Melissa DeVries

Experience

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  Page Unified School District

  Jan 1989 - Jun 2011

  Director of Page Unified School District Exceptional Student Services including: special education ELL, gifted and preschool programs. Wrote policy and oversaw IDEA compliance for district. Completed annual reports, developed and oversaw department budget and staffing including: hiring, evaluation, supervision and training of a staff of approximately 90 professionals. Served on district leadership team and reported to the superintendent. Collaborated with other district administration in program development and implementation. Wrote and oversaw Federal Preschool Demonstration Grant of over one million dollars which included budget management, record keeping, preparing Federal reports, evaluating the project, hiring staff and assisting with audits and compliance. Show less Developed Page Unified School District’s program for gifted and talented students including identification methods for under-represented populations, honors courses, AP, AVID, cluster grouping and service of twice exceptional. Trained staff in differentiation, teaching gifted and talented, gifted and talented policy, and national trends in gifted education. Developed and taught college courses for gifted staff development. Researched and wrote a federal Javits Grant bringing in one million dollars to PUSD for development of the gifted programs. Spoke nationally in regards to underrepresented populations in gifted education. Worked with building level administration in developing programs for ELL students, including staff development, testing and state reporting. Show less

  • Director of Educational Services

    Jul 2006 - Jun 2011

  • Gifted and ELL Coordinator

    Jul 2003 - Jun 2006

  • Teacher

    Jan 1989 - Jun 2003
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  CEC, AZCASE, CASE, NAGT, etc

  Jan 2005 - Jan 2018

  Speaker

  Speaker - National Association for Gifted Children Conference. How Can Education Become Culturally Relevant for Gifted Native Americans, Buried Treasure, Identifying Under-represented Populations in Gifted Education Speaker - National Council for Exceptional Children's Conference 2007 - Buried Treasure, Identifying Under-represented Populations in Gifted Education2008 – Making Education Relevant for Gifted Native Americans, 2016 - Raising Student Achievement for Students with DisabilitiesSpeaker - Arizona Association for Gifted and Talented Conference 2005-06 – Identifying Under-represented Populations in Gifted Education, A Javits Grant Project2007 - Buried Treasure, Identifying Under-represented Populations in Gifted Education 2008 – Making Education Relevant for Non-verbally Gifted StudentsSpeaker –Native American Leadership Summit 2009 - Gifted Education for Native American Students Speaker – ADE MEGA Conference2014 – Using Response to Intervention to Identify Specific Learning Disabilities, 2015 – Raising Student Achievement for All StudentsSpeaker – ADE Directors Institute Conference 2013 – MTSS is alive and Well in Arizona, 2014 – Raising Student Achievement for Students with Disabilities, 2015 - Raising Student Achievement for Students with DisabilitiesSpeaker – ADE Leading Change Conference 2013 – MTSS is alive and Well in Arizona, 2014 – Raising Student Achievement for Students with Disabilities 2015 – Implementing MTSSSpeaker - Evidenced Based Practice Conference NAU 2014 – Using Data to Raise Student AchievementSpeaker – AZCEC/CASE Conference2014 – Raising Student Achievement for ALL Students – A look at successful programs. Speaker - Stimulating, Motivating, Innovative, Learning for Educators Conference2015 – Raising Student Achievement for Students with DisabilitiesSpeaker – National CASE Conference2015 Characteristics of Successful Schools, Raising Student Achievement for Students with Disabilities Show less

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  Prufrock Press

  Jan 2010 - Jan 2010

  Co-Author "Making Education Relevant for Gifted Native American's: Teaching to Their Learning Style"

  Co-Author - Chapter "Making Education Relevant for Gifted Native American's: Teaching to Their Learning Style", Jaime Castellano's book Special Populations in Gifted Education, Prufrock Press.Special Populations in Gifted Education: Understanding Our Most Able Students From Diverse Backgrounds brings together the leading experts in the field, who combine both knowledge of and leadership experience with gifted students from diverse backgrounds.

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  Arizona Department of Education

  Nov 2012 - May 2016

  Director of State Initiatives ESS at ADE

  Federal Reporting, leadership, professional development, public speaking, supervision, program evaluation, state leadership, program development, interpret state and federal special education law. Develops, coordinates, supervises, and evaluates the approval process and oversight of all state approved private day schools, residential and institutional voucher and ED-P programs. Lead development of state framework for multi-tiered system of support. Answers questions from the public pertaining to the state and federal requirements that apply to special education, continuous improvement, MTSS, and results driven accountability. Managed satellite office for Arizona Department of Education Show less

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  Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind - ASDB

  May 2016 - now

  Director of Federal Programs / Special Education

  Organizational Development, School Improvement Leader, State and Federal Reporting, Staff Development, Grant Writing/Implementation/Compliance, Special Education Compliance, Data Collection and Interpretation.