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District of Columbia Projects Year 5
2009-2010
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Establishing a System-Wide Response-to-Intervention Program |
During Year 5, MACC and the Mid-South Regional Resource Center (MSRRC) will provide technical support and assistance to a committee organized by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) Special Education Office. The committee is developing a Response-To-Intervention (RTI) program to meet the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It will address the over and underrepresentation of students identified for special education services by providing ongoing, job-embedded professional development to Local Education Agencies (LEAs) that will help OSSE build effective practices and provide support for instructional improvement in general education.
MACC will assist by helping to inventory existing information on RTI, develop protocols to collect information from other sources/states, and develop information packages related to a general RTI initiative in order to scale-up initiatives already in place and/or expand existing RTI-related programs. |
| Launching the State Committee |
MACC will assist the staff of the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) to establish a Title I Committee of Practitioners (CoP) whose members include representation from the SEA, all DC local education agencies, and MACC staff. The CoP is directed to be substantially involved in the review of any proposal or final State rules, regulations, and policies relating to Title I, prior to their publication. These rules, regulations, and policies shall support and facilitate local education agency (LEA) and school level systemic reform designed to enable all children to meet the challenging State student academic and achievement standards. MACC will facilitate the establishment of a general state committee and provide coaching to the CoP as it evolves into a viable and sustainable entity within the OSSE. The state committee will provide a forum for addressing cross-office and departmental issues in a systematic manner. Over the long term it will become a permanent organizational structure represented by staff from all key offices and divisions in office. This in turn will support the transition in the state role from oversight to capacity building at the LEA level. |
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State of the State in Curriculum
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MACC will assist the staff in the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) to identify, assess, clarify, revise, and implement SEA functions relative to academic content standards. To accomplish this, MACC will help the office address several significant issues including: determining the current state of the office’s curriculum function; verifying the organizational structures that currently exist for the improvement; benchmarking with other states the role of the office vis-à-vis content standards related to the SAT and the PSAT; defining the role of the standards related to curriculum within a statewide system of school support; ensuring alignment of standards, assessments, and curricular documents; and determining the most efficient means of supporting LEAs to effectively deliver standards-based academic content. MACC staff will facilitate the analysis of existing organizational structures and identify the missing components necessary for OSSE to provide technical assistance and support to the LEAs in the area of standards and curriculum.
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| Comprehensive State Services for ELLs |
MACC will assist the staff of District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) to analyze how the state is addressing the needs of English language learners (ELLs).The goal is to develop a coordinated approach to providing support to schools in the District of Columbia with a student population that includes ELLs. This goal will be met by resetting AMAO targets and creating a set of generic tools and guides to support comprehensive professional development strategies for ELLs. MACC has assisted the OSSE in establishing an approach to serving ELLs by aligning disparate activities into a comprehensive and coordinated system of supports. In Year 5 MACC will assist in defining and developing each of the activities, such as establishing an advisory committee, designing a policy guidebook for charter schools, and designing a PD that is integrated with other OSSE PD. |
| Refinement of District of Columbia State Assessment Policies for Accommodating English Language Learners |
This project is designed to address shortcomings in state assessment policies for accommodating English language learners (ELLs) by providing states with information and guidance about policy design, appropriate accommodations, and assistance to develop/use protocols for monitoring the use of accommodations. In Year 5 MACC’s goal is to increase the OSSE's capacity to appropriately address the unique needs of ELL students by supporting them in improving their assessment accommodation policies so they are more responsive to the individual needs of each ELL child. MACC will improve the OSSE's capacity to develop a cohesive statewide system of support by providing SEA staff from the Assessment, Title I, and Title III offices with opportunities to collaborate, discuss, and refine state assessment policies for accommodating ELLs. MACC will also increase the OSSE's capacity to develop and deliver training to LEAs on the state assessment policy for accommodating English language learners. |
| District of Columbia Projects Year 4 |
| District of Columbia Projects Year 2 |
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For more information regarding MACC’s work in the District of Columbia please contact MACC’s DC Project Coordinator Emily Crandall at ecrandall@ceee.gwu.edu |