DISCLAIMER: Raw, unedited transcript from webinar. No guarantees are made for the accuracy of the content.

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>> We are at the top of the hour. My name is Robbin Bull  with NCDB. I will go over some housekeeping items before I handed over to Sam Morgan who will be doing today's webinar. The lines are muted to reduce background noise. The Q&A session will be at the end of the presentation. However you can write your questions in the chat box at any time during the presentation. It will be monitored throughout the webinar in preparation for the Q&A session. We will record this webinar, and we will archive it on the website, it will be posted within a couple of days. I am going to start the recording now. All right, Sam, we are ready for you to take it away. 
>> Thank you, Robin. Thank you everyone for coming today. We are going to spend the next hour together talking about NCDB services,  and what that is going to look like moving forward. I will present for 30 minutes or so, and then we will have some time for some Q&A.
>> The information that we will go over today, will look familiar to those of you who were at the [ Indiscernible ] back in February. The basic structure will essentially look at the information presented, and this will have a deeper level of detail, and the nuts and bolts on how things will operate, and how you will be able to access it exciter. -- Etc.. I am going to now say, that there is a survey that I will say this multiple times because we want people to take the survey. There is a survey at the end of the presentation, and we will look at the outcomes and some other things. And we are hoping that you will take the time to do that survey.
>> The outcomes for today, is to build an understanding of how to access them where to find information on the NCDB's TA . I will show you that. I will show you the documents and the processes for targeted and incentive TA. And we will talk about the TA activities and the structure of those. That will be the level of detail for today. 
>> The question is, why are we revamping the TA process? And really the central piece here is to make it easier for stakeholders to access TA, and to improve the quality of support that NCDB  will give you through our TA services.
>> Our process will be clear, so you know how to access services, you will have a clearer set of expectations around them. They will be increased transparency around our services, so stakeholders such as SDPB's and others can see  those services and how they are structured, and what they can expect from them. The other piece is really to better evaluate our efforts and outcomes.
>> I think that the evaluation piece is not only about evaluating the [ Indiscernible ] but this cycle we are looking at evaluation as to improve services, in order to do that we need to have better structured services. What I would also say, not necessarily that it will look different, but in terms of your experience. I think it will be more structure but not that different. The TA is the TA, but it will be more structure. I do not think anyone will find it shockingly different.
>> I think it is always good to look back at the [ Indiscernible ] that we all wrote to, about one year at this time we were writing that. Our proposal for that tran 12. I think it is good back -- to look back and to remind ourselves for our purpose. Obviously there are two pieces. The piece that we wrote [ Indiscernible ].
>> I think from our perspective, it made it quite clear that our job is to support state defined projects to be ready to participate in TA activities. We will talk about readiness today. And that we were there to support state projects, building state, regional and local systems, that could ever high quality practices. This structuring of our TA is really in answering the [ Indiscernible ] from our perspective. I just want to put that out as a reminder to people about why we are doing what we are doing. 
>> Some general thoughts about our TA before we get into the specific nuts and bolts of it. Our hope is that again, the TA will be well defined, clear expectations, processes will be clear, activities and how you enter them will be clear, and transparent. And well organized, but also in that, we do not want to be inflexible. And that is selling them something we want to be.
>> Even within that structure there will be flexibility, and we acknowledge it. The states are different, the TA needs while obviously national similarities, there are some new once is -- nuances. We want to be as flexible as we can to accommodate those. I just want to ensure everyone that that is the case, we realize that, and we will pledge to be as flexible as we can, while still staying true to what we are seeing with an OTA model. 
>> There will be informal and formal ways to request the information into TA. And that relationship -- it has been over many years within the network. And new people are joining into it. I think that will remain. You will always be able to bring up the phone, or the email to get information.
>> Do not think in this anyway precludes that, we have all this history together. But again, there will be some formality around some of the TA.
>> I think you will see valve formality and the structure around the more [ Indiscernible ] as it gets more intensive it will become more structured. I would assume that that is true of the TA that all of you provide within your statements, you have a high level of expectation, and there is more intensity and effort and there is more structure. 
>> I think there are going to be two areas that we will continue to have conversation around, even though we are offering structure around those. There will always be negotiation around them, and I think they will be ongoing topics of conversation, one is about readiness for TA. And the second is transitioning from targeted to incentive TA I think these are again probably things that state projects, they talked about this with their stakeholders, and I know that it has come up when I talked to state projects. And whether people are ready, and when they can be invested in TA. And giving it the effort that it takes to reach the outcomes that they want to reach. 
>> And the piece around targeted intensive TA. I do not want to say slippery slope, but it is not clear dividing line between what is targeted. As we are working together, in the TA, there will be conversation about when it is clear that things are moving toward the TA, when things need to be more [ Indiscernible ]. 
>> The types of TA, another words, not the types in terms of cavity delivery, but in terms of what the TA will be providing. The first is child specific, that has been going on for a few years, there has been a guide. And there has been some targeted and intensive going on in the area. So again, this will structure that a little more so, giving it more organization over the last couple of years. That will be very similar. 
>> They will be TA on systems, this is really the new piece. It is more structured TA on change and development. And there is this other TA category. And there are two things that fall into it there is not likely -- tightly defined. The first one around project management. That will be universal TA and targeted TA, as many of you probably all know. There is a wealth of resources in the state portal. It is around project management. We will offer TA round project management for those state that one support in specific areas. 
>> The other is what we call low incident infrastructure targeted and intensive area. This is really about thinking about overarching low incident systems and infrastructure within your state. This is something that potentially can span initiatives, it will not be in the initiative, for instance, an implementation team that you have developed, maybe for specific initiative, this is overarching. There are couple of states thinking about this already. And this might be something that more states think about.
>> Again, overarching not specific to the initiative. And those are the types of TA. I think another is general, I am pretty sure I said this, I can remember six months ago or so, I do not think we view ourselves at NCDB as the experts at all.  We really see this work unfolding as a collaborative endeavor with the state projects, and the network and we see ourselves as that. So while we think that we can provide some process and structure, and to facilitate certain amount of knowledge within sinners, we see this as a collaborative endeavor. And looking forward to working with states.
>> I think that is especially true, the systems changes. There are people in the network and NCDB have done this area  of work over the years. I do not know if anyone in the group can claim to be an expert. I really think it is a learning experience, want to reiterate that, collaborative in nature, and I look forward of networking together. 
>> Let's talk about process first. And then we will talk about activities. The process essentially look the same for systems and child TA. It has the typical tiered model that I have all known in love. Universal, targeted and intensive. You may use labels that are different, but that is that three-tiered TA structure.
>> The first is universal. For us the universal, there is no specific process. The universal TA is our resource and information that we offer on the website. Obviously there is information that is initiative specific, with that tool and resource. And in each of the 4 areas. And then we have the information on the website that covers it.
>> Within the universal TA, we call the brief consultations. That is -- many of you may call or you may know Jennifer at Perkins to help you access specific resources. It may be called initiative [ Indiscernible ] to talk about a specific issue you are having, or to identify resources. It is that brief, one-time consultation.
>> Targeted TA is more structured than universal, but it will be quite open in its nature, and how it unfolds. We will have an informal acknowledgment of readiness. I will show you the information around readiness. We ask that people acknowledge that they rather readiness information they understand it, that initiative will be that you are engaging, and they may ask you to reflect on that. It will be informal. There is no signature there is no formal structure. But it is a process of getting you to reflect on readiness and engaging in targeted TA.
>> There is no formal intake process for targeted TA. But you should contact NCDB staff member . If you sort of have an issue, and you should feel free to reach out to anyone you feel comfortable. We obviously talk on a regular basis, we will make sure you get to the person that is most appropriate for you to talk about your issue. 
>> Just so you know four evaluation perspective, for us to make sure we are following up and doing good work, we do track all of that targeted TA, to make sure that we are not stumbling over each other, and having conversation and/or duplicating each other. We do talk about what is going on, we try to coordinate as much as possible. I cannot tell you what is going to be perfect, but we do make that effort. 
>> The third is the intensive TA is a formal readiness process and discussion. And it is quite formalized, and in the intake form, which we do have, you will be asked to knowledge that you have read and discuss the readiness criteria, and [ Indiscernible ]. That is the fact that we have a formal intake form and I will show you some of these things. Formal intake form will ask a series of pretty in depth questions to help define what it is that you want and what you are looking for. 
>> It would not be the expectation that you would answer into an intensive TA if you have not engaged in any type of targeted are universal TA. That would not be your first place to land as a TA. We would expect to have done some other things first. Obviously you would have a body of acknowledgment have done some work that would take to this point to want to engage in intensive TA. There is also a formal TA agreement within NCDB . Where the typical things that you would expect to be outlined in an agreement, and activities and efforts, and outcomes and those timelines, [ Indiscernible ]. The typical things that you would expect to be in an agreement that parties will be making.
>> I am doing some dual navigation with my notes here. Okay, so TA activities. Again, these TA activities stand both child specific TA and [ Indiscernible ]. These activities, we do not have universal TA, that is and depend on [ Indiscernible ]. These apply to targeted, and then the last obviously to intensive. Within a targeted TA, it is a targeted consultation. The time limit, a few sessions on a topic or a range of topics. It could be that targeted TA, in consultation with whomever the staff member's, answering questions, or pushes you in the direction you need to go at that point. It is not an automatic [ Indiscernible ].
>> The second piece, within the targeted TA is peer learning communities. These are going to be rolling out pretty soon. I will show you a list as we go through at the end of the presentation. But peer learning communities are what you do to think about with your community of practices and the differences it is collaborative in nature, agenda and activities driven by members. NCDB will facilitate  those.
>> [ Indiscernible ] some about support can come from NCDB and from other state  projects and your collaborations together. And we have the intensive TA. And the untapped abuse. -- The activities. Intensive and ongoing consultation could planning and implementation of systems TA/child TA. They can include facilitation and facilitation support, and might include training. And not necessarily limited to those, it is open-ended. If there is an activity or type of support that you feel you need, that can be negotiated within NCDB to figure out what it would look like . And while we do have some suggestions of what those activities look like, it is open-ended in nature, and that it is negotiable. And those supports can be personalized. 
>> Within intensive TA, the activities are likely to be individual, in terms of individual state, but they can be multistate as well. We are actually seeing some things into areas that are already coming together as in a intensive effort. That is also interesting, I do not think we predicted that what happened but it is happening already which is really exciting. And it is a deeper form of collaboration which is really good. 
>> Much more interesting [ Indiscernible ]. Okay, I am going to take a few minutes now to walk you through the TA information that it is posted on the website. I know how painful it could be to watch someone navigate a webpage. I want to show you with the information is and how it is laid out. If you have any questions about it, we can talk about at the end of the webinar. I do also know that it will take some time to digest this and to think about it. And obviously I or any other NCDB staff are here to answer  questions for you. 
>> Just here with me for a second here. Okay good can everyone see the web page? If I do not see any no, I will assume you can. Okay, awesome actually let me do some navigation. Here is the homepage for NCDB  you see the three images, the bottom banner image has the link to the NCDB  technical assistance information you can go there are you can go to the state portal project. The blue box, the first link is to the technical assistance information. This is the homepage. You can see the menu bar. You can navigate. The homepage basically has information on the eight process and readiness. And it has links to the two readiness pages, which we will look at. And just a little bit of information about the measurement and outcomes. This is the overview page for TA. 
>> We have the readiness for targeted TA, you will see that is divided into child specific TA. And it has specific things that you should read through. And to think about. It also has a bit of information on what time might look at you are engaged TA within NCDB.  Obviously they are flexible, but that is some estimation to what we think how much time it might take up for state project.
>> The next tab is the intensive TA. You will see again that there is information, you can go through the child's specific system. Information again on time it's amount tens of TA. Those are our estimates, that could be a really wide range depending on what type of activities you are engaged. 
>> And then you see this divided into child specific TA and system TA. In these pages again divided into universal target, and intensive you will see that the universal contains information in this case, it is around the TA guide for child specific TA. There is the targeted TA, consultation, peer learning communities. Talk about intensive child specific TA. And then we have the intensive TA here. Cf. the bottom, there is a intensive TA intake form. There is also a word version of the document you will choose to do that hurt you still need to submit it through this link, but it is a way for you to more easily complete the information, and you do not need to do it in a survey for. You can do it in a word document and paste it into that. 
>> The last tab is the system TA, divided into universal, targeted, and intensive again it has some of the information that we have already put out around systems TA. And again, consultation and peer learning communities, under the targeted TA. And intensive TA, you will see the intake form that is specific to the systems, with the word version. 
>> Sorry for my slow navigation. So we have a few [ Class is being polled ] that Robin is going to put up. We have three and we want to see if we can put them up all of the same time. We do not know if we are able to or not. We have three polls. For those of you on the phone, the first is are you planning any work on your child's specific TA process, if so what type of support would you like to see, if any? [ Indiscernible ] the second question are you planning any work on systemic change within your stay, if so what area? And the initiatives are listed. [ Indiscernible ] and then question number 3 what type of system TA support would you like and would you be likely to seek if any? And that is specific for participating in a peer learning committee.
>> I will give people a second. The reason that we are doing these is because we want to get an idea of what we are in for and how many people are going to be knocking on our door. It is helpful if you can answer these questions. Knowing that it is up bit of a guess as we all entered into this type of TA. 
>> Okay, it looks good. Thank you, Robbin Bull . For those of you who might just be on the phone, if you want to answer those holes later, you can always -- you can shoot an email to me if you want to ask the pole. And what they might be. I would certainly be open to hearing from any of you about that. Feel free to do that.
>> Just a reminder about the resource, they are on the TA page that I just shiny, but as a reminder there are the two documents around TA the child specific one, and the systems one. This is a reminder, for those you can take a look at it. 
>> I just want to talk a little bit about what resources are coming. What we are in the process of doing, which is proving to be quite intensive process, but one that I think will yield rich information. This will be for the guys in the state projects, as you enter into the systems TA. We are developing document per initiative, it should be out in October. If all goes according to plan. And basically they follow the format of the systems TA guide. But they have specific content questions and planning information that is specific to that initiative. It is getting down to the nitty-gritty about specific systems within your states, about partnerships you should have any information that you should be looking at.
>> Our hope is that while there definitely going on, they are in-depth and it will take quite a bit of commitment. We think they are going to be useful to state projects and doing that type of deep level exploration that we know really matters for system TA.
>> They certainly could be used independently, there is no reason why they could not, but they are quite intensive. I think people would benefit from being involved. Whether it is a peer learning community, where the documents might be used, if that is the direction they want to go, that is up to them. And certainly in the intensive systems TA, that is the -- that is what they will use. It will have an agreement that -- it will use the system document and a planning form as well. That will be related to the document where you can start to populate information about your stay. And thinking deeply about it.
>> Lastly, today. I want to talk a little bit about the peer learning community plan. And I want to talk about the difference between peer learning communities and communities of practice. I know I talked about this before I just want to reiterate. I know it takes me multiple times to learn things and that might be true for you. 
>> That peer learning commands, first of all they are the groups that are internal to the projects, and the network. These are our groups. That does not mean that you cannot invite outside national partners as you see fit, but these groups are controlled by you. [ Indiscernible ] and here is a list that will be rolling out within the next few weeks. You will see that there is -- I want to make sure that I am not speaking at a term, that is one each initiative, and also there is one for operating state projects, the project management piece. And then there is one for child 
>> TA you can see the names of the people responsible. If interested in joining, reach out to that person. There is a listing of the website, it is not up yet but it will be coming within a few weeks. 
>> The other piece of practice, and the way that these are different, peer learning communities are internal to us and communities of practice are much broader and more inclusive, of people in the community of individuals and working with individuals that are deaf-blind.  One already up and running, and getting some steam, I do not know how many people are involved in that. I am not sure if Christie is on the -- how many teachers enrolled in the national deaf-blind ? 
>> I think it is a pretty big number. That is our teacher community, they have 90 people shown in interest. It is not going yet it is a national community. Again they offer a community of practice, have deaf-blind projects, they share  leadership role. And develop activities. That will have a range of views as determined by the community of practice. The other one that is in its infancy, as we are starting to look for developing partnerships around it, is [ Indiscernible ]. We are actively seeking partnerships with other larger organizations. And they will help support that and grow that it we know that is a critical area of need. And for professional realm, those that are certified. And so we just want people to know that we are actively working on that. 
>> I think that is it for me. We have about 20 minutes left. I do not know if there are any questions, but you can put them in the chat pod, or if you want to use the phone, feel free to do that. It is pound six to unmute yourself. I know there is a lot of information, you can take some time to look at and digested, but I am here to answer any questions now, and anyone on the staff is available at any time. We will be able to answer any questions about TA. 
>> One think I want to make clear, I do not know whether I have made it clear, and that is that the targeted and intensive TA around system exist within the initiative. There is targeted and intensive TA within each of the 4 a nation is been if you are interested on back, reach out to the initiative leader for that. The child 
>> TA you can reach out to me. And that infrastructure overarching. [ Indiscernible ] 
>> The link for the survey is there. Please, please, please take that survey. We much appreciate it.

>>
>> This is Robbin Bull . Linda has asked to remind you had to access the PowerPoint, and the easiest way to do that is to go on our menu bar, at the homepage where we have the events and trainings. Go to the webinar's link, there will be a link for archived webinars. That will have a link to the PowerPoint, and the other materials related to this webinar once it is posted that should be -- I cannot for sure say, whether today or tomorrow couple within a couple of days. 
>> All right. [ Indiscernible ] I know there is a lot of information, please take time to read through it, as we encourage you to do that. You can digest it a little bit and you can reach out to any of us. The learning communities will be [ Indiscernible ]. Keep an eye out for that. Some of them obviously going on already. [ Indiscernible ] there are others that will be new and launching within the next week or month.
>> All right. No questions? Great. Well, thank you all for being here today. I hope that your summer is winding up in the sort of semi-relaxed fashion. I hope you enjoy the ending days of summer. I hope to hear from you soon. Goodbye. 
>> Thanks. Great. [ Event Concluded ]