Blog.EI

Thanks to those of you who joined us for last Tuesday’s collaborative meeting.

[Download Slides]

Special thanks to the Maine team for sharing their wonderful work to Support Multilingual Learners with Disabilities through University and State Collaboration. If you missed the presentation, you can request their slide deck, which includes links to several Maine resources, from [email protected]. For the NCSI slides with links to additional resources and events we shared, you can visit our Effective Instruction blog.

We hope you can join us for next month’s Collaborative meeting on August 26 at 11:30 AM ET when we will focus on how coaching can support effective instruction for students with IEPs. If you have not already done so, you can register using this link.

Thank you to those who joined us at last Tuesday’s Effective Instruction Collaborative meeting!

We discussed highlights from the June NCSI IEP State Policy & Practice Workshop and shared various resources, including two IRIS Center modules on functional behavioral assessment (FBA).

During our discussion, we got a request for resources related to decisions around the frequency and duration of IEP supports. Our team recommends the PROGESS Center IEP Tip Sheet on Start Date, Frequency, Location, and Duration of Services and the PROGRESS/NCII webinar Leveraging Data-Based Individualization (DBI) to Design and Deliver Specially Designed Instruction (SDI).

We hope you can join us for next month’s Collaborative meeting on July 22 at 11:30 AM ET when we will learn about Maine’s work to Support Multilingual Learners with Disabilities through University and State Collaboration and related resources, including IEP guidance. Please register using this link if you haven’t already done so.

[Download Slides]

Thank you to those who joined us at last Tuesday’s Effective Instruction Collaborative meeting!

[Download Slides]

A special thank you to Emily Klein and Jenna Richard for sharing about Rhode Island’s process for developing guidance around specially designed instruction. We also shared resources including the National Center for Improving Literacy’s updated website. Visit our Effective Instruction blog for the NCSI meeting slides. Please reach out if you would like the slides from Rhode Island’s presentation.  

We hope you can join us for next month’s Collaborative meeting on June 24 at 11:30 AM ET when we will share key takeaways and resources from our State IEP Policy and Practice Workshop. Please register using this link if you haven’t already done so. Please remember to add the invite to your calendar so you don’t miss any of our meetings this year. After you register, you will get a confirmation email with links to Add to Calendar (below the list of meeting dates).

Thank you to those who joined us April 22, 2025 for the Effective Instruction Collaborative meeting!

[Download Slides]

A special thanks to Lynn Lockard for sharing Kentucky’s Specially Designed Instruction Supports Document. State participants were excited to learn from KY’s work. We also shared resources from the Institute of Education Sciences including Tips for Supporting Reading Skills at Home.

And don’t forget about the upcoming Research to Practice Series Teacher-Delivered Behavior Interventions in Grades K-5 webinar on May 6 at 3 PM ET. Click here to learn more and register.

Finally, we would greatly appreciate you taking a moment to fill out this short survey so we can better meet your needs. Your responses help us improve our assistance and measure our impact.

Thank you!

Elizabeth and Laura

Thanks to those who were able to join us on February 25th! We discussed what IDEA regulations say about specially designed instruction (SDI), common misconceptions about SDI, and challenges and strategies for addressing those misconceptions. 

[Download Slides]

We hope you can join us for our next meeting when we will continue our discussions on the IEP and SDI.  

Thanks to those who were able to join us January 28th! The NCSI team shared a few resources, some updates on NCSI 3.0, and an overview of our Effective Instruction Collaborative, including our focus on supporting local development and implementation of high-quality IEPs. In breakouts and as a whole group, we discussed how states are supporting districts with effective instruction and high-quality IEPs, areas where more support is needed, and states’ goals for the collaborative in 2025. We appreciated the deep engagement from the 16 states that attended!

[Download Slides]

To prepare for our next meeting, we encourage you to review how SDI is described in IDEA regulations: Sec. 300.39 Special education (this is a quick read). Please come prepared to share your reflections and current work related to SDI (e.g., existing resources, professional learning on this topic).