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Navigating Excellence - Parent Center Assistance & Collaboration Team
Region A E-News
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"I was no chief and never had been, but because I had been more deeply wronged than others, this honor was conferred upon me, and I resolved to prove worthy of the trust." ~ Geronimo (1907) |
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Message From Diana & Michele |
As we leave the month of November we want to continue to recognize and celebrate Native American Heritage Month. Many valuable resources focusing on American Indians and Alaska Natives were released in November. We want you to become familiar with them and use them in your outreach to Native families wherever they live, whether it be on a reservation or in a rural, suburban or urban community. This link will take you to seven current resources. |
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Sinergia: In collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum, Sinergia is offering Afterschool Art Program, Friends are We! Building Social Skills through the Arts. This interactive after-school program will offer children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), from ages 3 up to 13 years old, with social skills development through the arts. The program involves the participation of students’ parents to learn skills and then to reinforce them at home and in their communities. Students will explore various visual art forms in an interactive small group setting. Visit their website for more information.
Parent Network of Western New York (PNWNY): Parent Network of Western New York has a wealth of Early Childhood resources on their website covering topics from Social Emotional Learning, Inclusion, Act Early Milestone tracker and so much more. Explore their website and these wonderful resources.
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Upcoming Events/Dates to Remember |
Region A Drop-In Call: The next Region A Drop In Call will take place on Tuesday, December 7, 2021, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm. Our regular 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 30th if you have any agenda items. Remember that we will not have a COVID Drop-in call in December but will resume these calls on January 18.
National Native American Heritage Month Authors Series: Celebrating the Culture, History and Diversity: On November 30, 2021 at 3 pm, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) is celebrating National Native American Heritage Month. OELA is hosting a panel discussion and audience Q&A with award-winning authors whose work highlights the diversity of heroes and heroines within the Native American community. Join OELA on November 30, 2021 for an engaging conversation with these authors. Register here.
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Non-Profit Management Resources |
Parent Center Non-Profit Management Standards: How is your parent center doing in terms of the Parent Center Non-Profit Management Standards? Find out by completing the Parent Center Standards Non-Profit Management Self-Assessment. Reach out to your NE-PACT TA facilitator to get a copy and/or assistance in completing the self-assessment.
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Family-Centered Services Resources |
Parent Center Family-Centered Services Standards: How is your parent center doing in terms of the Parent Center Family-Centered Services Standards? Find out by completing the Parent Center Standards Family-Centered Services Self-Assessment. Reach out to your NE-PACT TA facilitator to get a copy and/or assistance in completing the self-assessment.
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Youth-Centered Services Resources |
Livelihoods: Preparing Youth To Earn A Decent, Dignified Income: This practical resource for youth and young adults to practice financial literacy, and a tool to help youth pursue decent livelihoods in the near future, can be found here.
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Staff Development Resources |
History of the Parent Center Movement: Are your staff aware of the history of the Parent Centers under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act? They can learn all about it on the Parent Center Hub e-learning site! The course covers important events, people, growth, and development of Parent Centers. It answers the following questions: When and why was the Parent Program originally created, and by whom? It will also explore Public Law 94-142, the first version of IDEA and its many reauthorizations. They can also check out many resources in the Additional References tab. And it only takes 15 minutes! Just have them sign up on the hub.
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Student Attendance Success Plans and My Family’s Help Bank: The Student Attendance Success Plan is designed to help parents track their children’s attendance and work with teachers to set appropriate goals.
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Full-day Pre–K Programs Lead to Better Long-term Outcomes for Dual Language Learners: Communication with parents should be strengthened to inform them about the long-term benefits of bilingual/ESL programs in early childhood. It is a common misconception that being immersed in English is what’s best for children learning English (sometimes called English Learners, or EL students, or Emergent Bilinguals), and this has influenced some parents in both Chicago and Illinois as a whole to opt-out of services for their children, about 3% and 6.5% respectively. This is unfortunate given the report’s findings that students who received bilingual services were not only more likely to reach English proficiency by the third grade, but their attendance and performance on assessments benefitted compared to those that refused services. Learn more. |
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Bullying Prevention for Parents of Middle School Students, StopBullying, Reviewed and updated Nov 17, 2021. Find it here. |
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2021/2022 Prevention Resource Guide: Found in the Child Welfare Information Gateway, the enhanced content in this year’s guide includes successful partnerships, conversation guides to engage parents with service providers, and examples of how families, neighborhoods, communities, and States are successfully using the “protective factors” to protect children, strengthen families, and promote well-being. Find the updated guide here. |
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Choice/Charter Schools/Virtual Schools/Voucher Programs/Private Schools |
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Culturally Responsive School Practices to Promote the Success of Native American English Learners: Integrating home, community language, and cultural practices can deliver academic benefits for Native American and Alaska Native English learners (ELs). This webinar recording by the US ED’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) offers best practices for fostering culturally responsive education to promote Native EL success.
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US Census Data: The US Census is the leading source of quality data about our nation’s people and economy. Explore the data. |
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Discipline & Positive Behavioral Supports |
Equity Report - Education: Philadelphia area students of color miss more school due to discipline: Over two-thirds of schools in the tri-state metro area have racial inequities in suspensions. See the ABC Action News report. |
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SEA Dispute Resolution (DR) Coordination & Leadership Suite, CADRE features an online set of resources including DR process manuals to support the administration of the required IDEA DR processes, as well as the implementation of other prevention and early resolution practices. CADRE has developed or curated a number of resources for each required process, including customizable manuals and slide decks based on the 2013 OSEP Dispute Resolution Q&A, links to commonly used OSEP resources, and much more. Find it here. |
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3 Tiers of Intervention: Attendance Works recommends a three-tiered approach that starts with foundational supports for the whole school. These foundational supports are followed by prevention-oriented supports (Tier1), more personalized outreach (Tier 2) and intensive intervention (Tier 3).
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Early Childhood/Early Intervention |
Regional Educational Laboratory (RELs) Program Early Childhood Resources: RELs work in partnership with states and districts to 1) conduct original high quality research, 2) provide training, coaching, and technical support, and 3) disseminate high quality research findings in an effort to improve learning for preschool aged child. View a selected list of Early Childhood resources developed by the REL Program.
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English Learners and Critical Languages: Check out this new fact sheet developed by ED’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) that focuses on English Learners and Critical Languages. The U.S. government encourages the study of critical languages spoken in geographic areas of strategic importance to U.S. national security and the global economy through a variety of grant and scholarship programs. This document offers an overview of critical languages, highlighting that the top five languages other than English most commonly spoken by ELs includes four critical languages—Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Somali.
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Disproportionality Rates for Children of Color in Foster Care Dashboard, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, National Center for Juvenile Justice (2021). View the data in your state for the Disproportionality Rates for Children of Color in Foster Care.
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Grandparents as Caregivers |
Grandparent caregivers face more challenges: Grandparents who act as primary caretakers are sending grandchildren back to school amid a pandemic that is far more deadly for older Americans. View this ABC News report to learn about more challenges and some positive news.
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Medicaid Managed Care Contract Language re: Equity: This report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provides excerpts of health disparities and health equity contract language from Medicaid managed care contracts and requests for proposals from 12 states and the District of Columbia as well as the contract for California’s state-based marketplace, Covered California. The criteria for inclusion in this compendium were contracts that explicitly addressed health disparities and/or health equity. New York and DC are the two highlighted states/jurisdictions from Region A. Read more. |
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When granted a 'Make-A-Wish,' this 13-year-old chose to feed his city's homeless for a year: When Adeola "Abraham" Olagbegi discovered his bone marrow transplant was successful, he was granted any wish of his choice. The 13 year old chose to feed homeless people in his hometown of Jackson, Mississippi, for a year. Read more. |
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Return to School Roadmap: Child Find, Referral, and Eligibility Under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Return to School Roadmap: Provision of Early Intervention (EI) Services for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and their Families under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): US ED, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) released two new IDEA Part C Q&As. These new Q&As Address Child Find, Referral, and Eligibility; and the Provision of EI Services under IDEA Part C Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic. This guidance is designed to assist states to identify and serve all eligible infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families so they can reach their full potential. See them both here, Child Find and Provision of Early Intervention Services.
Return to School Roadmap: Development and Implementation of IEPs in the Least Restrictive Environment: Find the guidance.
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U.S. closes first temporary housing site for Afghan evacuees as resettlement accelerates: The Biden administration announced it stopped housing evacuated Afghans at one of the military sites that has accommodated them since the summer, citing the increased pace of their resettlement within the U.S. Read more. |
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Preschool Inclusion Series: The Preschool Inclusion Series of the SpecialQuest Multimedia Training Library focuses on several aspects of including preschool-age children who have disabilities in programs and settings with their typically developing peers. The video series provides benefits and rationale for inclusion, perspectives from many stakeholders on what makes inclusion work, and stories about the successful inclusion of children and what it took for their families and their service providers to ensure that these children were given the supports and opportunities they needed to flourish in programs with their typically developing peers. The video series also provides practical and concrete strategies for an Individualized Education Program (IEP) process that is collaborative and that ensures inclusion, with perspectives from family members, service providers, and administrators from several service delivery systems. View the video series in English and Spanish. |
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Juvenile Delinquency/Juvenile Justice |
Even as Pandemic Limits Services, States Steer Kids from Justice System: The juvenile justice system saw some highs and lows during the pandemic, according to a panel at the 2021 National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) Legislative Summit. Although many programs were shut down or limited, some states passed reforms to help kids avoid the system altogether. Read more.
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“Safe Schools for All" Launches to Help Students: A new website from GLAD, GLSEN, NCLR, and PFLAG National provides support and resources for LGBTQI+ students. This is a valuable resource for schools to be safer and more inclusive for LGBTQ+ students. Use this toolkit to help these students defend their rights in school settings. Read more. |
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Should Kids Take Mental Health Days? When taking a break is helpful (and when it's not): A mental health day is a day off from school to rest and recharge. Giving kids the chance to take them — within reason — can have big benefits. Here are some tips on when you should, and shouldn’t, let kids take a day off. And advice to help them get the most out of it when they do. Learn more. |
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Military Families & Youth |
US military introducing measures to attempt to ease economic strain on service families: According to a memo from the Defense Secretary, the US military is trying to ease the economic strain on service members by increasing the housing allowance in high-price areas and expanding financial education. Read more.
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Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) School Reopening Guidance: The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) located within the U.S. Department of Interior, administers 183 elementary and secondary schools in 23 different states including Maine. The BIE school system is one of two Federally-funded and operated school systems. The second is the Department of Defense school system. Read more. |
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Parent/Family Engagement (and Youth!) |
Tips for Families: Everyday Leadership Skills: Share this tip sheet with parents to help them recognize the leadership skills and abilities they use every day to manage their household and guide their children. Encourage parents to reflect on the skills they already use and the ones they want to strengthen. Parents can also use this resource to write down their plans to strengthen a particular skill. Read more. |
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A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty: The strengths and abilities children develop from infancy through adolescence are crucial for their physical, emotional, and cognitive growth. And that growth in turn enables them to achieve success in school and to become responsible, economically self-sufficient, and healthy adults. Capable, responsible, and healthy adults are the foundation of any well-functioning and prosperous society, yet in this regard the future of the United States is not as secure as it could be. This is because millions of American children live in families with incomes below the poverty line. A wealth of evidence suggests that a lack of adequate family economic resources compromises children's ability to grow and achieve success in adulthood, hurting them and the broader society as well. Recognizing this challenge to America's future, in 2015 Congress directed the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a comprehensive study of child poverty in the United States. The heart of this congressional charge is to identify evidence-based programs and policies for reducing the number of children living in poverty in the United States by half within 10 years. This 10-year window meant that the National Academies' study would need to focus on policies that could affect poor parents' resources in the near term, rather than on investments such as improved education for poor children that might well reduce poverty for future generations. After nearly 2 years of work, the Committee on Building an Agenda to Reduce the Number of Children in Poverty by Half in 10 Years has completed a review of the research literature and its own commissioned analyses to answer some of the most important questions surrounding child poverty and its eradication in the United States. Moreover, the committee was able to formulate two program and policy packages, described below, that meet the 50% poverty-reduction goals while at the same time increasing employment among low-income families. Read more. |
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U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights Solicits Public Input on Civil Rights Data Collection for 2021-22 School Year: The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it has submitted to the Federal Register for public comment a proposed Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) Information Collection Request package for the 2021–22 school year. The package describes key civil rights data OCR intends to collect from the nation's public schools and districts. OCR plans to introduce new data categories, such as those relating to students' educational experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and restore key data categories from previous collections. Read more.
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Social-Emotional Learning |
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Mindset Matters: How Accessibility Is a Wake Up Call For The Progress Of Business Evolution: Over the last several years there has been a litany of information around the business case of persons with disabilities. Organizations from The World Economic Forum to Accenture have demonstrated that the thinking around disability is gradually becoming part of the larger conversation of diversity and inclusion and a critical aspect to engaging a corporate culture amid a transformation and an emerging consumer market eager to connect with brands that understand their needs and wants. Central to this conversation is the knowledge of the value of accessibility. Read more.
Text-to-speech Application to Reduce Mind Wandering in Students with Dyslexia, from the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning via Wiley Online Library: The phenomenon generally referred to as mind wandering (MW) can be broadly defined as a shift in the contents of thought away from an ongoing task and/or from events in the external environment to internally self-generated thoughts and feelings. MW refers to a wide range of experiences that vary in terms of content, intentionality, and relationship between activities and external stimuli and it can be argued that MW per se is not a dysfunctional process but rather an important phenomenon for human experience. Read more and check out the Wiley Online Library.
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Transition to Adult Life/Youth |
Healthcare Transition Quiz: Are you ready to transition to adult health care? Take the quiz. |
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Rescuing our Kids from COVID Trauma Is Vital for Healing America: ACEs have been on the rise during the pandemic, as have other risk factors for toxic stress that can hurt long-term physical and mental health — like having a relative die, which tens of thousands of children have experienced because of Covid-19. And while the pandemic itself is not one of the traditional ACE criteria, it's likely that it can lead to toxic stress. For much of the pandemic we have been cut off from the day-to-day supports and social interactions we need to turn off the body's stress response. So, it's not surprising that the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Children's Hospital Association recently declared a national emergency for child and adolescent mental health due to the enormous adversity and disruption they've experienced as a result of the pandemic. 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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