Academic Degrees

• M.Ed. Special Education – Autism, James Madison University
• B.S. Special Education – Eastern Mennonite University

Jesse Rodriguez is an Education Coordinator for the Virginia Department of Education’s (VDOE) Region 5 Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC) at James Madison University. His focus areas include self-determination and low-incidence disabilities and he is always poking around with some sort of educational or assistive technology. In his current role as co-state coordinator of I’m Determined, a state-directed project funded by the VDOE that focuses on providing direct instruction, models, and opportunities to practice skills associated with self-determined behavior, he helps coordinate and support the work happening in all eight superintendent regions in Virginia.

Before becoming an Education Coordinator, Jesse worked as a special education teacher with students with intellectual disabilities and autism. Jesse believes in experiential learning, especially when it comes to educating and supporting students with and without disabilities so that today’s society can thrive from working among our similarities and differences.