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• National Center to Improve Recruitment and Retention of Qualified Personnel for Children with Disabilities (Personnel Improvement Center- PIC)

PIC Activities

• Collaborative Work with other national centers & organizations
• Focused Work in States
• National Recruitment Campaign
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Center Overview

The Personnel Improvement Center works to increase the nation's capacity to recruit, prepare and retain highly qualified and fully certified special education, early intervention and related services personnel, including paraprofessionals. Our work in selected states and their local programs is focused on increasing capacity to hire and develop personnel to serve children and youth with disabilities, birth to 21, and their families.

Methods

The Center is located at and supported by the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) in cooperation with the TACC and the Regional Resource Center Network and other OSEP-funded technical assistance and dissemination (TA & D) centers. The services and resources the Center provides directly to selected states include: (a) developing and implementing a state-level special education personnel data management plan for collecting and analyzing personnel data to better inform solutions to personnel shortages; (b) developing and implementing strategic action plans for workforce development with three local districts or programs per state, including the distribution of print and media materials to recruit persons to the field of special education, early intervention or the related services; and (c) developing and implementing local and higher education prep program parterships in selected states to allow easier access to prep programs for local candidates who wish to pursue careers in special education, early intervention or the related services. In addition to the work in selected states, the Center disseminates research-based practices though our state-of-the-art interactive Website, newletter, bi-monthly conference calls and other electronic communications; maintains a national recruitment campaign and collaborates with other OSEP-funded centers and organizations to address issues related to personnel shortages nation wide.