Illinois ASPIRE Partnerships
Partnerships are a key component of Illinois ASPIRE. As described
below, school districts, special education joint agreements,
Regional Offices of Education, institutes of higher education
and parents all play an important role.
What role do school districts play in the project?
A major component of Illinois ASPIRE is the delivery of professional
development and technical assistance to schools. All school
districts and special education joint agreements located within
the counties served by each regional ASPIRE Center will be
eligible to participate in training offered within the region
(click
here for a regional map  ).
In addition, a school district can submit an application for
one of its schools to serve as a demonstration/data
collection site. These sites will be identified through
each regional ASPIRE Center to facilitate school and student
level data collection and evaluation and will receive training
and technical assistance services from the Center.
What is the role of special education joint agreements
and Regional Offices of Education ROEs?
The following are several ways in which joint agreements
and ROEs can be involved:
- Identify a team to participate in the training offered
within each region and/or join one or more of their district
teams that attend the training.
- Support districts’ participation in the training
offered by the project. For example, joint agreements can
help districts to access IDEA flow-through funds that can
now be used for early intervening services, including professional
development.
- Assist a district in preparing an application for one
of its schools to serve as a demonstration/data collection
site by helping the district collect the district, school
and student data elements that must be included in the application.
- Support a demonstration/data collection site’s
participation by having staff (e.g., school psychologists,
supervisors/coordinators) participate in training and then
provide follow-up support for the district’s efforts
in implementing the problem solving process. This could
include designating a joint agreement or ROE staff member
to be trained as a problem solving coach who would then
work with the data collection site as well as other districts
as they implement problem solving.
- If the ROE or joint agreement has adequate space, offer
to host one or more training events in the region.
- Disseminate information to districts, schools and parents
about the professional development opportunities offered
by the project.
What role do parents play in the project?
One of the objectives of the Illinois ASPIRE is to increase
the participation of parents in decision-making with regard
to their children’s education. Therefore, parents will
be involved at all levels of the project. Parents are a part
of each regional ASPIRE Center’s leadership team, and
parents will be represented on ISBE’s ASPIRE Project
Advisory Committee. The ASPIRE Centers will provide training
for parents on early intervening services, school-based problem
solving, response to intervention and standards-aligned instruction
and assessment. The ASPIRE Centers will also collaborate with
the Parent Training and Information Centers
in Illinois to develop and disseminate parent “handbooks”
on these topics. Finally, parent participation will be required
within each school demonstration/data collection site.
What is the role of institutes of higher education (IHEs)?
An objective of Illinois ASPIRE is to incorporate the project’s
professional development content into IHE general and special
education preservice and graduate curricula. In order to accomplish
this, Illinois IHEs are important partners in the project.
The following are some of the ways in which IHEs will be involved:
- IHEs are members of each regional ASPIRE Center’s
leadership team.
- The ASPRIRE centers will work collaboratively with the
IHEs to incorporate the training components into existing
preservice and graduate programs.
- IHEs will be represented on ISBE’s ASPIRE Project
Advisory Committee.
- IHE faculty will have the opportunity to participate
in the project’s professional development activities.
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