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• Access Center: Improving Outcomes for All Students K-8

ACCESS Activities

• Access to the General Education Curriculum
• Conference Presentation at Oklahoma CEC
• Creating Responsive Schools Differentiation Pilot Sites
• Customized Topical Technical Assistance
• Distribution of Access Center Information Packets
• View all.

Center Overview

The Center has created a national infrastructure of information and support that states and local school districts can rely on to learn about and use scientifically based practices for providing access to the general education curriculum for their elementary and middle school students with disabilities.

Methods

The project is a catalyst for change through a variety of service areas. First, the project forms strategic partnerships with national, regional, state, and local groups that help the Center identify scientifically based practices and help implement those practices in local schools and classrooms. Second, the project trains regional, state, and local educators to be better consumers of research. These partnerships and training activities serve as a foundation for offering states and communities a menu of five technical assistance (TA) methods that serve as the core means through which the Center moves research into practice. These methods include: (a) direct consultation to states; (b) direct consultation to districts; (c) state-to-state mentoring; (d) district-to-district mentoring; and (e) strengthening state TA systems. The project increases knowledge in the field about the impact of different TA methods on curriculum access. The Center benefits from a consortium of partnering organizations and national experts who are knowledgeable about school reform, the process of change in education, and scientifically based practices for accessing the general education curriculum. The Council of Chief State School Officers provides the project with access to policy makers who are responsible for issues of curriculum access. The Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center supplements the project's expertise in scaling up scientifically based practices nationally. The project will have direct access to scientifically based practices through alliances with national experts at many U.S. research institutions. The Center for Applied Special Technology provides access to universal design solutions that support school reform and effective, child-centered instruction. Other partners help the project establish links to key stakeholders in both general and special education, and disseminate the Center's recommended solutions to problems of curriculum access in each of the 50 states. The Center's partners work closely with the American Institute for Research's What Works Clearinghouse to further enhance its connection to research syntheses.