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Transforming Transition at the National, State, and Local Levels through Communities of Practice: Strategies for Fostering Interagency Collaboration
NSTTAC Institute
May 2, 2007
2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Working Across States and Stakeholders to Build Interagency Bridges for Youth: The IDEA Partnership’s Community of Practice on Transition
o Joanne Cashman, Director, IDEA Partnership at NASDSE
o Debra Grabill, Interagency Liaison and Consultant, NH Dept of Education
o Tina Greco, Program Specialist - Youth & Transition, NH Vocational Rehabilitation
o Joan Kester, Statewide Transition Specialist, PA Office of Vocational Rehabilitation
o Ellen Romett, Managing Director, PA Training & Technical Assistance Network
o Linda Maitrejean, Director, Wisconsin Statewide Transition Initiative (WSTI)
o Steve Gilles, Steve Gilles, Transition Consultant, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
What is the Practical Value of a Community of Practice?
As we talk about Communities of Practice, we ask you to consider….
“Could a Community approach help address some of the persistent problems in transition?”
“When you imagine what ‘could be’ in transition… might Community connections make it more likely?”
The Spirit of Community: We Are In This Together!
A way of working
o Involving those who do shared worko Involving those that share issueso Always asking “who isn’t here?”
A way of learning
o Create new knowledge grounded in ‘doing the work’
o Involve those who can advocate for and make change
The Policy to Practice Gap
o Policies are often not understood in the field
o We have ‘islands’ of effective practice, but effective practice is often not well distributed
o Sometimes effective practices often do not transfer across organizations.
o Practices often do not transfer across sites within the same organization.
Communities of Practice
o Those that ‘do the work’ have important insights to share.
o Those that are the ‘intended beneficiaries’ have important goals that must frame the future work.
o Transition outcomes are not ‘one system’ outcomes. We need each other!
o Real leadership means bringing practitioners and consumers into the work as allies
Communities of Practiceo Sharing
o Supporting
o Learning
o Involving the people that do the work
o Encouraging investments that move the work
o Translating learnings to policy
o Creating new relationships among policymakers, researchers, & implementers
The National Community of Practice
o States
o Federal Agencies
o National Organizations
o National TA Centers
New Eyes: Why Are Federal Agencies Interested in Communities of Practice?
o Changing outcomes for youth
o Making the research-to -practice connections
o Taking efforts to scale
o Improving the performance of state and local systems
o Making the most of the federal TA Investment
OSERS and the Communityo Learning from and with the states
o Working across education (OSEP) and VR (RSA)
o Learning what it will take to move policy to practice
New Eyes: Why Are Professional Organizations Interested in Communities of Practice?
o Organizations as leverage for information spread
o Organizations as thought leaders and change agents
o Organizations as allies with SEAs to create opportunities to involve members in real change
o Build sustainability by building understanding and involvement
National Organizations and the Community
o National Roles
o State Roles
o Communication Channels
o Focus on New Ideas
Communities in States
o Pennsylvania o New Hampshireo Californiao Alabamao Arizonao Virginiao Delawareo Wisconsino North Dakotao D.C.
New Eyes: Why Are State Education Agencies (SEAs) interested in Communities of Practice?
o Build connections across agencies that share responsibility for transition age youth
o Make the connection between decisionmakers and those that do the work everyday
o Learn what works at the local level. Support sharing across sites
o Learn with states that face similar problems
Multi-scale Learning:Learning Loops Built through Community
FEDERAL
STATE
LOCAL
SITE
INDIVIDUAL
The Communication Structure
The IDEA Partnership Community of Practice
State to State
State to Local
Local to LocalLocal to State
Federal to State
State to Federal
Learning Loops in the State Community:Communication Network and Learning What Works
LOCALTO
STATE
STATETO
LOCAL
Learning Loops in the Local Community:Sharing What Works and Creating Support Networks
LOCALPILOT
LOCALPILOT
Year-Round Communication Network: www.sharedwork.org o sharedwork.org is a website funded by the U. S.
Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and sponsored by the IDEA Partnership at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) for the purpose of connecting stakeholders in the national Communities of Practice (CoP), participating states’ CoP and Practice Groups to develop their shared work.
Year-Round Communication Network: www.sharedwork.org This website is used to…o Announce new products developed.o Announce training events.o Disseminate the results of state pilot projects.o Share promising practices.o Encourage local-to-local sharing.o Seek input from the field on matters of shared interest that are being
discussed by one or more of the Community of Practice partners.o Advise the development of the key national, state, regional, and local
meetings.o Other opportunities that become evident as we communicate more
routinely.
Cross System Work
Interagency Collaboration
Year-Round Strategy
Creating An Environment where Local Stakeholders can Learn from One Another
Meaningful Youth Role
Youth LeadershipYouth Development
State to State Learning Around Issues
Career AssessmentStatewide MeetingsTransportationHigh School Redesign
State to Local and Local to Local Learning Around Issues
Shared Communication
Why Are Communities of Value?
o Provide the support that individuals need
o Respect the ‘expertise’ that individuals bring
o Recognize the differences in the settings where people do their work
o Seek commonality within differing viewpoints
o Unite individuals in action
o Focus on ‘learning’
o Use ‘learning’ to transform practice
Your Insights
Could a Community approach help address some of the persistent problems in transition?”
“When you imagine what ‘could be’ in transition… might Community connections make it more likely?”
Contact Information
o Joanne Cashman, joanne.cashman@nasdse.org
o Debra Grabill, debra.grabill@valley.net
o Tina Greco, TGreco@ed.state.nh.us
o Joan Kester, joakester@state.pa.us
o Ellen Romett, eromett@pattan.net
o Linda Maitrejean, lindam@cesa11.k12.wi.us
o Steve Gilles, Steve.Gilles@dpi.state.wi.us
The IDEA Partnership
More information on the Interagency Transition
Community and other Cross-State/Cross Role Communities is
now available at:www.ideapartnership.org
or www.sharedwork.org
…or call us toll free at:
1-877- IDEAINFo
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