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Navigating Excellence - Parent Center Assistance & Collaboration Team
Region A E-News |
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Inspirational Quote
"The future depends on what we do in the present."
~ Mahatma Gandhi
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Message from Carolyn & Diana
 While we don't have the ability to predict the future, we can prepare for what lies ahead. The nature of our work is changing, but our goals for the future have not. We remain committed to meeting the needs of the families we serve, addressing systemic injustice, and ensuring that every child has access to the support and opportunity they need to succeed. Know that the NE-PACT Team is here to assist your current efforts that will lead to successful outcomes in the future.
Another message from Diana: In case you missed it, on November 1, Carolyn Hayer becomes the Director of the Center for Parent Information and Resources, replacing Debra Jennings in this role as Debra will be leaving SPAN as Executive Co-Director at the end of December. We are in the process of interviewing candidates to replace Carolyn as Co-Director of NEPACT. I want to take this opportunity to thank Carolyn for her dedicated work as NE-PACT Co-Director and for agreeing to take on the challenging role of CPIR Director! Stay tuned, more to come!
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Featuring...
CPAC: A recent memorandum from the Connecticut State Board of Education contains important information on school districts' responsibilities related to the June 10, 2020 United States District Court ruling that extended students' IDEA eligibility, who have not received a regular high school diploma, until their 22nd birthday. Read more.
NH PIC: The Wrightslaw Special Education Law & Advocacy Conference, taking place on May 6, 2021, is designed to meet the needs of parents, educators, health care providers, advocates and attorneys who represent children with disabilities regarding special education; it is not disability specific. Come hear Pete Wright talk about: Special education law, rights and responsibilities; Tests and measurements to measure progress & regression, and more. Read more.
VFN: Check out our very own Karen Price, a guest speaker on Vermont Public Radio's "What Special Education Looks Like in Vermont During COVID-19". Along with Vermont's Special Education Director, the program discussed what the state is doing to ensure that kids are getting connected to the right resources, whether in-person or remotely. Learn more and listen to the broadcast.
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Upcoming Events/Dates to Remember
Monthly Drop-In Call: The next Region A Drop-In Call will be combined with the next COVID-19 call on Tuesday, November 17, 10:00am - 12:00pm since November 3 is Election Day. Our regular drop-in calls take place on the first Tuesday of every month. Check your calendar invite for additional details. Join the call. Please let us know no later than Friday, November 13, if you have any agenda items.
National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health (FFCM) Conference: This conference will take place on Tuesday, November 10 and Thursday, November 12 from 1:00 - 4:15pm E.T. It will focus on Equity in Access, Services, and Outcomes for Children, Youth, and Families during COVID-19. Each workshop time period will feature workshops addressing the conference themes as well as topics such as peer support, family/youth leadership, co-occurring mental health/substance use disorders, trauma-informed services, etc. Registration closes November 1! Register here.
Starbridge Webinar: Faulty Brakes: The Distress of Disinhibition: This webinar will take place on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 from 12:00 - 1:00pm. Most people can easily "put the brakes on" to stop themselves from behaviors, reactions and emotions that may seem rude and even offensive. Sometimes, though, we are not able to stop ourselves in time. For people with neurological differences, these faulty brakes - commonly called "Disinhibition" - may occur frequently and be distressing to the person and others around them. Disinhibition is an inconsistent ability to inhibit behaviors that are inappropriate for the situation. Nationally recognized expert and advocate Kathy Giordano joins us to talk about Disinhibition: How it is misunderstood; Recognizing signs; and Compassionate, effective methods to support people with this behavior. Register here.
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Opportunities to Make an Impact
Blueprint for Change: Guiding Principles for Advancing the System of Services for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN) and Families: In the fall of 2019, the US Maternal and Child Health Bureau began working with a small group of children and youth with special healthcare needs (CYSHCN) experts and families to reexamine systems of care for CYSHCN and to identify priorities and opportunities that can advance those systems and improve outcomes. The result is a draft called A Blueprint for Change: Guiding Principles for Advancing the System of Services for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN) and Families. This Blueprint can inform programs and policy at the community, state, and federal levels. MCHB invites you to review the draft Blueprint and provide input on how we can integrate this work at the community, state, and federal levels in four key areas: health equity, access to service and supports, family/child well-being and quality of life, and financing of services. Please submit comments to [email protected] and reference "CYSHCN Blueprint RFI" in the subject line by Monday, November 30, 2020 by 11:59pm Eastern Time.
Maternal and Child Health Bureau Strategic Plan: MCHB is developing a new Strategic Plan to provide a roadmap for MCHB's future. The strategic plan will guide MCHB's efforts to advance the health and well-being of mothers, children and families in the United States. We seek your innovative ideas, experience, and feedback to ensure the strategic plan positions MCHB to respond effectively to future needs of maternal and child health (MCH) populations; accelerate improvement in equitable MCH health and well-being outcomes; incorporate public health advancements; leverage new technologies; and translate emerging MCH evidence into practice. Please review their request for information and share their comments. They encourage input from a broad range of stakeholders. Please submit comments to [email protected] by Friday, December 18, 2020 by 11:59pm Eastern Time.
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Non-Profit Management Resources
7 Tips for Managers facing Burnout: Click here for 7 tips to help engage your employees in a conversation about burnout.
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Family-Centered Services Resources
Everyone Experiences Stress: Rain falls on every family, but we can take steps to help families keep their family strong even when life is challenging. Whether it's an online support group, taking a quiet moment to reenergize, or learning about child development, these steps -- also known as protective factors -- can act as an umbrella to keep away the rain. Read more from the Child Welfare Information Gateway.
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Youth-Centered Services Resources
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Staff Development Resources
Racial Equity Resource Guide: The WK Kellogg Foundation has a wealth of resources on anti-racism staff development available. These guides and workshops can provide structure for having a dialogue on issues of race, activities focused on helping achieve racial equity, and trainings designed to raise awareness and inspire action.
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Absenteeism
The Urgent Need to Avoid Punitive Responses to Poor Attendance: Responding to absences with positive problem-solving rather than blame or punishment this school year is more urgent than ever before. Despite the fact that punitive practices are widespread, a growing number of researchers have found that they are not particularly effective. What improves attendance is partnering with students and families to identify and address the root causes that lead to students to miss school in the first place. Read more. |
Bi-lingual/LEP
Guidebook to Including Students with Disabilities and English Learners in Assessments: In the mid-1990s, a wave of concern about the exclusion from assessments of students with disabilities and English learners swept the country. This occurred, in part, because of the lack of data on the outcomes of the country's investment in services for these students. Read more. |
Child Welfare/Foster Care/Kinship Foster Care
Promoting the Positive: The importance of supporting positive childhood experiences and healing in families, schools and communities By Keyna Franklin: Research links adverse childhood experiences, known as ACEs, such as abuse, neglect or experiencing or witnessing violence, to health and well-being challenges in adulthood. In her research, Dr. Christina Bethell, director of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, found that many people who experienced ACEs also had positive experiences as children that made a difference in adulthood. Here, Dr. Bethell discusses the importance of positive and healing experiences for individuals, families and communities. She explains why it is important to establish norms that promote well-being and for parents to set the agenda about the help their families need. Read more.
PPE Shortage was Child Welfare Workers' Biggest Need in Early Weeks of Pandemic: Adding to the growing wave of research emerging from the early days of the novel coronavirus, the results of a survey of professionals in justice and child welfare agencies show that, like health care workers, they faced a harrowing shortage of masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment. Read more.
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Cultural Competence
Reclaim Social-Emotional Learning: Organizing Praxis for Holistically Safe Schools. Communities for Just Schools Fund (CJSF) released their latest radical report ("radport") on October 23, 2020. In a moment when there is a national spotlight on what safe and supportive schools look and feel like, CJSF convened their national network of partners (youth, parent, and teacher-led organizing groups) to press back on harmful narratives about safety -- and to instead place conversations about safety into the more holistic, appropriate container of culturally-affirming social-emotional learning (SEL). However, these SEL conversations, practices, and curricula are too often based on white, heteropatriarchal, and ableist norms and values, which further enacts emotional and psychological violence onto Black, Brown, and LGBTQ+ youth of color, in particular. Learn more and access the report.
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Data
Three Ways to Help People Understand What your Data Mean: This article in the Harvard Business Review provides three tips on how to help others understand what your data means. |
Discipline & Positive Behavior Supports
Disparity in Discipline: An article reflecting ongoing disparity in discipline for students of color. Focus on disparity in loss of instruction time. Study in addition to OCR Report on discipline.
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Dispute Resolution
Creating Agreement: Take a look at these tools - powerpoints, handouts, and other resources - developed by the IDEA Partnership on how to "create agreement" and reduce confrontational disputes.
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Early Childhood/Early Intervention
COVID-19 Family Resources: This interactive infographic helps families navigate the Early Childhood Technical Assistance (ECTA) website for COVID-19 resources and information that help support their children's learning and development. The resource, developed by ECTA and the Center for Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy), also received extensive contributions from several parent training and resource centers from across the country. Read more. |
Equity
Putting and Keeping Equity at the Center in Education: During COVID-19 and Beyond: The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the deep inequities in our society. After experiencing months of limited education, the effect on students will include extensive learning gaps, particularly for at-risk students. As we all return to school, educators need to keep equity at the center of their focus and actions. Download Exploring Equity - Putting and Keeping Equity at the Center. |
Health
Advancing Health Equity: The "Practitioner's Guide for Advancing Health Equity: Community Strategies for Preventing Chronic Disease" provides lessons learned from evidence- and practice-based strategies. The innovative ideas highlight how to maximize the effects of policy, systems, and environmental improvement strategies-all with the goal of reducing health disparities and advancing health equity. Check it out. |
IDEA
IDEA Part C Provision of Services: Questions & Answers released October 22, 2020 in response to inquiries concerning implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part C provision of services in the current COVID-19 environment.
IDEA Part B Provision of Services: Released September 28, 2020, this Question and Answers document from the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Office of Special Education Programs answers inquiries concerning implementation of IDEA Part B in the current COVID-19 environment. IDEA Topics in the Current COVID-19 Environment include provision of services, use of funds, procedural safeguards, dispute resolution, evaluation and assessment timelines, and flexibility in implementation of IDEA Part B fiscal requirements. |
Immigrant Issues
State and Local Immigrants' Rights Developments, December 2019 - August 2020 - Investing in Collective Health and Well-Being: The COVID-19 pandemic's disproportionate impact on immigrants and on Black, Indigenous, and low-income communities of color has forced the United States to confront longstanding disparities in access to care and economic support, as well as the harmful effects of policing and carceral systems. Check this out. |
Juvenile Delinquency/Juvenile Justice
Schoolwork Behind Bars and Re-entry Into Schools: Check out this article on schoolwork behind bars, loss of credit and reentry into schools. Bonus mention - School Justice Program at Advocates for Children of New York. |
LGBTQ
Repealing the Affordable Care Act Would Have Devastating Impacts on LGBTQ People: On November 10, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in California v. Texas, the latest in a series of attempts by the Trump administration to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Despite widespread criticism from a range of legal experts, the administration and 18 Republican governors and attorneys general will argue for the ACA to be struck down in its entirety, even as the country continues to cope with the disastrous economic and public health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the existence of the entire ACA at stake, potential losses of coverage and health benefits would be most detrimental for LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and communities of color, all of whom have made significant gains under the law's passage. The administration's hopes of success now appear to be bolstered by the opportunity for President Donald Trump to place a third appointee on the nation's highest court. Read more. |
Mental Health
2020 Back to School Mental Health Tool-Kit helps students, parents and school personnel navigate the uncharted territory of COVID-19. There are chapters for kids and teens and for teachers and parents in this resource from Mental Health America. With many teachers conducting classes remotely, and many families navigating virtual learning, parents, caregivers and teachers need to work together to support each other and be their for students. Download the toolkit.
Planning for Uncertainty: An Educator's Guide to Navigating the COVID-19 Era: The extreme unknowns caused by COVID-19 have left many educators feeling anxious, upset, and stuck. This guide was designed by educators and mental health professionals to help educators get "unstuck" and move forward in complex situations. Read more.
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Military Families & Youth
New Navy App: The Navy has developed a new app for the close to 20,000 families with an Exceptional Family member.
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Native American
Advocating for Native Students and Schools Impacted by COVID-19: Since the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) began to spread early this year, NIEA has engaged with congressional leaders to ensure that our students, schools, and communities have access to the resources needed now and in the coming months. Now, as schools begin the fall semester, it is more important than ever to protect the safety and well-being of our students, educators, and communities. Read more.
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| Parent/Family Engagement (and Youth!)
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| Poverty
A Gloomy Prediction on How Much Poverty Could Rise: This article, written in April and updated at the end of July, 2020, notes that the pandemic portends a sharp increase in poverty to a level that could exceed that of the Great Recession according to researchers at Columbia University. It is likely to widen racial disparities, with poverty projected to rise twice as much among Blacks as among whites, and also likely to rise disproportionately among children, a special concern because brain science shows that early deprivation can leave lifelong scars. Read more.
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| Remote Learning/School Reopening
Parent and Family Digital Learning Guide: Check out this U.S. Department of Education resource to help parents and guardians understand how digital tools can provide tailored learning opportunities, engage students with course materials, encourage creative expression, and enrich the educational experience
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Social-Emotional Learning
Social and Emotional Support in Distance Learning: Relationships matter. When educators and students practice physical distancing, it does not mean that they must lose social and school connections. During the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) response, it is critically important to place adult and student wellness first and foremost to establish a positive, safe, and supportive learning environment. Read more.
The Brain Basis for Integrated Social, Emotional, and Academic Development: Check out this brief from The Aspen Institute.
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Technology
The Best Free Tech Tools for Nonprofits: You know the feeling: you already have a lot on your plate, but you don't have the budget to pay for technology that will make your job easier. Or the time to scour the internet for the one tool to help you get your job done for free. Learn more
Features in Accessibility: Google's Tools in Practice: Listen to this webinar presented by the National Center for Accessible Educational Materials. You may already be familiar with the many extensions you can use to personalize the learning experience with the Chrome web browser, but did you know that there are also many accessibility features built into Chromebooks? Learn about these features and how they can be used in instructional practice by viewing the Webinar Recording, Webinar Slides, or Digital Handout. We also suggest reviewing Chromebook Accessibility for helpful background information.
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Transition to Adult Life/Youth
Youth Development and Leadership: Opportunities to Develop Connecting Competencies: This Innovative Strategies Practice Brief provides practical examples from promising and exemplary youth programs for implementing youth development and leadership opportunities that help youth develop Connecting competencies.
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Trauma & Toxic Stress
This Way Up Learning Hub on Trauma: Get answers to your questions about post-traumatic stress including What is Post-Traumatic Stress, What are the Signs, What Causes It, and How to Deal with It, including Strategies to Manage it. Check it out.
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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) -  located 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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