Educational systems and policy

Helping one child, or even one school, improve performance through inclusive educational policies is gratifying. Helping entire school districts and states create educational systems and policies that lead to dramatically better outcomes across a broad spectrum of the school-aged population is transformational. 

As a voice for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, ICI’s TIES Center provides programs, training, and thought leadership around the inclusion of all students, including students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, in general education settings. Working at the district and state levels to promote classroom inclusion, TIES stands for increasing the (T)ime and number of students in general education, (I)nstructional effectiveness, (E)ngagement and (S)tate support for inclusive practices.

NCEO examines national and state practices in reporting assessment information. It also conducts policy analyses of participation guidelines, accessibility and accommodation policies, graduation policies, and other related topics. NCEO assists states as they strive to meet the 1% cap on participation rates in the alternative assessment, as required by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. 

This program area also develops systematic guidelines for making informed decisions about accessibility features and accommodations.