About_DEC/Whats_NewWed, 16 May 2012 18:03:20 GMTCopyright 2012. All rights reserved.Pyron Technologies SuiteFin CMSWed, 16 May 2012 18:03:20 GMTToday, the U.S. Department of Education issued a publication that outlines principles for educators, parents and other stakeholders to consider when developing or refining policies and procedures to support positive behavioral interventions and avoid the use of restraint and seclusion. The goal of this resource document is to help ensure that schools are safe and healthy environments where all students can learn, develop and participate in instructional programs that promote high levels of academic achievement. For the full story and access to the document, click here.http://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=152Thu, 10 May 2012 20:18:59 GMTFrom the U.S. Department of Education: The newly-established Office of Early Learning (OEL) now has a web site. It is our desire to provide you with useful and timely information that will enhance your knowledge about the early learning programs and initiatives at the U.S. Department of Education. The Office of Early Learning (OEL) is the principal office charged with supporting the Department’s Early Learning Initiative with the goal of improving the health, social-emotional, and cognitive outcomes for children from birth through third grade, so that all children, particularly those with high needs, are on track for graduating from high school college- and career-ready. OEL is also responsible for the discretionary grant programs in OESE exclusively focused on early learning. The Office works collaboratively with other Department offices to help coordinate and align early learning programs and initiatives. Additionally, OEL works across Federal Agencies to support early learning, including co-administering the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge grants with the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Please visit the web site for more information: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oese/oel/index.htmlhttp://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=151Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:14:07 GMTFor more than two decades, DEC's Recommended Practices have shaped the way practitioners work with young children with disabilities and their families. DEC has launched an exciting initiative to revise the Practices and we invite your input. We hope you will take a few minutes to share your thoughts about what the practices mean to you and what you hope to see in the revisions. DEC has prepared a survey to collect ideas from our members and from others who have used the Practices. The purpose of this survey is to gather information that will be used to guide DEC’s efforts to revise Recommended Practices. This is your first--but not only-- opportunity to provide input. DEC will gather information from as many members as possible to help revise and extend the practices. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey, it should take less than 10 minutes of your time. Click hereto take the survey now. http://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=145Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:44:31 GMTDepartment Announces New Effort to Strengthen Accountability for Students with Disabilities Moving from Compliance-Focused Approach to One Driven by Results March 2, 2012 Contact: Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov Today, the Department of Education announced new steps to help close the achievement gap for students with disabilities by moving away from a one-size-fits-all, compliance-focused approach to a more balanced system that looks at how well students are being educated in addition to continued efforts to protect their rights. While the Department has effectively ensured access to educational resources for students with disabilities, not enough attention has been paid to educational outcomes, which have not sufficiently improved. This is partly due to the fact that federal policy has focused more on procedural requirements and not enough on critical indicators like increasing academic performance or graduation rates for students with disabilities. "For too long we've been a compliance-driven bureaucracy when it comes to educating students with disabilities," said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. "We have to expect the very best from our students—and tell the truth about student performance—so that we can give all students the supports and services they need. The best way to do that is by focusing on results," Duncan said. Throughout the coming year, the Department will work closely with stakeholders to develop and implement a new review system that takes a more balanced, results-driven approach to assessing how states are educating students with disabilities and better targets monitoring to where it's needed most. Since the current process of conducting on-site state compliance reviews has not focused enough on improving student outcomes, the Department will not be carrying out the visits scheduled for the 2012-13 school year to allow it time to develop a new and more effective system. However, the Department will continue to review annual performance reports as well as monitor state supervision systems. For more information about the work of the Department's Office of Special Education Programs, see http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/osep/index.html http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/department-announces-new-effort-strengthen-accountability-students-disabilities http://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=142Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:40:44 GMTAnnual conference news, exciting policy updates, important publications releases, and opportunities to advocate for young children with special needs and their families are now just a tweet away.Click here to stay informed!http://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=132Fri, 14 Oct 2011 23:03:15 GMTTo help special educators and early interventionists in their monumental task of implementing the updated regulations, the Division for Early Childhood (DEC), the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), and the IDEA Infant Toddler Coordinators Association (ITCA) have released a side-by-side comparison of the 2011 final Part C regulations, published on Sept. 28, to Part C regulations from 1999. The early childhood special education community received welcome news last month that the U.S. Department of Education had finalized regulations for IDEA’s Infant and Toddlers with Disabilities Program, known as Part C. IDEA Part C serves more than 340,000 infants, toddlers and their families each year. “With limited time available for implementation and the huge amount of information in the new regulations, this side-by-side comparison document is a great way to help the field sort through the regulations in a timely and easy-to-understand fashion,” said Marilyn Friend, president of CEC. “Most of all, we hope that the document will help provide clarity within the field on implementation of the law.” The final Part C regulations contain numerous changes and additions, including: Transition requirements have been revised, including provisions related to notification of the local education agency (LEA) and state educational agency (SEA), timelines, an opt-out policy, the transition conference, and the transition plan. The 45-day required timeline from referral to the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) meeting has been retained with the addition of some provisions permitting documentation of extraordinary circumstances for a delay Natural environment provisions have been revised to reflect the 2004 statutory change. Changes in the content of the IFSP have been made, including in the “early intervention services” and “other services” components. Several changes have been made to procedural safeguards, including provisions related to written prior notice, confidentiality, surrogate parents, and dispute resolution. Changes have been made in provisions related to financial responsibility, systems of payment and ability to pay as well as to the use of public benefits, insurance, and private insurance. Provisions related to monitoring, enforcement, reporting, and allocation have been included in a new subpart of the Part C regulations. The new regulations, which were promulgated under IDEA, complement IDEA 2004, the most recent reauthorization of IDEA. These final regulations are effective Oct. 28, 2011. The document will beavailable for downloading in its entirety or by subparts, which are: Subpart A: General Subpart B: State Application for Grant and Requirements for a Statewide System Subpart C: Procedures for Making Grants to States Subpart D: Program and Service Components of a Statewide System of Early Intervention Services Subpart E: Procedural Safeguards Subpart F: State Administration Subpart G: State Interagency Coordinating Council Subpart H: Monitoring and Enforcement, Reporting, and Allocation of Funds Both formats of the document are available on the Web sites of all three associations: www.cec.sped.org; www.dec-sped.org; and www.ideainfanttoddler.org. “Working together to complete the document within weeks of the publication of the new regulations demonstrates a strong collaborative partnership and commitment to providing timely, relevant materials to CEC members,” said Kristie Pretti-Frontczak, president of DEC. “We hope that the side-by-side will facilitate implementation of the new regulations and ensure quality early intervention services for young children with disabilities and their families.” Kim Wedel, president of ITCA, agrees. "During this time of fiscal and other challenges, state resources are strained,” she said, adding that “this collaborative product is an example of the efficiency of working together and the support offered for state programs for infants, toddlers, and their families." The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is an international community of professionals who are the voice and vision of special and gifted education. CEC’s mission is to improve, through excellence and advocacy, the education and quality of life for children and youth with exceptionalities and to enhance engagement of their families. The Division for Early Childhood (DEC) is an international membership organization for those who work with or on behalf of young children with disabilities and other special needs. The IDEA Infant and Toddler Coordinators Association (ITCA) is established to promote mutual assistance, cooperation, and exchange of information and ideas in the administration of Part C and to provide support to state and territory Part C coordinators.http://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=128Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:11:30 GMT The U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (the Departments) have posted Race to the Top –Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) Guidance and Frequently Asked Questions at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-earlylearningchallenge/faq.html. The purpose of the guidance is to provide information about the RTT-ELC program. The Departments are jointly administering RTT-ELC. The Departments will provide additional or updated program guidance as necessary on the RTT-ELC Web site, www.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-earlylearningchallenge. If you have further questions that are not answered here, please email RTT.Early.Learning.Challenge@ed.gov. Please visit us at http://www.ed.gov/early-learning. http://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=122Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:31:32 GMTClick here to visit DEC's Facebook page and connect with students, colleagues, and other organizations in Early Childhood. People are saying things like this: "Excited for the conference!!! It is an great way to meet new people, connect with old friends and learn new things in practice and research!!!" And this: "Registered...looking forward to catching up with colleagues and the entire conference experience in general. It is a fantastic way to network as well as to gain new insights and perspectives from the field."http://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=83