Scott Callahan, Facilitator at Howard County Public School System in Maryland
Working across multiple district teams and departments, Scott Callahan has demonstrated significant impact working out of the Department of Special Education and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to achieve considerable positive outcomes in equity for students and staff. Callahan designs, facilitates, and implements system-wide efforts and professional learning sessions on topics such as Disability Acceptance, Disrupting Disproportionate Discipline Practices, Inclusive Best Practices, Culturally Responsive Teaching, Trauma Responsive Strategies, and more.
Scott Callahan has taught in some of the largest and most diverse cities and areas of the country. After obtaining a BA in Music Education from Loyola University in New Orleans, he relocated to New York City, where he was selected to be a Teaching Fellow, one of fewer than 500 individuals selected out of more than 9000 applicants. He spent the next eight years teaching in New York, on the Lower East Side, in Harlem, and the Upper West Side, across all levels of K-12 education, while simultaneously completing his Masters of Education degree from Pace University. In 2018, Mr. Callahan returned to Maryland and taught in the Howard County Public School System, first as a middle school special educator, and currently as a Facilitator of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Read his article: How to Fix a Broken Education System in the United States?
Tasked with addressing reductions in disproportionate practices in discipline and overidentification in special education, Callahan has led, and supported district wide efforts that have resulted in decreases in overall district discipline disposition practices, and in identification within special education for specifically targeted disability codes. He curates a library of equity resources for colleagues to access for instruction and facilitation. Callahan co-created the district wide mentorship intervention to support select students with differentiated social-emotional, academic, and behavioral needs. The intervention began as a pilot program with three cohorts in one elementary school, and has grown to more than ten cohorts across six elementary and two middle schools in just three years time. He is an active and effective member of multiple community workgroups that influence policy, practices, and procedures directly impact educational equity for students and families.
