COOK Education Center is centrally located in the Mission Valley area of San Diego just off Interstate 8 at Texas Street. Our attractive, bright campus welcomes students, families, and visitors and it compliments our positive outlook on learning and social interaction. We’re proud that our facility includes a well-maintained landscape, an expansive park-like playing field, vibrant artwork inside and out, and clean, well-organized instructional areas.

COOK Education Center affords many options
The layout of our school permits one-to-one instruction and therapy as needed, small group instruction, and large group activities like assemblies. We have lots of iMacs for web-based learning, photo processing, movie making, cartooning, and other learning activities. We have a brand new, fully functioning kitchen and laundry; a music room that is supplied with keyboards, drums, guitars, microphones and amps, a computer, and other instruments; a karate dojo in which students can earn all their belts; a work-out room for serious conditioning; art rooms for all sorts of projects; and we have game rooms that can be accessed when students have done well in achieving their personal goals.

Our students like being at COOK Education Center
COOK Education Center has a spacious patio and playground designed as a multipurpose park in which our students can have lunch and interact with their friends, learn group games like baseball and basketball, or just get in shape by walking or running the track. All told, our facility is a wonderful place for our students to come to school.

Staffing for intensive programming
Our team consists of one special educator for each group of eight students, a compliment of paraprofessionals necessary to educate our students at a ratio of 2.5 students for each direct service staff member, additional paraprofessionals as needed to educate students who require a one-to-one ratio, a fully licensed Speech/Language therapist, a Registered Occupational Therapist, a music teacher, and a karate instructor. We also benefit from TIEE’s Vocational Services Education personnel. Managing our teams are four Program Coordinators, all of whom are California credentialed special educators, three are on their way to earning the BCBA and one has earned a BCABA.

Current staff numbers
The chart below shows the number of staff members by category for the 07-08 school year and the 08-09 school year. The categories shown are Credentialed Special Educators, Special Education Teacher Interns, individuals with Baccalaureate degrees who have passed certain qualifications to be considered Pre-interns, Direct Service Paraprofessionals who have a Bachelor’s degree, Direct Service Paraprofessionals who do not have a Bachelor’s degree, and licensed or certified Designated Instruction and Service (DIS) personnel.

A genuine team
We are positive and energetic; we love our work and our students; and we function as a true team, with a common mission to have our students learn as rapidly and as enjoyably as possible. Our professionals are top notch and, as the chart above shows, two-thirds of our Direct Service Paraprofessionals have BA’s. Everyone at COOK is eager to be the best educator possible. We are keen students of what researchers tell us is effective and efficient instruction and therapy, and we are actively involved in conducting our own research to validate our methods. In order to be the best, we train the hardest. Training, including coaching, is a daily affair at COOK Education Center as it is in all TIEE schools.

Competency-based training and evaluation
All of our staff members receive regular evaluations on their performance across more than 100 teaching competencies. In order for them to master our competencies, and truly use what works, intensive training is necessary.

Foundation trainings and advanced trainings
We provide a series of required foundation trainings on our philosophies and practices, including a survey of the concepts supporting our methods, video samples displaying our practices, and role-plays that permit guided practice of the essential skills of instruction.

Regularly scheduled trainings
The following is a list of some of trainings we regularly provide:

• ABA Principles and Practices
• Identifying and Managing Reinforcers
• Session or Student Skills
• Modulation and Differential Reinforcement
• Effective Instructional Practices
• Prompting and Error Correction
• Data Collection and Data Based Decision Making
• Discrete Trial Teaching
• Incidental Teaching

• Verbal Behavior
• Functional Communication Training
• Conditional Discrimination Training
• Activity Schedules
• Functional Behavior Assessment
• Preventing and Managing Problem Behaviors
• Direct Instruction
• Fluency Building

Degrees and certifications
In addition to the training we provide our staff, many are also studying in local colleges and universities. The chart below shows the number of our staff members who were in programs leading to the Master’s degree, a teaching credential, and various other degrees and certificates during the 07-08 school year and the 08-09 school year.

Training requires coaching
Of greatest importance is our heavy emphasis on coaching in the classroom. Hands-on coaching is essential for the mastery of critical teaching skills. Opportunities for our teachers to benefit from coaching are ongoing and continue throughout their career with TIEE. Coaching may be pre-planned or incidental and is performed by supervisors who can demonstrate how to do it and who do conduct demonstrations as necessary. Instructional observations involving data collection on specific teacher behaviors are conducted and the results are shared with individual staff members regularly.

Advanced training for professionals
Our teachers and specialists receive both formal training and coaching on more advanced applications of our methods and practices. Regular professional development meetings involve review of existing research, curriculum development, data shares and analysis, video shares with feedback on instructional delivery, and ongoing training in the following areas:

• Supervision and Training of Paraprofessionals
• Curriculum Based Assessment
• IEP Development

• Designing Effective Lessons
• Behavior Intervention Planning
• Parent Collaboration and Communication

The featured staff member for the Cook Education Center at this time is Steve Wheless, one of the stellar teachers in the Foundations Program, which educates elementary and middle school students with learning and behavior challenges.

Steve was twice honored in the 2008-2009 school year. He was TIEE’s Professional of the Year and he was honored as National Teacher of the Year by the Council for Exceptional Children’s Council for Children with Behavior Disorders.

Presented here is the tribute to Steve submitted by his supervisor, Carol Nielsen, Head Coordinator of the COOK Education Center, in nominating Steve for Professional of the Year. We are very proud to have Steve as a member of our staff and will let Carol’s tribute speak for all of us in honoring Steve.

Instructor of the Year Nomination
2008 -2009

It’s my pleasure to nominate Steve Wheless for Instructor of the Year for the 2008 – 2009 school year.

Steve has been a model staff member since starting at TIEE in 2002. He consistently maintains the highest level of quality and professionalism in everything he does, and is a model for TIEE’s Standards of Work Performance and conduct.  His students, supervisees, and colleagues have all benefited greatly from knowing and working with Steve.

Steve is a highly skilled teacher, as can be seen in any visit to the Elementary program as well as on numerous videotaped examples.  Ken Traupmann has used videotapes of Steve’s teaching as models for other staff members. Both Ken and Suzy Fitch have commended Steve on his strong teaching skills, specifically in the areas of session skills, modulation and reinforcement.

There are examples far too numerous to mention of Steve working successfully with students who have never before been successful in school.  One such example is his work with Ricky, who started on Steve’s caseload at the beginning of 2007 – 2008 school year.  Ricky was initially staffed as a 1:1 student, whose compliance level was much lower than typical newly enrolled elementary students.  As seen in his well-charted data, Ricky’s behavior has improved steadily in all areas.

Steve recently presented data on Ricky and other students’ progress at the Elementary program achievement report.  Steve’s relaxed and competent speaking style makes him an excellent presenter, and the data he displayed were truly impressive.

Steve actively seeks out learning opportunities and immediately puts what he has learned into practice.  He enthusiastically submits video of his own teaching for evaluation, and is quick to follow through on fine-tuning his skills based on feedback he receives.  He recently completed the requirements for his M/S credential, as requested by TIEE, to supplement his existing M/M credential.

Steve is an outstanding coach and trainer of fellow staff members, and is a natural leader. He is able to build on the strengths of those with whom he works and provide corrective feedback in a positive and problem-solving manner.  His consistent positive attitude and good humor set the tone for others and make his classroom and the entire program a welcoming place to be.  Steve is often requested as a supervisor due to his high level of skill and his genuine concern for the growth of his fellow staff members, in addition to that of his students.  He delivers feedback in a way that is both supportive and helpful.

Because of these qualities, Steve has played a key leadership role in the Elementary program.  He conducted or assisted with a large percentage of the video coaching sessions conducted by our program (as documented in our Program Achievement report).  In addition, Steve was largely responsible for training and assisting new teachers in our program this year.

In addition to working well with students and staff members, Steve maintains excellent relationships with parents of his students.  His communicates regularly with them in a way that reflects his competence and caring about students’ progress.  There are many examples of Steve working with parents who have a history of being “difficult”, but who report that for the first time they are happy with their child’s progress.

The quality of Steve’s work on student programs and documents such as IEPs and BIPs is always extremely high.  His work is clearly well thought-out, and in the very best interest of his students.  Steve is a model trainer for others in writing and implementing these plans.

Steve is a team player, who enhances the program with his humor and positive attitude, and his enthusiasm is infectious.  He is the first to volunteer to test out new curriculum or to work with an especially challenging student, group, or parent.  He is willing to try anything, and he makes work fun for those around him.

Steve takes action to promote excellence in the program.  He is a hands-on problem-solver, and both students and staff members consult with Steve when they need guidance.  He takes initiative to be where he is needed, and he readily assists others as needed.

Aside from his professionalism and work ethic, Steve is a fun and caring individual.  He always takes the time to chat with staff members to see how they’re doing.  He has hosted holiday parties at his home the last 3 years that were highly attended by staff members and their families.  As a result of his personal and professional attributes, staff members thrive under his tutelage.

I’m sure that Elementary program team members as well as all others who have had the pleasure to work with Steve would agree that he truly deserves this recognition.