Education: An Essential Component of Systems of Care The National Community of Practice on Collaborative School Behavioral Health July 13, 2006 Training Institutes, Orlando, FL The National Community of Practice on Collaborative School Behavioral Health July 13, 2006 Training Institutes, Orlando, FL

Practice Group Facilitators  Patti Derr, Texas Federation of Families  Joan Dodge, National TA Center, Georgetown University  Debra Grabill, NH Systems of Care and Education (NHDOE)  Sandra Keenan, TA Partnership – American Institutes for Research (AIR)  Ed Morris, University of Missouri  Joe Perry, NASMHPD, NH Systems of Care and Education (NHDHHS)  Patti Derr, Texas Federation of Families  Joan Dodge, National TA Center, Georgetown University  Debra Grabill, NH Systems of Care and Education (NHDOE)  Sandra Keenan, TA Partnership – American Institutes for Research (AIR)  Ed Morris, University of Missouri  Joe Perry, NASMHPD, NH Systems of Care and Education (NHDHHS)

What is a Community of Practice?. “ (A CoP is a) Group of people who share a concern, a set of problems or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their understanding and knowledge of this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.” (Etienne Wenger et.al., 2002).

The Spirit of Community: We Are In This Together!  A way of working:  Involving those who do shared work.  Involving those who share issues.  Always asking “who isn’t here?”  A way of learning:  To create new knowledge grounded in ‘doing the work.’  With those who can advocate for and make change.

Encouraging Investments that Result in Outcomes (OSEP-IDEA Partnership)  Learning how to move from ‘knowing’ to ‘doing.’  Translating learning to policy.  Encouraging investments (programs, initiatives, funds, time, energy) that will move the work.  Recognizing the value of all contributions to a more complete and effective approach.  Creating new relationships among policymakers, researchers and implementers

The IDEA Partnership  OSEP Investment  Involves 55 National Organizations  Sponsored by NASDSE  Three topical communities  National CoP on IDEA/NCLB  National CoP on School Behavioral Health  National CoP in Support of Transition

The Communication Structure The IDEA Partnership Community of Practice State to State State to Local Local to Local Local to State Federal to State State to Federal

Bringing Together Federal, State, and Local Partners, through our Collaborative Work We are in this together

CoP Opportunities and Ideas  Centered around a knowledge domain or practice  Self governing; Self managed  Generates knowledge to enable practice  Collaborative via multiple channels (Adapted, Pauloski and Wallace 2004)

CoP Opportunities and Ideas (cont.)  Helps drive strategy  Supports faster problem solving both locally and at state level  Builds core capabilities and knowledge competencies (Adapted, Pauloski and Wallace 2004)

CoP Opportunities and Ideas (cont.)  Opportunities for the Community  Helps build common language, methods and models…  Embeds knowledge and expertise in a larger population  Increases access to expertise  Provides a means to share power and influence with the formal part of the organization (Adapted, Pauloski and Wallace 2004)

CoP Opportunities and Ideas (cont.)  Opportunities For the Individual (What’s in it for me?)  Helps people do their jobs  Provides a stable sense of community with other stakeholders  Fosters a learning-focused sense of identity  Helps stakeholders stay current  Provides challenges and opportunities to contribute (Adapted, Pauloski and Wallace 2004)

Together we can…  Improve Youth Outcomes  Work smarter  Make efficient use of limited resources  Decrease duplication of efforts, through collaboration  Expand knowledge across agencies

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” Henry Ford “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” Henry Ford

The IDEA Partnership More information on the Community of Practice on Collaborative School Behavioral Health and the Education: An Essential Component of Systems of Care is now available at For more information on the IDEA Partnership: …or call us toll free at : IDEAINFo

References  Wenger, E., R. McDermott and W.M.Snyder (2002) Cultivating Communities of Practice: Guide to Managing Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.  Pauloski, Linda and Wallace, Deb (2004) Building Communities of Practice (CoPs) for Knowledge Exchange: Roles for Information Professionals. Professional Development Center in Partnership with Information Outlook.