Main Library

This library contains CADRE resources as well as State, Lead Agency and Parent Center resources. Please note that CADRE makes no endorsement of the State, Lead Agency and Parent Center resources included here, nor of any policies, procedures, processes, or documents specific to any item.

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Voices from the Field: Nina Meierding

Nina Meierding has been involved in the conflict resolution field for over 30 years and has mediated over 4,000 cases. She has provided training in over 45 states, as well as internationally. Nina has been involved in the field of special education for over four decades, receiving her Masters in Special Education in 1977, teaching in a residential program and a public school resource program, serving as an attorney for parents, as a mediator for the California State Department of Education, as a trainer of special education mediators, and most recently as the mediation partner for the...

Voices from the Field: Nissan Bar-Lev

Nissan Bar-Lev is the Director of Special Education for Cooperative Educational Service Agency # 7, a consortium of 38 school districts, and is one of 3 partners in the Wisconsin Special Education Mediation System. He serves on the Executive Board of the Wisconsin Council of Administrators of Special Services, and co-chairs the Special Projects Committee. Nissan is a member of the national Council of Administrators of Special Education Board of Directors, a member of the Wisconsin PBIS Advisory Council, and is also a member of the National IDEA Partnership Creating Agreement team. Clip 1: As...

Voices from the Field: Patricia McGinnis

Patricia McGinnis holds a degree in education from the University of Minnesota and has over twenty years of teaching experience. She has been the Coordinator of the Minnesota Department of Education's Special Education Mediation Service since 2001, assuring access to the federally required mediation process and Minnesota's facilitated IEP meetings. In addition, she is a statewide trainer of leaders in special education on communication, due process and facilitation of IEP meetings and presents to parents, advocates, the Minnesota's State Bar Association, county social workers, professors,...

Voices from the Field: Patricia Williams

Patricia Williams is a consultant with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction who works in the area of special education procedural compliance. She is the coordinator for the State IDEA complaint process and is the liaison to the Due Process Hearing System. Patricia is a former WDPI liaison to the WI Special Education Mediation System. She served as one of the CADRE Exemplar Wisconsin Coordinators for development of the Wisconsin Exemplar Profile development. The interviews below were conducted in 2010 as part of CADRE's Exemplar Initiative . Clip 1: What is the one thing you know now...

Voices from the Field: State Education Agency and Parent Center Collaboration

Arizona Department of Education and Raising Special Kids This Voices from the Field interview series features select OSEP federally-funded parent centers and state education agencies who have well-established and high-functioning collaborative relationships. In April of 2021, CADRE staff interviewed leaders from the Arizona Department of Education (Lori Bird) and Raising Special Kids (Chris Tiffany, Kathy Gray-Mangerson) to learn more about what makes their partnership so effective. This hour-long interview provides viewers with tips and takeaways that may help others improve their own...

Voices from the Field: Tracy Mueller

Tracy Gershwin Mueller is an Associate Professor at the University of Northern Colorado where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the special education licensure program and coordinates the Intervention Specialist MA program. Tracy specializes in interventions for children and youth with challenging behaviors, family-school partnerships, and alternative dispute resolution in special education. Tracy is also a trained mediator. Clip 1: You've done a lot of work around positive parent engagement. Are there strategies, advice that you would offer about how we can create and really...

Voices from the Field: Trisha Bergin-Lytton

Trisha Bergin-Lytton specializes in offering expertise and professional services to school districts, charter schools, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups and families to address the individualized needs of special education students by providing mediation, facilitation of IEP meetings, training/professional development and consultation. She is highly regarded as an IDEA-knowledgeable professional extremely skilled in conflict resolution who assists teams to work collaboratively in developing realistic solutions in an effective, creative and timely manner. Since 1974, Trisha has worked...

Voices from the Field: Weadé Wallace

Weadé Wallace was formerly the Executive Director at Advocates for Justice and Education, Inc., (AJE), a non-profit organization and the federally designated Parent Training and Information Center for the District of Columbia, dedicated to the education, support and free legal representation of D.C. families with special needs children. She has an extensive background in leading programs that provide direct services and supports to underserved communities. Weadé has served on many boards and committees in the District including the D.C. State Rehabilitation Council and the D.C. Inclusive...