COPPERAS COVE – Copperas Cove ISD is serving as a model for districts across Texas.
This week, Texas School Business released its 19th annual Bragging Rights magazine, spotlighting the most exceptional programs across Texas. Copperas Cove ISD was included for the first time in 2025, spotlighting the special education department’s robust mentorship program for diagnosticians in the district.
The program was created to address challenges in finding enough certified educational diagnosticians, who assess students to determine critical needs and services a student requires to succeed in school.
“It’s a grow-your-own-type mindset,” said CCISD Director of Special Education Cynthia Lavallee in the article. “If we provide them mentorship and training, they’ll want to stay because of all that support.”
New diagnosticians are provided with high levels of support when they begin at CCISD with weekly meetings, mentor assignments and a gradual release process before being left to do the full scope of the job on their own. This is unique to Copperas Cove ISD, as diagnosticians are typically expected to begin the full scope of the job from day one.
The diagnostician mentorship program launched in the 2024-25 school year and helped reduce the need for costly outside contractors in the district’s special education department. It also increased the familiarity of brand new diagnosticians learning the ins and outs of detailed assessments and the complexity they bring. The new diagnostician is afforded a baby-step process in order to become proficient at testing before being left to their own devices.
“Across the state, districts are feeling the struggle of hiring certified special education professionals to serve students who need more help in school,” said Superintendent Dr. Brent Hawkins. “While our district is no different, Mrs. Lavallee is exceptional at finding innovative solutions to these challenges, so that our students continue to have every possible opportunity to succeed. With this program’s inclusion in Bragging Rights, all of Texas will get to see what we’ve known all along about Mrs. Lavallee and her team in Copperas Cove.”
Lavallee, a former diagnostician herself, works closely with Assistant Director Angie Sharp and Special Education Coordinator Jennifer Stevenson to train the next generation of diagnosticians in Bulldawg Country.
“I can appreciate how much help you need in the beginning,” Lavallee said in the article. “The laws change quickly.”
Bragging Rights is part of Texas School Business’ portfolio of news magazines specific to Texas public education and has been published by the Texas Association of School Administrators since 2014.
To read the full article on CCISD’s diagnostician mentor program, visit the Texas School Business website.
For a list of current opportunities in Copperas Cove ISD, or to apply to become a Bulldawg today, visit www.CCISD.com/Jobs.