The Alliance for Systems Change/Mid-South Regional Resource Center (ASC/MSRRC) is one of six Regional Resource Centers (RRCs) funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education programs. ASC/MSRRC provides technical assistance to state early intervention lead agencies, departments of education and other related state agencies in Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
The most recent news and updates from the U.S. Department of Education are available on this web site.
MSRRC REGIONAL NEWS
NEW!! Systems Improvement Regional Forum Posted 2-25-10
In partnership with the Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center (ARCC), the Mid-South RRC is offering an opportunity for Part B State Education Agencies and Part C Lead Agencies to participate in a regional forum on Systems Improvement. This forum will provide a chance for state staff to network with other states and discuss state-specific SPP issues with national TA providers and representatives from the RRC Program.
The forum will be held in Baltimore on April 20-21, 2010. The purpose is to focus on improving performance on both SPP/APR compliance and results indicators. Content will address implementing a systematic approach to designing/refining and evaluating SPP/APR improvement activities.
NEW!! State Personnel Development Grant Regional Forum Posted 2-25-10
The Mid-South Regional Resource Center is hosting a regional forum for invited State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG) directors and evaluators on April 27-28, 2010 in Baltimore.
The purpose of this meeting is to discuss emerging issues related to the management and implementation of the SPDG. This venue will offer an opportunity for a peer-to-peer exchange of ideas and the sharing of successful improvement strategies to increase state and local capacity for improving outcomes for students with disabilities.
NEW!! MSRRC Director's Forum: May 12-13, 2009 Posted 3-9-10
The Mid-South Region Part B State Directors Forum is held twice annually to enable Directors to discuss issues related to the task of leading a state in its implementation of IDEA Part B. Directors together make up the agenda and it often includes issues identified by states that are related to APR indicators. The top issues are identified in a conference call held about a month before the meeting.
The Mid-South RRC has developed these guides to assist states in developing improvement activities using their parent survey data in response to Indicator 8 of the Part B State Performance Plan (SPP) and Indicator 4 of the Part C State Performance Plan (SPP). The purpose of these guides is the help states use the findings of their surveys to improve services, no matter what survey instrument (e.g., NCSEAM or state-developed for Part B; and NCSEAM, ECO, or state-developed for Part C) is used. The intent is to answer the questions, "What do the results mean?" and "How can we use this information to improve services?" [posted 12-09]
North Carolina CIPP Planning Calendar This Continuous Improvement Planning Process (CIPP) calendar was developed by NC to assist LEAs in the preparation and timely completion of all CIPP requirements throughout the 2009-2010 school year. [posted 1-25-10]
MSRRC INFORMATION REQUESTS
During the months of January and February, the MSRRC responded to six requests for information from MSRRC states and the RRC Program. Below is a summary:
Identification of gifted preschoolers
Sample state forms for the Transfer of Rights at Age of Majority
Emotional and Behavioral Disorders state technical assistance guidance documents
State Fiscal Monitoring (i.e., sample tools, report formats, checklists, etc)
Definition and Documentation of Appropriate Instruction, SLD Eligibility and use of RTI
State Monitoring Report Templates
For information related to the requests above or to submit an request, please contact Teresa Blythe (, 859.257.4921).
FEATURED TAP
STATE LEVEL MONITORING IN TENNESSEE
As part of states' general supervision responsibilities, all states are required by OSEP to oversee districts' compliance with IDEA. Each state reports to OSEP, via their Annual Performance Report (APR), the number of IDEA noncompliance findings and corrections.
MSRRC staff (Rich Lewis) and subcontractors (Bruce Bull and Karen Martens) conducted a series of meetings with state administrators and regional compliance monitors in TN to review the entire monitoring system. This was driven by the OSEP State Verification Report and Letter as well as results from the previous year's APR.
The result of this initiative is a compliance monitoring system which:
Is congruent with the requirements of IDEA and OSEP guidance
Provides the state with the data needed for its APR
Provides the state with the data needed to formulate improvement activities and corrective action plans that are targeted to specific issues being experienced by the districts and the state as a whole
Provides the state with an on-going process and reports which greatly improve its general supervision capacity
This technical assistance also resulted in the state improving its ability to identify and correct noncompliance in virtually all areas of IDEA implementation. It built capacity of the state to make further improvements, developed ownership by the state staff for their responsibilities, and discovered other issues that needed to be addressed because we looked at the system as a whole and not just focused on the known specific issues.
The outcome of this statewide technical assistance work is equally applicable to all populations within the target groups of individuals (students and their parents) served under IDEA, IDEA service providers within a district, and IDEA administrators within a district. [posted 6-19-09] For more information, contact: Rich Lewis,
