ND Communities: CoPs 2021

The National Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Neglected or Delinquent Children and Youth (NDTAC) used a Communities of Practice (CoP) model specifically to support Title I Part D (TIPD) State coordinators with two or fewer years of experience in the 2021 group TA service offerings.

A TIPD State coordinator's first two years can be a challenging time as they learn the administrative requirements of the program and create processes to complete those requirements. Through the CoPs, NDTAC aims to strengthen new State coordinators’ capacity while also building a network of support. These CoPs met once per month for an hour; During this time, an NDTAC technical assistance (TA) provider facilitated the CoP session. The group work allowed State coordinators to hear about similar challenges across States and discussed strategies for addressing those challenges. Each CoP consisted of five to six States to balance more targeted TA support with peer sharing.

In 2021, the National Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Neglected or Delinquent Children and Youth (NDTAC) created Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Networks (CoIINs) for Title I, Part D (TIPD) State coordinators with three or more years of experience.

The CoIINs were intended to build upon and leverage the expertise of seasoned State coordinators to advance practice beyond the administrative work of TIPD. Commonly used in the health sector, a CoIIN offers support to teams of stakeholders that are tackling a specific problem, particularly where evidence and knowledge are available but underutilized. The NDTAC CoIINs focused on the issue of gathering and using outcome data to inform TIPD practices and improving service delivery to students.

State teams were invited and voluntarily signed up to participate in the COIINs. Each month, state coordinators and their respective teams shared progress on their efforts to improve data collection and use, discussed challenges they face in implementing their chosen strategies, and brainstormed potential solutions to those challenges. Through the State coordinators’ work in the 2021 CoIIN, NDTAC aims to foster community among seasoned state coordinators and continue to support State coordinators in engaging partners who can support their TIPD work. Similar to the Communities of Practice, conversations within the CoIIN will inform the development of tools and resources to support state coordinators now and in the future.