With WestEd’s new National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI) in place, states requesting technical assistance on special education issues will soon will be connected by shared concerns, rather than by geographic region.
NCSI’s structure is similar to “response-to-intervention,” a multitiered model of classroom instruction, states this Education Week article. Response-to-intervention frameworks provide a universal level of instruction to all students, providing increasingly more intensive support to students who need the extra help.
NCSI’s three levels of technical assistance support offered to states are:
- Universal technical assistance—designed to support all states
- Targeted technical assistance—for specific states identified by the Office of Special Education Programs as needing assistance
- Intensive technical assistance—for a select number of states that have been identified as having long-standing challenges in reaching desired outcomes for children with disabilities