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Despite progress, there is a continuing need for resource information about available supports for full inclusion of students with disabilities in educational settings. This information packet, substantially revised from 1993, is intended to provide basic information on timely subjects within inclusive education and to assist interested people in gaining better access to these materials. Resources are topically categorized by: (1) Case Studies and Strategies for Inclusion; (2) Parents and Families: (3) Policy; (4) Preschool Resources: (5) Research; (6) Teacher and Professional Resources; (7) Theoretical Foundations and Philosophy; (8) Newsletters and E-Newsletters; (9) Organizations and Projects; (10) Websites; and (11) Resources on IDEA (The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.)

This report describes the best practices identified by eight projects in upstate New York funded to work towards increasing the number of individuals with developmental disabilities who serve in leadership roles on policy boards and planning committees of community agencies and organizations. Programs were based on the model developed by Capabilities Unlimited in Cincinnati (Ohio). The model focuses on bringing together as a TRIAD, persons with developmental disabilities, mentors, and board representatives to participate as partners within community agencies. Participating projects responded to a questionnaire after the first grant year, the community development phase. The community development phase involves planned interventions to induce positive structural changes in the community through citizen participation. Following an introductory chapter, each chapter focuses on a specific segment of the community development phase. Each chapter also closes with a summary of key strategies for future practice. Chapters address: (1) pre-launch activities; (2) outreach; (3) cultivating a cultural role model; (4) keeping the community connected to the process of inclusion; (5) successful outcomes; (6) major barriers successfully overcome; and (7) lessons learned. Seventeen appendices include project letters, resource lists, fact sheets, brochures, questionnaires, job descriptions, and training schedules. (DB)

The New York State Board of Regents and the Commissioner of Education have identified a set of performance standards for students that reflect the knowledge and skills needed to function as productive citizens in the 21st century. The New York State Department of Education has developed new Regents Examinations, which all students must pass to graduate from high school, and new examinations in fourth and eighth grades that serve as intermediate checkpoints for assessing progress. This paper develops estimates of the costs of financing the achievement of higher standards. Key tools for estimating the cost of adequacy are education cost functions and cost of education indexes. The cost function approach uses statistical methods to extract from actual data the relationship between student characteristics, cost of living, and spending required to meet performance standards. Overall, greater student needs and higher salaries required to recruit good teachers significantly raise the cost of education in large New York cities. The total spending increase statewide required to reach the recommended standard is $7.2 billion. New York's current system of school aid programs is not well-suited to reaching student performance objectives. Developing an adequacy-based finance system will require a better-designed aid system, a required minimum level of contribution from all districts, and improved use of all resources. (SM)

This report on Community Vision, Inc. is part of a series documenting innovative supports for community living for adults with severe disabilities. Community Vision was created as an alternative to facility-based services in Oregon that would intentionally focus on providing inclusive community living for those with the most severe disabilities who were still in institutions, nursing homes, and other facilities. The agency currently supports 45 adults in community living, jobs, social relationships, and other community activities. The report is based on a site visit to the agency in August 2000 that included interviews and visits with people who are supported by Community Vision, family members, and agency staff and administrators. The lessons the agency has gained from direct experience of supporting individuals with severe disabilities in the community in Oregon contribute to the agency's key strengths, which include a focus on promoting a sense of home, personal control and choice; relationships, work, and meaningful community involvement for the people the agency supports; and an organizational focus on planning and teamwork/collaboration. These combined strengths are discussed, along with examples of how individuals are supported. Challenges facing Community Vision, Inc. are also discussed. (CR)

This paper describes the Pathfinders program in New York (New York), which works to facilitate the full integration of adults with developmental disabilities into workplaces and neighborhoods. The paper is organized around the question of whether students graduating from special education can find paid and volunteer work in community settings, become involved in social and recreational activities in their neighborhoods, and develop new friendships and associations in these settings. Discussion focuses on the concept of "capacity thinking," which stresses five ideas: (1) building a capacity view of the individual; (2) challenging deficiency thinking; (3) discovering opportunities; (4) increasing expectations; and (5) advocating for necessary resources and services. Other principles include person-centered work and development projects, making space to work outside the current system of special education and adult services, investing in renewal, forum creation, and person-centered planning. Excerpts from participants' comments on their experiences illustrate the paper's ideas. (Contains 14 references.) (DB)

This report discusses the accomplishments and challenges of the Vermont Self-Determination Project (SDP), a 3-year project designed to empower individuals with developmental disabilities to create the quality of life they desire for themselves and, by discovering and sharing their natural gifts and talents, to nourish and enrich both their own lives and those of their communities. To meet this goal, the SDP has worked collaboratively with people with disabilities and families to promote statewide systems change both to increase opportunities for choice and control and to decrease barriers to choice and control. The report is based on interviews conducted with SDP teams, other project staff, and individuals with disabilities and families of individuals with disabilities who have had some contact or involvement with SDP teams. The report addresses four areas: opportunities for self-determination at the individual level, systems change to promote self-determination, self-advocacy, and issues related to implementation of the SDP itself. For each area, there is a discussion of accomplishments and challenges. This is followed by a section addressing next steps that were identified during the course of the research, and a brief conclusion. Findings indicate SDP has made a significant contribution to comprehensive systems change. (CR)

This report is part of a series of reports designed to document innovative daytime and supported living practices. It is based on a site visit to Katahdin Friends, Inc. (KFI) in March 1998. Since the mid-1980s, KFI, located in Millinocket, Maine, has transformed its supports for people with developmental disabilities from those that promote segregation to those that promote community inclusion and membership. KFI has transformed their preschool into an integrated preschool and closed the special purpose school, transferring children into regular public schools. In addition, they closed both the workshop and the day program, opting instead to support people in community jobs and other meaningful, integrated daytime activities. At the time of the site visit, the agency provided supported living services to 22 people and day services to 14 individuals. The first section of the report describes some of the key factors that facilitated conversion. The next section presents examples of community supports provided by the agency. A concluding section discusses key components to the conversion process, including a value base that plays a strong role in guiding decisions and actions, persistence, creativity, a focus on relationships, and collaboration. (CR)

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of the New York Partnership for Statewide Systems Change 2000, a 5-year project to increase and improve inclusive educational services to New York State students with severe disabilities at the secondary level and students with serious emotional disturbance at the elementary and middle school levels. The project provided inservice training, technical assistance, community training, higher education planning, and model demonstration and evaluation activities to accomplish the following five goals: (1) expand and enhance the capability of local school districts (LEAs) throughout the state to serve students with severe disabilities in general education settings; (2) design and propose revisions to funding and regulations to enhance LEAs to collaborate with regional public and private agencies; (3) design and propose interagency agreement models to formalize the provision of comprehensive educational and student support services; (4) expand inclusive teacher teacher-education-approved programs leading to certification in both general and special education; and (5) coordinate activities with related projects and agencies involved in the development and validation of most promising practices. Individual sections of this report describe the project's goals and objectives, major accomplishments, accomplishments by specific goals, problems encountered, technical changes, and impact. (CR)

A series of individual and small-group interviews on self determination for individuals with disabilities was conducted as part of the Vermont Self-Determination Project, a 3-year project to implement a statewide system change designed to allow people with developmental disabilities to have control and choice in their lives. The interviews were held with four teams, each composed of a consumer, a family member, and a service agency representative. Additional interviews were conducted with non-team project staff. Results from the interviews indicated that: (1) an important component of self-determination is individual control over lives and money; (2) self-determination must go hand-in-hand with the further development of self-advocacy; (3) it is important that agencies, families, and others work with teams to further support the growth of self-advocacy; (4) clarity is needed on areas of responsibility for individuals who elect to manage their own money through an intermediary service organization; (5) quality-of-life issues need to be examined within the context of self-determination; and (6) real choices are limited within the existing system. Success and challenges of the project and the self-determination teams are discussed. (CR)

This report describes the closure process for Brandon Training School, Vermont's only public institution for people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities, until it was closed in 1993. The report was developed through a review of documents and interviews with state administrators, local program directors and staff members, former Brandon employees, members of the Brandon town community, former residents and parents, advocates, attorneys, university researchers, and others. Topics discussed include what Brandon was like, origins of the idea of closure in the mid-1970s, issues for the advocacy community, beginning the closure process through development of a "Unification Plan," the role of the Division of Mental Retardation, the role of community providers, service development, building an infrastructure, moving toward individualized services, creating safeguards, challenges for the community service system, labor and economic issues for the Brandon community, physical plant issues, and social impact. A concluding section summarizes 10 key factors related to closure. These include recognition of shared values and common vision, responsiveness of administrators, and collaboration among community service providers. (Contains 14 references.) (DB)

The Department of Education's Web site (http://www.ed.gov) is a rich information and service resource that is widely used both within the Department of Education and by a variety of users external to the Department. It provides extensive information about the Department and its programs and services, enables users to interact efficiently with some programs, and serves diverse audiences. As the Web site has grown and developed, a number of issues have arisen that require attention. This document presents results of an evaluation of the site from four perspectives: management assessment, policy analysis, log and transaction analysis, and usability testing. The full report is presented in five major sections and capped by an Executive Summary. Following Section I: "Introduction" in which the study objectives and methods are outlined, each of the four assessment techniques and associated findings are represented as individual sections--Section II: "Management Assessment"; Section III: "Policy Assessment"; Section IV: "Technical Assessment"; and Section V: "User Assessment." Within each section, the methodology is detailed, findings presented, and recommendations suggested. Appendices include details of data collection instruments and other background information. (Author/AEF)

This report discusses the results of a case study of Working Order, a Pennsylvania program designed to develop entrepreneurs with and without disabilities by sharing the expertise, resources, and skills of small business owners. The strategy of the program is to invite competitive entrepreneurs, those who could likely produce and sell their services or products on the open market, to share space with and support entrepreneurs who would likely not be able to compete in the marketplace due to their disabilities. The report describes how the program was started, its organizational structure and financing, its location in a former high school that has been converted to a community center, advantages to members, the business plan, and mentorships. Support strategies and three member profiles are discussed. Experiences with cooperative entrepreneurship, the importance of a well-developed mission statement, advantages of entrepreneurship for people with severe disabilities, ways to by-pass traditional funding and regulatory mechanisms, and the benefits of mutual support are also addressed. The report closes with a discussion on the challenges that Working Order is facing, including enticing competitive entrepreneurs. (CR)

This policy brief explains why performance focus and educational cost indexes must go hand in hand, discusses alternative methods for estimating educational cost indexes, and shows how these costs indexes can be incorporated into a performance-based state aid program. A shift to educational performance standards, whether these standards are targets or are embedded in a foundation aid program, can be neither fair nor effective unless it recognizes the variation in the cost of education. Using data from New York State, the brief shows that controlling for costs in the design of school aid formulas is crucial to enable central cities to reach educational adequacy standards. This paper uses an approach to educational cost indexes that selects performance indicators on statistical grounds. This approach determines which performance indicators are valued by voters, as shown by their correlation with property values and school spending. It then uses these indicators in an index of educational performance that is a weighted average of the statistically significant performance indicators in which the weights reflect the value voters place on each indicator. For New York, this approach leads to an index based on three performance indicators: (1) the average share of students above the standard reference point on third and sixth grade standardized tests for mathematics and reading; (2) the share of students who receive the demanding New York Regents diploma; and (3) the graduation rate. (Contains 2 figures, 11 endnotes, and 27 references.) (SLD)

This report on "Options for Individuals" is part of a series documenting innovative supports for community living for adults with severe disabilities. Options for Individuals, which began in 1984 in Kentucky, uses Medicaid waiver funding to support 29 people with severe and often multiple disabilities during the day. While the program is based at a facility, the agency has a long history of creative community-building efforts that they have used to get people involved in meaningful activities and relationships outside of the facility. In doing so, they have facilitated peoples involvement in paid and volunteer work, varied leisure interests, and social engagements. This report, based on a site visit in June 1997, documents the positive community-building efforts used by Options to create meaningful daytime opportunities and connections for the people they support. It describes key strategies Options uses to promote community participation and relationships, including recognition of the importance of place, active involvement in facilitating the development of relationships, focus on variety of peoples daytimes, use of an in-depth person-centered planning process, and long-term commitment to people. The experiences of three clients are highlighted. The report also discusses some of the challenges faced in relation to these efforts. (CR)

This site-visit report describes Common Ground, a program located in New Hampshire that supports 52 people with developmental disabilities, including some with severe and multiple impairments, in a broad range of individualized, integrated daytime activities, including supported and competitive employment, self-employment, volunteer work, and the pursuit of recreational/leisure activities. The organization of Common Ground, its development, and the changes it undertook in order to provide individualized support are discussed. Three key areas of innovative practices and challenging dilemmas at Common Ground are reviewed, including agency change, self-determination, and valued community roles and membership. Lessons learned are that: (1) change is not a formula; (2) new agency roles mean relinquishing control; (3) new staff roles mean reliance on the community; (4) support for staff is key to successful change; (5) change involves trade-offs that may bring both advantages and disadvantages; (6) individualized funding is needed to promote self-determination; (7) self-employment opportunities are important; (8) advocacy/self-advocacy must be encouraged; (9) roles and relationships take time; (10) roles and relationships require shared community place and experiences; and (11) Common Ground only supports people for a limited part of their day. (CR)

This report provides an evaluation of the Online at PA Libraries project which was initiated in the Fall of 1996 by the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Office of Commonwealth Libraries and the Schuylkill Intermediate Unit. The report documents that the following goals were accomplished: (1) provide public access to the Internet through Pennsylvania's public libraries; (2) provide library users with timely information for educational research, economic development, and recreational purposes; and (3) ensure that trained library staff are available to help the public find the information they need in an online environment. Key assessment questions were answered by the use of a range of data collection techniques including surveys of librarians and users, site visits, focus groups, interviews, and other techniques. From the viewpoint of project participants, the project was clearly successful. The list of various benefits and impacts that have come to the library, the users, and the community overall is significant and consistent across most libraries. The study concludes with a discussion of key issues raised by the Online at PA Libraries project and lessons that have been learned from this effort that can be incorporated into future efforts. Specific recommendations include building on the project with future projects, developing new roles for Pennsylvania libraries and librarians, and developing a statewide strategic planning effort to continue to take advantage of the evolving global networked environment for the benefit of Pennsylvania residents. The user questionnaire is appended. (Author/AEF)

The materials compiled into this information package focus on women and girls with disabilities and the specific issues they face in society. Part 1 contains the overview article "Obstacles to Equality: The Double Discrimination of Women with Disabilities" (Rannveig Traustadottir), which reviews the existing literature on women with disabilities and compares how women with disabilities fare in the traditional female sphere of reproduction and nurturing, education, and employment as compared to women without disabilities and men with disabilities. Part 2 is an annotated listing of resources written by and/or about women and girls with disabilities. Subjects in this section include general issues, life histories, education, employment and rehabilitation, health issues, women and care, motherhood and reproductive rights, sexuality, sexual abuse, and fiction. Part 3 provides information on teaching materials about women and girls with disabilities. This part also lists other practical materials, such as a manual for accessibility. Part 4 provides information about support groups for women and girls with disabilities and how to start networking projects. This section also contains information about women's periodicals and organizations which include women with disabilities. Part 5 provides information about women and disability that is available on the Internet. (CR)

This case study describes the recent development of two housing co-ops "Courtyard" and "CHORD," in Toronto (Ontario, Canada) that are inclusive of people with disabilities, that is, the co-ops were developed by people with disabilities, their families, and friends. Focus is on components utilized in the planning and development of the co-ops by their umbrella organization, Neighbors Allied for Better Opportunities in Residential Support (NABORS). The report is based on a site visit in April 1994 to the first of the co-ops, open for 10 months at that time. Background information notes the importance of the involvement of people with disabilities, parents, and advocates, and the value of the co-op as an intentional community, not just a housing co-op. A section on co-op organization describes the two co-op housing complexes and the support organization, including their boards of directors, a vision statement, co-op subsidies, membership issues, and allocation of government aid. A statement of principles addresses issues of community, natural social support, membership participation, self-determination, and nondiscrimination. Another section provides quotes from personnel involved in the development of intentional community. The study concludes with a statement emphasizing the importance of organizational clarity, intentional community, full participation for everyone, and relationships. (DB)

Successful School-to-Work (STW) practices and implementation needs were examined in New York's 401 rural school districts. A short survey was completed by administrators in 128 districts. Preliminary findings from the survey were discussed at four community roundtables attended by 95 representatives of rural school districts and their partners. A nomination form was distributed widely to identify promising practices, and site visits were conducted in four nominated districts. The findings are presented around the following themes: (1) greater emphasis was on STW issues among administrators than among parents, teachers, or the business community; (2) great disparities existed among rural schools in the involvement of teachers and parents in STW activities; (3) the need for increased involvement of businesses and employers was apparent; (4) most rural schools were only in the planning or early stages of implementation; (5) there was limited information on model programs; (6) problems involving long distances to business sites and lack of student transportation existed; and (7) there were needs for targeted STW funding at the district level and for state support and legislation recognizing the distinct challenges of rural districts. Promising practices are described in each of these areas, and recommendations are listed based on the same themes. Two approaches are outlined for providing technical assistance to rural STW programs. (SV)

This report describes a program designed to increase opportunities for people with developmental disabilities to lead good lives in places of their own, strengthen their communities, and enjoy a genuine sense of self-worth. In addition to offering independent services, the Training Toward Self-Reliance (TTSR) program staff have increased their capacity and commitment to support people with multiple disabilities or those who need more intensive levels of support than those typically offered through independent living services. Services provided include helping people get their own homes or apartments, helping people arrange and manage personal assistance and other in-home supports, and assisting people to develop social relationships and networks. Expertise has been developed in supporting parents who themselves have disabilities, supporting adults with developmental disabilities to manage their own personal assistance services, and supporting people with disabilities whose lives have been substantially affected by social problems associated with poverty, substance abuse, and interpersonal turmoil. The first section of the report describes supports provided by TTSR to a few individuals who are representative of many others supported by the agency. The second section discusses key values that determine agency response and strategies that TTSR uses to provide services that support, not control, individuals with developmental disabilities. (CR)