About Us

Mission

The purpose of the State Implementation of Scaling-up Evidence-based Practices (SISEP) Center is to help States establish adequate capacity to carry out effective implementation, organizational change, and systems transformation strategies to maximize the academic achievement and behavioral health outcomes of students statewide.

Purposes

“Under pressure to improve student achievement, schools throughout the nation have, over the past 20 years, turned to comprehensive school reform (CSR). CSR is based on the idea that a school should have a coherent educational strategy that addresses all aspects of its operations and aligns them in a well-functioning delivery system. Hundreds of CSR models have been developed. More than 8,000 schools have adopted a CSR model, and more than $2 billion in federal funds have been used to implement CSR. CSR is one of a limited set of interventions that the No Child Left Behind Act explicitly allows for schools that need to improve their performance.

“Research to date has found that the implementation of a CSR model has had modest, if any, effect on student achievement. However, our study indicates that very few schools using these four models have fully implemented them. Assuming that these circumstances also apply to other models and their implementation, it is not surprising that CSR has had little effect.” (Rand Corporation (2006) Brief Report)

Vernez, G., Karam, R., Mariano, L. T., & DeMartini, C. (2006). Evaluating comprehensive school reform models at scale: Focus on implementation. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.

Goals

Define a conceptual framework & logic model for sustained, large-scale implementation of evidence-based practices in education.

Concept paper defining the SISEP approach and logic model.
SISEP State Blueprint for Implementation and Scaling up Evidence-based Practices (a Capacity-Development Model)

Demonstrate application of the Capacity-Development Model across six states.

Establish methods for developing the capacity for scaling up in six states
Six states implementing academic and/ or behavior supports with sustainability and significant scalability.
Formal protocol for selecting evidence-based practices that are “ready” to go to scale.
Formal protocol for selecting states ready to adopt the Capacity-Development Model for a specific content area

Evaluate use of the SISEP Center Implementation Blueprint.

Logic model for depicting SISEP Center activities, outputs, and outcomes with six collaborating states
Evaluation protocol for summarizing the unique application of the SISEP Center’s Implementation Blueprint with each of the six states (characteristics of states, process)
Annual evaluation reports documenting (1) Extent to which the SISEP Center’s Blueprint is used by each state, (2) Impact of the Center on state systems, (3) Impact of state efforts on local districts/schools, and (4) Impact of school implementation of evidence-based practices on student outcomes

Extend findings to additional states

Community of practice composed of TA providers and additional SEAs
Annual summary of non-collaborator states making constructive use of the Center’s Implementation Blueprint
Focused sub-strand for community of practice collaborators in the annual SISEP implementers’ forum

Disseminate findings

Four national implementer forums
Active website for TA providers
Professional papers, presentations, and collaborations

National Advisory Board

We are privileged to have the following committed and talented individuals to advise us regarding the challenging and important work of the OSEP TA Center on State Implementation and Scaling Up of Evidence-Based Practices (SISEP). The SISEP Advisory Board Members provide advice and expertise to SISEP regarding scale-up and system change, parent involvement and leadership, evidence-based education practices, communities of practice, and the realities of the state and federal context. In addition they provide linkages and leveraging recommendations to connect SISEP with experts, resource partners, and stakeholders.

Lois Adams-Rogers is the Co-Chief Operating Officer at the Council of Chief State School Officers after a 32-year career as a Kentucky educator at a variety of levels. She has served as a teacher, elementary and middle school principal, special education program coordinator, assistant superintendent, superintendent of schools, associate professor and director of programs at two universities, a state department official in multiple leadership roles, serving as deputy commissioner in the Kentucky Department of Education under three commissioners of education. Dr. Rodgers serves on a variety of boards, including the National Association of State Science and Math Coalitions, Appalachian Math and Science Partnership, National Community Education Association, the Steering Committee of the Arts Education Partnership, and the Center for Research, Evaluation and Advancement of Teacher Education.

Diana MTK Autin is the Executive Co-Director of the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network (SPAN), New Jersey's Parent Training and Information Center (PTI),working to educate, empower, and engage families and concerned professionals on health, education, and human services issues affecting children from birth to age 21. SPAN serves as the Region 1 Parent Technical Assistance Center. She also co-directs NE-PACT, the Region I Parent Technical Assistance Center, providing support to federally-funded parent centers in the NE United States. She is the mother of multiracial adopted children ranging in age from 15-31, two of whom have special needs.

Thomas Bellamy is Professor of Education at the University of Washington Bothell. His experiences include public school teaching, university administration as a College of Education Dean and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, executive positions in the U. S. Department of Education, directing a university research center, and service as an elected board member of three national professional organizations. Bellamy's current research and teaching focus on leadership for PK-12 schools, resulting most recently in publication with colleagues of the book, "Principal accomplishments: How school leaders succeed."

Joanne Cashman is the Director of the IDEA Partnership, an affiliation of 55 national organizations supporting the shared implementation of IDEA. The Partnership is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and sponsored by the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE). Joanne came to NASDSE from The George Washington University where she managed the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Leadership Training Program and taught courses in Legal Issues and Service Coordination. She earned a doctoral degree in special education at The George Washington University.

Russell Gersten is Executive Director of Instructional Research Group, a nonprofit educational research institute in Long Beach, California. Currently, he directs the Mathematics component of the Center of Instruction; a comprehensive Technical Assistance Center for No Child Left Behind that provides research based strategies for improving the quality of math instruction. Dr. Gersten also serves on the National Mathematics Panel and currently is principal investigator of several large scale randomized trials in the areas of reading and mathematics for low performing and special education students.

Charlie Greenwood is the Director and Senior Scientist for the Juniper Gardens Children's Project in Kansas City, KS. The goal and mission of JGCP is to improve children's development and educational experiences and thus their academic and social achievement. Dr. Greenwood's current funded projects include a study of the benefits of web-based, progress monitoring of the early communication skills of infants and toddlers (Office of Special of Special Education Programs) and the precursors of early language and literacy skills prior to preschool (National Center for Special Education Research).

Richard Long is the Executive Director of the National Association of State Title I Directors. As executive director for the past ten years he has worked with the association to promote effective educational practices for our nation's disadvantaged students. Long's doctorate is from the George Washington University. He has published and presented on education reform, education policy and advocacy. In addition he works for the International Reading Association as the director of government relations.

Lynne Marsenich is a Senior Associate with the California Institute for Mental Health. Her work focuses on bridging the gap between science and practice. She and her colleagues at CIMH have developed a multi-level intervention to help transport evidence-based practices into publicly funded behavioral health, child welfare and juvenile justice service systems. The intervention referred to as a Community Development Team has been used to help 32 California counties successfully adopt, implement and sustain seven separate evidence-based practices and programs. Lynne is also the Co-Principal investigator on two NIMH-funded implementation grants.

Sam Redding is the Executive Director of the Academic Development Institute and Director of the national Center on Innovation and Improvement. He also is the executive editor of the School Community Journal. He holds a doctorate in educational administration from Illinois State University and is a graduate of Harvard’s Institute for Educational Management. He has consulted with schools and districts throughout the country and in addition to his work at ADI he also has been a senior research associate of the Laboratory for Student Success at Temple University.

Michele Rovins the Director of the Federal Resource Center (FRC), an OSEP funded center at the Academy for Educational Development (AED). The FRC provides technical assistance to the Technical Assistance and Dissemination Network (TA&D) of centers funded by OSEP through the development of web tools, communities of practice and conferences encouraging collaboration and providing resources to help states implement IDEA and build capacity. Ms. Rovins previously served as the Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the U.S. Department of Education. Ms. Rovins holds a master's degree in Deaf Education from Gallaudet University and is working on her doctorate in special education, early intervention.

Judy Smith-Davis is a co-director of the IRIS Center for Training Enhancements at Vanderbilt University, Senior Consultant for The IDEA Partnership at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education, and Program Specialist for the Southeast Regional Resource Center at Auburn University. From 1980 to 1987, she was developerand director of the Dissemin/Action Project, initially for the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped (BEH) and subsequently OSEP, U.S. Department of Education. The focus of this project included change theory, organization development, and diffusion and adoption of best practices.

David Tilly

National Evaluation Board

Evaluation is an essential component of any major undertaking in education, especially one as complex as the State Implementation and Scaling up of Evidence-based Practices Center. We are pleased to announce the members of the National Evaluation Board who will evaluate the work of the Center and provide wise recommendations for improvements over the next few years.

Lynn S. Fuchs, Ph.D.
Nicholas Hobbs Professor of Special Education and Human Development
228 Peabody
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN 37220

Mark T. Greenberg Ph.D.
Bennett Chair of Prevention Research
Director, Prevention Research Center
HDFS - Henderson Building South Room 109
Penn State University
University Park, PA 16802

David Michael Mank, Ph.D.
Director and Professor
Indiana Institute on Disability and Community
Indiana University
2853 East 10th Street
Bloomington, IN 47408

Mitchell L. Yell, Ph.D.
Fred and Francis Lester Chair in Teacher Education
University of South Carolina
235-G Wardlaw
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208