidivism. In response to the need to support these youth to make a lasting transition out of the corrections system, the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) is partnering with area organizations and agencies on a new project, Making a Map: Finding My Way Back.
The project brings together ICI, Ramsey County Community Corrections, the non-profit organization Amicus, St. Paul Public Schools, Twin Cities postsecondary programs, and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development to carry out a comprehensive, evidence-based project supporting juvenile offenders with disabilities who are transitioning from Ramsey County juvenile justice facilities into secondary and postsecondary education, employment, and community programs. The four-year project, funded by a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, began January 1, 2013, and is directed by David R. Johnson and Jean Ness.
Read more.

ICI’s Rutzen and Smith featured in Apostrophe magazine

November 16, 2012

Rutzen_Kurt_150wSmith_John_150wKurt Rutzen (pictured left) of the college’s Institute on Community Integration (ICI) appeared on the cover of the Winter 2012-13 issue of Apostrophe magazine, which contained a feature story about him and his advocacy for people with disabilities titled “Kurt Rutzen, Man on a Mission.” An article about the Institute Web site Quality Mall titled “Quality Mall: A Virtual Resource,” and featuring ICI staff member John Smith (pictured right), was in the same issue. The online edition of Apostrophe, a national magazine that promotes inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, is at http://apostrophemagazine.com/
winter-2012-13-3/.

Kristin Dean appointed to NADSP board

October 17, 2012

In August, Kristin Dean of the Institute on Community Integration was appointed to the board of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals and to the Alliance’s Education, Training and Workforce Development Committee. The Alliance’s mission is to promote the development of a highly competent human services workforce that supports people with disabilities in achieving their life goals.

ICI staff presentations at international conference

August 16, 2012

On July 9-14, eight staff members from the College’s Institute on Community Integration (ICI) were presenters and/or moderators at the 2012 International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities World Congress in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The staff and their topics were: Brian Abery, self-determination; Angela Amado, social inclusion; Amy Hewitt, family support; David Johnson, postsecondary education for individuals with intellectual disabilities; Sheryl Larson, predictors of outcomes, and health and wellness; Derek Nord, staff training, employment and economic self-sufficiency; Lori Sedlezky, self-determination; and Renáta Tichá, self-determination and participation in activities.

Rutzen participates in White House briefing

February 17, 2012

Rutzen_Kurt_150wKurt Rutzen, Institute on Community Integration staffer, was one of 150 leaders from The Arc organization who met with a variety of senior White House officials at a Community Leaders Briefing on February 10 in Washington, D.C. Kurt, as an Arc of the United States board member, was among those invited to ask questions and discuss issues facing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the session. Held exclusively for The Arc, a national organization that advocates for and serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, the meeting included an unannounced visit from President Obama, during which he spoke of his commitment to people with disabilities.

Global Resource Center supports inclusive education around the world

September 16, 2011

Serbia, Macedonia, Bangladesh, and Tanzania are just some of the places in which the Global Resource Center for Inclusive Education at the Institute on Community Integration has been working to support inclusion of all young people, including those with disabilities, in their nation’s educational systems. Since 2006 the center has assisted education agencies around the globe to make “Education for All” a reality and work toward systemic improvement of their education programs, practices, and policies that affect underserved and disadvantaged populations. To learn more, see the September issue of the institute’s staff newsletter, FYI.

A focus on autism in Zambia

March 16, 2011

A delegation from the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) will fly to Zambia on March 30 for two weeks of work with disability rights leaders developing and improving services and supports for people with disabilities and their families. The trip is part of the work of the Twin Cities Zambia Disability Connection — a partnership of ICI, Arc Greater Twin Cities, Fraser, Opportunity Partners, and Zambian disability rights leaders — which was formed in 2008.
This will be the fourth time ICI staff have traveled to Zambia (Zambian delegations visited the Twin Cities in 2008 and 2010), and it will be the first time there has been an emphasis on autism. “The last time our Zambian colleagues were here they had a chance to visit the autism spectrum disorders clinic at the University and a number of autism-specific programs in Minnesota,” notes Amy Hewitt, project director. “They asked us to help them build autism expertise in Zambia. This trip is hopefully the first of many exchanges that will focus on autism.” To learn more, see the ICI staff newsletter.

College’s National Center on Educational Outcomes receives grant of $45 million

October 7, 2010

RachelQuenemoen11Martha L Thurlow web quality photoThe U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) has awarded $45 million to the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) at the college’s Institute on Community Integration to form a partnership that will develop innovative approaches to alternate assessments for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in grades 3-12. The new National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC), funded by the Office of Special Education Programs in the USDOE, is a network of national centers and 19 states and is directed by NCEO senior research fellow Rachel Quenemoen and NCEO director Martha Thurlow.
Over the next four years, NCSC will build a comprehensive assessment system based on the Common Core State Standards that includes project-developed tools and processes to support educators as they plan and provide appropriate instruction for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. These supports will help Individualized Education Program teams accurately identify the learner characteristics and make appropriate decisions about how each student participates in the overall system of assessments.

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