June 9, 2026 — In classrooms across a district, the work of supporting students often happens in moments of quiet breakthroughs, daily persistence, and countless decisions made in service of learning.
Once a year, those moments come together in one place. The fourth annual ExceptiCON conference recently brought more than 400 Cobb County School District educators together to reflect, recharge, and recommit to the work of special education.
This year’s conference continued its mission of strengthening instructional practice while building a shared sense of purpose among educators. ExceptiCON served as a collaborative space for hundreds of general education teachers, special education staff, related service providers, and administrators. The conference focused on sharing strategies, building practical tools, and reinforcing a unified approach to supporting all learners.
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George Morgan, the District's Director of Special Education, emphasized that this year’s theme — Collaboration, Innovation, and Education — captures the heart of the work happening across schools:
“Collaboration reminds us that the work is too important and too complex to do alone. We cannot do the work in isolation," said Morgan.
He also highlighted that ExceptiCON is more than a professional learning event — it is both a celebration and a reset: “The goal of the conference is to bring people together as a culminating event to celebrate everything we’ve done for the school year and to fill in our toolbox with new strategies, and to fill our bucket emotionally, knowing we are collectively doing this work together," Morgan explained
A key focus of the conference is ensuring that learning translates directly into classroom practice. Morgan noted that success is seen when educators immediately apply new strategies:
“Teachers take all of the strategies and start implementing them immediately," he said, "We see through progress monitoring data that those strategies benefit students.”
This connection between professional learning and student outcomes reinforces the conference’s long-term value by supporting measurable student growth across the district.
ExceptiCON continues to serve as a cornerstone for professional learning in special education, reinforcing that when educators work together, student success follows.
