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Navigating Excellence - Parent Center Assistance & Collaboration Team
Region A E-News
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“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” ~ Nelson Mandela |
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Message From Diana & Michele |
This is a busy time for parent centers and we want to remind you that the NE-PACT TA Team is here to support you. The families that we serve often think things are impossible until we work with them. Although it’s a busy time for your center, never hesitate to reach out to us if there is any way we can help. |
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Parents Place of Maryland (PPMD): PPMD offers a wide variety of leadership training for families birth to 21 – Baby LEADERs, LEADers 1.0, LEADers, Guiding the Journey-14, Guiding the Journey, and Empowering Parents and Youth with Hidden Disabilities: Transition to College and Careers with Pride & Success. Baby LEADers is a training for families who have children birth to five; LEADers 1.0 is an introductory leadership training to our full LEADers training curriculum; LEADers is our most intensive curriculum that covers all special education and health topics; Guiding the Journey is the deeper dive into all topics related to transition; and Hidden Disabilities is our transition curriculum for families and youth with non-obvious disabilities. Learn more.
Vermont Family Network (VFN): Puppets in Education, a program of Vermont Family Network, teaches children how to keep themselves safe and healthy and to appreciate each other’s differences. This is done through educational programs for children and adults that utilize life-sized puppets who model effective leadership and problem-solving skills and demonstrate respect, compassion and inclusion in a diverse community. Learn more.
From The Center for Parent Information and Resources (CPIR): In the age of COVID, we all know how important it is to know how COVID has affected our mental health and the mental health of the families we support. Check out CPIR resources focusing on Trauma’s Impact on Children’s Mental Health. These resources are in English and Spanish and include videos and a podcast.
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Upcoming Events/Dates to Remember |
Save the date: Monday, November 8th, 3:30-4:30 pm for a listening session on the Joint HHS-ED Policy on the Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Programs which was issued in 2015. Specifically, OSEP would like to know how parent centers have used the policy statement when working with families and any ideas you may have for updating the policy statement. For those who are not able to attend the session, you will have the option to provide written feedback. Read the policy.
CPRC Final Report Guidance: Join the NE-PACT team on October 29th at 1 pm to get your questions answered and participate in a walk-thru on completing your final report. This meeting will be recorded. Join here.
NE-PACT Drop In call: The next Region A Drop In call will be on November 2nd at 10 am. The Center for Parent Information and Resources (CPIR) will provide information and answer questions about the website during the presentation portion of the call at 11:30 am. Click here to join.
Youth/Family Engagement and Vocational Rehabilitation: Family & Youth engagement is vital in all services. Hear how the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission Office of Individual and Family Engagement partners with individuals with disabilities and their chosen allies to ensure development and delivery of comprehensive services and how you can partner with the Vocational Rehabilitation agency in your state to do the same. The webinar will be on November 4th from 12 to 1 pm. Click here to register.
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Non-Profit Management Resources |
Tools and Resources for Non-Profits: The National Council of Nonprofits produces and curates tools, resources, and samples for non-profit organizations. Click here to view the most recent additions, browse by category or tag, or search for specific information.
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Family-Centered Services Resources |
Engaging Families and Creating Trusting Partnerships to Improve Child and Family Outcomes: Check out these Early Childhood TA Center (ECTA) resources and references from Getting to the Bottom Line in Family Engagement.
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Youth-Centered Services Resources |
Developing an Advocacy Plan: Advocating for a cause takes effort and planning. Youth and young adults can benefit from having a template to read, learn, and organize their social efforts for the common good. Read more.
Breaking Down Barriers to a Meaningful Adult Life: Don’t miss this remarkable story of a young man who’s overcome seemingly impossible odds to achieve a successful, fulfilling adult life. Hear his advice for overcoming the challenges of being deaf-blind in school and the workplace. Check it out.
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Staff Development Resources |
Nonprofit Staff Development: 5 Effective Best Practices: Professional development can be complicated, especially within the nonprofit sector. While you’re struggling to meet your budget and serve as many people as you can, even the most experienced staff is falling behind as new techniques and technology burst onto the scene – techniques and technology that could save you money and make mission delivery more effective. Read these 5 tips.
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Present Danger: Solving the Deepening Student Absenteeism crisis: States and school districts nationwide have reported higher student absenteeism during the pandemic, with schools shuttered and families struggling with the often devastating consequences of COVID-19. But a detailed examination of pandemic attendance trends in five school districts serving nearly 450,000 students suggests that student absenteeism has been far greater during the pandemic than previously reported. Read more.
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New Research Illuminates EL Teacher Certification Requirements and Related Impacts on Student Learning: This June marked the 30th anniversary of Castañeda vs. Pickard—a seminal case that specified three criteria for assessing the adequacy of language development programs for English learners (ELs). One of the criteria specifies that programs must be “implemented effectively with sufficient resources and personnel,” which includes teachers with the specialized knowledge and skills to support ELs' language development and academic growth. Yet, year after year, many states report shortages of EL teachers, which have a direct impact on the educational experiences and services that our nation’s five million English learner (EL) students receive. Learn more.
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Technology and Youth: Protecting Your Child from Electronic Aggression: Technology and youth seem destined for each other. Both are young, fast paced, and ever changing. In the last 20 years there has been an explosion in new technology. Check out this tip sheet for parents and caregivers to help protect children from electronic aggression.
Understanding and Preventing Youth Hate Crimes and Identity-based Bullying: On October 27th and 28th, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention presented a virtual symposium addressing important topics including current trends and research on identity-based bullying, cyberbullying, youth-related hate crimes, and how hate groups use social media and technology to reach, recruit, and radicalize youth. It also provided programs and best practices from experts in the field on how schools, families, law enforcement, and communities can work together to build protective factors in youth and help youth resist and disengage from extremist hate groups. Click here for details.
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Parenting in Racially and Culturally Diverse Adoptive Families: This factsheet for families provides information to help families support their child in developing a healthy racial and cultural identity and live a vibrant multicultural life. It discusses the importance of examining thoughts and biases and preparing a child to live in a society where race has a major impact on individual lives. This factsheet can be used as a resource for information on some of the potential rewards and challenges that come with choosing to live a multicultural and multiracial family life. View the factsheet.
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Cultural and Linguistic Competence Self-Assessment: The National Center on Cultural Competence has a set of cultural and linguistic competence self-assessment tools, including a tool designed with and for family-led organizations - and they are all free! Browse around a nd if you would like TA on doing the Cultural and Linguistic Competence Self-Assessment for Family Organizations, just reach out to us!
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Understanding Data Culture: What Data do Education Leaders Use and How Do They Use Them? Stakeholders have reported that they suffer from DRIP syndrome: they are Data Rich and Information Poor, and they are motivated to change that reality. In this blog post, the Regional Educational Laboratory Program (REL) serving the Appalachia Region shares what they learned from the literature scan, first describing the types of data commonly used at the K–12 and postsecondary levels and how education leaders have used these data and then providing resources for overcoming DRIP Syndrome in the education system. Read more.
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Discipline & Positive Behavioral Supports |
Anticipating an increase in student misbehavior, California releases new discipline guidelines: Fewer suspensions, more counseling should be the focus of schools' approach to student misbehavior. Check it out.
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National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB): The hands of a child who is deaf-blind often serve as their eyes and ears. If you work with a child who is deaf-blind, learn the essential components of using your hands to support their hands—and their learning. Check out NCDB’s latest practice guide. |
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The Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE): CADRE has developed a FAQ section for families in order to direct families of children and youth with disabilities to CADRE’s most valued parent and family-centered resources. The questions are organized in four sections; 1) Establishing Positive Relationships; 2) Support for the Individualized Education Program (IEP) Process; 3) Managing Disagreement and Dispute Resolution; and 4) Additional Assistance and Information. Find the resource here.
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Early Childhood/Early Intervention |
The 2021 Early Care and Education Leadership Development Compendium: A View of the Current Landscape: The latest compilation of early childhood and education leadership development programs in the U.S. showed a decline in offerings. The 2021 Early Childhood and Education Leadership Development Compendium counted 35 self-reported leadership development programs, down from 57 programs in the third edition, published in 2017. The report noted that 38 states are without leadership development programs. Future compendiums will be prepared and published by the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at UMass Boston. Read the fourth edition here.
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Supporting Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Maximizing In-Person Learning and Implementing Effective Practices for Students in Quarantine and Isolation: This document is intended to support states, school districts, and schools to maximize safe in-person learning opportunities by maintaining safe school operations and to implement effective practices that address students' social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs when students are temporarily not attending school in-person due to COVID-19 cases. Click here to read more.
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The Build Back Better Act: Child Care and Early Learning by the Numbers: This investment will help to address the deep inequities of the system in which parents can not afford the cost, early educators are paid poverty-level wages, and chronic shortages of both workers and facilities make finding care at all a Herculean feat. This fact sheet will go over how the Build Back Better package will transform the child care industry and why it is important we make these investments now.
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Parenting Children and Youth Who Have Experienced Abuse or Neglect, Child Information Gateway, 2018: Children and youth who have been abused or neglected need safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments to recover from the trauma they've experienced. If you are parenting a child or youth with a history of abuse or neglect, you might have questions about the impacts and how you can help your child heal. This factsheet is intended to help parents and other caregivers better understand the challenges of caring for a child or youth who has experienced maltreatment and learn about available resources for support.
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Grandparents as Caregivers |
Grandparents as Caregivers: An American Community Survey: Grandparent caregiver data help federal agencies understand the special provisions needed for federal programs designed to assist families, as older Americans are often in different financial, housing, and health circumstances than those of other ages. These data also help measure the effects of policies and programs that focus on the well-being of families, including tax policies and financial assistance programs. See some of the census data.
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Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities, including children with special health care needs, highlighting the importance of health insurance coverage, affordability, and benefit package contents, like home and community-based services (HCBS). This issue brief describes key characteristics of children with special health care needs and explores insurance affordability and benefits for children covered by Medicaid/CHIP compared to those with private insurance only. Read it here.
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Detroit Teen: Dig deeper to help and find homeless students: How can schools help identify and serve homeless students better? Find out here.
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Return to School Roadmap: Development and Implementation of Individualized Education Programs, September 30, 2021: This Q&A document highlights certain Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requirements related to the development and implementation of individualized education programs (IEPs) and other information that state educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs), regular and special education teachers, related services providers, and parents should consider. Find it here.
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Know Your Rights: No matter who is president, everyone living in the U.S. has certain basic rights under the U.S. Constitution—everyone, including people who are undocumented. Read more.
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Specialized Support: The Far End of the Continuum: Educators are more motivated to include students in the general education classroom setting as much as possible and to use services delivered outside of the general education class as a last option. This decision is based on the needs of each individual student and is known as specialized support. This article will take a closer look at how the need for specialized supports is determined and at the quality standards that should be met.
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Juvenile Delinquency/Juvenile Justice |
Complaints About Texas’ Juvenile Prisons Include Violence and Sex Abuse: The extensive allegations present a portrait of an environment inside the state’s juvenile prisons that is rife with physical attacks. Read it here.
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Black & LGBTQ: Approaching Intersectional Conversations: Racial justice and equality are essential to Black communities, but many Black LGBTQ are facing conversations about race and their queer identities. Having these conversations can be difficult and takes organizational thought-processing; find the steps to speak in public spaces and keep your mental health safe as you represent your identity and the intersectionality of the social issues. Read more.
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Supporting Child and Student Social, Emotional, Behavioral and Mental Health: The U.S. Department of Education released this new resource to provide information and resources to enhance the promotion of mental health and the social and emotional well-being among children and students. This resource highlights seven key challenges to providing school or program-based mental health support across early childhood, K–12 schools, and higher education settings and presents seven corresponding recommendations. Click here to learn more.
Supporting and Protecting the Rights of Students at Risk of Self-Harm in the Era of COVID-19: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused more than a year of loss, isolation, and uncertainty for many people, including students, across the country. For some students, these stressors may have caused a mental health disability to worsen. Others may be experiencing mental health disabilities for the first time. In some situations, there may be a risk that a student will engage in self-harm or consider suicide. Read more.
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Military Families & Youth |
Families Want Voice in Navigating Military Journey, DOD Official Says: Military families are no longer content to just come along for the ride — they want a voice in how to navigate the military journey. Read more.
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Outreach Opportunities at Fall Pow Wows: Just as COVID-19 has affected all gatherings and activities for the public at large, it has affected the ability of Native Americans to gather at a favorite event. Pow wows are a great gathering place for Native Americans. Here is a list of powwows for October and November, 2021. Please make good use of these opportunities for outreach to Native American families.
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Parent/Family Engagement (and Youth!) |
Deepening Parent Involvement: Five Factors to Consider: You will need a coordinated, deliberate approach to deepening parent involvement if you really want to make things happen. This means intentional outreach on the part of designated staff and other team members who have regular contact with parents, as well as a proactive Parent Association. Check out these simple tips.
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The Persistence of Neighborhood Poverty: From 1980 to 2018, nearly 4,300 neighborhoods, home to 16 million Americans, crossed the high-poverty threshold (a 30 percent poverty rate or higher). Alongside these new high-poverty neighborhoods, 2,134 neighborhoods, home to 6.8 million people, were persistently high poverty. In total, two-thirds of metropolitan neighborhoods that were high poverty in 1980 were still high poverty in 2018. It is rare for an initially high-poverty neighborhood to ever become low poverty. Check out this alarming report from the Neighborhood Poverty Project.
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3 Bills That Aim to Protect Disabled Students from Harm in School: There are three bills in Congress that together could, among other benefits, help protect disabled students from harm, and help ensure that school remains an opportunity for them, not a sentence. Check them out.
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Social-Emotional Learning |
U.S. Department of Education Releases New Resource on Supporting Child and Student Social, Emotional, Behavioral and Mental Health during COVID-19 Era: The U.S. Department of Education released a new resource: Supporting Child and Student Social, Emotional, Behavioral and Mental Health to provide information and resources to enhance the promotion of mental health and the social and emotional well-being among children and students. This resource highlights seven key challenges to providing school- or program-based mental health support across early childhood, K–12 schools, and higher education settings, and presents seven corresponding recommendations.
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Promoting Digital Equity and Opportunity in the Time of COVID-19: COVID-19 and the abrupt shift to virtual learning and service provisions have fundamentally altered geographies of educational opportunity. While this transition has potentially opened a space for expansive thinking and bold innovation in education, it has also amplified the need for swift and effective approaches to ensure digital. Learn more.
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Transition to Adult Life/Youth |
'Strides in the right direction... still a ton of work to do,' says the coach during Disability Employment Awareness Month: People who live with disabilities are constantly working to overcome challenges; key among them: finding a place to work. October is Disability Employment Awareness Month, a time to help people overcome that challenge of attaining employment. Read more.
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Millions of Kids Get Suspended or Expelled Each Year - but It Doesn’t Address the Root of the Behavior: Each school year, nearly 3 million K-12 students get suspended and over 100,000 get expelled from school. The offenses range from simply not following directions, to hitting or kicking, to more serious behaviors like getting caught with drugs or a weapon. And it starts early in students’ education – it’s not uncommon for preschoolers as young as 3 years old to be suspended or expelled from their childcare program. A big part of the problem has to do with implicit biases. Black students, especially boys, are suspended and expelled at much higher rates than white students. Teachers tend to see the behavior of boys in general and students of color as more difficult, and they respond in harsher ways. This is true even if it is the exact same behavior. But it’s also important to understand what leads to behaviors that end in suspension and expulsion. As a licensed clinical social worker for over eight years, I’ve worked with children of all ages who struggled at school. Many of them had been kicked out temporarily or permanently for things like spitting, running out of the classroom or fighting. One thing most of these students had in common was their experience of trauma at home and in their neighborhoods. Read more.
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ABOUT THE REGION A PARENT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTER
The Navigating Excellence-Parent Assistance and Collaboration Team (NE-PACT), the Region A Technical Assistance Center, provides technical assistance to federally-funded parent centers -- Parent Training and Information Centers (PTIs) and Community Parent Resource Centers (CPRCs) - NEPACT Logolocated in the states of CT-AFCAMP, CT-CPAC, DC-AJE, DE-PIC, MD-PPMD, ME-MPF, MA-FCSN, NH-PIC, NJ-SPAN, NJ-ASCF, NY-AFC, NY-CIDA, NY-LIAC, NY-UWS, NY-Starbridge, NY-INCLUDEnyc, NY-Sinergia, NY-PNWNY, PA-HUNE, PA- ME, PA-PEAL, PR-APNI, RI-RIPIN, VI-DRVI and VT-VFN. These Parent Centers are independent non-profit organizations. We also provide support to emerging parent centers and parent organizations serving families of children with or at risk of being identified as having disabilities. In addition, we work with early intervention and education agencies (local, state and federal level) seeking information regarding best practices in involving parents of children with disabilities in systems improvement.
The center activities are specifically designed to:
- Enhance the capacity of parent centers to provide effective services to families of children with special needs and to work effectively with their states to improve special education and early intervention systems; and,
- Facilitate their connections to the larger technical assistance network that supports research-based training, including educating parents about effective practices that improve results for children with disabilities. For more information click here.
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