Just for Me

Just for Me provides an opportunity for you to take a step back from the content and apply it to your own professional practice. The activity below guides you to explore resources and information that are specific to your state. Through this exploration, you will locate information that helps you better understand your state's policies related to the implementation of the COS process.

Activity 1: National Perspective

The ECTA Center has created maps to illustrate state approaches to meet the OSEP requirement for early intervention and early childhood special education programs to report on child outcomes. Visit ECTA’s website to view the maps and learn the different approaches that states are using to measure child outcomes. You will see that the majority of early intervention and early childhood special education programs are using the COS process.

Activity 2: Digging Deeper--What's Unique About the COS Process in My State?

Now that you have explored the national “big picture” on child outcomes data collection, it’s time to dig a little deeper into the policies and procedures related to the COS process in your state. To do that, we have prepared a list of questions for you to research. For example:

• What training and support related to the COS process is available or expected in my state?
• Who participates in determining the COS rating?

To access all of the questions, download the My State's Policies and Procedures worksheet. After answering the questions, save the worksheet to your computer to keep for future reference. You may need to ask your Supervisor for assistance. Also, if you work with children across the birth – five age range, early intervention and early childhood special education policies may differ.