TA&D Introduction
All About the TA&D Network
WHO ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?
The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education receives Part D Discretionary money from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to fund technical assistance and dissemination centers loosely referred to as the Technical Assistance and Dissemination Network (TA&D).
HOW MANY?
This group of roughly 40-50 centers is encouraged to work collaboratively to coordinate their efforts to ensure states receive the most appropriate assistance possible without duplication of efforts, effectively and efficiently leveraging OSEP’s limited resources. These centers are each competitively awarded, most in five year cycles.
WHAT TYPES OF CENTERS?
There are several types of centers funded by OSEP- specialty or topical centers, regional centers or both. Specialty or topical centers are national centers generally funded to address one topic (e.g. drop out prevention) or a group of related topics (e.g. RTI). Regional centers like the Regional Resource Center Program, or the Regional Parent Technical Assistance Centers serve a particular region of the country on a wide variety of topic areas. There are also four regional centers (PEPNet) who work on a particular set of topics around postsecondary opportunities for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
THE FUTURE
When funded, new centers are welcomed to the TA&D Network and provided access to the orientation materials.