Due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, almost all school districts rapidly shifted to distance learning in spring of the 2019-2020 school year. This shift laid bare both the logistical and instructional challenges of distance learning, particularly for English learners and students with disabilities, both of whom have faced…

This is the third document in the Education and Human Resources Consortium's Series on Collaboration. Initiated in 1988, the Consortium is a loosely-knit coalition of 24 national organizations whose shared goal is for more responsive delivery of education and human services to children and families. This Series is designed to bring resources that…

This joint position paper of the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and the World Health Organization is presented in booklet form and urges cooperative approaches to promoting community-based rehabilitation (CBR) of people with disabilities. A definition of CBR is offered. It…

State and local efforts at interagency collaboration for handicapped children are examined in a report that first describes the mandates of P.L. 94-142, The Education For All Handicapped Children Act. Effective approaches to state-level interagency collaboration in Louisiana, Delaware, Maine, New Jersey, Michigan, Rhode Island, Massachusetts,…

A trend toward increased use of interdistrict collaboratives to provide special education and related services has been noted over the past 2 decades, as school districts, particularly rural districts, face more complex educational demands. A survey of 50 state directors of special education found that 36 states have some form of state-governed…

Between 1975 and 1984, small secondary schools in Northern Ontario (Canada) suffered a period of declining enrollment. This document is designed to address the decisions made by these schools regarding program delivery during this period. Program delivery strategies are examined and documented based on information from 22 small secondary schools…

The report details accomplishments of Texas's Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) program and describes the program's interagency organization and services. The history of early intervention in Texas is traced and the need for early intervention documented. Interagency cooperation among the departments of health, mental health and mental…

Children with serious mental or emotional disorders require a range of services and supports, as do their families. Yet fragmentation of services and conflicting program rules have long impeded children's and families' access to needed care. This issue brief examines how federal programs and rules have contributed to this fragmentation and…

A study examined the impact of state comprehensive cooperative agreements on vocational education programs for handicapped youth. During the study, 45 local educational agencies operating in 17 states with comprehensive cooperative state agreements were asked to rate the degree of influence that the state agreement had on such programming areas as…

This booklet focuses on the role of interagency agreements in facilitating the transition of young children and their families from early intervention services to preschool services as children turn 3 years of age. Interagency agreements can be viewed as an "invisible brace" supporting families and staff as they consider many issues in moving from…

The Partnership for Rural Improvement (PRI) designs and tests methods of creating and strengthening cooperation among providers and between providers and users of rural public services. PRI has defined six types of collaboration (voluntary, involuntary, formal, informal, direct, and indirect) and strives for voluntary collaboration among agencies,…

The document reports results of a project by the Minnesota University Affiliated Program to develop a comprehensive description of current case management practices serving persons with developmental disabilities. While multiple sources were surveyed, county case managers, case manager supervisors, and county directors of human service agencies…

This paper discusses the importance of interagency coordination in developing services for young children with handicaps and their families. It suggests strategies to improve the functioning of interagency coordinating councils by considering council membership, role definition, goal commitment, vision of the early intervention system, and use of…

The report describes a regionalized system of community based child health centers developed in Iowa to provide coordinated secondary level health services for children with chronic illness and handicapping conditions. The system is based on two principles: (1) Communities will be given the responsibility for determining which health services are…

To help improve nutrition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides nutrition education through five of its programs: Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP); Food Stamp Program (FSP); Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); National School Lunch Program (NLP); and Child and Adult Care…