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This paper describes the role of the Supported Housing Specialist as developed by the Wisconsin Council on Developmental Disabilities and the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services. The paper is based on extensive interviews with Marcie Brost who developed and holds the position. This paper is intended to be used with a set of guidebooks providing practical advice about procedures that are effective in developing individualized housing solutions and two videotapes showing what some families have achieved. The paper emphasizes the role of the service broker and the importance of creating effective relationships in finding individualized housing solutions. The paper notes system boundaries and conflicts that define the specialist's role and identifies defining principles such as separating housing and support and encouraging family investment. It stresses the use of a "least difference" strategy that utilizes a decision-making process as similar as possible to that of any other individual selecting housing. Emphasis is also on generation of local patterns of success. The paper reports on results such as provision of assistance with individualized housing solutions to 177 households over a 3-year period. (DB) more...

This study attempts to examine and document the implementation pattern of Individually Guided Education (IGE) across 30 Wisconsin school districts operating IGE programs in their schools. Using these results, the data were then analyzed to determine which of the seven IGE components examined, contributed most to a favorable overall or Total IGE Implementation Score. The seven components are: organizational arrangement, instructional programming, materials, measurement and evaluation, home school relations, facilitative environments, and research and development. The results indicated that the pattern of IGE implementation across the districts participating in the study is generally adequate or approximately 50 percent along the way to an ideal implementation of the IGE system. Only two of the IGE Components, Home School Relations (35 percent implementation) and Research and Development (33 percent implementation) were areas where improvement and modification can be justified now. The remaining analyses, which consisted of correlational techniques, suggested that districts having a generally favorable Total IGE Implementation Score received favorable ratings on the implementation of the MUS-E Organization, Instructional Programming, and the Measurement and Evaluation Components. At this point in time it appears that Home School Relations, Materials, and Research and Development Components are less a part of the implementation scene of IGE. (Author/DEP) more...

All "open" schools have one principle in common; they represent efforts to expand the freedoms of learners. Some features characteristic of open education are the involvement of more people, more part-time learners, a curriculum relevant to life, and a broadening of the learning environment. Emphasis is on the learner with a diminishing of learner dependency on teachers and schools. The ideal concept would take the form of education permanente. Some signs that the open school may be significant for our times are: the impact of population and knowledge explosions, increased need for retraining/re-education, special needs of minority groups, competency recognition, and the dissaffection of learners with conventional schooling. A comprehensive open school model is the proposed Wisconsin Open School, which will create a corollary system of education for all the people of the State, cradle-to-grave, and will be meshed with existing State educational systems. It will involve: a system of uniform transferability of credit; learning resources and communications resource centers; a laboratory approach; a lifelong curriculum; program teams, delivery systems, access systems, local advisors, counselors, and community volunteers. A "once and future" school, the Wisconsin Open School is designed to be self-renewing, generating new models and fresh applications. (EA) more...

The document reports the Wisconsin component of Project IEP (individualized education program), a project designed to identify and clarify perceptions related to roles in the IEP process as mandated by P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. It is explained that under Project IEP approximately 200 persons (including state and local education administrators, regular and special teachers, parents of handicapped children and the children themselves, support personnel, and advocacy groups) were given open-ended interviews. Findings and suggestions are reported for the following areas: parent roles (reasons for and barriers to parental involvement); teacher and support staff roles and responsibilities (improvements in the child's program, increased planning demands, and effects on morale and interstaff relationships); administrator's role (system improvements, coordinating functions, and morale); and federal, state, and local relationships (respect for state and local autonomy and implementation constraints). Listed among IEP Panel recommendations are that standardization of procedures should be minimal, that inservice education in local school districts for special and regular staff on assessment skill training should be conducted, and that the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped rules should assure district immunity from legal actions. (SBH) more...