Just for States

Selection of Collaborating States

As researchers and innovators produce more effective approaches to education, State and federal education agencies are left with the challenge of how to make use of these advances in a way that will benefit students statewide. As the science of education has progressed, the gap between science and practice has widened. While efforts are made to successfully invest in effective demonstration sites that employ evidence-based practices and programs, too often such efforts do not meet expectations, are not sustained beyond a demonstration period, or are not scaled up to meet the needs of all students who might benefit in the state. The SISEP Center has been designed to provide the organizational and procedural supports to assist States to take existing evidence-based practices to scale.

After a 6-month selection process, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon, and Virginia were selected from a pool of 16 applicants. These six States represent a total of 14,984 schools. Each state already is engaged in implementing evidence-based and innovative educational practices including School-Wide Positive Behavior Support, Response to Intervention, literacy improvement practices, and drop out prevention.

States interested in participating in scaling up in the future are encouraged to view the documents listed under the Resources tab on this website.

State Selection Process

The State Implementation and Scaling up Evidence-based Practices (SISEP) Center, funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), is charged with assisting six selected States to successfully scale up evidence-based practices in the next 5 years. The SISEP Center also will work with other States as collaborative partners to help them prepare for scaling up activities. As scaling up progresses in the six selected States, SISEP will share what has been learned with other interested States through a community of practice.

The State selection process consisted of two introductory phone calls to present the goals, the scaling up process as SISEP envisions it, requirements, and benefits of this collaborative work. The first call was conducted in January 2008. Call #2 occurred in February 2008. The second call was followed by asking interested States to complete a brief Request for Participation (RFP) to announce their intention to pursue the scale up of their capacity to implement evidence-based practices. The written RFP document was used to decide which states would be site-visited to complete the exploration/ informed decision making process. The selection criteria are provided below.

Selection Highlight

1. The State has documented implementation of an evidence-based curriculum/instruction initiative or a behavior support program.

Rationale: The State needs to have had the experience of implementing a specific initiative or program before they choose to scale up the initiative or program. This is critical because the State needs to know: (a) that they can achieve their desired outcomes with the initiative or program, (b) the types of resources they need for implementation, (c) that there is support across the State for widespread implementation of the initiative or program, and (d) how to successfully take into account the context in which implementation takes place. Also, States will be expected to scale up their initiative or program in less than five years. It is very unlikely that scale up would be possible if the States have not yet entered the full implementation stage in multiple sites across the State.

2. The State has demonstrated committed leadership at the State level.

Rationale: Top leadership support is critical to making necessary system changes and accessing funding to achieve scale up. The formation of a State Management Group that includes general education and special education leaders is an essential ingredient of the scale up endeavor because the initiatives or programs chosen by the State are expected to assist general and special education students.

3. The State is willing to dedicate roughly $2 million a year to scaling up evidence-based practices.

Rationale: Scaling up of implementation efforts will require dedicated funds to support SEA staff time, as well as the time and training of Regional Implementation Team (RIT) members. The dollar amount of allocated funds may include current funding already allocated for EBP implementation and scale up and/or new funding. Initially, this funding allocation must include funds to hire or redirect two State-level FTEs to work exclusively with SISEP. In addition, funds must be made available to support the time, training and activities of the initial RIT. In later years, additional funding will be needed for the State Transformation Team (STT) and growth of the RIT structure.

4. The State is willing to participate in and contribute to a community of practice.

Rationale: SISEP intends to have interested State leaders, STT members, RIT members, and local implementers participate in a community of practice to share information. The focus will be on the lessons learned about implementing evidence-based practices and scaling up in the six selected States, coupled with relevant information gleaned from related activities of any of the States participating in the community of practice.

5. The State has a data collection system in place.

Rationale: The data collection system should allow the State to collect and use data on the implementation, progress, and outcomes of the initiative or program chosen. A key feature of implementation, sustainability, and scaling up is an active, effective and dynamic evaluation structure for gathering and using data. This takes time to build and it important that States already have a system in process.

State Application RFP

The selection process has been completed and applications no longer are being accepted at this time. Those interested in viewing the original Request for Participation may do so by downloading the form.

Download this form!