When people gather together, a learning process takes place.  Sharing ideas, perceptions and concerns through dialogue whether virtually or face-to-face meetings builds knowledge and capacity for understanding an issue and plan for action. A Community of Practice fosters learning and taking collective action around issues that the group cares about. This section provides examples of collective learning and action: Partnership Collections and the Resource Gallery.

IDEA Partnership Collections are professional growth tools developed by stakeholders from a variety of roles to support your work with children and youth. One meeting participant describes the making of a collection in this way:

A collection is a useful way to build and understand consensus about best practices. People who work in the field learn to communicate with each other and get a deeper, more grounded understanding of their work through the process of building the collection, and then it remains as a resource to be used later. The conversation is leveraged to create understanding and resources for different people in different ways.

How do you use the Collection?

Explore the Collections:

Specialized Instructional Support Personnel (SISP) Collection: Tools

Tools to assess knowledge and level of agreement

This document provides the unifying beliefs that address our collective approach to this issue. You may want to share these among the groups with whom you work to build a common sense of purpose.

These documents provide the shared agreements across stakeholders groups about SISP that address the technical side of SISP. They are the foundation for our collaborative efforts on implementation on SISP. You may want to share these among the groups with whom you work to identify your shared agreements.

This tool provides a summary of the insights across stakeholder groups about SISP. You may consider using this document to begin your discussions and assess the degree to which your stakeholders agree with these insights.

Tools to build common knowledge and understanding

  • PowerPoint & Presenter Guides

The PowerPoint presentations and accompanying Presenter Guides provide coaching to deliver the PowerPoint as a presentation or workshop.

Tools to engage deeply in the conversation and work

The fact sheet outlines the ready to use resources available on this site around SISP. By printing the fact sheet you can create interest in bringing people together around the issue.

This document provides four simple questions to help you begin working together.

Dialogue Guides are models for conducting interactive discussions across stakeholders. Each Guide contains one topical document that all who come to the table  access in order to start with the same knowledge base; and a set of reaction and application questions for a facilitator to support the assembled group to build areas of agreement and develop action-plan(s).  Dialogue Facilitator's Handbook

Your Voice

Your experiences help the Partnership and our readers understand issues and perspectives.  Please take a minute to share:

    • Your SISP initiative and the strategies involved
    • What strategies are working and reasons for success
    • What problems (barriers) you have encountered and how they were solved
    • Innovative approaches to interventions
    • How you promote SISP initiatives across groups and organizations.

To help us understand how the Partnership collection is useful, please take a minute to share:

    • How you used the collection
    • Your reactions to the collection
    • Your ideas for improving the collection

Autism Spectrum Disorder Collection: Tools

Tools to assess knowledge and level of agreement

This document provides the unifying beliefs that address our collective approach to this issue. You may want to share these among the groups with whom you work to build a common sense of purpose.

These documents provide the shared agreements across stakeholders groups about ASD that address the technical side of ASD. They are the foundation for our collaborative efforts on implementation on ASD. You may want to share these among the groups with whom you work to identify your shared agreements.

 This tool provides a summary of the insights across stakeholder groups about ASD. You may consider using this document to begin your discussions and assess the degree to which your stakeholders agree with these insights. Activity Instructions: Using Needs of the Field

Tools to build common knowledge and understanding

  • PowerPoint & Presenter Guides

The PowerPoint presentations and accompanying Presenter Guides provide coaching to deliver the PowerPoint as a presentation or workshop.

Please Note: The incidence rates presented in this resource were accurate at the time of development. As incidence rates change over time, please access the most recent incidence rate on the CDC Website, www.cdc.gov and edit the material accordingly.

Policymakers, practitioners and families know that there is an abundance of information on approaches to ASD. This information is often confusing and sometimes conflicting. To bring clarity to the discussion several projects have undertaken the task of establishing criteria and reviewing approaches against their criteria. Not all projects set the same level of evidence in their criteria. In this section we present major initiatives to identify evidence-based practices in autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Tools to help you learn and act together  

The fact sheet outlines the ready to use resources available on this site around ASD. By printing the fact sheet you can create interest in bringing people together around this issue.

This document provides four simple questions to help you begin working together.

Dialogue Guides are models for conducting interactive discussions across stakeholders. Each Guide contains one topical document that all who come to the table access in order to start with the same knowledge base; and a set of reaction and application questions for a facilitator to support the assembled group to build areas of agreement and develop action-plan(s). Dialogue Facilitator's Handbook 

 Your Voice

Your experiences help the Partnership and our readers understand issues and perspectives. Please take a minute to share:

    • Your information needs on the ASD Collection
    • Your information needs on the key elementsof the ASD Collection
    • Materials you consider to be helpful in understanding ASD

To help us understand how the Partnership collection is useful, please take a minute to share:

    • How you used the collection
    • Your reactions to the collection
    • Your ideas for improving the collection

Response to Intervention Collection: Tools

Tools to assess knowledge and level of agreement

These documents provide the shared agreements across stakeholders groups about RTI that address the technical side of RTI. They are the foundation for our collaborative efforts on implementation on RTI. You may want to share these among the groups with whom you work to identify your shared agreements.

This tool provides a summary of the insights across stakeholder groups about RTI. You may consider using this document to begin your discussions and assess the degree to which your stakeholders agree with these insights.

Tools to build common knowledge and understanding

  • PowerPoint & Presenter Guides

The PowerPoint presentations and accompanying Presenter Guides provide coaching to deliver the PowerPoint as a presentation or workshop.

Intended for an audience of non-educators with no to little knowledge about RTI, this presentation provides opportunities to learn basic RTI terminology and foundations for developing a framework to support all students.

Intended for an audience of school personnel with no to little knowledge about RTI, this presentation provides opportunities to learn basic RTI terminology and foundations for developing a framework to support all students.

Intended for an audience familiar with the RTI framework and beginning the journey of implementation, this presentation assists participants in building further understanding and explores policy issues that need to be addressed.

Intended for an audience more experienced in RTI implementation, this presentation addresses transitioning to use of an RTI process for the identification of students with specific learning disabilities.

This page displays information from a variety of states that have implemented RTI.

Tools to help you learn and act together

This document provides four simple questions to help you begin working together.

Dialogue Guides are models for conducting interactive discussions across stakeholders. Each Guide contains one topical document that all who come to the table access in order to start with the same knowledge base; and a set of reaction and application questions for a facilitator to support the assembled group to build areas of agreement and develop action-plan(s). Dialogue Facilitator's Handbook

Your Voice

Your experiences help the Partnership and our readers understand issues and perspectives. Please take a minute to share:

    • Your information needs on the RTI Collection
    • Your information needs on the key elementsof the RTI Collection
    • Materials you consider to be helpful in understanding RTI

To help us understand how the Partnership collection is useful, please take a minute to share:

    • How you used the collection
    • Your reactions to the collection
    • Your ideas for improving the collection

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