Consortium on Inclusive Schooling Practices. Final Report.

This final report describes the activities and accomplishments of the Consortium on Inclusive Schooling Practices, a federally-funded 5-year project to investigate the utility of a systemic approach for building the capacity of state and local education agencies to provide inclusive educational services. The project focused on four states (Pennsylvania, Missouri, New Mexico, California) as partners for the Consortium\u27s intensive, state-local technical assistance and policy efforts. Introductory material presents elements of the Consortium\u27s approach and a summary of its objectives and activities. Following sections of the report discuss factors affecting implementation of the Consortium\u27s work scope; procedures; state and local interventions and technical assistance; coordination among statewide systems change grants; products developed and disseminated; collaboration and dissemination activities; and project impact. Among 7 recommendations are the following: (1) the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) should continue to fund 5-year, technical assistance projects; (2) OSEP should focus such funding on issues related to systems change and the links between policy and practice; and (3) OSEP should increase attention to the educational needs of students with significant disabilities