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Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities >
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Frequently
Asked Questions
What are Technical Assistance Communities of Practice?
The Technical Assistance Communities of Practice (TA Communities) are groups of State and local education agency members and other key stakeholders who are facing similar program improvement challenges and who have decided to come together to share their expertise, issues, and solutions.
What are the goals of the TA Communities of Practice?
As one of several forums available as part of OSEP's Technical Assistance initiative to exchange strategies and ideas that will improve outcomes for children with disabilities, TA Communities seek to combine OSEP resources from the Monitoring and State Improvement Planning Division and technical assistance resources from the Research to Practice Division. The OSEP Communities of Practice have the following goals:
• To increase the use of high quality research-based information, effective policies and practices related to the IDEA
• To identify solutions to key issues and challenges
• To enhance shared learning
• To prevent duplication of effort
• To facilitate connections and collaboration among many stakeholders
• To develop new service system capacities
• To improve the implementation of the IDEA
• To assure better outcomes for children with disabilities and their families
How Do TA Communities Of Practice Operate?
Each community is co-facilitated and managed by a team of staff from the Regional Resource Centers (RRC), OSEP-funded TA specialty centers, and Regional Parent Technical Assistance Centers (RPTAC). The Communities use a variety of strategies, activities and events to fulfill their goals of engaging members, sharing expertise, and discussing solutions. One major tool is an electronic communication forum ( www.TAcommunities.org ) that supports the Community of Practice effort. In addition to this tool, the Communities make use of other strategies such as teleconferences, listservs, discussion forums, meetings, work groups, resource development, Web pages, think tanks and conferences. Communities of Practice provide state special education directors, transition coordinators, educators, parents, and others the kind of networking and professional development opportunities that are usually only available at national conferences.
What TA Communities of Practice are Formed by OSEP?
OSEP has formed communities in the following areas. To learn more about the individual communities go to the links below:
Part C - Child Identification
Part C - Natural Environments and Settings
Part B - Section 619 Preschool LRE
Parts B and C - Data Systems (birth-21)
Part B - LRE (addresses school age)
Part B - Exiting (addresses school age)
How did OSEP respond to questions posed by SEA representatives
about the State Performance Plan (SPP) ?
Visit the State Performance Plan FAQ hosted by TAcommunities.
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