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Navigating Excellence - Parent Center Assistance & Collaboration Team
Region A E-News
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Inspirational Quote
"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." - Anatole France
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Message from Carolyn & Diana
As Parent Centers, we spend a lot of our time planning and acting/implementing our plans. It is crucial that we plan and act, because that is how we address the needs and build on the strengths of the families and youth we serve. At our upcoming NE-PACT regional conference, "From Passion to Performance," we will be learning how to use implementation and improvement science to enhance our services and outcomes. But we cannot lose the passion - the dreaming of a better future for children and youth with disabilities and their families, the believing that what we do matters. It cannot be passion
or
performance, it must be passion
and
performance. It must be planning
and
dreaming, acting
and believing. We look forward to seeing you soon and to working together to bring our work and our outcomes to the next level. Remember that the NEPACT team is here to help you, and that we are just an email or call away!
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Reminder about the NE-PACT/Region A Parent Center Workspace!
You've been invited to join NE-PACT: A group for Region A Parent Centers.
Check your email for this invitation to our
universal location to house all of our resource collections, materials, documents, and files, including the Transition Resource Repository, Trauma Toolkit, Drop-in call notes, webinar announcements and recordings, peer to peer and CQI applications, TA resources, and much more! Reach out to Rosslin Mensah-Boateng at
[email protected]
if you can't find your invitation or need other assistance accessing the new Region A parent center workspace.
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Featuring...
INCLUDEnyc:
Want to read some moving stories from parents and youth? Read the INCLUDEnyc blog
. From "How I Fought for Accommodations in College," to "Understanding my Daughter's Disability," to "Students of Color and Disability Classifications," the blogs provide useful information with a personal twist.
Sinergia:
Sinergia's Autism Initiative offers several programs, including the Afterschool Art Program, Friends Are We! Building Social Skills through the Arts, for children with ASD ages 3-13 years old, and the Integrated Transition Program for ASD Teens and Parents, that teaches evidence-based strategies for self-determination and self-advocacy skills, components for transition to adulthood, and community-learned for youth/young adults with ASD from 14-21 years old. Find out more.
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Opportunity to Make an Impact
Technical Assistance to Improve Postsecondary Transition Services (US Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services) - Comments due October 2
! OSERS is seeking input from the public, including parents and other relevant stakeholders, on how best to provide TA to states to improve postsecondary transition services to all students and youth with disabilities, as well as on how best to strengthen and expand coordination and collaboration with OSERS-funded Parent Centers. Submit your comments at the OSERS blog.
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Upcoming Events/Dates to Remember
 NEPACT Region A Parent TA Center Conference:
Join us on November 4-6 in Baltimore, Maryland for our 2019 Regional Conference focused on using implementation and improvement science to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of our work including our ability to use evidence-based practices. More information will be forthcoming soon. We will start at noon on Monday, November 4 and end around 3 on Wednesday, November 6 (the REACH for Transition day will be Wednesday). As always, NEPACT will pay for one representative from each center, but we encourage you to send/bring two participants to this important conference. You will need help using what you learn about improvement science and active implementation when you get back to your center. Register today!!!
 Native American Community of Practice and Military-Connected Community of Practice!
Join us on Monday, November 4th, 9:00 am - 11 am, for our second face to face convening of our technical assistance Communities of Practice. The two meetings will run simultaneously with one group focused on meeting the needs of Native American families and the other on Military-Connected families. Information and resources on supporting these special populations will be provided. Click here to register.
National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health 30th Anniversary Conference, November 14-16, Phoenix, Arizona:
A full day Serving on Groups Train-the-Trainer and half day Leading by Convening workshop will be featured at this conference, along with an array of other useful workshops. Find out more and register.
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Non-Profit Management Resources
Social Innovation and Non-Profit Management Resources:
The Center for Social Innovation and the Alumni Consulting Team have identified a suite of resources for nonprofit and social-purpose organizations, from consulting and legal resources to technology solutions and operations resources, all available here.
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Family-Centered and Youth-Centered Services Resources
Screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences
: The National Crittenton Foundation has developed a toolkit for agencies that want to screen for Adverse Child Experiences (ACES) in the families they serve. Access the guide and tools.
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Staff Development Resources
National TA&D Center Trainings:
Many OSEP-funded Technical Assistance and Dissemination Centers offer free on-line professional development that could enhance the knowledge and skills of Parent Center staff. The Early Childhood TA Center (ECTA) offers training and resources on using the Division for Early Childhood Recommended Practices. The IRIS Center creates free training enhancement resources for college faculty who are preparing the next generation of school personnel, and for professional development providers who are training current school professionals. Their newest module is on IEP for Administrators. They also have an updated module on disability awareness, and modules on IEP development, behavior, reading, math and MTSS. You can find out about all the TA&D centers on the National Center for Systemic Improvement website.
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Bilingual/LEP
The Diversity of English Language Learners: English language learners (ELLs) come to school with a wide variety of background knowledge, language, and literacy skills. The schooling experience of ELLs is impacted by many factors such as time in school, quality of instruction, transiency, home environment, and past emotional experience in school. Read 3 vignettes of ELL students and learn about the varied characteristics of ELLs in the US.
 English Learner Newsletter 100th Edition:
Check out the 100th edition of the English Learner Program's newsletter. Over the past 4.5 years, the EL team has published over 250 blog posts with the goal of elevating new research, exigent issues, long-standing challenges, and ideas to help inform policy design and implementation.
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Bullying
How to Safeguard Children against Cyber-Bullying
: Read this NY Times article on the prevalence of, and strategies to prevent and address, cyber-bullying.
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Choice/Charter Schools/Vouchers
Chartered: Florida's First Private Takeover of a Public School System:
WLRN News takes a deep diver into Florida's experiment in rural Jefferson County which has become the state's first all-charter school district. Read the stories and listen to the documentary.
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Data
Data Quality Campaign: The Data Quality Campaign released its fourth parent poll and second teacher poll showing 90% of parents say they need data to understand their child's progress and help them do their best, and 86% of teachers believe that using data is an important part of being an effective teacher. Almost half of teachers (45%) report that they taught themselves data on the job.
How Policymakers Can Support Early Childhood Data Governance: Integrating early childhood data across state agencies can help policymakers access the comprehensive information they need to evaluate the capacity of early childhood programs. Read more.
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Discipline/Seclusion, Restraint and Aversives
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Preschool Suspension Expulsion: A Population Study: Reporting on estimates of parent-reported preschool suspension and expulsion rates in the context of adverse childhood experiences, researchers found that two percent of preschoolers were suspended, and two tenths of a percent of children were expelled annually. The researchers call for comprehensive outreach prevention and response efforts in preschool settings. Find out more.
The Exclusionary Discipline of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Students with and Without Disabilities: A Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) National Analysis:
Assessing the rates of disciplinary exclusion for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students with and without disabilities, relative to Black, Hispanic/Latino, and White students, researchers found AI/AN students were disproportionately represented in exclusionary discipline practices, most substantially in comparison to White students, and the risk for AI/AN students, with and without disabilities, was highest for expulsion. Access the report.
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Early Childhood/Early Intervention
Students with Disabilities Attending Full-Day versus Part-Day Kindergarten: Short- And Long-Term Effects on Achievement:
Examining achievement outcomes for children with disabilities in full- versus part-day kindergarten, researchers found children with disabilities in full-day kindergarten had higher reading and math scores at the end of kindergarten
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Education Reform/Every Student Succeeds Act/School Improvement
Center on Innovations in Learning:
The Center on Innovations in Learning is one of seven national content centers currently funded by the US ED. Its mission is to increase the capacity of state education agencies to stimulate, select, implement, and scale up learning innovations in local districts and schools to improve learning outcomes for all students, and increase the capacity of regional Comprehensive Centers to provide TA to states in this area. They have a wealth of resources in the areas of personalized learning, competency-based education, and the science of innovation.
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Equity
Disparities in Educational Attainment and Access:
The National Skills Coalition has released a new report exploring the racial and ethnic disparities in educational attainment and access, systemic barriers to equitable workforce training and quality employment, and why advancing racial equity is an economic and moral imperative, The Roadmap for Racial Equity for workforce development advocates.
Equity in Early Childhood Education
: The National Association for the Education of Young Children has released a new position statement on Advancing Equity in Early Childhood Education.
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Health
 Children with Strong School-Family Connection Show Better Health Outcomes More than a Decade Later:
A study from the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics found that students with strong family and school ties had positive health outcomes and were less likely to suffer from poor mental health, substance, abuse, and risky sexual activities into adulthood. This article describes the study and lists four recommendations for to foster positive family-school relationships.
National Survey on Health and Disability:
The NIDILRR-funded Collaborative on Health Reform and Independent Living is looking for adults with disabilities (age 18 and over with any type of disability, mental or physical health condition) to complete an anonymous on line survey that should take only about 20 minutes to complete, about health insurance and health care services, including private insurance, employer insurance, TRICARE, Medicaid, Medicare, or no insurance. Complete the survey, or share with young adults with disabilities
. The survey can also be conducted over the phone by calling toll-free # 855-556-6328 or emailing
[email protected]
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IDEA/Special Education
2019 IDEA Determinations: The 2019 IDEA Determinations Fact Sheet provides information about the 2019 state determinations on implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), including the determination category for each state under Part B and Part C, for fiscal year 2017. Each state's determination letter can be found on OSERS' IDEA Website (scroll down to seed your state's Part C and Part B letters).
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Immigrant
Public Charge Final Rule Issued: On August 14, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule related to public charge in the Federal Register. According to DHS, the rule will not take effect until October 15, 2019. Additionally, many organizations have indicated they will file lawsuits challenging the legality of the rule. Thus, even after publication, legal challenges could delay implementation. Here are a few important points regarding the public charge rule: (1) The new rule interprets a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) pertaining to inadmissibility. The inadmissibility ground at issue says a person is inadmissible if they are likely to become a public charge. INA ยง 212(a)(4). (b) This law only applies to individuals seeking admission into the United States or applying for adjustment of status. This provision of the law does not apply to all immigrants. (c) Public charge and this rule do not apply in the naturalization process, through which lawful permanent residents apply to become U.S. citizens. An important fact is that accessing early intervention or public education services, including school breakfast or lunch, special education and related services, transportation, etc. is not considered in making a determination on "public charge." Find out more.
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Inclusion
Course Enhancement Module on Inclusive Education: The CEEDAR Center's Course Enhancement Module (CEM) on inclusive education is a compilation of resources intended for use in the development and enhancement of teacher and leadership education courses as well for professional development (PD) programs for practitioners. The resources are designed to support professional learning opportunities for stakeholders invested in the support and instruction of students with disabilities and others who struggle with learning to meet college- and career-readiness standards. Access the module.
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Juvenile Delinquency/Juvenile Justice
"Raising the Floor" Legislation Across the US:
State legislatures across the country are passing laws to "raise the floor" by raising the minimum age at which a child could be prosecuted as an adult, according to a new brief by the Campaign for Youth Justice,
Raise The Floor: Increasing the Minimum Age of Prosecution of Youth as Adults
. The brief highlights legislative efforts in a variety of states including California, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vermont that have raised their minimum age of transfer for children into the adult system. For some states, including California, Florida, Kansas, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island, raising the minimum age resulted in the state getting rid of of automatic transfer altogether.
Youth with Disabilities in the JJ System:
This fact sheet from the National Evaluation and TA Center for the Education of Children and Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent, or At-Risk, provides an overview of the numbers and characteristics of, and programs and services for, youth with disabilities in justice systems.
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LGBTQ
 The Safe Zone Project:
The Safe Zone Project (SZP) is a free online resource providing curricula, activities, and other resoures for educators facilitating Safe Zone trainings (sexuality, gender, and LGBTQ+ education sessions), and learners who are hoping to explore these concepts on their own. It includes a free two hour professional development curriculum, handouts and edugraphics, including inclusive language do's and don'ts, and recommended websites.
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Mental Health
Mental Health American Annual Report: For the 6th year in a row, Mental Health America (MHA) released its annual State of Mental Health Report, which ranks all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on several mental health and access measures. This year, Pennsylvania came out on top overall with Nevada coming in 51st. The report also takes a look back on the trends of the last 6 years and shows that many are still not receiving the treatment they need. Most alarmingly, the data show that the mental health of our youth is getting worse, not better. Major depression in youth has increased 4.35 percent over the last 6 years - meaning over 2 million youth have severe depression. Shockingly, almost 60 percent of youth with major depression do not receive any mental health treatment.
Read the report and see how your state ranked for mental health care and access.
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Military Families & Youth
 4 Ways Parent Centers Can Help Coast Guard Families: Most National Guard members are part-time military and receive civilian services when their child has a disability. They might not identify themselves as National Guard families to parent center staff. Sometimes they don't know about military benefits that could help their situation. These four tips will help you direct families to all the resources for which they are eligible while identifying points of contact for your outreach. Access the tip sheet.
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Native American Families & Youth
Census Bureau Data: A year ago, in November 2018, to celebrate American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month (November), the US Census Bureau released a "profile" on American Indians and Alaskan Natives today. Access the
website, and the
fact sheet. It includes information on population, federally-recognized tribes and reservations, and a detailed profile from the 2017 American Community Survey with data on families, housing, languages, education, jobs, income and poverty, and health insurance.
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| Parent/Family Collaboration and Engagement (and Youth!)
Parent-Teacher Organizations and Gentrification:
How are parent-teacher organizations in the District of Columbia grappling to ensure all parent voices are heard amid rapid gentrification. Read more.
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| Parenting
Top Parenting Resources:
Parents are hungry for advice on how to raise their children, seeking guidance on how to prompt kids to follow through with such everyday responsibilities as doing their homework and cleaning their rooms, as well as insights on the best ways to help them stave off unhealthy behaviors, such as too much screen time and substance use. The American Psychological Association's newsletter, The Monitor, asked top developmental, clinical and family psychologists for their wisdom on the best evidence-based resources for parents. Find out about six.
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| Poverty
Can Good Parenting Heal the Crushing Effects of Poverty?
Researchers in Georgia tested if a protective family environment can mitigate the chronic stress of being poor. Learn what they found.
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Racism/Segregation
Southern Secession Leads to Increased Segregation:
A new study finds that recent school district secessions in seven counties in Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee have increasingly sorted black and Hispanic students into separate school systems from white students.
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Social-Emotional Learning
Why Social-Emotional Learning is Suddenly in the Spotlight:
Check out this information, including articles and a podcast.
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Substance Abuse
Why SBIRT Is Important
: Screening is a critical tool that is used to promote a lifestyle change, to reduce the risk of a chronic disease, and to detect an illness early so that it can be treated effectively. Although screening has been used for mostly physical conditions, health professionals have seen screenings to be beneficial for mental health and substance dependency as well. SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) is a set of tools that can help identify alcohol or drug problems in adults and young people, and support intervention if a problem exists. Studies show that teenagers who use drugs or alcohol before age 15 are four times more likely to develop an addiction that those who begin using at age 21 or older. By utilizing SBIRT, professionals can detect substance misuse and intervene early. Read more about why SBIRT is important.
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Systems Change and Improvement
The Six Core Principles of Improvement:
Check out the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching's six core principles of improvement, including the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles.
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Teachers/Teaching
Impact of Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices:
Check out this research showing that culturally response teaching practices can provide students with a range of social and cognitive benefits.
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Transition to Adult Life/Youth
Increasing Postsecondary Opportunities and Success for Students and Youth with Disabilities:
The Trump administration released guidance on how states and school districts can use federal funds
to help students with disabilities access dual enrollment programs and other higher education options. The guidance explains how funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and federal vocational rehabilitation money can be used to help students participate in postsecondary education programs, including dual enrollment in college courses while the student is still in high school. The Guidance is in the form of a Questions and Answers document, with an accompanying Appendix. Access the pdf
and the press release.
The Transition to Adulthood Center for Research is Going to the Comics!
This issue focuses on understanding school accommodations and how youth with mental health challenges can access them. The comic strip portrays an anxious young man on exam day and a friend who gives him the details on getting accommodations for his test anxiety. The second page lists a host of resources that young adults and those who are significant in their lives can access - nicely done!
Check it out
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Trauma, Toxic Stress, and Resilience
Office of Inspector General: Care Provider Facilities Described Challenges Addressing Mental Health Needs of Children in HHS Custody: Facilities that care for children in the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (ORR's) custody face the difficult task of addressing the mental health needs of all the children in their care, including children who have experienced intense trauma. According to those who treat them, many children enter the facilities after fleeing violence and experiencing direct threats to their safety during their journey to the United States. Some children also experienced the trauma of being unexpectedly separated from their parents as a result of U.S. immigration policies. In this OIG report, reviewers found that facilities struggled to address the mental health needs of children who had experienced intense trauma and had difficulty accessing specialized treatment for children who needed it.
Read the report
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ABOUT THE REGION A PARENT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTER
The Navigating Excellence-Parent Assistance and Collaboration Team (NE-PACT), the Region A Technical Assistance Center, provides technical assistance to federally-funded parent centers -- Parent Training and Information Centers (PTIs) and Community Parent Resource Centers (CPRCs) -  located in the states of
CT-AFCAMP
,
CT-CPAC
, DC-AJE, DE-PIC, MD-PPMD,
ME-MPF
,
MA-FCSN
,
NH-PIC
,
NJ-SPAN
,
NJ-ASCF
,
NY-AFC
, NY-CIDA, NY-LIAC,
NY-UWS
,
NY-Starbridge
,
NY-INCLUDEnyc
,
NY-Sinergia
,
NY-PNWNY
, PA-HUNE, PA- ME, PA-PEAL, PR-APNI,
RI-RIPIN
, VI-DRVI and
VT-VFN
. These Parent Centers are independent non-profit organizations. We also provide support to emerging parent centers and parent organizations serving families of children with or at risk of being identified as having disabilities. In addition, we work with early intervention and education agencies (local, state and federal level) seeking information regarding best practices in involving parents of children with disabilities in systems improvement.
The center activities are specifically designed to:
- Enhance the capacity of parent centers to provide effective services to families of children with special needs and to work effectively with their states to improve special education and early intervention systems; and,
- Facilitate their connections to the larger technical assistance network that supports research-based training, including educating parents about effective practices that improve results for children with disabilities. For more information click here.
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