January 2026
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
Welcome to January’s edition of the Buzz from the Hub! Happy New Year! Wishing you a year filled with positive and uplifting experiences. This month’s Buzz highlights activities to honor and celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day and, as always, includes resources across Early Childhood, Education, Youth, Young Adults, and Parent Leadership.
In this issue of the Buzz from the Hub you’ll find the following resources:
- Pre-K Reading Assessment
- IDEA Disability Category Tip Sheet Series
- Making the Move to Managing Your Own Personal Assistance Services: A Toolkit for Youth
- Plan Your Future: A Guide to Vocational Rehabilitation for Deaf Youth
- Enhancing the School-Home Connection: Empowering Parents with Artificial Intelligence
Finally, don’t miss the upcoming virtual events in the Upcoming Events section.
Best wishes and happy reading,
The CPIR Team
Featured Resource!
Learning and Living the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Lesson plans, activity ideas & other resources for teaching MLK Day
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Learning and Living the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. from the National Education Association (NEA) offers a wide range of lesson plans, activities, and educational resources designed to help students understand Dr. King’s life and his significance in American history.
Access all the resources here.
Shareable Resources
Early Childhood |
Pre-K Reading Assessment
The Pre-K Reading Assessment from the National Center on Improving Literacy (NCIL) is an interactive experience designed to help adults understand the early reading and language skills of their pre-kindergarten students. Children complete short, playful activities guided by Moji and Pebble, while adults score their responses. It can be used in classrooms, learning centers, or at home to observe early literacy development.
Education |
IDEA Disability Category Tip Sheet Series
This series of tip sheets developed by the PROGRESS Center, provides an overview of the qualifying disability categories as outlined in IDEA, describes how these disabilities may impact students, shares strategies for success, and provides links to additional resources.
Youth |
Making the Move to Managing Your Own Personal Assistance Services: A Toolkit for Youth
This guide from the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth) assists youth in strengthening some of the most fundamental skills essential for successfully managing their own Personal Assistance Services (PAS): effective communication, time-management, working with others, and establishing professional relationships.
Young Adults |
Plan Your Future: A Guide to Vocational Rehabilitation for Deaf Youth
This guide by the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes explains how vocational rehabilitation (VR) services can support deaf young people in planning and achieving their education and career goals, outlining available services, how to apply, and tips for working with VR agencies to get the most out of the process.
Parent Leadership |
Enhancing the School-Home Connection: Empowering Parents with Artificial Intelligence
Chapter 5 from the Center for Innovation, Design, and Digital Learning (CIDDL) report, Artificial Intelligence: The Impact of AI on Education for All Learners, emphasizes the pivotal role of parents in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into their children’s educational journey, particularly for students with disabilities. It underscores the importance of collaboration between schools and parents to ensure AI effectively enhances learning experiences in and out of the classroom.
Access the chapter here.
Upcoming Events
School Avoidance and Mental Health Needs
Join the PACER Center for this workshop to learn more about ways to support your student, interventions and resources that can help, and how special education or a 504 plan can address their mental health needs.
When: January 14, 2025
Time: 1:00 pm ET
Raising Black Children in the Digital Age: Culture, Technology and Liberation
Celebrate Black History Month with Parenting While Black, a FREE dynamic four-part virtual conversation series by, for, and among Black parents. This year, the focus is on Raising Black Children in the Digital Age: Culture, Technology and Liberation.
The 60-minute conversations begin on February 2 and run through March 2, 2026.
When: February 2, 9, 23,
and March 2, 2026
Time: 3:00 pm ET
the Hub Central Event Calendar
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