Support Coming Our Way - will it be too late?

This is coming to my area.
Hopefully it will be effective in it's mission.

I am a little sceptical if it is still going to be dependent on the State Educational Agency (SEA) to provide support for Technical Assistance (TA) to the Districts. The report states that SEA's do not provide TA very well and define some reasons. What is there to influence a change and to expect anything different?

It is encouraging to see that the report recognizes the disconnect between regular and special education. This new ambition says they will address this issue, as it is a hindrance: "a major finding was that the “…deep attitudinal and philosophical barriers that exist between general and special education will continue to hinder technical assistance activities if they are not addressed by both policymakers and practitioners”.

These "deep attitudinal and philosophical barriers" takes on many forms.

We need to deny that there's anything "special" about being disabled, so we can stop getting "special treatment" instead of justice -John R. Woodward,


According to the report, "Capacity is needed at both State and district levels to sustain the implementation of evidence-based practices." Ignorance along with arrogance does not make a good setting when it comes to education. Understanding "special education" teaching techniques would benefit education across the board.

This understanding will be dependent on how well supports are dedicated.
"Currently, research (Fixsen, Naoom, Blasé, Friedman, & Wallace, 2005) and exemplars of the implementation of evidence-based programs and practices funded by the Department of Education, such as positive behavior supports (PBS) (Barrett, 2006) and Reading First (U.S. Department of Education, 2006), suggest that if a district or school is to effectively implement a research-based program or practice with fidelity, a number of core implementation components must be in place (e.g., ongoing consultation and coaching, regular evaluation of staff performance, data-based decision making).

Time will tell.