The second of three "bright spot" briefs examines how states are leveraging ARP funds to improve SEL for all students through collaboration among schools, families, and communities. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) provided a $122 billion historic federal investment in K-12 education to help states and districts safely reopen…

Traditional definitions of school readiness have focused primarily on the skills, knowledge and abilities children need for educational success. However, these definitions have evolved in recent years to encompass a multidimensional view, adding physical and mental health, social and emotional skills, executive functioning and self-regulation, and…

Strength-based assessment of behaviors in preschool children provides evidence of emotional and behavioral skills in children, rather than focusing primarily on weaknesses identified by deficit-based assessments. The Preschool Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scales (PreBERS) is a normative assessment of emotional and behavioral strengths in…

The Early Learning Challenge (ELC) program awarded more than $1 billion in four-year grants to 20 States to implement comprehensive and cohesive high-quality early learning systems that support young children with high needs and their families. A key lever in making these improvements was the enhancement of States' Quality Rating and Improvement…

This InfoBrief discusses challenges faced by youth and young adults with mental health needs during their transition to adulthood and describes strategies used by youth service professionals to avoid age-related transition cliffs and prevent service interruptions during this critical stage of development. This InfoBrief is based on a rich body of…

This final report describes activities of a 3-year federally supported program designed to enable school systems to establish and implement systematic transition planning to meet the multicultural needs of preschool-aged children with disabilities and their families moving into kindergarten and other general education settings. The program model…

This final report describes a project in Vermont which developed, implemented, evaluated, and disseminated a program development model for establishing new, and for improving existing, comprehensive early childhood special education services to young (birth to 5 years) children with disabilities and their families in rural settings. The model…

Vermont's I-Team has provided technical assistance and training to educational team members serving children with disabilities for 25 years. Characteristics of sustainable human services programs include flexibility, collaborative consultation, consideration and inclusion of families and communities, competent management, on-going training for all…

This guide provides an understanding of the scope and purpose of educational services in Vermont for young children with handicaps and their families. Section titles are as follows, with chapter titles in parentheses: (1) "Overall Program Development" ("Programmatic Philosophy and Policies,""Planning and…

This final report describes: (1) a model designed to help the transition of young children with special needs from early childhood programs into regular kindergarten and other regular education environments; and (2) the impact of TEEM (Transition into the Elementary Education Mainstream) Outreach in disseminating and replicating the model…

This final report describes a demonstration project in Addison County, Vermont, to increase the capacity of families, educators, and other service providers to serve children and youth with serious emotional disturbances in their homes, schools, and community settings rather than in residential settings. The project developed, field-tested, and…

Five families participating in the Vermont Rural Autism Project (VT-RAP) assessment process were interviewed. An overall theme of shifting attitudes emerged as well as 3 sub-themes: getting enrolled, becoming friends, and empowerment and transformation. All parents reported having a unique and meaningful experience of involvement in their child's…

This study evaluated implementation of a federally funded outreach project, Bridges (Best Practice-Based Services for Including Students with Serious Emotional Disturbance in General Education), at one elementary school in Vermont. The project is designed to build the capacity of rural public schools to fully include students with severe…

The Vermont Interagency Coordinating Council for Families, Infants and Toddlers (VICC) was established by federal law to advise the Vermont Department of Education and the Agency of Human Services on the statewide system of early intervention services for families of children with special needs, ages birth to three. In Vermont, the early…