We promote inclusion and believe that all children and youth with disabilities can be educated in the general education environment alongside nondisabled peers. All students with and without disabilities can engage in learning and benefit from meaningful instruction, have friends and be full members of their school communities.

The Division of Special Education offers a variety of resources for districts implementing programs for students with varying abilities. Our department values all learners, infants to adult transition, and works through a lens of access, equity and inclusion.  See our Resources section below and learn more about the different types of support available to you and your teams.


INCLUSION IS A MINDSET


The LACOE Special Education Resource Lead (SERL) EmbraceAbilities grant team is honored to partner with CDE and CCEE. Our goal is to build capacity by providing supports for systemic, continuous improvement to County Offices of Education (COE) and Local Educational Agencies (LEA) for the inclusion of students with the most significant support needs. For contact and detailed grant project information, please click HERE.

 


RESOURCES

EmbraceAbilities program logo

The LACOE Special Education Resource Lead (SERL) EmbraceAbilities grant team is honored to partner with CDE and CCEE. Our goal is to build capacity by providing supports for systemic, continuous improvement to County Offices of Education (COE) and Local Educational Agencies (LEA) for the inclusion of students with the most significant support needs. For contact and detailed grant project information, please click HERE.

Embedded Instruction for Early Learning (EIEL)

Inclusive Early Education Expansion Program (IEEEP)

The LACOE Vision Services Unit offers a full range of vision services from contracts for Teachers of the Visually Impaired and Braille Translations. Contact Nic Frank at (562) 922-6895 or frank_nic@lacoe.edu for all your VI needs.

Join us for Special Education Directors Collaborative meetings and stay up to date on legislative issues, current research and best practices. All meetings allow participants to build connections that strengthen our amazing special education community in the County and beyond.

Upcoming Special Education Directors Collaborative Meetings

Check out the Division of Special Education's monthly newsletter, Spotlight on Access.

Spotlight on Access Vol. 01, No. 01

Our team has experienced staff ready to tackle any issue related to special education and the IEP process. Services including: consultation, data interpretation, program planning and staff trainings on everything from Alternative Dispute Resolution to Writing a Legally Defensible IEP. Whatever your needs, contact our team today, for a student-centered solution.

Our team can help your busy site staff with supporting your newer teachers. We offer:

·      Virtual or In-Person Trainings

·      Bi-monthly Lunch and Learn

·      Virtual Coffee with Colleagues

Are you ready to move your program, school or district to an inclusive model? Research shows inclusion for all students, regardless of disability, is a benefit for everyone. We have a range of services wherever you are on the inclusion spectrum.

As classrooms move towards more inclusive practices, general education teachers can be supported by becoming proficient in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and foundational literacy. We can connect your team to the right resources and training.

Additionally LACOE has compiled several resources to support inclusive early childhood education (Inclusive ECE) expansion. Learn more about this ongoing work.

Our team has a menu of training for all your needs. If we don’t already have it, we can make it. Training can be held in-person or virtually. We are proud to offer topics like:

·      AB1172 (Required for NPS staff) Fall 2024 Training Schedule

·      New & Returning Para-educators.

Are you engaged in an IEP conflict or have issues with a service provider or vendor? We have student-centered problem-solving services to help. Contact us for ADR or Mediation Services.

SELPAs ensure that educational programs and services are provided to meet the needs of students with disabilities. A SELPA may include one school district or multiple districts, which are organized by geographic region and pool resources to provide for all the special education service needs of students residing within the region.

LACOE operates its own SELPA to serve students with disabilities in its Juvenile Court Schools, Alternative Education programs, International Polytechnic (iPoly) High School, the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and certain charter schools.

LACOE Schools SELPA

Other SELPAs in Los Angeles County

 

LACOE maintains Juvenile Court and Community Schools (JCCS) inactive student records at one location for the purpose of filing transcript and records requests, monitoring and maintaining inactive stored files. In addition, LACOE-authored Charters (ONLY) that have closed have sent their records to LACOE for storage. 

Review guidelines for requesting LACOE student records

 


 

CONNECT WITH US



Division of Special Education
Special_Education@lacoe.edu
(562) 803-8300
________________________

Jovan Jacobs, Ed.D. 
Director II
Jacobs_Jovan@lacoe.edu

Tristin Eros
Division Secretary 
eros_tristin@lacoe.edu

Karen Voigt
Administrative Assistant
voigt_karen@lacoe.edu

DIFFERENTIATED ASSISTANCE (DA)

Matthew Roper
Coordinator II
Roper_Matthew@lacoe.edu

Vacant
Coordinator III

EMBEDDED INSTRUCTION FOR EARLY LEARNING (EIEL)

Ann Lim
Coordinator II
Lim_Ann@lacoe.edu 

EmbraceAbilities (SPECIAL EDUCATION RESOURCE LEAD)

Marcia Reily, Ed.D.
Coordinator III
Reily_Marcia@lacoe.edu

Kristen Danhour Standke
Senior Program Specialist
danhour_kristen@lacoe.edu

INCLUSIVE EARLY EDUCATION EXPANSION PROGRAM (IEEEP)

Thitaporn Acosta
Senior Program Specialist
Acosta_Thitaporn@lacoe.edu

Katherine Jaimez
Senior Program Specialist
Jaimez_Katherine@lacoe.edu

VISION SERVICES UNIT

Nic Frank
Coordinator III 
frank_nic@lacoe.edu

Nicole Abshear
Teacher of the Visually Impaired
abshear_nicole@lacoe.edu

Yvette Casas
Teacher of the Visually Impaired
Casas_Yvette@lacoe.edu

Maria Javier
Teacher of the Visually Impaired 
javier_maria@lacoe.edu

Gayané Grigoryan
Braille Transcriber
grigoryan_gayane@lacoe.edu

Adriana Munoz
Braille Transcriber
munoz_adriana@lacoe.edu