Communities of Practice

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Communities of Practice

• Frank Boswell, Frank.Boswell_at_oesc.state.ok.us
• Sharon Isbell visusie1_at_yahoo.com

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• IEP Development for Transition Age Students
• INHERENT DIFFERENCES (I THINK THE RULES
  CHANGED!)
• IEP moves beyond content instruction to
  attainment of after school opportunities
• Instructional Environments extended beyond the
  school building
• Implementers of the IEP go beyond school
  personnel only, i.e. business owners, agency
  personnel, community program staff, etc.

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• Transition as defined in regulations requires
  schools to work beyond their boundaries to assure
  students success in their intended post-school
  outcomes
• Schools are required to assure students have the
  competencies for work, for post-secondary
  education, for community living, and all the
  various possibilities within each!
• And, that students and parents are connected to
  the agencies and service delivery providers who
  will support post school outcomes!

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• Do these requirements present challenges to IEP
  development in Oklahoma?
• Are there other school staff who have information
  to help in transition planning? Other service
  providers?
• Community partners? Business partners?
• Are there service providers who work with your
  students? Do they have information about your
  students that you dont have but that could be
  helpful?

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• Have you ever been in a situation when the
  students intended post-school outcome is to work
  in a field totally unfamiliar to you, and the IEP
  includes a field-based experience to increase the
  students potential for a successful post-school
  outcome?
• Have you had students who will require certain
  public funded social support services when they
  leave school for which you are unaware of the
  eligibility requirements?

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• What are communities of practice?
• Definition The concept of a community of
  practice (often abbreviated as CoP) refers to the
  process of social learning that occurs when
  people who have a common interest in some subject
  or problem collaborate over an extended period to
  share ideas, find solutions, and build
  innovations. It refers as well to the stable
  group that is formed from such regular
  interactions.

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• What is the practical value of a Community of
• Practice?
• As we talk about Communities of Practice, we ask
  you to consider.
• Could a Community approach help address some of
  the persistent problems in transition?
• When you imagine what could be in transition..
• might Community connections make it more
  likely?

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• How can we work and learn as a
• Community?
• A way of working
• Involving those who do shared work
• Involving those that share issues
• Always asking who isnt here?

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• A way of learning
• Create new knowledge grounded in doing the work
• a. Those that do the work have
  important insights to
• share
• Involving those who can advocate for and make
  change.
• a. Principals
• b. Superintendents
• c. Parents
• d. Students

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• The policy to Practice gap.
• We have islands of effective practice, but
  effective practice is often not well distributed.
  
• Policies are often not understood in the field
• Sometimes effective practices do not transfer
  across organizations
• Practices often do not transfer across sites
  within the same organization

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• Oklahoma and Communities of Practice
• Oklahoma Transition Counsel
• Regional Transition Teams
• Local Transition Teams
• Web Accessibility

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• Where does Oklahoma stand on Communities of
  Practice?
• Oklahoma Transition Counsel
• We in Oklahoma are lucky because we have leaders
  from the different agencies that believe we must
  work together from top to bottom, and bottom to
  top.
• The Oklahoma Transition Counsel is composed of
  over 18 agencies. These agencies are not only
  giving of their time, but of their money to
  promote collaboration between agencies to better
  serve the students.

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• Department of Rehabilitative Services
• Can help with transition planning focused on
  employment.
• Provide Work Study, OJT type training as well as
  various other resources to assist children with
  disabilities with employment goals.

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Department of Human Services Developmental
Disabilities Services Division

• Provide services to individuals aged 3 and older
  who have a primary diagnosis of developmental
  disability (IQ 70 or lower)
• Supports available include Community Waivers,
  In-Home Support Waivers, Family Support
  Assistance Payments and Guardianship Assistance

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Oklahoma Training and Information Center

• Statewide parent training and information center
  serving parents of children with disabilities.
• Community IEP partner training and matching this
  help parents understand the IEP process and learn
  to advocate for their child
• Developing Transition Partners to assist parents
  and students with development of a successful
  transition plan.

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Oklahoma Family Network

• Oklahomas non-profit parent to parent mentorship
  and resource network empowering families who are
  raising children with special health care or
  disability needs.

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One-Stops

• Currently have Disability Program Navigators to
  assist in locating resources
• Provide employment-related services including
  resume writing, job search workshops,
  interviewing workshops, job market outlook and
  possibly post-high school training resources.

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Tech Now

• Tech Now is a High School-High Tech program
  usually (but not always) offered after school
  that allows students to learn how to use
  technology while encouraging these students to
  explore various careers and begin to plan for
  employment after high school

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Oklahoma Rehabilitation Council

• The Mission of the Oklahoma Rehabilitation
  Council is to facilitate consumer education and
  empowerment, to assure services are of high
  quality, and lead to employment of individuals
  with disabilities in the State of Oklahoma.
• They serve in an advisory capacity to the
  Department of Rehabilitation Services

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Oklahoma ABLE Tech

• Oklahomas Assistive Technology Project
• Can help with finding appropriate assistive
  technology to match the students needs
• Loan out assistive technology to allow students
  and schools to try before they buy
• Have assistive technology demonstration labs
• Provide referrals to assistive technology
  financing options
• Operate Oklahoma Equipment Connection

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The University of Oklahoma Zarrow Center for
Learning Enrichment

• Provide training and assistance on Transition
  Related Topics throughout the state
• Offer Free Self Determination Assessments on
  their web-site
• Resources on many transition related issues.

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Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and
Substance Abuse

• Operate the Oklahoma Systems of Care which help
  provide wraparound services that incorporate the
  family and the community in to provide assistance
  and support to persons with mental health
  disabilities.
• Many other services to assist children who need
  mental health services and their families.

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OU Health Sciences Center, Child Study Center

• Provide evaluation, treatment and services for
  children with special needs who have a wide range
  of developmental disabilities, and environmental
  and behavioral issues.
• An essential partner when doing transition
  planning for students with health care support
  needs.

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• Regional Transition Teams
• The regional team concept was introduced in May
  of 2006. The reasoning behind this model was to
  allow regional teams to come together to discuss
  like issues. From this discussion it was hoped
  brainstorming, crying, laughing, sharing of
  knowledge, etc. would assist each team with
  solving their problems. (A community of
  practice)

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Education Agencies involved

• Oklahoma State Department of Education Special
  Education Services
• Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology
  Education
• Student Disability Services (OSU represented on
  Transition Council)
• Special Education Teachers, Directors and
  numerous parents also actively involved

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• From those beginnings several teams have grown
  from regional teams to local teams.
• If your team is made up of several small
  schools, your community of practice may remain
  the regional team. Of course as you brainstorm ,
  discuss your needs, and dreams members needed on
  the team will become aware to you. Remember
  always be asking who isnt there?

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• Who should make up the regional and local
  transition teams?
• Administrators
• Special Education Teachers
• Parents
• Representatives of state agencies from your
  community (DRS, DD, Career Tech, etc.)
• Local businessmen and women
• City leaders (Chamber of Commerce members, mayor,
  etc.)

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• Regional Team Successes
• Monthly support meetings
• Discussion of the intent of the law
• How to use Indicator 13 effectively
• Regional trainings for special education/regular
  education teachers
• Career days
• School and community work programs
• Identifying assessment tools needed for
  transition
• Developing and implementing annual plans

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• Web accessibility
• 1. State web for trainings, procedures, etc.
• www.sde.state.ok.us
• 2. Oklahoma presentation power points on Career
  Tech web
• www.okcareertech.org
• 3. Assessment tools on Zarrow web site
• www.ou.edu/zarrow

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• 4. National presentations/national help tools
• www.nsttac.org
• www.ncset.org
• www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ osers/index.html
• www.dropoutprevention.org
• www.ideapartnership.org

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• Year-Round Communication Network
• www.sharedwork.org
• This web site is used to .
• Announce new products developed
• Announce training events
• Disseminate the results of state pilot projects
• Share promising practices
• Encourage local to local sharing

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• Seek input from the field on matters of shared
  interest that are being discussed by one or more
  of the Community of practice partners
• Advise the development of the key national,
  state, regional, and local meetings
• Other opportunities that become evident as we
  communicate more routinely

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• Why are Communities of Value?
• Provide the support that individuals need
• Respect the expertise that individuals bring
• Recognize the differences in the settings where
  people do their work
• Seek commonality within differing viewpoints

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• Unite individuals in action
• Focus on learning
• Use learning to transform practice

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• So.
• Work together
• Set up regional, school, building meetings
• Share headaches
• Dont be afraid to ask questions ( you are not
  the only one that does not know the answer0
• Get over feeling you have to do everything
  yourself
• Get people involved that can make change
• Split large teams into smaller teams as needed

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• Each of us has come across many areas in which we
  could say, It wont do any good because______.
  I have tried it all and none of it worked. We
  need to get over the I part of this statement.
  We have enough to do without adding one more
  thing I need to do. By sharing your expertise
  and learning from others you might have less
  stress and can replace I with a smile and
  We. We have the same amount of work to do so
  we have to decide to either be alone and wonder
  or share and learn.

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• The IDEA Partnerships Community of Practice
  contact information
• Joanne Cashman, joanne.cashman_at_nasdse.org
• Debra Grabill, debra.grabill_at_valley.net
• Tina Greco, TGreco_at_ed.state.nh.us
• Joan Kester, joakester_at_state.pa.us
• Ellen Romett, eromett_at_pattan.net
• Linda Maitrejean, lindam_at_cesa11.k12.wi.us
• Steve Gilles, Steve.Gilles_at_dpi.state.wi.us

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