We’ve got big changes for 2024 – please read carefully!

This year, Virginia will be hosting the International Division on Career Development and Transition (DCDT) conference. It’s a really big deal! So instead of making VA educators decide between Aspire and DCDT, Aspire will take place as part of a pre-conference at the DCDT event.

The theme of the pre-conference is: Building a Culture of Self-Determination.

Self-determination has always been a big part of a student’s transitional years. Practicing the I’m Determined Elements, or skills, abilities, and beliefs associated with self-determined behavior all point to higher outcomes for students with disabilities. The problem is that not all students have the same opportunity to practice these elements. For that reason, embedding a culture of self-determination into the fabric of a school division is critical, as it allows for higher levels of competence, autonomy, and relatedness to be felt by youth and educators. We will showcase how to build a culture of self-determination into existing frameworks and will discuss the importance of this practice.

Besides the pre-conference, the I’m Determined Team has collaborated with VA educators to provide sessions during the main conference, all showcasing opportunities to practice self-determination skills such as:

🚀 Join educators from across the globe for 250 sessions – many of which focus on self-determination! Click here for more information about the event.

Since this event is being hosted by DCDT, all registration will go through the conference website. We’d love to see you at the pre-conference so be sure to register for that as well, but if that can’t happen I’m Determined will be showcased in many other regular conference sessions (see above).

Pro-tip: You can save money on registration by becoming a DCDT member. If you’re already a CEC member, you can add DCDT to it. Here’s a link to the CEC membership page if you’re interested. It’s a great professional organization to be a part of, especially if you are interested in the transition field.

After this year, we plan to return to the annual event we host.