About the TA Center

• Message from the Director
• Who are we?
• With whom do we work?
• What is our focus?
• What is our broader role in linking people and knowledge?
• What results do we expect from our collaborative work?
• State Work Plan PowerPoint Presentation

Who are we?

In October 2001, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the U.S. Department of Education (ED) awarded the TA Center contract to the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The center also has staff through a subcontract with the Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights (PACER) Center in Minneapolis, MN. We work closely with our Contracting Officer's Representative at OSEP, Julia Martin.

With whom do we work?

• Part C, Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities
• Part B, Section 619 Preschool Grants for Children with Disabilities

• Part D early childhood discretionary projects
• State Interagency Coordinating Councils (ICC)
• Continuous Improvement Focuesd Monitoring System (CIFMS)
• State Improvement Grants (SIG)

We also involve others, including additional state agency personnel, service providers, families, community and higher education representatives, TA providers, and individuals from multiple levels of the service system.

What is our focus?

• a statement of specific desired outcomes for children and families
• the involvement of stakeholders from all levels of the system who represent the cultural and linguistic diversity of the state
• activities strategically designed to produce change at all levels of the service system
• technical assistance services to be delivered by the TA Center and other partners
• a realistic timeline (often multi-year) to accomplish systemic change
• benchmarks for charting state work plan progress

To implement these state work plans, we partner with other early childhood technical assistance projects, resources and systems. These include programs and projects funded by ED and other federal agencies, state technical assistance providers and other organizations. These mutually beneficial relationships will maximize resources and enhance results for young children with special needs and their families. For more information about State Work Plans (PDF: 275kb), please view our PowerPoint presentation describing our strategic planning process

What is our broader role in linking people and knowledge?

• producing documents about early childhood programs and projects supported by OSEP , the Part C and Part B, Section 619 programs of IDEA
• maintaining a Web site with evidence-based practices and ongoing research related to specific implementation issues, contact information for key constituencies, searchable databases of OSEP early childhood projects and other resources, opportunities to participate in the early childhood/special needs community through interactive features and electronic discussion lists
• hosting an annual national conference with OSEP for state early childhood programs, projects and others
• publishing eNotes electronic newsletter for the early childhood/special needs community

What results do we expect from our collaborative work?

1. Quality Assurance: When accurate and timely information is used for decision-making and oversight of local systems and services, results for children and families can improve. Quality assurance procedures/systems need to appropriately include families of various cultural and linguistic backgrounds in all communities.
2. Finance: Service systems need to effectively coordinate multiple funding sources to assure that all children and families receive the services they need, regardless of income level or locale.
3. Personnel: Adequate numbers of qualified personnel from multiple disciplines are necessary to provide early intervention and early childhood special education services. Qualified personnel should be culturally competent and representative of the diversity of children and families they serve.
4. Coordinated Services/Transition: Improved coordination and communication among agencies can assure that children and families have timely, easy and uninterrupted access to necessary services. Interagency coordination needs to assure equitable access for diverse groups, income levels and locales.
5. Early Identification: All eligible children need to be identified as early as possible and appropriately evaluated. Varied tools, strategies and methods should be used to ensure that children from all cultural/linguistic backgrounds are appropriately identified and evaluated.
6. Family Involvement: Results improve when families are meaningfully involved and treated respectfully in planning, implementing and evaluating services. The cultural and linguistic background of a family plays an important role in defining “meaningful involvement” and “treated respectfully.”
7. Inclusion and Natural Environments: Children with disabilities should be fully included in natural environments and high quality settings with typically developing peers, regardless of income, locale, or cultural or linguistic background.
8. Effective Practices: Results for young children with disabilities are improved when service providers use curricula, strategies and materials that are effective, culturally appropriate and address each child’s unique developmental and early education needs.

In order to provide quality TA to our clients in these implementation areas, we strive to understand, value and incorporate matters of diversity into our work. Our shared concern with service delivery systems is that young children and families receive effective services that are culturally appropriate to their individual needs.