Community of Practice & Workgroups

GrantWISE is a SIGnetwork Community of Practice (CoP) open to all SPDGs focused on fiscal and programmatic excellence in discretionary grants. The group explores procurement, internal controls, budget planning, and APR-related budget explanations.

This meeting (September 9^th at 3:00 ET) is focused on final reports and implementing a no-cost extension SPDG and new SPDG at the same time. 

Dr. Teri Marx joined SPDG personnel to discuss evaluating mathematics initiatives and strengthening collaboration between general and special education.

She shared practical strategies for using progress monitoring, data-based individualization, and student case studies to examine implementation and student growth. Participants also explored ways to support collaboration through shared professional learning, coaching, existing school teams, and gradual transfer of responsibility to school-based staff.

Topics Covered

• Encumbered/committed funds are excluded from carryover calculations; carryover = remaining G5 balance minus encumbered funds.
• G5 is the authoritative source for actual expenditures; state accounting reports may differ but discrepancies must be resolved.
• Continuation funding decisions are based on encumbered amounts plus drawdown activity — large unexplained balances trigger scrutiny.

Key Concepts Clarified

During this first session, Dr. Jennifer Coffey laid the groundwork for the community by framing GrantWISE as a space for fiscal and programmatic excellence in discretionary grants. She highlighted the purpose of the group, upcoming meeting dates, and several core topics we’ll return to over time — including procurement, internal controls, subrecipient monitoring, cash management, budgeting resources, and APR-related budget explanations.

This month’s conversation will be facilitated by a panel of experienced SPDG evaluators exploring how to set meaningful measures for student outcomes that go beyond state test scores. Topics will include formative assessments of academic skills, student engagement and attitudes, and improvements in social-emotional and behavioral health and well-being. You’ll come away with fresh ideas and practical strategies for measuring outcomes that are more proximal to your interventions.

Presenters:

This session provided an overview of the federal requirements and best practices guiding the transition from IDEA Part C early intervention services to IDEA Part B. Sharon Lunn, ECTA, and Michelle Lewis, DaSy, shared key responsibilities for Part C and Part B programs, highlighted state experiences and challenges, and introduced tools, resources, and technical assistance to support effective transitions. Participants had the opportunity to reflect on current practices in their own states and consider strategies for strengthening transition planning and implementation.

This session, presented by Dr. Maegan Rides At The Door, Director of the National Native Children’s Trauma Center, explores trauma-informed healing for Native children, families, and communities.

Our focus was on measuring family engagement. Special guests from New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Wyoming projects (FY 2024 SPDGs) shared their plans for family engagement and how they intend to measure their impact.

This session will focus on "How states are obtaining student outcome data & drilling down to the student level."

Here are links to some of the resources that were shared:

Integrated Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Website