Educational and Organizational Consulting Experience

Amy Sevell-Nelson, M.Ed.

Organizational & Educational Consultant

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Since 1985, I have worked with organizations and school systems throughout the northeast, facilitating sustainable improvement initiatives, to better student outcomes and support the continuous growth and development of adults who work with children and their families.

Download/Print: Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Download/Print: Sampling of Successful Initiatives (PDF)

The following is a sampling of successful initiatives with a broad range of clients and challenges (click categories to expand):

Strategic Planning Facilitation

Provide systematic and research-based methodologies (for example: SMART Goals, Theories of Action, Force-Field Analysis, etc.) to assist both public and private entities in development or refinement of Strategic Plans, which are the foundation of successful organizational functioning. Participation of multi-level organizational stakeholders is essential for the creation of shared values, clarity and consensus about what they hope to attain (visions) and the means of attainment (missions).

Teams are supported in determining clarity related to their roles, responsibilities and decision-making protocols and parameters. The end product is a set of Action Plans, with all requisite components, which provides the road map for ensuring realization of their of the Strategic Plans.

Children’s Trust Fund (CT): Phase II Strategic Planning
Coventry School Readiness Council and Board of Education (CT): Redefining and Aligning Organizational Relationships and Structures
Hartford Public Schools Special Education Department (CT): Administrative Strategic Planning Retreat and development and support of Professional Learning Community project focused on LRE expansion in district
King Phillip Regional School District (MA): School Board alignment with Superintendent’s District-wide Goals
Manchester Board of Education (CT): Strategic Plan Phase II - Including development and facilitation of a large-scale Community Conversation to inform recommendations for the report
Norwalk Public School District (CT): Board of Education Parents as Partners Board Development
Rye Presbyterian Nursery School (NY): Board, Administration and Staff Retreat
South Windsor (CT): Educational Leadership Administrative Team Professional Learning Community with a focus on student outcomes
Wilton Public Schools (CT): Board of Education Special Education Advisory Boards

System Development Facilitation

AmericaSpeaks (NY): In response to 9/11, was 1 0f 500 facilitators for a 21st century town meeting of 4,000 NYC residents, as they to deliberated options for memorializing the World Trade Center site and rebuilding lives.
CT State Department of Education: Early Childhood Core Knowledge and Competencies Framework (Draft 2013): Represented CT Independent Consultants and Coaches in this collaborative effort between multiple agencies and sectors related to early care and education. The outcome was the development of a document that provides a blueprint of the core competencies all CT early childhood educators, who teach children ages Birth to Five.
CT Statewide 3 to 3 Leadership Team & the Wm. Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund – Age 3 to Grade 3 Institute (CT): Facilitator for two multi-stakeholder teams comprised of CT school district and community partners, utilizing Framework for Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating PreK-3rd Grade Approaches (Krauez & Coffman). Project goals were development of a plan to align PreK-3rd grade curriculum, build internal capacity and resource sustainability for each participating community.
Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) (CT): Facilitator of the development of school-based grade level PLCs, the most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement and student improvement outcomes. In collaboration principals supported the development of the school personnel to function with clarity of purpose towards the common goal of student improvement.
CT State Department of Education Bureau of Special Education: STAR Collaborative Consultation Project – As an inclusive educational facilitator, provided assistance to school district personnel and parents in the development of strategies and programs to ensure access and participation in general education for students with significant disabilities.
Hilton/Early Head Start Training Program (NJ): Learning Coach in this national four-year agenda supported EHS programs in improving their capacity to appropriately serve infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families, in collaboration with Early Intervention and other community partners.
Leadership Greater Hartford (CT): School Governance Process Coach. Supported a Hartford Board of Education Elementary Magnet School in a district-wide initiative, with a focus on the development of sustainable local governance councils. Parents, professionals and community stakeholders pooled their collective talent and perspectives towards a common cause – school improvement, parent partnerships and student outcomes.
NH Department of Education and Governor’s Office: Best Schools Leadership Initiative - In the capacity of Learning Coach, effectively supported long-term, team-based school improvement initiatives, aimed at increasing student achievement. Working with three teams, each for three years, projects required content specific technical assistance and process facilitation resulting in significant system development.
Fall Mountain Regional School District (NH): Facilitation of a multi-year agenda, guiding this five-town district’s Administrative and Special Education Teams in the development of a District-wide Special Education Philosophy. Using research-based methodologies work plans were crafted to ensure comprehensive implementation, with fidelity, across the district.

Education Program Evaluation & Development
Early Childhood, Special Education, Inclusion Programming

I have worked with dozens of public and private school teams in Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, and New Jersey towards improving practices and systems to support excellence in education (preschool: special and general education, and secondary special education staff and programs).

Through the use of a variety of strategies, including ongoing consultation, coaching and embedded professional development, I am able to guide multidisciplinary teams in building knowledge, skills and capacities for solving substantive problems and successfully programming for students with significant disabilities. Identification of current realities in inclusive education informs district-wide improvement initiatives.

Representative partnerships:

Brookfield Public Schools (CT): Facilitated two substantive program reinvention initiatives at the elementary school level. One focused on a Transitional Grade 1 Program model and the other on a Full-Day Kindergarten model. Using a full-range of facilitation strategies Study Teams were established, for each agenda, with part-or-full-program staff representation. Over the course of the academic year, participants were supported and guided, in the development of the critical questions to be explored and were provided a substantial amount of current and relevant best practices research/literature, which together were read and discussed. As a result, data-based decisions determined program recommendations and changes.
CT State Department of Education Bureau of Early Childhood - Training Wheels: The Cycle of Intentional Teaching Using CT’s Preschool Curriculum and Assessment Frameworks: As a Learning Coach on this multi-year agenda, provided ongoing support to staff and administration with the dual focus of assisting staff in acquiring skills and proficiency in the use of these tools, and the development and implementation of customized action plans to ensure program-wide use and sustainability.
Orange Public Schools - Autism Program Evaluation (CT): Conducted a comprehensive program review based upon essential program elements and quality improvement guides for schools and programs serving this population. Final report details recommendations for school-specific and district-wide program development initiatives.

CT-Charts-a-Course

Publications

Autism Toolkit
Collaborated on the development and publication of ‘Decision Maker’s Toolkit for Those Who Live and Work with Young Children with Autism/Pervasive Developmental Disorders’ (SERESC, 2000).

Sevell-Nelson Autism Program Inventory (SNAPI©)
Based upon the essential program elements that have been identified in the current ASD best practices literature, this tool is designed to provide a focused lens for observing educational programs for young children with ASD and to inform program and district-wide improvement initiatives.

Life Mapping for Students with Disabilities ©
Developed a Futures Planning protocol, which was informed by the MAPS, COACH and VISTA models. This facilitated process, between school-based teams and families, results in common understandings about the individual student including: current status, growth trends, preferences and limitations, etc. With a focus on the school years and beyond (e.g. transition at age 21), these data become the foundation for the development of meaningful, functional education programs with a long view of the skills necessary for attaining successful life goals. More about Life Mapping.

Curriculum Alignment Process ©: Ensuring Meaningful Inclusive Education for Students with Disabilities
Developed a facilitated process to assist school districts in creating educational programs that ensure meaningful inclusive education for students with disabilities. More about the Curriculum Mapping Process.

SuperKids Newsletter
Article - ‘Life Mapping: A Future’s Planning Process: What it is & How it Can Help Your Child’

CT B-5 Newsletter: Lead article ‘Best Practices in Assessment of Young Children within Inclusive Settings & the Development of Authentic Goals’ (Fall 2005).
Click to read newsletter.

Guidelines for Providers Serving Children in Child Care Settings – CT State Department of Developmental Disabilities (In development): Guidelines will detail best practices in collaborative consultation, for early intervention providers who deliver IDEA Part C services for infants and toddlers with disabilities, within inclusive child care settings.