Education Service Centers Statewide Leadership Projects
What Parents Need To Know
What difference does the Texas Regional Education Service Centers make to you, the parent?
A big
difference! Instead of wading through the old bureaucratic organization that was TEA, you now have a smaller and more specialized starting place for your questions. ESC's also provide state leadership for special education related projects. Each ESC is resposible for developing a plan and implementing and evaluating statewide activities related to the project. Look at the Statewide Leadership projects below. Each project is given a brief explanation, hyperlinked to the ESC responsible for the project, and the name of the person you can contact for more information and assistance.
• Access to General Education Curriculum (Region 20 ESC)| 20 ESC Network | Contact: Sherry Marsh IDEA 2004 (Individuals with Disabilities Act) and NCLB (No Child Left Behind) both call for students with disabilities (including those with cognitive disabilities) to have greater access than ever before to the general education curriculum. Basically that means that they must have the opportunity to study the same content and materials - and meet similar standards of success - as their age-appropriate peers, with the help of necessary supports and adaptations, of course. The Access to General Curriculum (AGC) Network (under the leadership of Region 20) develops a framework for statewide collaboration. Their priorities focus on providing professional development and technical assistance to ensure that all students with disabilities will gain access to and show progress in the general curriculum through curricular/instructional adaptations in the least restrictive environment.
• Assistive Technology (Region 4 ESC) | 20 ESC Network | Contact: Diana Carl The goals of the Texas Assistive Technology Network, under the leadership of Region 4 ESC) are to ensure that students with disabilities receive assistive technology devices and services when needed to benefit from a free, appropriate public education. Their priorities in professional development and technical assistance focus on providing training, products and services that: build district capacity in assistive technology knowledge and skills; promote strategies for building the literacy skills of all students; and are aligned with statewide literacy initiatives.
• Behavior and Discipline Management (Region 4 ESC) | 20 ESC Network | Contact: Molly Cordeau, Ed.D. The Behavior and Discipline Management Network is focused on providing capacity building and products to be used in regional level professional development and technical assistance activities with districts/charter schools and child-serving agencies. The goal is to create a Positive Behavior Support (PBS) System in the Texas public schools that will enable students with disabilities to receive special education supports and services in the least restrictive environment and to participate successfully in the TEKS-based curriculum and state assessment system.
• Evaluation (Region 12 ESC) | Contact: Eleanor Pate ESC Region 12 is responsible for statewide special education leadership for evaluation. As the first point of contact regarding evaluation issues, ESC Region 12 offers the latest in training and technical assistance, with current and relevant information.
• High School / Transition (Region 11 ESC) | 20 ESC Network Contact: Kathy Albers ESC Region XI provides statewide leadership and facilitates activities for the 20 ESC Region High School Transition Network and the statewide post-school outcomes committee. The focus is to promote communication and collaboration between stakeholders and a comprehensive, coordinated, transition service delivery system in Texas that leads to improvement of post-school student outcomes.
• Multicultural and Diverse Learners (Multicultural Education) (Region 1 ESC) | Contact: Ruth Solis The multicultural Network (MCN) is committed to assisting schools statewide to close the achievement gap between student populations via data driven, results based action plans so that no student is left behind. The primary focus of the MCN is to help educators effectively determine appropriate educational services for all students, meet the education needs of culturally and lingually diverse (CLD) students and prevent the inappropriate referrals of CLD students to special education.
• Parent Coordination (Region 9 ESC) | 20 ESC Network | Contact: Pam Humphrey The Parent Coordination Network is committed to ensuring that parents of students with disabilities receive accurate and timely information to assist them in making informed choices in their child’s education. The Network has identified the following priorities: joint training opportunities for parents and educators, collaboration with other parent training entities, and technical assistance to parents and school district personnel in the area of special education.
• Services for the Deaf | Contacts: Region 4 (Theresa Johnson), Region 10 (Alicia Favila) Region 11 (Dan Diffee, and Region 20 (John Bond) ESC Regions 4, 10, 11, and 20 provide leadership, staff development, technical assistance and support to assist Texas school districts meet the educational needs students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Priorities include student communication and competence, access to the general education curriculum, literacy, and educational interpreter training.
• Three Low Incidence Disabilities (Region 3 ESC) | 20 ESC Network | Contact: Mary Scott
Region III ESC has the responsibility to provide leadership to the Texas Regional ESCs for building capacity to meet the needs of students who are severely and profoundly cognitively disabled, medically fragile, and or deafblind. The goals of the project are to establish a collaborative network of stake holders; facilitate professional development to meet statewide needs; and to develop a process of evaluating the effectiveness of statewide activities.• Training and Technical Assistance for Visually Impaired Program | Region 11 ESC | Contact: Olga Uriegas
ESC Region XI provides statewide leadership and facilitates activities for the 20 ESC regional networks. Professional development and technical assistance focuses on building capacity to ensure students with visual impairments have comparable access to the general curriculum and improve skill areas necessary to cmpensate for visual loss.
• Legal Framework (Region 18) | 20 ESC Network | Contact: Donna Bryan
The Legal Framework for the Child-Centered Process is a dynamic electronic roadmap that summarizes state and federal requirements for special education by topic. It empowers those who use it to be able to provide to every child the benefits of FAPE. It also helps with managing systems change for continuous student performance and program improvement.• Texas Autism Conference (Region 2 ESC) | 20 ESC Network | Contact: Patti Huskin
The focus of the network is continued education of and opportunities for people involved with individuals with autism.• Texas Effectiveness Study (Region 11 ESC) | Contact: Debby Norris
The primary purpose of the Texas Effectiveness Study is to provide a clear measure of post-school results of youth with disabilities as they transition from high school to adult life. ESC Region XI collects, organizes, analyzes and interprets data based on surveys and qualitative case studies; and facilitates the development and distribution of the Special Education Supplemental Report.
• CSPD Leadership Council (Region 6 ESC) | Contact: Lynn Downing
The statewide comprehensive system for personnel development (CSPD) Leadership Council consists of members representing parents, community, state agencies, institutions of higher learning and education service centers. The role of the Council is to serve as an advisory group to the Texas Education Agency concerning the recruitment, training and retention of highly qualified teachers to instruct students with disabilities.
Texas Project FIRST is an activity of the Texas Continuing Improvement Process (TCIP) under the auspices of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and Region 9 Education Service Center, and is focused on helping to fulfill the goals of TEA and the Parent Training Committee
TEA Parent Information Line 1-800-252-9668Texas Project FIRST - A project of Family To Family Network - Contact Web Administrator