Session Seven: Elementary Writing Instruction in MTSS Framework and Students with Disabilities

Name: Session Seven: Elementary Writing Instruction in MTSS Framework and Students with Disabilities
Start: 2026-02-17T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-02-17T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Lexington Two Performing Arts Center

February 17

Free

Description

Presenter: Dr. Michael Herbert

This professional development program is designed to explore why elementary school students with disabilities have difficulty writing and how to help them. The program is tailored for educators who provide instructional support to all teachers who provide writing instruction to students with disabilities in the classroom and for elementary level special education and general education teachers. The PD program will include one full-day, in-person training followed by two virtual follow-up meetings and supplemental instructional videos. Educators should expect to write and participate in writing activities through hands-on activities. Topics covered will include:

why elementary students with disabilities may have difficulty writing
effective writing instruction and interventions,
implementing and adapting writing instruction within an MTSS framework,
practical writing assessment practices and data-based decision making,
collaboration practices, and
practices for improving students’ self-efficacy and motivation for writing.

Examples will be included at multiple levels of language (e.g., letter, word, sentence, and passage), and supporting students with various disabilities. These topics will then be further explored and extended in the follow-up meetings and supplemental videos.

Schedule

Registration: 8:30 am
Session: 9:00 am – 3:45 pm (lunch on your own at 11:45 am)

About Dr. Michael Herbert

Dr. Michael Hebert is a Professor and Associate Dean of Teacher Education in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and he is the Director of the UCI Writing Project. He received a bachelor’s degree in childhood studies from Plymouth State University, a master’s degree in Language and Literacy from Harvard University, and his Ph.D. in Special Education from Vanderbilt University. His primary research interests include writing instruction and assessment, particularly for students with or at-risk for disabilities, and the impacts of writing on reading. Dr. Hebert has more than 65 publications, including two influential Carnegie Corporation reports: Writing to Read and Informing Writing. He is also the co-editor of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Writing Research: A Festschrift for Steve Graham, and Best Practices in Writing Instruction, third edition. He has received more than $13 million in grant funding to support his work in identifying effective literacy practices (elementary school through college), and training teachers to implement effective literacy practices. He also received one of the first Early Career and Mentoring Program awards from the National Center for Special Education Research in 2013. He currently serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Educational Psychology. Dr. Hebert was previously a classroom teacher and reading specialist in schools in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, California, and the Navajo Nation.