Technical Assistance

The gameplan: A state department of education wishes to take on the challenge of significant disproportionality in its districts. They draw it up on the board and are ready to hit the court. But key to every all-star team are role-players, team members ready and able to lend a hand at just the right moment to help ensure a big win. That’s where IDC comes in to play.

In the world of special education, we often have a wealth of data at our disposal. However, facilitating discussions about these data can be a daunting task. IDC is here to help you prepare for and lead data meetings! Using resources like our Data Meeting Protocol (part of IDC’s Data Meeting Toolkit) and TA from our experienced staff can help you set up data meetings for success. Recently, IDC provided TA to staff at the Vermont Agency of Education on using the Data Meeting Protocol in their quarterly data meetings with internal staff. We designed the TA to support the state’s SPP/APR indicator leads during small data meetings, using protocol questions and processes to drive discussion and ultimately strengthen SPP/APR review practices. As a result of this TA, the state’s indicator teams will use the protocol prompts to support stakeholder target setting for the FFY 2020–2025 SPP/APR.

Are you thinking about revamping or redesigning your State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) evaluation plan for FFY 2020? Are you uncertain where to begin? Look no further than IDC! Our knowledgeable TA team can help with planning for and facilitating conversations around your SSIP evaluation plan using our Guide to SSIP Evaluation Planning. IDC TA staff recently used the Evaluation Worksheets in this resource to support Hawaii Department of Education staff with establishing an organized process for updating Hawaii’s SSIP. This TA included guided discussions around how to develop and connect a logic model to the SSIP evaluation plan, leading to rich conversations with the state’s leadership team around using evaluation data for continuous improvement.  it also led to consideration of how the state might share and use these evaluation data with schools.

If you are experiencing staff turnover or shifts in staff responsibilities, you know it can be incredibly difficult to transition work to other team members seamlessly. This is especially true for preparing complex federal data submissions. One way to mitigate these challenges is to document detailed processes for each IDEA data collection. IDC TA staff recently guided the Utah State Board of Education state team in documenting SPP/APR Part B Indicators 4A, 4B, 9, and 10 processes, using the customizable templates in IDC’s SEA Data Processes Toolkit. Because these indicators deal with disproportionality, our staff and the Utah state team discussed methodologies and how the state measures significant discrepancy and disproportionate representation. As a result of IDC’s TA and the state’s efforts, Utah now has clearly written processes to follow for data collection, validation, submission, and public reporting.