Alice Parker

Alice Parker is a Special Education Consultant for Community Gatepath. She is also the Executive Director of Innovation and Dissemination for Special Education for Aspire Public Schools, a Charter Management Organization. Her focus is to develop a cutting edge special education program that meets federal and state compliance but is rooted in a Response to Intervention model and focused on greatly improved outcomes for any child at risk of school failure. Alice also works as a consultant to State Departments of Education, local school districts and agencies and provides support, consultation, and training in leadership, reducing disproportion, implementation of Response to Intervention, best practice in special education, and systems’ change.

She was previously the Director of Strategic Educational Services for Sopris West Educational Services, a Cambium Learning company specializing in reaching the tough to teach with proven and practical products, programs, professional development, and consultation. She is the past president of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education and the 2006 recipient of their Heritage Award for service to children with disabilities and the nation. She has also received the Friend of Children Award from the National Association of School Psychologists for her contribution to national policy and legislation on behalf of children with disabilities and their parents. She was Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Director of Special Education, California Department of Education for more than 8 years, providing leadership for state and federal programs for California’s more than 690,000 children and youth in need. Prior to becoming State Director she was a local district director for student services, a school principal, a manager of special education programs, an augmentative specialist, and a teacher.

Alice has a doctorate from the University of San Francisco in Education-Organization and Leadership, a Masters in Communicative Disorders from San Francisco State University, and a B.A. from Indiana University in Speech Pathology and Audiology.

Alice is married to Tony with five children, ages 44, twins—39, 34, and 29. She has two bright and beautiful granddaughters, and two handsome, wonderful grandsons. Her three passions, other than her family and her work, are gardening, cooking, and golf.