Experiences%20Developing%20and%20Conducting%20Training%20on%20the%20ECO%20Child%20Outcomes%20Summary%20Form

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Experiences Developing and Conducting Training on
the ECO Child Outcomes Summary Form

• Ted Maloney, MT
• Pam Reising-Rechner, IL

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Foundations of Part C Services in Montana

• The Part C Lead Agency is Department of Public
  Health and Human Services, Developmental
  Disabilities Program
• The Developmental Disabilities Program contracts
  with seven independent Regional Agencies to
  provide Part C and other Family Support Services
  (children 3 through 18 years old)
• Approximately 700 infants and toddlers are in
  Part C on any day and 1500 receive Part C
  services annually

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Part C Services in Montana

• The regional Part C agencies employ Family
  Support Specialists to provide service
  coordination and early intervention home-based
  services
• Family support specialist typically possess a
  Bachelors or Masters Degrees in a Education,
  Health or Human Service Discipline, thus they
  enter with varying levels of young child
  assessment and intervention skills

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Part C Services in Montana

• Family Support Specialists receive on the job
  training and must meet a more stringent
  certification within two years
• The Lead Agency and regional Part C service
  providers have a long history of collaboration on
  developing and implementing service system
  components

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Illinois 619 Preschool Context

• Approximately 33,000 children aged 3-5 are served
  through 800 school districts and 100 special
  education cooperatives.
• Illinois is a state in which local control is
  very important.
• Approximately 657 districts operate state-funded
  prekindergarten projects.
• Many districts blend their early childhood
  special education and prekindergarten children
  into the same classrooms.

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Illinois 619 Preschool Context

• Illinois Early Learning Standards are appropriate
  for and utilized by prekindergarten, ECSE, Head
  Start, and child care programs.
• Most prekindergarten programs are already using
  evidence-based curricula and assessment systems
  identified by ISBE. Work Sampling, Creative
  Curriculum, and the Head Start Outcome Framework
  are aligned with the Early Learning Standards.

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Illinois 619 Preschool Context

• Many school districts and special education
  cooperatives have high quality assessment
  practices in place and a few districts have
  developed child outcomes and measurement systems
  for all preschool aged children.
• Preschool discretionary funds support the
  statewide ECSE training and technical assistance
  system called STARNET.

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Illinois 619 Preschool Context

• The web based data collection system is in the
  development stage. Districts and Cooperatives
  will be able to report individual child
  assessment scores and demographic data. Report
  modules will be included that provide ISBE with
  summary reports by district, cooperative and
  statewide.

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What strategies did you use to garner buy-in from
local administrators and providers?
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Initial Buy-In Strategies Montana

• The Developmental Disabilities Program, regional
  Part C service providers, Family Support Services
  Advisory Council (ICC) and The University of
  Montanas Rural Institute collaborate in
  implementing a Part C General Supervision
  Enhancement Grant that was funded in the fall or
  2004, started January, 2005
• Disseminated information concerning OSEP and ECO
  Center resources for early childhood outcomes and
  SPP/APR.

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MT- Buy-In Strategies

• Linked planning, training, systems development
  and Technical Assistance into a Part C
  comprehensive strategic plan
• Developed early childhood outcome Blueprint for
  SPP
• Established a Part C Work Group (Part C
  providers, middle managers, DDP and Part C GSEG)
  to work on the strategic plan, including early
  childhood outcomes

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MT- Buy-In Strategies

• Focused all of the above activities on
• Making Part C Service improvements at all levels,
  Family Support Specialist, Regional Part C
  Agencies and Lead Agency through early childhood
  outcomes (and SPP)
• This is an evolutionary process that will change
  and improve with participants feedback

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Illinois Initial Buy-In Strategies

• The Early Childhood Outcomes System was developed
  by a committee of stakeholders including school
  district personnel from rural and urban
  districts, university researchers, and the
  Department of Human Services, Lead Agency for
  Part C.
• In order to get buy in we included administrators
  on the committee to advise us on how this System
  would work best and be easiest for everyone in
  the State to implement.

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Illinois Initial Buy-In Strategies

• ISBE disseminated a Guidance Document to the
  field explaining the System in terms of the SPP
  and OSEP requirements. This document included
  all the dates of training throughout the state
  and a registration form. We recommended that
  administrators attend the trainings.

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How did you provide training on using the COSF?
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Montana- Training for Using the COSF Process

• ECO training on child and family outcomes for
  Part C work in October
• Introduction to ECO Center child and family
  outcomes resources/processes
• Participants were the Part C Work Group (Part C
  Managers)
• Dr. Kathy Hebbeler, ECO Center
• Additional Facilitation for Planning and
  Decision-Making by Ted Maloney, Part C GSEG and
  Erica Swanson, Part C Coordinator

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Montana- Training

• ECO training on COSF and procedures for Train
  the Trainers - Part C managers and senior Family
  Support Specialists (January 31-February 1)
• Presentation of ECO COSF forms and process
• Discussions of ECO resources
• Practice using actual child data and information
• Planning for implementation and resource
  development
• Kathy Hebbeler, ECO,Ted Maloney, Part C GSEG and
  Erica Swanson, Part C Coordinator

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Montana- Training

• Adapted ECO documents and presentations into a
  Montana EC Outcomes Document
• EC Outcome meeting with Trainers (Regional Part
  C Managers and Senior Family Support Specialists)
• Whos In, Whos Out
• Feedback on EC Outcomes Document
• Developed a training presentation for EC Outcomes
  Document
• Discussed training Family Support Specialists

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Montana- Training

• Regional Part C agencies Trainers teach Family
  Support Specialists in their agencies
• Training presentation going over EC Outcomes
  Document
• Whos In, Whos Out
• Practice using actual child data and information
• Follow-up with individual support and feedback

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Illinois Training on the Child Outcome System

• The Early Childhood Outcomes System training
  package was developed by Jeanette McCollum at U
  of I. The training package includes a
  comprehensive piece explaining the why of the
  new outcomes requirements.
• Dr. McCollum adapted the ECO Center documents
  into the Illinois Early Childhood Outcomes System
  form. She also developed the district planning
  forms and materials.

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Illinois Training

• A training of trainers was conducted to roll out
  training on the System. The Trainers included
  all of the STARNET staff, administers from large
  and small districts, committee members and many
  staff from Chicago Public Schools.
• 24 general trainings were held throughout the
  State. The training team included a STARNET
  staff and a district/cooperative administrator.
  Other individual trainings were conduced on
  request.

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Illinois Training

• STARNET videotaped a training and put it on DVD
  for use when districts have staff turnover or if
  needed in place of attending a training.
• Districts and Cooperatives could contact STARNET
  for ongoing support at any time.

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Questions or reactions from participants at this
point?
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What strategies did you use to assure buy-in and
consistent use of the COSF ?
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Montana- Strategies for Assuring Consistent Use

• Part C Regional Agencies and stakeholders
  involved in key early decisions about how Montana
  would approach early childhood outcomes
• Part C Agencies involved in specific decisions
  about using the ECO resources and COSF
• Joint training of Part C managers and Family
  Support Specialists across the state

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Montana- Strategies for Assuring Consistent Use

• Each Part C agency is using the EC Outcome
  Document and training resources
• Planned review and feedback meeting after three
  months
• Follow-up informal evaluation and Technical
  Assistance

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Illinois- Strategies for Assuring Consistent Use

• Large and small districts involved in development
  of Illinois system.
• Part C system of child outcomes measurement is
  aligned with Part B system.
• Districts were asked to submit a plan as to how
  they would meet the requirements of the Early
  Childhood Outcomes System. These plans were read
  by the committee and kept on file. Revised plans
  from every district are due again in September.

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What ongoing support and Technical Assistance are
you providing to regional Part C agency staff ?
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Montana- Ongoing Support and TA

• Technical Assistance by telephone and Email
• Telephone follow-up after Part C agencies
  completed their training of Family Support
  Specialists
• Process to determine additional training needs in
  related areas (e.g., Child development,
  assessment, functional outcomes)

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Montana- Ongoing Support and TA

• Late June meeting to discuss baseline
  implementation issues and revising Montana Child
  Outcome Document for ongoing measurement after
  baseline period
• Review Child Outcomes Summary Forms for baseline
  to determine fidelity and emerging issues

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Illinois- Ongoing Support and TA

• On-going training will be scheduled throughout
  the year and a Question and Answer document is
  being developed.
• The videotaped training is available for use.
• Individual support is available thru STARNET
  year-round.
• All forms, the Power point presentation and
  documents are available on the ISBE website

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What have you learned (or do you think you have
learned) so far?
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MT- What We Have Learned

• Setting the foundation by disseminating OSEP and
  ECO documents about EC outcomes and SPP/APR and
  discussing issues of development and
  implementation
• Getting the buy-in early and often!
• Collaborative planning, development and
  implementation of EC Outcome System and documents
  

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MT- What We Have Learned

• Including the Family Support Specialists as well
  as Part C managers in training and
  decision-making
• Emphasis on foundations (e.g., early childhood
  development, multiple sources of child outcome
  data) prior to addressing the COSF forms and
  process

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MT- What We Have Learned

• Include
• Practice
• Plenty of thinking out loud
• Discussions
• In addition to covering the material/content
• Listen
• Seek feedback

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Illinois- What We Have Learned

• During training it was important to link the
  System to the SPP and to use the legal citation
  requiring outcomes measurement.
• It was crucial to have buy-in from
  administrators.
• The QA on going document will be an important
  resource.
• This process was a good way for districts to
  examine the assessment tools they currently use
  decide whether they were gathering the
  information they needed.

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Questions or reactions from participants?