Brucie Ball: Brucie Ball is currently the Assistant Superintendent, Office of Special Education and Psychological Services (SPED), Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS), the fourth largest school district in the nation. She is responsible for the administration of all SPED programs for more than 43,000 students with disabilities. Additionally, she oversees the day-to-day operation of the Division of Psychological Services which provide educational programs and services to a culturally diverse student population.

Ms. Ball graduated from the University of Louisville and started her career with M-DCPS in 1979 as an elementary school teacher. She has held several senior level administrative positions during her tenure in the District and serves on numerous local, state and national committees. She was the moderator for a local public access television program, Broader Opportunities for the Learning Disabled Presents.

Under her leadership, the Office of Special Education and Psychological Services has implemented many initiatives to enhance educational programs. They include expanding inclusionary models, improving graduation rates, implementing School Support Teams (SST) and Student Teacher Support Team (ST2), increasing school-to-work initiatives, and working to assure proper funding for the Divisions of SPED and Psychological Services.

David Riley: David Riley, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Urban Special Education Leadership Collaborative, a national network of education administrators responsible for policy, procedural, and programmatic decision-making affecting children and youth with disabilities in urban school districts. Initiated in the Spring of 1994 under the auspices of Education Development Center, Inc., in Newton, Massachusetts, more than 100 large, medium, and small urban school districts are now enrolled as members. The Collaborative is a national version of the Massachusetts Urban Project, a state-wide network that Dr. Riley founded in 1979 and that continues to provide leadership development and cross-district networking opportunities for special education leaders in that state. For more than 25 years, he has served as an organizational and management consultant to local, state, and federal education agencies. Dr. Riley serves in a leadership position on several federally-funded initiatives and, for the past 14 years, has served as Educational Co-Chair of the Summer Institute on Critical Issues in Urban Special Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

• Coordinates efforts to recruit, retain and prepare qualified personnel
• Disseminates current and projected special education and related services supply and demand data
• Coordinates efforts among the SEA, Part C, LEAs, IHEs and professional associations
• Disseminates significant knowledge derived from research and other sources
• Adopts practices, materials, and technology proven to be effect through research and demonstration