Gerry Olvey

Senior Instructor, Special Education
College of Education

1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
(719) 262-3934

eolvey@uccs.edu

• Education
• Teaching
• Service

Geralynn has worked in the field of special education since 1974. She taught for 9 years as a special educator in a variety of public school settings in grades K-12. Geralynn worked for 18 years as a special education administrator in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She then served for 2 years as a Program Specialist for Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center. Currently, she is an instructor in Special Education at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Previously, Geralynn taught at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs for 17 years as an adjunct faculty member in the fields of Special Education and Educational Leadership.

She has worked closely over the years with the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) on several special education projects on a variety of topics. She has worked with CDE in the area of large scale assessment, on issues of alternate assessment, in the improvement of teacher preparation programs and in the application of a response to intervention model to the identification of students with learning disabilities.

Education

Ed.D., Special Education
University of Northern Colorado - August 1981

M.Ed., Special Education - Hearing Disabilities
University of North Florida - 1978

M.Ed., Special Education - Learning Disabilities
University of North Florida - 1976

B.A.E, Elementary Education
University of North Florida - 1974

Teaching

Introduction to Special Education course to both special education and general education undergraduate and graduate students.
The course is designed to prepare teachers based on the Colorado Performance Standards for Teachers with an emphasis on the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004) and the various disabilities that may be encountered in its implementation. There is a particular emphasis placed on the learning challenges of various groups of students with disabilities, and the instructional and or assessment accommodations and modifications that may be necessary as a result of those disabilities. Students are required to spend 30 hours in the field exploring special education.

Service

Community

• Member, Steering Committee,
  Continuous Improvement and Monitoring Process (CIMP),
  Academy School District 20.
• Member, Editorial Review Board for
  Teaching Exceptional Children,
  published by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC).

Local / State

• Member, Significant Support Needs Task Force,
  Colorado Department of Education.
• Co-facilitator, the Perceptual Communicative Disability (PCD)
  Task Force, Colorado Department of Education.
  The Task Force is working on recommendations for changes to the Exceptional Children's Education Act in the area of PCD eligibility.
• Collaborating with the Pikes Peak Board of Cooperative Services (PPBOCES) to establish a UCCS / PPBOCES Special Education Teacher in Residence Program.