Improving Results for Students with Disabilities through Communities of Practice

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Improving Results for Students with Disabilities
throughCommunities of Practice
Judy Shanley The Access Center Improving
Outcomes for All Students K-8
National Leadership Summit September 2003
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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

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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

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Multiple Forums to Sustain Communities

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

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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

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Transella remembers.
www.tacommunities.org
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WowIts so easy to find information!
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Transella Requests an Account
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Transella Easily Finds her Topic of Interest
Exiting Part B Community
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Nationally Recognized Facilitators
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The Personal Touch Transella can contact
contributors
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The Personal Touch Transella can contact
contributors
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Multiple Kinds of ContentSharing a Best Practice
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(No Transcript)
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Threaded DiscussionsTransella can participate in
discussions
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Subscribe to a TopicTransella wants to be kept
informed
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Subscribe to Discussions
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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

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Search and Help Features
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Your Me Page
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Keep Apprised of Upcoming Events
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We Are on an Incredible Voyage.
USS tacommunities
www.tacommunities.org
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For general questions regarding the tacommunities
website
Judy Shanley 202-944-5430 jshanley_at_air.org
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• For information about the Exiting community,
• please contact your Community facilitators
• Donna Johnson (National Center on Secondary
  Education and Transition (NCSET))
  johns042_at_umn.edu
• Chris Bremer (National Center on Secondary
  Education and Transition (NCSET))
  breme006_at_umn.edu
• Cesar DAgord (Great Lakes Area Regional Resource
  Center (GLARRC)) dagord.2_at_osu.edu