The California Alliance for Inclusive Schooling (CAIS) had its first meeting on October 18, 2018 at the California Council on Teacher Education conference.  CAIS emerged from recent statewide conversations regarding how best to support inclusive teacher preparation programs to ensure good schools for all students. The mission of the Alliance is to support, unify, and promote efforts to increase inclusive schooling in California. The Alliance is an intersegmental group of professionals dedicated to the development of inclusive schools for all students. The steering committee is composed of key representatives of the education segments in California (see below).

Steering Committee:
Don Cardinal, (co-chair), Chapman University, Thompson Policy Institute
Marquita Grenot-Scheyer (co-chair), The California State University, Office of the Chancellor
Victoria Graf, Loyola Marymount University, California Association of Professors of Special Education Teacher Education (CAPSE) & CCTE
Mary Vixie Sandy, California Commission on Teacher Credentialing
Barbara Murchison, California Department of Education
Wayne Sailor, The University of Kansas, SWIFT Center
Paul Sindelar, The Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR) Center
Kristin Wright, California Department of Education

The purpose of this inaugural meeting was to share initiatives and practices regarding inclusive schooling for all students in California and discuss how we might work across disciplines and across K-12 and higher education to ensure high quality inclusive education and inclusive teacher preparation. At this organizational meeting, we developed three working groups; Policy, Preparation, and Practice. Each group will continue its work in these respective areas.

The California Alliance for Inclusive Schooling is sponsoring the Policy Summit on Disability on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 from 1-4 p.m. in Sacramento. Register for this event at tpi@chapman.edu.