Database of Federally Funded Technical Assistance and Research Centers

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE),  the Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) supports schools, districts, and states to build systems capacity for implementing a multi-tiered approach to social, emotional and behavior support. The broad purpose of PBIS is to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of schools and other agencies. PBIS improves social, emotional and academic outcomes for all students, including students with disabilities and students from underrepresented groups.

The Lead for Literacy Center, operated by Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education and Human Development with funding from the United States Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs, is a partnership among literacy experts, education leaders, university researchers, and technical assistance providers from the University of Oregon and American Institutes for Research.

Their mission is to provide technical assistance to school and district leaders that builds their capacity to facilitate improved teacher implementation of evidence-based literacy practices for educating students with, or at risk for, literacy-related disabilities.

The National Center on Improving Literacy (NCIL), operated by Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education and Human Development with funding from the United States Department of Education, is a partnership among literacy experts, university researchers, and technical assistance providers from the University of Oregon, Florida State University, and RMC Research Corporation.

NCILs mission is to increase access to, and use of, evidence-based approaches to screen, identify, and teach students with literacy-related disabilities, including dyslexia.  They also work to build individual and organizational capacity to assess students’ literacy-related skill, identify students with disabilities or those at risk of disabilities, and fully implement evidence-based literacy programs and professional development.

The National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI) helps states transform their systems to improve outcomes for infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities. NCSI provides states with technical assistance to support development, implementation and evaluation of their 6-year state systemic improvement plan and build capacity among their school districts and local early intervention service programs to improve educational results and functional outcomes for children and youth with disabilities.

The purpose of the State Implementation and Scaling up of Evidence Based Practices Center (SISEP) is to help to establish implementation and scaling capacity in State, regional, and district educational systems.  SISEP provides content and technical assistance toward establishing large-scale, sustainable, high-fidelity implementation of effective education practices.  Our shared goal is to maximize academic and social outcomes of all students, especially those students with disabilities.

The SISEP Center provides States, Regional, and Local Education Agencies with:

• Intensive technical assistance to establish an effective and affordable infrastructure to support implementation of evidence based programs
• Coordinated and shared professional learning via webinars and communities of practice
• Online and off-line coaching, teaching and education about implementation, scaling, and system reinvention
• Tools and resources for conducting this work, including formative and summative evaluation tools for action planning, monitoring and outcome assessment.

In addition, the SISEP center provides technical assistance to:

• Establish implementation capacity in Technical Assistance Centers and projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs
• Increase implementation capacity of Local Education Agency Superintendents and other leaders
• Increase knowledge of evidence-based implementation supports for evidence based practices in Charter Management Organizations.