Spotlight on Special Education: Verbal Behavior helps students make sense of language learning

Part teaching strategy to encourage communication, part behavior plan, applied verbal behavior (VB) is helping students, many on the autism spectrum, learn like never before. MORE

Remembering Barbara Zimmerman

Barbara (Zim) Zimmerman, a dear friend and admired colleague to so many in the BOCES organization, died at Albany Medical Center on August 30 as a result of an illness she courageously fought for many years.

Zimmerman began her career with the Capital Region BOCES Special Education division as a classroom teacher before becoming a well-respected behavioral specialist.

“It is not enough to say that Barb will be missed,” said Inge Jacobs, Capital Region BOCES Special Education division director. “We all learned a great deal from her as did the many, many students that she helped as a behavior support consultant.”

“Barb was a compassionate and spirited educator who loved her work and was proud to have dedicated so much of her life to it. We're all very sorry to have lost her,” Jacobs concluded. MORE

2008-09 VISTA now available

The 2008-09 listing of Valuable Instructional Seminars and Training Activities (VISTA) for teachers and the general public is now available. Take a peek and see how you might expand your learning and training this school year!

New and improved: 2008-09 BOCES Services Guide

The Capital Region BOCES has made significant improvements to its Services Guide. The guide is an annual publication prepared to help component school districts plan for and select BOCES services they will use in the next year.

Highlights of the new and improved 2008-2009 Services Guide include:
• More comprehensive service descriptions including reference to each service's CoSer and activity code, service code, 2008-09 pricing information and BOCES contact information.
• 2008-2009 price for services listed in service code order with page reference to each service description in the guide. This year, the BOCES made a concerted effort to set its 2008-09 prices earlier in its budgeting process so that school districts would have more accurate pricing information earlier in their budget development process.
• Services grouped by category under each division. Service names conforming to how the names will appear on BOCES bills and commitment forms.
• 2008-2009 administrative and capital assessments for each component district.

If you would like to view or download the BOCES 2008-2009 Services Guide, please click on the link.

New York State Alternate Assessment blog

Teachers, staff and others responsible for administering the New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA) will find current information and answers to questions about state alternate assessment at The Capital Region BOCES NYSAA Trainers Blog: http://nysaa0809.blogspot.com.

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