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.
NEW!! Mid-South RRC and the Northeast RRC are collaborating on conducting a meeting February 8 & 9 for three Part B agencies using PCG data systems to discuss solutions and opportunities. [posted 1-25-10]
UPDATED!! Data Sharing for Early Childhood Transition Webinar: January 6th, 2010 Conducted by the RRC Program Early Childhood Transition Priority Team[Updated 2-8-10]
The most recent news and updates from the U.S. Department of Education are available on this web site.
MSRRC REGIONAL NEWS
NEW!! 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]
NEW!! MSRRC is planning to conduct a regional meeting of state agency staff on writing effective improvement plan activities. This event is tentatively scheduled for April 20-21, 2010. [posted 2-4-10]
NEW!! MSRRC conducted a staff retreat February 2-4 to discuss staff roles in the RRCP Strategic Plan. [posted 2-07-10]
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 December 2009]
MSRRC Information Requests
During the month of December, the MSRRC responded to 7 requests for information from MSRRC states and the RRC Program. Below is a summary:
Suspension/Expulsion sample monitoring protocols
Nonpublic School monitoring procedures
Speech Language and caseload
Monitoring and self-assessment
States utilizing single special education teacher certification
Response to Intervention, learning disabilities, and private school issues
Transfer of Rights at Age of Majority
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]
