by Coretta Doss, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Associate, DREAM Center

National data indicate that far too many students with disabilities are not developing the reading proficiency needed for academic success and life beyond school. This presents unique opportunities.

As a postdoctoral associate for the DREAM (Delivering Resources, Education, Access, and Mentorship) Center, attending her first Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Director’s Conference, part of my responsibility entailed delivering a compelling story about why this data matters while simultaneously connecting it to the different contexts of audience members. A real concern I often carry when creating and delivering a presentation is its relevance to the audience members: Will participants walk away with information that is applicable to them? Will the information be useful to them immediately? As I reflected on my OSEP 2026 conference experience, I realized that these same questions offered a meaningful way to think about attending and presenting at my first in-person OSEP conference, after having presented only virtually during my doctoral program. Since I like to think in terms of threes, I identified three overarching themes that emerged from the different experiences I had while attending this year’s conference.

Why It Matters

Before I share those themes, let me build your background knowledge, as an effective reading teacher does, about the DREAM Center’s presentation. 

The central focus of our presentation, , was to provide a roadmap for understanding why aligning personnel preparation with literacy outcomes matters (i.e., defining the problem). Then, discussing how personnel preparation could be leveraged as a catalyst or lever for stronger literacy outcomes (i.e., a solution). Along the road, participants were re/introduced to five interconnected areas to consider for strategic program development:image of the cover slide of our OSEP presentation

  1. Use data to identify and prioritize needs,
  2. Invest in evidence-based and authentic learning opportunities,
  3. Partner for System-Level Change,
  4. Plan for Sustainability, and
  5. Plan for Scalability.

Key Takeaways

Now, let’s continue along the roadmap as I introduce each theme, share some of my personal experiences and reflections as a first-time attendee, and connect those experiences to key points in the DREAM Center’s presentation.

Theme 1: Collaboration

This was a prevailing theme from the beginning of the drafting phase of the DREAM’s OSEP presentation, the combining of presentations by OSEP program organizers—to witnessing it in other presentations I attended and conversations I overheard during the conference.  

As a postdoctoral associate at the DREAM Center, I have been exposed to special education outside of my realm as a reading practitioner and trained reading researcher, specializing in reading disabilities and dyslexia, which is both exciting and scary at the same time. Learning about the grant proposal development (GPD) side of educator preparation programs for special education (i.e., early intervention, early childhood, and school age) and related areas (e.g., audiology, psychology, occupational and physical therapy, speech pathology, etc.) to build scholars’ capacity was new territory.

So, when asked to lead the charge in creating a presentation that could integrate my expertise in reading while incorporating the mission of the DREAM Center, I was both honored and a bit intimidated. My colleagues, Maria Silva, Aniva Lumpkins, and Chauntea Cummings, were great collaborators through this phase: outline development, content feedback, and incorporation of engaging graphics.

I was informed that we were one of only a handful of technical assistance (TA) centers whose proposals were selected to present at the conference. No pressure there. Additionally, when I learned that the conference organizers had selected our presentation to join those from two well-respected research institutions of higher education (IHEs), I was thrilled. What an achievement! This represented institutional collaboration across and among a TA center that helps institutions write competitive grants to fund OSEP scholars to apprentice and do work investigating and integrating special education with scientific reading instruction. The collaborative opportunity with fellow colleagues was a genuine learning curve as an early-career scholar. 

I witnessed another example of collaboration during my time at the conference. Specifically, during the DREAM Center’s Professional Development Panel Program Area Meeting: AI and the Future of Personnel Preparation: Implications for Training and Scholarship (no bias whatsoever). During the summer, the DREAM Center invited students from different colleges and universities, for the first time since its incorporation, to participate in summer internships. This was another example of collaboration and mentorship across IHEs and a TA center around a common goal. Interns from across seven different universities had the opportunity to utilize skills in creatively different formats, perhaps unique to how they normally work at their home institutions. One thing that has stuck in my mind from my team and implementation science training is that equity of expertise is a paramount part of this work. Respect for each team member’s unique expertise is inherently embedded in the framework, with diverse perspectives and expertise valued as essential to the work of the team (Solari et al., 2020).  I saw this in action, and what an amazing reception the final presentation received as a result of the DREAM team’s collaboration and collective expertise!

Theme 2: Investment in People for Sustainability Improvement

Collaboration brings people and expertise together; investment in people builds the capacity for that work to continue. Two ways in which this is accomplishable are through sustained coaching and mentoring. As a former literacy coach, I can appreciate the emphasis on mentorship, the M in the DREAM. Communities of Practice (CoPs) are a fundamental means of providing continual technical support to IHEs once they attend one of the DREAM Center’s GPD Workshops. They are assigned seasoned grant-writing mentors with strong records of successfully developing and securing federal funding for special education personnel preparation programs. I always enjoyed observing these mentors in action when they delivered the GPD trainings. At the conference, I especially appreciated Drs. Cathy Kea and Phyllis Robertson for inviting me into their VIP, card-carrying, members-only space. (There really was a private room where collaboration meetings were in full swing, keeping in rhythm even as the conference was happening all around us.) There, I had the opportunity to observe them providing grant-writing mentoring in real time.

Theme 3: Shared Capacity for System-Level Improvement

There was an opportunity during the DREAM Center’s portion of the presentation at the conference to spotlight universities that, through the research informing this presentation, represent exemplar programs integrating evidence-based practices in scientific reading instruction into special education coursework, clinical experiences, and program structures. This research resulted in a mix of institutions: those with built-in infrastructures and the necessary resources to efficiently support educator preparation GPD, and those navigating the process of building and/or strengthening sustainable infrastructures that can endure and provide a level of grant management support relevant to each institution’s context.

This is important because it highlights what I have come to better understand and can now articulate more definitively after working with the DREAM Center. The common factor, no matter the institution designing or adapting its special education program, is the need to ensure that its scholars are equipped to serve students whose data reflect the overarching, urgent need for the skills and practices that these universities and colleges prepare their scholars to provide.

The DREAM Center contributes to systems change by strengthening capacity at a critical point in the personnel preparation pipeline: faculty development of competitive grant proposals. Through Grant Proposal Development (GPD) support, faculty build their capacity to design projects that prepare future special education personnel to effectively support struggling readers and writers while meaningfully engage parents and caregivers. The impact of this work extends beyond the faculty who receive direct technical assistance, creating a ripple effect that reaches future scholars, the children and youth they serve, and their families and caregivers. In this way, DREAM’s investment in faculty capacity helps expand opportunities and strengthen outcomes across the personnel preparation system.

Putting It Into Practice

I’d like to share a few quotes and phrases that I collected on the journey of navigating the OSEP conference, tying the time up in a nice bow. This is something I normally do at every conference: collect quotes or phrases that resonate with me and I want to continue to meditate on because they will influence how I continue to move personally and professionally in my life.

Here they are:

  • “Students with disabilities are general education students all the time. Special education is not a place.”       — Dr. Jeff Adams, OSEP Conference 2026
  • “Different doesn’t mean less than.” “Yes, And…” — Rachel K. Barkley, OSEP Conference 2026

My interpretation of Yes, And…: Yes, these facts exist. And, yes, what will our next steps be?

When we DREAM, anything is possible.

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