Links

The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY) has new and updated guidance documents for families of children with disabilities:

• Categories of Disability Under IDEA (GR3)
• Your Child's Evaluation (BP1)
• Questions Often Asked by Parents about Special Education Services (LG1)
• Developing Your Child's IEP (PA12)
• Questions and Answers about IDEA: Purposes and Key Definitions
• Questions and Answers about IDEA: Parent Participation (QA2)

Truth in Labeling: Disproportionality in Special Education
The National Education Association (NEA)
First Edition 2007

Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports
The TA Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports has been established by the Office of Special Education Programs, US Department of Education to give schools capacity-building information and technical assistance for identifying, adapting, and sustaining effective school-wide disciplinary practices.

National Center on Response to Intervention
The American Institutes for Research and researchers from Vanderbilt University and the University of Kansas -- through funding from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) -- have established the National Center on response to intervention. The Center’s mission is to provide technical assistance to states and districts and building the capacity of states to assist districts in implementing proven models for RTI/EIS.

IDEA Partnership
The IDEA Partnership is dedicated to improving outcomes for students and youth with disabilities by joining state agencies and stakeholders through shared work and learning. The IDEA Partnership reflects the collaborative work of more than 55 national organizations, technical assistance providers, and organizations and agencies at state and local level. Together with the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), the Partner Organizations form a community with the potential to transform the way we work.

National Center for Special Education Personnel & Related Service Providers
Working to increase the nation's capacity to recruit, prepare and retain diverse highly qualified special educators, early intervention and related service providers.

National Dropout Prevention Centers
The National Dropout Prevention Center Network and the National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities provide knowledge and promote networking for researchers, practitioners, policymakers and families to increase opportunities for youth in at-risk situations to receive the quality education and services necessary to successfully graduate from high school.

Regional Parent Technical Assistance Centers:

Statewide Parent Advocacy Network
The Regional Parent and Information Center for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont (Region 1), SPAN provides statewide training and technical assistance for families of children with developmental delays or disabilities or those who are at risk for academic failure due to poverty, limited English proficiency, inadequate education, special health, emotional or other needs.

The Exceptional Children’s Assistance Center
The Regional Parent and Information Center for Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington DC, and West Virginia (Region 2), ECAC provides individual assistance to parents and families with children who have disabilities.

Partners Resource Network
The Regional Parent and Information Center for Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Texas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (Region 3), PRN’s services include training, education, information, referral, emotional support, and technical assistance.

The Wisconsin Family Assistance Center for Education, Training, and Support (WI-FACETS)
WI-FACETS provides technical support to Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin (Region 4). This includes: serving as a resource to directors and program staff; providing targeted technical assistance related to content, management, outreach, and technology; linking parent centers to current national resources, and facilitating collaboration and communication amongst centers in the region.

PEAK Parent Center
PEAK Parent Center serves as the Parent Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) for Parent Training and Information Centers (PTIs) and Community Parent Resource Centers (CPRCs) in a 10-state region as part of the national technical assistance Alliance for the U.S. Department of Education. The centers in Region 5 are:

• Arizona-Raising Special Kids
• Colorado-Denver Metro Community Parent Resource Center
• Colorado-PEAK Parent Center
• Kansas-Families Together, Inc.
• Kansas-Keys for Networking
• Montana-Parents, Let's Unite For Kids
• Nebraska-PTI Nebraska
• New Mexico-Parents Reaching Out
• North Dakota-Pathfinder
• South Dakota-South Dakota Parent Connection
• Utah-Utah Parent Center
• Wyoming-Parent Information Center

Matrix Parent Network
Matrix serves as the leading agency for the West Regional Center for the Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, the outlying areas of the Pacific Basin, and the Freely Associated States (Region 6), providing assistance to Parent Centers in eight states to ensure they have the information and training needed to provide quality services to families in their areas.

The National Urban Alliance for Effective Education's mission is to substantiate in the public schools of urban America an irrefutable belief in the capacity of all children to reach the highest levels of learning & thinking demanded by our ever-changing global community.

Topical Link Collections / Disproportionate Representation - Indicator B 9&10 / State Guidance and Practices can be accessed from: Regional Resource Center Program

All children deserve a quality education, one in which they can learn and achieve to high standards alongside their peers. For the more than six million children and youth with disabilities in this country, the right to a free and appropriate public education is supported by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004). Disproportionality Curriculum Module explains more about the issue

Westat’s technical assistance guide for assessing racial/ethnic disproportionality in special education explains the methods used to examine disproportionality, the strengths and limitations of each, how to apply these calculations to district-level data, and suggestions to states for how to set appropriate targets. Methods For Assessing Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality In Special Education: A Technical Assistance Guide

The Access Center
Improving access to the general education curriculum for students with disabilities.

IRIS Center for Faculty Enhancement
Online Learning Modules and Related Materials
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee

The National Center for Urban School Transformation
NCUST helps urban school districts and their partners transform into places where all students achieve academic proficiency, evidence a love of learning, and graduate well prepared to succeed in post-secondary education, the workplace, and their communities.

Project Forum
Each year, Project Forum:

• identifies 15 critical topics within the field of special education;
• conducts policy analyses on these topics;
• convenes policy forums on two of these topics;
• distributes information that will contribute to better results for children with disabilities.

United We Ride (UWR)
UWR is a Federal interagency initiative aimed at improving the availability, quality, and efficient delivery of transportation services for older adults, people with disabilities, and individuals with lower incomes. This work is in response to an Executive Order related to human service transportation coordination, and includes the participation of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) on a Federal Interagency Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility.
The recent fact sheets include: United We Ride, Mobility Management, Family of Transportation Services, and Transportation Services Coordination Plan.