Wyoming Abstract or Conceptual Framework for State Systemic Change

The Wyoming State Improvement Grant (WySIG) project, "Project Readiness," proposes to build a systemic reform approach to ensure that all students, including students with special needs,, actively participate in the regular classroom as Wyoming moves to a rigorous, standards-based educational system. Students with disabilities will receive the core educational services and programs that will enable them to master all of the state standards, beginning with the graduating class of 2005 and beyond. The four basic components of this reform approach involve:

• Improving the pre-service and in-service training for Wyoming’s educators;
  
• Recruiting and training qualified personnel to meet the needs of Wyoming’s students with disabilities;
  
• Providing Wyoming’s parents with learning tool to affect school reform; and
  
• Creating partnerships to implement this reform project.
  

The designers of this project have a vision that integrates these four diverse components into an effective vehicle for educational reform in the best interests of Wyoming’s students with disabilities.

The project will be coordinated by a full-time manager assisted by an administrative assistant. A full-time Inclusive Faculty member will also be hired and located at the University of Wyoming. These individuals, who will possess the necessary training and experiences to achieve the goals of this project, will be assisted by many individuals who have served on the planning group that wrote this project. The WySIG project has a strong and committed group of partners that includes parents, teachers, and individuals from business and professional organizations. These individuals form the core working group of this grant, Wyoming Partnership Management Team (WyPMT), and its associated groups of Executive, Curriculum, Training, Evaluation/Assessment and Dissemination. These partners are tied by a strong common purpose of helping students with disabilities succeed as students and as productive citizens of their communities.

All the initiatives proposed for this project begin and end with standards. This project begins by identifying the needs of the student with a disability and then proposing and executing activities that ultimately help that student meet the standards all other students are expected to meet and be a productive citizen. To achieve that, changes will be made at the school level, LEA and the state level to help the student. The activities proposed in this project are designed and directed to achieve that goal. The ultimate outcome is to change policy at the state level by involving all the stakeholders and increasing the effectiveness of inclusive classroom practices by educators.

The Wyoming Department of Education (WDE), where the project will be housed, will provide adequate facilities, equipment, supplies, and other resources necessary to carry out the activities of the project. The WySIG partners are confident that this proposed project will result in significant system change in Wyoming that will favorably impact the education of all students but especially students with disabilities. This belief is supported by the partner’s commitment and by the careful design of this project to meet the stated goals.

The evaluation stage of this project will be very comprehensive and will include both internal and external evaluations. Both outcome and process evaluations will be conducted and will be monitored by the project staff and WyPMT evaluation group.

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Wyoming Basic Information

Project Title	Wyoming State Improvement Grant (WySIG): Project Readiness
Primary Contact Person	Holly Garrard
Address	Wyoming Department of Education Special Program Unit 2300 Capitol Avenue Cheyenne, WY 82002
Phone	307-777-5512
Fax	307-777-6234
Email	hgarra@educ.state.wy.us
Web site	http://www.k12.wy.us/speced/index.html#sig
Date SIG Application was Written or Submitted	February 12, 2001
Begin and End Dates for Funding	October 1, 2001-September 30, 2006
Funded Amount:	$500,000/year
Who Wrote the Application:	WySIG Partnership

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Wyoming Improvement Strategies

1. What products are planned for development?

• A Best Practice (s) manual of inclusive education classroom strategies.
  
• Training modules (i.e. parent booklet, para-educator manual, mastering standards guide, kindergarten readiness assessment booklet).
  
• Training modules on effective secondary transition planning.
  
• Training modules on effective assessment and transition planning from child development centers to district kindergarten programs.

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2. What interstate connections are planned?

Collaborate with and support Wyoming Institute for Disabilities (WIND) and their counterpart organizations in North and South Dakota to offer a cross-state faculty training (TRI-COR). This graduate certification (16 cr.) in Severe Disabilities will be available through distance education for educators who serve this population in their classroom. Wyoming will take the lead in 2002 on an autism certificate.

Collaborate with other mountain states (i.e. CO, MT, ID) to develop networking activities that will increase the pool of special education recruits.

Collaborate and partner with the Utah Learning Resource Center to develop a Peer Mentor Training Program and Leadership Academy patterned after the ULRC model. Wyoming will adapt this curriculum design to fit the needs of Wyoming educators.

Will plan other interstate connections to include CO, ID, and MT to work on issues such as reciprocity, teacher credits, etc.

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3. What strategies are planned for service delivery?

• To create a formal partnership (Wyoming Partnership Management Team or WyPMT) to effectively administer, evaluate and continuously improve the project. The members of this team will offer their expertise to the partnership by serving on one of five WyPMT groups that are curriculum, training, dissemination, assessment/evaluation and executive. They will also carry out many of the activities of the grant.
  
• To establish Inclusive School Demonstration Sites (ISDS) within the state. These sites (one elementary school, one secondary school and on regional developmental preschool) will receive continuous training and follow-up and will serve as research centers to examine the use of the most promising strategies and models.
  
• To establish a para-educator certification program utilizing the Wyoming Community College Commission and its associate members.
  
• Will collaborate with the four major parent support groups in Wyoming on education issues to include graduation requirements, standards-based reform and the Wyoming Comprehensive Assessment System (WyCAS).
  
• Will work with the Wind River Tribal Council on resources and materials necessary for working with Native American educators, parents and children.

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4. What partnerships are intended?

Wyoming Partnership Management Team (WyPMT) will collaborate with the following:

• Parent Information Center/Parent Education Network (PIC/PEN), Wyoming Family Support Network (WIND) and UPLIFT to assist in increasing the capacity of parents to influence reform and increase the achievements of students with disabilities through a variety of statewide workshops and trainings.
  
• WIND and its associated groups to provide in-service training, evaluation assistance and electronic access to Internet resources to parents and educators within Wyoming.
  
• Wyoming Association of Special Education Administrators (WASEA) will assist in designing and delivering regional training seminars and workshops for special educators, general educators, para-professionals, administrators and other service providers within the 48 school districts of the state.
  
• The Developmental Disabilities Division (DDD) to collaborate with the Child Development Centers, Head Start Association and UPLIFT/Wyoming Early Start to improve the kindergarten readiness skills of preschool children with disabilities.
  
• The Wyoming Community College Commission (WCCC), the seven community colleges, a new tribal college and our single university (UW) will collaborate to create a para-educator certification program within the state.
  
• The Shoshoni and Arapaho Tribal Councils will be contracted to provide training and to disseminate information about standards to teachers and families of students with disabilities on the reservation.

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

• A contract for services with The University of Wyoming to hire one inclusive specialist to work closely on curriculum development and pre-service/in-service training in order to meet the objectives of the grant.
  
• A contract for services to provide tuition support for existing special education teachers to upgrade their skills, to provide incentives for general education teachers to attend special education workshops and seminars and to provide stipends to parents to enable them to participate in training workshops.
  
• Grants to organizations within Wyoming (i.e. Wyoming Psychological Association, The Governor’s Council Planning Council Developmental Disabilities) to provide expert consultants and workshop leaders.
  
• Competitive grants (ranging from $40,000 to $80,000/year) to support the four
  
• primary initiatives of the grant: Kindergarten Readiness, Para-Educator Certification Program, Teacher Mentor Training Program and Leadership Academy and Parent Support.

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6. How will resources be pooled with other resources?

The Wyoming Department of Education and all the WySIG project partners have shown a strong commitment to the success of this project by their significant in-kind contributions. These contributions approach the 50% level of what is requested in federal funds and they include contributions to all budget categories of personnel, travel, equipment, contractual, and others.

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7. How specific SIG products, activities, initiatives and strategies are pertinent to Part C (birth to 3, infants, toddlers and their families)services and activities in your state?

Currently the Developmental Disabilities Division (DDD) is legislatively mandated to provide services to children with disabilities ages birth to five. The WDE and the DDD operate under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which defines each agency’s responsibility in the provision of services under IDEA. All Early Intervention (EI) service providers will be offered the opportunity to participate in all SIG staff development activities.

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