Each year at the Teaching Learning Coaching conference, The Instructional Coaching Group presents The Don Deshler Leadership Award to someone who has made a great impact on teaching and education. This award was created to honor Dr. Donald D. Deshler who directed more than 250 research studies while at University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. Among many other accolades, the Council for Exceptional Children named him one of the 10 most influential people in special education in the 20th century.