Improving Results for Students with Disabilities through Communities of Practice

Improving Results for Students with Disabilities throughCommunities of Practice

National Leadership Summit

September 2003

Judy Shanley

The Access Center: Improving Outcomes for All Students K-8

Communities of Practice Initiative is based on….

• Current, reliable research and strategies to address topics

• Content expertise and the input of researchers and technical assistance providers

• An active forum to share and exchange information with colleagues

OSEP Communities of Practice

• Represents Collaboration at the Federal Level– Continuous Improvement and Focused Monitoring

Division– Research to Practice Division

• Represents Collaboration at State and Local Levels - Focus of Communities – Part C – Settings, Identification– Part B – Section 619 Preschool LRE– Part B LRE, Exiting– Part C/B – Data

Multiple Forums to Sustain Communities

• Face to face meetings• Telephone – conference calls• E-mail • Videoconferencing• Web based – www.tacommunities.org

This is Transella….• Transition Coordinator Extraordinaire• Faced with decreasing numbers of students with

disabilities graduating • Faced with an increasing number of students with

disabilities dropping out• Widening graduation gap between students with and

without disabilities

Transella remembers….

www.tacommunities.org

Wow…It’s so easy to find information!

Transella Requests an Account

Transella Easily Finds her Topic of Interest – Exiting Part B Community

Nationally Recognized Facilitators…

The Personal Touch Transella can contact contributors

The Personal Touch Transella can contact contributors

Multiple Kinds of ContentSharing a Best Practice

Threaded DiscussionsTransella can participate in discussions

Subscribe to a TopicTransella wants to be kept informed

Subscribe to Discussions

Transella would use a website that is…• Easy to find relevant Information• Simple and not overly process oriented• Has help available should she run into any

stumbling blocks• Personalized

Search and Help Features

Your “Me Page”

Keep Apprised of Upcoming Events

We Are on an Incredible Voyage….

USS tacommunities

www.tacommunities.org

For general questions regarding the tacommunities website…

Judy Shanley

202-944-5430

jshanley@air.org

For information about the Exiting community,

please contact your Community facilitators:

•Donna Johnson (National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET)) – johns042@umn.edu

•Chris Bremer (National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET)) – breme006@umn.edu

•Cesar D’Agord (Great Lakes Area Regional Resource Center (GLARRC)) – dagord.2@osu.edu