SELPA Executive Consultant
East County SELPA

U.S.: California Hub | NORTH AMERICA

Dr. Jennifer Yales works as the SELPA Executive Consultant for the High Quality IEPs project out of East County Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA). The HQ IEPs project works collaboratively within the California Statewide System of Support (SSOS) to increase the knowledge and engagement of families and students and build the capacity of Local Education Agencies (LEAs), County Office of Education (COE) and Special Education Local Plan Areas (SELPAs) so that IEP design and development will result in educational benefit.

Jennifer firmly believes that all students can learn and leverages her strong sense of responsibility and passion to develop and implement structures and systems that facilitate learning for all students. She is a lifelong learner with over twenty years of experience in the field of special education. For sixteen of those years, she worked for a large urban school district in California, growing from a classroom teacher to a school psychologist before being promoted to three distinct administrative leadership roles within the district, one of which was the position of SELPA Director. After five years as SELPA Director, Jennifer took her enthusiasm for learning, expertise in special education and commitment to professional learning and started working within the CA SSOS where she was the Senior Director for the System Improvement Leads (SIL) grant within the West San Gabriel Valley SELPA until 2023.

An area of interest for Jennifer are the dynamics and interconnectedness of parents/caregivers and school districts. Dr. Yales’ doctoral work focused on parent perceptions of collaboration during the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process with their school district. As a parent herself of a son with autism, Jennifer is committed both professionally and personally to the continuous improvement of school districts in providing equitable education for all students.

Jennifer sees the Certificate Program for Compassionate Systems Master Practitioners as an excellent opportunity to continue her learning interconnectedness to continue to contribute to the education system with an emphasis on community and research.