Ohio is seeking SIG funding to implement a different system of professional development from what is being used currently, and will recruit and align various professional development providers to address specific issues of the school districts. The SIG will focus on two aspects of learning: high academic achievement and socially acceptable behavior. The SIG will serve as a vehicle for promoting shared responsibility among partners at the state, regional, and local levels. Such shared responsibility is central to improving results for all students and sustaining targeted change long after the project ends. Two basic strategies will be employed by the SIG:

• Partnership sites to demonstrate how districts can get the conditions for all children to learn at high levels.
• Partnership agreements with institutions of higher education (IHEs) to increase the quantity and competency of personnel required to meet student needs.

Anticipated outcomes of such partnerships, which reflect systems change or a change in the way district and building personnel do business, include:

• An improved capacity on the part of consumers to direct their own personnel development needs and understanding how those needs relate to improving results for children.
• An increase in the use of external resources in meeting the professional development needs of the school district.
• An improved capacity on the part of resource providers to meet the needs of consumers.
• The use of a continuous improvement planning model that clearly identifies how the needs of children with disabilities will be met and that measures progress in priority systems change areas, as determined by the district, and the resulting impact on student performance.
• An improvement in the state's capacity to meet the academic and behavioral needs of children with disabilities.

In each of six model partnership sites, the LEA, as the unit of change, will serve as fiscal agent for the project. The superintendent in each site, or his or her designee, will convene quarterly meetings of the Coordinating Council and assume final authority to determine and/or modify activities proposed to accomplish Ohio's broad policy goals and address high-priority needs and desired outcomes. The project will use continuous improvement planning (CIP) as a fix-the-system strategy for aligning general and special education needs assessment processes in the model partnership site. This alignment will eliminate special education as a separate subsystem, thereby ensuring that the needs of youngsters with disabilities are considered as part of the overall district CIP. Following training in CIP as a process for determining districtwide needs, including the nature of professional development to be provided to meet those needs, the LEA will develop a proposal, with consensus agreement of the Coordinating Council, that outlines specific activities to achieve desired outcomes, and submit it on a yearly basis to the Ohio Department of Education, Division of Special Education. The LEA will implement data gathering and reporting to the Coordinating Council, as agreed to in the proposal and within the parameters of the state improvement grant. Specific training and technical assistance to be offered based on the needs identified through CIP and will be designed and delivered in response to locally developed continuous improvement action plans. The CIP is designed to align efforts, coordinate resources, engage collaborators, and benchmark progress.

The partnerships with institutions of higher education (IHEs) will support the professional development needs related to personnel shortages in areas such as Educational Interpreting Services, School Speech-Language, Pathology Services, Behavioral Intervention Services, and Orientation & Mobility Specialists.

Project Title:	A Statewide Model for Rethinking Schooling in Fundamental Ways
Primary contact person:	Cynthia M. Puckett
Address:	Office for Exceptional Children 25 S. Front St, 2nd Floor Columbus, OH 43215
Phone:	614-466-2650
Fax:	614-728-1097
Email:	Cynthia.Puckett@ode.state.oh.us
Web site:	http://www.ode.state.oh.us/exceptional_children/children_with_disabilities/#SIG
Date SIG application written/submitted:	October 1, 1998
Round funded:	First
Begin/end dates for funding:	1999-2003
Funded amount /year:	$1,320,000
Who wrote the application?	SEA Staff
Length of application:	Narrative: 123 pages  Appendices: 15  How Long are they? 258 pages

 

1. What specific products are planned for development? 

• A publication detailing partnership site activities to support replicating the effective aspects of each site in other regions of the state.
• Documentation of the recommendations from an SEA action seminar which will be held during project years four and five in conjunction with the annual meeting of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education.
• A publication documenting promising practices will be produced that provides strategies for integrating professional development needs assessment processes for children with disabilities into district-wide continuous improvement planning for all youngsters.

2. What interstate connections are planned?

The impact of degrees on supply and demand affects shortages in special education areas. Ohio's agreement with 42 other states for recognition of teacher certificates allows for a much easier transition to another state and the Interstate Certification Project eases mobility for anyone needing to move. SIG funds will be provided to the Ohio State School for the Blind to expand the current contract with the Institute for the Visually Impaired of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry Summer Certification in Orientation and Mobility to train an additional 12 O&M specialists, significantly increasing the number of qualified O&M specialists fully prepared to work in Ohio schools. The Institute, which was initiated for the first time in summer 1998, will result in six fully trained O&M specialists by summer 2000.

3. What strategies are planned for service delivery?

• Implementation of local/regional partnership sites in six regions of the state, and develop partnership sites in other regions of the state.
• Provision of training in the continuous improvement process.
• Use of a replicable continuous improvement planning (CIP) model that allows for the integration of special education needs assessment processes into the overall planning conducted by districts to improve the performance of all children.
• Development of site proposals outlining staff development needs and plans.
• Use of a strong statewide infrastructure for providing professional development (e.g., through service centers and institutions of higher education Special Education Regional Resource Centers [SERRCs], Regional Professional Development Centers [RPDCs], and IHEs).
• Implementation of Partnership Agreements make personnel preparation programs available around the state, especially in areas where shortages exist and preparing college graduates and school personnel to effectively address the behavior of all students.
• Coursework via distance learning and continuing education will be used to prepare school personnel and teachers-in-training to be behavioral interventionists.
• Collaboration between eight IHEs to offer coursework and practical experiences using long-distance technology to support training of speech and Language Pathologists Ohio schools with a bachelor's degree to obtain their master's degree (required under new licensure standards) in school speech-language pathology.

4. What partnership strategies are intended?

• Implementation of Local/Regional Partnership Site Agreements to form model partnership sites in 16 demographically diverse regions. The purpose of the partnership site is to:
  • Establish a Coordinating Council in each partnership site to perform a range of duties including oversight of project activities implemented in the partnership district/region. The core membership of the Council in each site includes representatives from the local education agency (LEA), SERRC, RPDC, Educational Service Center (ESC), IHE(s), PTI and other professionals serving that site.
  • Assist LEAs in becoming more consumer-driven.
  • Use each district's local professional development committee (LPDC) as the vehicle for directing professional development (PD) and coordinating resources/services.
  • Serve as a model site for demonstrating how to engage partners in continuous improvement planning to benefit all children without losing a focus on children with disabilities.
  • Develop a blueprint for designing professional development that addresses the needs of all children including those with disabilities.
  • Evaluate partnerships as an intervention that contributes to systemic change.
• Utilization of Regional Professional Development Service providers (including Regional PD service providers to assume a supportive role throughout the project, provide resource assistance to targeted LEAS, while working together to replicate partnerships in other LEAs, and disseminate information/findings on a continuous basis. The RPDSP will work collaboratively with each district's local professional development committee (LPDC) to help establish priorities.
• Implementation of Partnership Agreements with local districts and institutions of higher education (IHEs) make personnel preparation programs available around the state, especially in areas where shortages exist and preparing college graduates and school personnel to effectively address the behavior of all students.
• Implementation of Partnerships with Ohio's two parent training and information centers to work together and in collaboration with other parent groups in each site to:
  • Assist families in each partnership site to effectively participate with school personnel and other partners.
  • Assist school personnel to engage families as educational decision makers, especially those families who are not typically in the information loop.
  • Serve as members of the Coordinating Councils in each site and assist other family members in looking beyond their own issues.
  • Assist districts in improving parental involvement on a broader site/regional basis.
  • Encourage community involvement in the development of shared responsibility and ownership for project activities.
  • Support families by making connections with parent support networks (e.g., parent mentors, ODE's Family Involvement Initiative).
  • Make connections with other parent and community groups (e.g., Boosters, PTA).

5. Who are the partners?

Partners will vary depending on the needs of each partnership site. Core partners include, but are not limited to:

• Regional professional development centers (RPDCs).
• Special education regional resource centers (SERRCs).
• Institutions of higher education (IHEs).
• Parent training and information centers (PTIs).
• Educational service centers (ESCs).
• Local professional development committee members.
• Local education agencies (LEAs).
• Other local professionals.

6. What types of contracts or subgrants are intended to partners, LEAs, IHE, PTIs, and others (including lead agency under Part C)?

SIG funds will flow primary to the local education agencies, institutions of higher education, and the Parent Training Centers t support the implementation of staff development and parent training activities identified through the CIP process. Funds will also be used to support implementation of approved personnel preparation programs state-wide and the external evaluation of the SIG goals, objectives and outcomes. 

7. How will resources be pooled with other resources?

SIG dollars will be used in combination with other state and federal resources to ensure that the needs of children with disabilities are considered as a part of the overall reform efforts associated with CIP, rather than as a separate subsystem. The SIG will result in a coordinated use of existing resources through the implementation of partnership agreements in demographically diverse sites across the state. Among those resources targeted to support personnel preparation needs are:

• State Resources.
• Leadership academies.
• IHE & LEA partnerships.
• School Improvement.
• Federal Resources.
• Eisenhower.
• Goals 2000.
• IDEA Part B.