State Early Childhood Technical Assistance Systems

Tennessee

• Part C TA System Description
• 12/1/06

Basic design features

The Tennessee Early Intervention Technical assistance system is a centralized system which is incorporated both within and outside the Part C Lead Agency, the Department of Education, Division of Special Education. The lead agency supports training and technical assistance through a contract with East Tennessee State University (ETSU). The ETSU Technical Assistance (TA) Project provides training and technical assistance to address needs identified through both annual and ongoing needs assessments and/or specific requests from the lead agency. They also collect, compile and analyze data regarding Tennessee Early Intervention System’s (TEIS) activities (including Part C Federal Data Collection) and report on these to the lead agency. Members of the Part C monitoring team, within the Lead Agency, provide follow-up technical assistance to early intervention programs and providers regarding areas of need identified through monitoring activities.

The TA system is funded by Federal Part C funds and state Lead Agency funds. Linking and supports for efforts by other State agencies are utilized whenever possible and applicable to early intervention or Part C eligible children and families. One such linkage involves support for the State’s Child-care Resource Centers which were established through a blending of funds from Developmental Disabilities, TN Department of Human Services, and TN Department of Health. The Lead Agency and the TA Project have supported this effort by involving staff of the Resource Centers in specific training events and providing materials through Part C and Section 619 Preschool funds.

Primary clients/recipients of technical assistance services

Primary clients/recipients of the technical assistance system are early intervention providers and administrators. Increasingly, clients also include preschool providers, child-care providers, Head Start and Early Head Start, health care providers and Local Interagency Coordinating Councils (ICCs).

Families are considered direct clients/recipients of technical assistance. Invitations to training and technical assistance events are mailed to agencies who, in turn, are encouraged to promote parent participation. The Parent Training and Information Project in the state, Support and Training for Exceptional Parents (STEP), and Family Voices also provide training for parents.

Ways technical assistance is provided

Technical assistance is frequently provided through regional/topical workshops, in- service training courses, consultation to programs, consultation via telephone and email, and print and non-print materials. Occasionally technical assistance is provided through statewide conferences, model demonstration sites, and mentoring. Interactive video teleconferencing is occasionally used as a means of providing training and technical assistance. The lead agency has recently initiated a lending library which, at present, is centrally located, managed by the Part C Monitoring Team, and is accessed, primarily, by the TEIS District Offices.

TA system operations

Needs assessment for training and technical assistance is conducted primarily through three methods. Continuous assessment is conducted throughout the year. During each workshop, participants are asked to identify further needs for training and technical assistance. In addition, each spring a comprehensive assessment of need is compiled from a statewide mailing to early childhood and early intervention providers to determine informational and instructional needs. Finally, findings from monitoring activities are also taken into consideration in developing the annual calendar of training and technical assistance events.

Staff from the Technical Assistance Project and the Lead Agency meets each spring to review and prioritize training needs and develop the training schedule for the coming year. A master calendar of ongoing training and technical assistance activities is maintained and is available on the TEIS Web site. Technical assistance events generally include multiple client groups. A few events are client specific.

Evaluation of the TA system

The TA system maintains documentation of all training and technical assistance activities provided, including descriptions of events, numbers of participants and their association or relationship to early intervention. Participant evaluations are collected at each activity and these evaluations are tabulated by TA staff at ETSU and reported to the Lead Agency quarterly. The structure and plans for future workshops are adapted, as appropriate, based on the feedback from these consumer evaluations. The TA system currently does not measure long range impacts of training and technical assistance efforts.

Relationship of TA system to the monitoring/supervision of local programs

Broad outcomes of local monitoring are shared with the state TA system and influence training decisions, but they do not solely determine the needs and priorities addressed by the TA system. Members of the state monitoring team also provide technical assistance as follow-up to monitoring.

Relationship of TA system to the state’s Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD)

The early intervention TA system is one aspect of the state’s CSPD. The "Early Childhood Network" is the State’s most recent initiative designed to strengthen and formalize the relationship between Part C and Part B personnel development. This effort will link all of the State’s Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) who have Early Childhood/Early Childhood Special Education Programs, as well as other State agencies and programs which are involved in training personnel who provide services to young children. The group, with the support of the Division of Special Education, will begin meeting in January 2000, and one focus of the group will be to explore the future needs for personnel training, standards and requirements for early intervention and preschool service delivery. Representatives from the TEIS TA System will be included in this group.

The TA system gives participants certificates of participation in technical assistance events, but these do not, presently, link to any specific state certifications.

Relationship with Section 619 of Part B

Some of the TA system plans and activities also involve the State’s Section 619 program for preschool children. The Lead Agency’s Preschool Consultants in each Region link with early intervention programs in their region to provide training around such topics as transition and the differences between preschool and early intervention. Invitations to all early intervention workshops also are sent to local preschool coordinators by the TA Project, and there has been increased participation by that group in recent years.

For further information, contact:

• Linda Hartarger, Part C Coordinator
• Early Childhood Services
• Division of Special Education
• Department of Education
• Andrew Johnson Tower, 7^th Floor
• 710 James Robertson Parkway
• Nashville, TN 37243-0375
• Phone: (615) 741-2851
• Fax: (615) 532-9412
• Email: lhartbar@utk.edu
• Web site: www.state.tn.us/education/speced/TEIS/