• Home
• >
• Centers
• >
• IDEA Partnership Project

Partner Activities

• Collaborative Professional Development/Adult Learning: State-Based and Cross-State Communities of Practice
• Early Dispute Resolution/ Creating Agreement Workgroup
• IDEA and NCLB Collaboration Community of Practice
• National Community of Practice in Support of Transition
• National Community of Practice on Collaborative School Behavioral Health
• View all.

Center Overview

As the No Child Left Behind Act focuses educators on performance improvement of students with disabilities, there is an urgent and common need among special and general educators to find new ways to understand each other and work together effectively. This project of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) will help policy makers, service providers, administrators, and families translate knowledge into action in a way that creates personal meaning and informs their work and interactions every day.

Methods

In 1997, after the passage of the 1997 amendments of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) funded four linked partnership projects which were charged to engage partner organizations representing policy makers, service providers, family and advocates, and local administrators in the shared implementation of IDEA. It was clear to OSEP that the landmark change in IDEA 97 would require the engagement of all stakeholders. The focus of the first partnership project was relationship building and collaboration. From 1998 to 2003, the four linked IDEA Partnerships were: Associations of Service Providers Implementing IDEA Reforms in Education (ASPIIRE) and IDEA Local Implementation by Local Administrators Partnership (ILIAD) (Council for Exceptional Children), Families and Advocates Partnership for Education FAPE (The PACER Center, Minneapolis), and the Policymaker Partnership (PMP)(National Association of State Directors of Special Education). In 2003, OSEP saw that deeper levels of engagement were essential and the collaboration needed to be translated to state and local practice. As a result, the unified IDEA Partnership, an affiliation of 55 national organizations that cross the boundaries of the four linked partnerships and coalesce around common interests, was created. Core Goals of the IDEA Partnership Goal 1: To unite the goals and interests of 55 national organizations into a unified but organizationally specific and strategic effort that moves toward greater systemic impact at the State and local levels. Goal 2: To deliver accurate, relevant and customized information to policymakers, implementers and consumers regarding No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and IDEA, including Part C (early intervention). Goal 3: To promote interaction and cross-stakeholder affiliation around shared issues, including the involvement of individuals from under-represented groups. Goal 4: To stimulate stakeholder involvement in State and local systems to deliver professional development and solve IDEA implementation problems. Goal 5: To facilitate systemic change and cultural shift toward greater and more meaningful stakeholder involvement in state and local systems.