Parent Task Force Meetings
BLaST Intermediate Unit #17 will be hosting local Parent Task Force Meetings for the 2025 – 2026 school year.
The meeting schedule is as follows:
- November 6 at the Canton office
- January 22 at the Williamsport office
- April 16 at the Canton office
- May 21 at the Williamsport office
All meetings can be accessed via Zoom at https://iu17.zoom.us/j/83040484410
Gifted
- Hoagies Gifted Page
- National Association for Gifted Children
- NAEG Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development
- Gifted Liaisons
- The role of the Intermediate Unit Gifted Liaison is to: develop local gifted education networks to establish communication link between school districts, IUs and PDE, Assist in the development of materials for and participate in local, regional and statewide gifted education trainings, Work with other Gifted Liaisons to develop and conduct regional training, Engage in train-the-trainer sessions, Conduct training sessions and in-service trainings within districts, and Attend at least one professional development training in gifted education.
- The Pennsylvania Governor’s Schools of Excellence
- Sponsored by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Education, the Pennsylvania Governor’s Schools of Excellence are five-week long summer residential programs on college campuses committed to meeting the educational needs of artistically or academically talented high school students, including the gifted.
- PA Association for Gifted Education
- Access to resources concerning gifted education in Pennsylvania for students, parents, educators and legislators.
- Various Web Resources
Learning Disabilities
- What Works Clearinghouse
- Center for Data-driven Reform in Education
- Education World
- Connections to sites for parents, teachers, and students
- Circle of Inclusion
- Links to many helpful sites
- About.com, Special Ed
- Excellent website with links to very good articles, helpful printables, etc. Sign up and newsletters will be sent to your mailbox. The secondary education site has been helpful and I am sure the elementary site is also very good.
- LD Online
- TotallyFree Children’s Learning Network
- Content Help
- Help with High School content areas from Algebra to Statistics
- School Age Forms
- Special Education Forms
- Procedural Safe Guard Notice
Reading
- Reading Rockets
- Texas Primary Reading Inventory
- Teaching beginning reading in which instruction is tied to ongoing assessment
- Reading Strategies for General Education Content Areas
- Adolescent Literature
- Very good reference site for both parents and teachers for literacy topics on middle and high school students
- Center on Instruction
- Also covers Math, Science, ELL, and Special Education K-12
- Unearth a Story – Summer Learning 2026