Section 107 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (Rehabilitation Act), requires the Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to conduct annual reviews and periodic on-site monitoring of programs authorized under Title I of the Rehabilitation Act to determine whether a vocational rehabilitation (VR) agency is…

This document focuses on state education agency (SEA) support for child find, consultation and provision of equitable service provisions for parentally placed private school students with disabilities. Project Forum at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) completed this activity as part of its cooperative…

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Technical Assistance and Dissemination (TA&D) Program is the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) primary vehicle for providing technical assistance (TA) to individuals and organizations responsible for serving children with disabilities and their families. The evaluation is part…

Technical assistance (TA) has long been a standard, overarching strategy for assisting, states, agencies, family members, and practitioners with building capacity for service and system change initiatives. But, what is meant by the term "technical assistance"? What is known about the technical assistance strategies that are likely to…

Historically, states in the northeast region have differed considerably from neighboring states in the percentage of their special education student population served in different educational environments. Placement data indicate the degree to which students with disabilities are placed in the least restrictive environment (LRE) along the…

In order to investigate what types of training and technical assistance (TA) are needed by Early Head Start programs in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin (EHS Waves I & II), particularly with regard to children with special needs, the Great Lakes Quality Improvement Center for Disabilities (GLQIC-D) and the Region V…

This report presents the deliberations of the Northwest Regional Advisory Committee (NW RAC), one of 10 RACs established under the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 to assess the educational needs of the region. The Northwest RAC accepted its charge to identify educational needs and to make recommendations, working collaboratively as…

The project sought to develop guidelines and materials to more fully integrate paraprofessional personnel into special education programs administered by public schools and other provider agencies, and to improve the performance and productivity of paraprofessionals working in elementary and secondary level special education programs. Overall…

The Report is organized by Performance Measure, followed by a collection of lessons learned, not only from the findings but also from the process of obtaining them. Appendices offer the original protocols, and the full texts of the original Network Evaluation Framework and the Network Accountability Report Plan. An Executive Summary provides a…

The Great Lakes Quality Improvement Center for Disabilities (GLQIC-D) serves Head Start programs in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin, and conducts an annual needs assessment of these programs. For the 1998-99 assessment, 229 Head Start directors completed the survey, which gathered information regarding: (1) program…

This study sought to identify resources available and training/technical assistance needs of personnel employed by projects serving American Indians and Alaska Natives under the provisions of Section 130 of the Rehabilitation Act. Section 130 authorizes funding of vocational rehabilitation service grants to the governing bodies of Indian tribes on…

This paper describes a needs assessment instrument that is intended to effectively communicate recommended practice ideas for serving children with disabilities to teachers, families, and service delivery personnel. The instrument is in the form of a quality indicators checklist and utilizes 143 statements of recommended practice. The inclusion of…

A handbook to assist states in fulfilling requirements of Public Law 94-142 to provide a Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) for special education staff is presented. The handbook is intended to help writers develop, review, update, and implement the CSPD, which is one section of the state plan submitted to the federal government.…

A follow-up study of 15 project offices (involving 50 administrative and support staff responses) was conducted to determine the progress of the American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation projects in addressing previously identified training and technical assistance needs, as authorized by Title 1, Part D, Section 130 of the Rehabilitation Act of…

This report discusses a study that examined state technical assistance (TA) infrastructures that support research-based practices for improved outcomes for students with disabilities served under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The 10 participating states included: Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, Montana, Oklahoma,…