Candace Cortiella is director of The Advocacy Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the development of products, projects, and services that work to improve the lives of people with disabilities. A disability rights advocate for 20 years, Ms. Cortiella has provided training and advocacy services for families of students with disabilities and worked as a government affairs associate for a leading learning disabilities organization. She writes and speaks frequently on the intersect of the IDEA and ESEA, most recently known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

Rachel Quenemoen - at the time of this presentation - was a Senior Research Fellow and national technical assistance team leader for the National Center on Educational Outcomes. Ms. Quenemoen has worked for 30 years as an educational sociologist focused on research to practice efforts. She has been a multidistrict cooperative administrator in both general and special education, and for the last 15 years has worked at the State and national levels on educational change processes and reform efforts related to standards-based reform and students with disabilities, building consensus and capacity among practitioners and policy makers. Her current research and technical assistance priorities include alternate assessment of students with significant disabilities and research focused on the causes of and solutions for “gap” issues.