TAD Appendix D

Appendix D.

Introductory Letters to

Project Directors and

Special Education Directors

U NITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

[Project Director name] XX XX, 2014

[Title]

[Project name]

[Project address]

[Project address]

[Project address]

Dear [Project Director name]:

As you know, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at the U. S. Department of Education (ED) is conducting an important national evaluation of the State Deaf-Blind Projects funded under the Technical Assistance and Dissemination (TA&D) Program. This evaluation is part of the congressionally-mandated National Assessment of IDEA. With your cooperation, this evaluation will gather information on activities undertaken by the projects, providers’ needs for TA, and satisfaction with TA among those who have received child-specific TA from projects. All state deaf-blind projects will be surveyed, in addition to a sample of providers working with students with deafblindness and providers who have received child-specific TA from your project during the 2013-14 school year. Taken together, this information will provide ED, Congress, and key stakeholders with a better understanding of the role the state deaf-blind projects play in implementing IDEA and related programs and services for children with deafblindness and their families.

The TA&D Program evaluation is being conducted by Westat under contract with IES. Within a week you will receive an email with detailed information that is needed as part of this evaluation. We ask that you look carefully at that email and respond in a timely fashion. To assist you and address any questions you may have, a team member has been assigned to your state and will be happy to provide one-on-one help.

The ED General Administrative Regulations (34 C.F.R. 76.591) specify that you and other grantees are required to cooperate with ED evaluations of your programs. If you have questions about the completion of the survey or your participation, please direct them either to Tamara Daley (1-888-XXX-XXXX, tamaradaley@westat.com) or Tom Fiore (919-474-0349, thomasfiore@westat.com). Questions about the study can also be directed to the project officer for the evaluation, Meredith Bachman at NCEE (202-219-2014 or Meredith.Bachman@ed.gov).

Thank you for collaborating in our efforts to collect reliable and meaningful information about the implementation of your IDEA-supported technical assistance and dissemination efforts. We recognize that you are busy with technical assistance and dissemination work and greatly appreciate your help with this important study.

Sincerely,

[Name] [Name]

Commissioner Director

National Center for Education Evaluation Office of Special Education Programs

U NITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

XX XX, 2014

«Salutation» «FirstName» «LastName»

«Title»

«Address1»

«Address2»

«City», «Abbr» «ZipCode»-«PlusFour»

Dear «Salutation» «LastName»:

We are writing to request your assistance in the U.S. Department of Education’s National Evaluation of the Technical Assistance and Dissemination Program. This study, sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences, is part of a congressionally mandated national assessment of how the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) is achieving its objectives. The purpose of the study is to provide policy-relevant information about the services provided by State Deaf-Blind projects and about the needs of providers working with students with deafblindness, also known as Dual Sensory Impairment (DSI). The study is being conducted on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education by an organization called Westat. The project has been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget and the OMB Control Number for this project is xxxx-xxxx.

You are receiving this letter because one or more students with deafblindness/DSI attended [Name of school or district] during the 2013-14 school year, according to [Nickname of Project]. We are conducting a survey of individuals who provide services to children aged 6-21 with deafblindness. In approximately a week, you will receive an email with instructions for how to assign this survey to selected staff.

There is nothing you need to do at this time. Over the next week, please look for an email from the Westat project team that will come from the email account, TADEval@westat.com. When you receive the email, we would appreciate if you can take prompt action in providing the appropriate contact information for respondents to this survey.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about the survey or your participation, please direct them either to Tamara Daley (919-474-8038, tamaradaley@westat.com) or Tom Fiore (919-474-0349, thomasfiore@westat.com), or you may call the toll-free study hotline at 1-800-XXX-XXXX.

We thank you in advance for your time and for ensuring the success of this study.

Sincerely,

[Name, Title] [Name, Title]

National Center for Education Evaluation Office of Special Education Programs

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