What Drives Positive Outcomes for Students With Disabilities?

State and local leaders play a key role in ensuring students with disabilities thrive. In this blog post, WestEd special education experts Rorie Fitzpatrick and Michele Rovins explore the idea of leveraging increased autonomy and flexibility for decision making, through a focus on five essential concepts—from accurate identification to strong family partnerships—to drive meaningful improvements and create systems that support student success.

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Links to the The Heart of a Successful Multi-Tiered System of Supports blog post on WestEd.org

Supporting Early Literacy Through Tier 1 Instruction

One Southern California school district is seeing early success in boosting reading skills in K–2 classrooms. WestEd’s Nicholas Gage discusses why strong Tier 1 instruction is essential for the district’s progress.

Strengthen Tier 1

Making Dollars Count in Early Childhood Education

Learn how states can expand early education access for children with disabilities through strategic funding, cross-program coordination, and support in this Q&A with WestEd’s Leslie Fox.

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Links to the WestEd 2025 Finance Training for SEAs and LEAs event page on WestEd.org

Navigate New Federal Fiscal Regulations

Our highly rated fiscal compliance training in October will assist education leaders in understanding and managing the regulatory dynamics that shape the current education funding landscape.

How States Can Step Up for Young Students With Disabilities

In this article in The 74, Sarah Johns discusses WestEd’s evaluation of California’s Inclusive Early Education Expansion Program and what’s possible when investments in training, facilities, and partnerships align.

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Strengthening Systems

WestEd works to build local and state education systems designed to improve outcomes for young children and students with disabilities.

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Additional Resources to Support Improved Outcomes

WEBINAR: Ensuring Early Learning Meets the Needs of All Children. Explore how a whole-child approach and educator expertise can create meaningful, supportive experiences for children with disabilities, their families, and their educators.

WEBINAR: Assessment Systems That Support Students With Disabilities. Explore how to design supportive, coherent, and effective assessment systems that support positive outcomes for students with disabilities.

Essential Back-to-School Resources. As you begin the new school year, we’ve curated a selection of recent resources to help improve outcomes for students, teachers, families, and communities.

Create Literacy Policies That Support All Learners. Discover how states have strengthened literacy policies to support students with disabilities through legislative action, along with key considerations and practical resources for implementing similar laws.

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