2026 COSB Leadership Institute: Building Capacity

Join COSB's 2026 Institute. We're building the people, systems, and practices to support every learner who is blind or has low vision.
About this Event

COSB Leadership Institute 2026 — Building Capacity: Strengthening the people, systems, and practices to serve every student who is blind or has low vision

Join the Council of Schools and Services for the Blind (COSB) for a full day dedicated to building the capacity of our field so that every learner who is blind or has low vision is served by strong people, sound data, and sustainable practice. This year's Institute brings together directors, principals, coordinators, teachers, and leadership fellows from across the country to share what's working, tackle shared challenges, and leave with concrete tools we can put to use right away.

The day is organized into five sessions, each designed to build a different dimension of our capacity.

Building Capacity: Student Readiness & Leadership Growth opens the Institute. After welcoming new members, we'll explore how to prepare students who are blind and have low vision for college success. Then we'll move into two facilitated roundtable discussions: the first focusing on the practical realities of running a school or agency, the second focusing your own growth as a leader.

Building Capacity in Families and Teachers turns to the people closest to our students. Sessions spotlight the 4to24 app as a tool for empowering parents and students, and show how competency-based, asset-based practices can transform Expanded Core instruction.

Building the Workforce: Recruiting, Retaining, and Growing Talent confronts one of the field's most pressing challenges. Hear how the Tennessee School for the Blind is defining a standard for strong instruction, and learn strategies for attracting, retaining, and developing new teachers from an award-winning program leader.

Building Leadership Capacity: Harnessing Data demonstrates how leaders can turn information into action by streamlining outreach and service delivery and by using a national needs assessment to make defensible, data-informed decisions that strengthen advocacy and staffing.

Celebrating Our Capacity Builders closes the day as we honor this year's POSB and COSB award winners and the community that makes their work possible.

Throughout the day, you'll connect with colleagues, engage with our sponsors, and invest in both your students and yourself. Breakfast, lunch, and breaks are built in—so come ready to learn, share, and build capacity together.

Registration opens at 7:30 am. We look forward to building capacity together in 2026.

Agenda

🕑: 09:00 AM - 09:15 AM
Welcome and Meet New Members

Info: COSB Executive Director Joy Harris opens the Institute with a warm welcome and introduces our newest members. If it's your first year, prepare to be embraced by the encouragement of our community.

🕑: 09:15 AM - 09:45 AM
Leading the Way: Guiding Students to College Success

Info: Preparing students for success after high school is an ongoing concern for anyone, regardless of disability status, but a lack of higher education leads to low employment rates and lost opportunities. How do we make sure our blind and low visually students are ready for the rigors of college and can access all the tools they need? WSB has been asking those questions to build a college preparation program tailored to students who are blind or have low vision, drawing on conversations with college disability services offices and recent graduates. Learn what they've gathered and how to incorporate it into the services you provide to college-bound students.

🕑: 09:45 AM - 10:15 AM
Roundtable Discussion 1

Info: During this discussion, participants select a table organized around the practical realities of running a school or agency. Topics range from tackling your biggest operational challenges to preparing students for a technology-driven future, including building computer literacy. Each table offers a chance to trade strategies, surface common obstacles, and learn how peers are solving the day-to-day problems of school leadership. Come ready to share what's working, ask about what isn't, and leave with concrete ideas you can bring back to your building.

🕑: 10:15 AM - 10:45 AM
Roundtable Discussion 2

Info: The second roundtable shifts focus from running your school or agency to strengthening yourself as a leader. Participants choose a table based on the leadership skills they most want to develop, e.g. managing and engaging your board, selecting tools to track progress against your strategic plan, and other core competencies of effective leadership. These conversations are designed to help you sharpen your own practice, learn from the approaches of fellow leaders, and walk away with actionable tools and habits to advance your growth.

🕑: 10:45 AM - 11:00 AM
Break

Info: Take a moment to connect with colleagues, engage with our sponsors, and refresh for the sessions ahead.

🕑: 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM
4to24 in Practice: A Tool for Empowering Parents and Students

Info: This session highlights the 4to24 app, a free mobile resource for parents of children and youth ages 4 to 24 who are blind, have low vision, or are deafblind with additional disabilities. As an innovative tool for family engagement, the session focuses on how practitioners can use the app to support and empower parents, students, and families—connecting them with practical information, activities, and resources on independence, employment preparation, transition, advocacy, and long-term success.

🕑: 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Advancing EC Instruction with Competency-Based Learning/Asset-Based Practices

Info: This session demonstrates how competency-based learning (CBL), grounded in an asset-based approach, can transform Expanded Core instruction for students who are blind or have low vision in both itinerant and school-based settings. Participants will learn to personalize ECC instruction by focusing on clear competencies, leveraging student strengths, and providing flexible pathways to mastery across all ECC domains. The session highlights practical methods for mapping and tracking progress, facilitating student self-assessment, and using feedback cycles to drive growth.

🕑: 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Enjoy the buffet lunch

Info: Connect with a colleague during lunch, and take a little time to invest in your own wellness.

🕑: 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM
Capacity Building at the Tennessee School for the Blind

Info: This session tells the story of TSB's efforts to support staff with blind/low vision training. Many new hires arrive without a background in the field and without the natural, incidental TVI skills to effectively accommodate their instruction for blind and low vision students. TSB has taken the stance that we must meet teachers where they are—no matter the circumstances—to fill knowledge gaps and increase the quality of education our students receive. These efforts have culminated in a strategy for defining the “TSB Standard” for strong blind/low vision instruction.

🕑: 01:30 PM - 02:00 PM
New Teacher Support: How to Attract, Retain, and Grow Your Newcomers

Info: With shrinking teacher-prep pipelines and complex issues within the profession, finding, keeping, and nurturing new educators is harder than ever. Hear from a multi-decade blind teacher who created and directed an award-winning new teacher support program in Indiana as she shares concepts and practical strategies you can contemplate, modify, or use directly with your own staff. This session will prompt you to consider what you are already doing that—intentionally or unintentionally—helps staff stay or depart, and how you can shift your practice and environment for everyone's benefit.

🕑: 02:00 PM - 02:15 PM
Break

Info: Recharge, broaden your connections, or take a quiet moment before the closing sessions.

🕑: 02:15 PM - 02:45 PM
The Outreach Protocol: Engineering a Seamless Plan of Service

Info: This session details a new, streamlined protocol for handling TSBVI Outreach requests for training, general questions, and technical assistance. Explore how the team redefined internal processes, updated engagement forms, and documented critical workflows. Attendees will see how these improvements ensure every request for support is met reliably while providing the robust documentation necessary to satisfy annual reporting requirements.

🕑: 02:45 PM - 03:15 PM
From Data to Decisions: Using a Nat'l AT Capacity Needs Assessment

Info: Schools and programs serving students who are blind or have low vision face increasing pressure to meet rapidly evolving assistive and access technology (AT) demands—often with limited staffing, funding, and training pipelines. This session shares findings from a national, IRB-approved needs assessment of AT service-delivery capacity conducted with administrators and program leaders. Drawing on survey data on staffing models, unmet technology needs, workforce gaps, and perceptions of the CATIS credential, it demonstrates how leaders can translate aggregated data into practical, defensible decisions—clarifying internal capacity gaps, strengthening advocacy with boards, funders, and policymakers, and informing innovative staffing and capacity-building models. The emphasis is on using data as a narrative tool that connects findings with the lived experiences of students, families, and staff to build momentum for change.

🕑: 03:15 PM - 04:00 PM
Celebrate POSB and COSB Award Winners

Info: We close by honoring the leaders and colleagues whose work builds capacity across our field. Join us in celebrating this year's POSB and COSB award winners and the community that makes their work possible.