Connecticut+Parent+Advocacy+Center

Web site title: Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center URL address: __[] __ Evaluation date: May 23, 2011 **Overview ** __[|www.cpacinc.org] __ is the website for the Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center, a nonprofit organization offering information and support to Connecticut families of students with disabilities or chronic illness, age birth to 26. CPAC promotes parent advocacy by building awareness and offering training programs in special education law and disability issues. The organization is funded in part by grants from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs, along with stated education funds and private donations. With offices in Niantic and New Haven, CT, CPAC is staffed by parents of children with disabilities, experienced and well-trained in special education law, and dedicated to conducting in-service presentations for schools, teachers in training, and service providers across the state so they may better serve and understand the parents with whom they work. The primary purpose of this website appears to be twofold. First, to make visitors – whether they are parents, educators or service providers – aware of, and drive attendance to training programs and workshops available for promoting advocacy and understanding of special education law and disability issues. Second, to provide visitors with a range of informative on-line, printed and recorded materials that further advance these objectives. **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Authority & Point of View ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This website cannot be attributed to a particular author. Instead it appears to be thoughtfully laid out and updated by the staff themselves, and serves as a warehouse to an impressive number of links and resources from institutions and agencies such as NICHCY and ALLIANCE National Center, and well-regarded colleges and universities, including Michigan State, Columbia, Harvard and others. Links and resources are aptly targeted to educate, inform and promote collaborative relationships between families and schools. Updates are indicated at the bottom of each page, and are continuous. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Accuracy & Currency ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The website is organized around four easily navigable central themes: Projects and Programs, Materials and Publications, Helpful Resources, and Hot Topics. Each of these themes is represented by a webpage, further broken down into categories and providing information and links relevant to each of those categories. For instance, the Projects and Programs page offered information specific to Collaboration Between Families and Schools, Parent Training and Information, Next STEPs quarterly newsletter, and CPAC Training for Parents and Professionals (comprehensive list of 24 workshops offered by CPAC on topics ranging from supporting young children to understanding and participating in the IEP process, parental and school rights and laws that impact them, and transitional services). While each of these categories offered helpful links to and information from qualified agencies and organizations, the online Training Videos offered under Materials and Publications presents an introduction to the IEP that may be most helpful to parents just entering this process. CPAC’s Lending Library, found under Helpful Resources, is also extensive and comprehensive. On the down side, three of the seven suggested links under Collaboration Between Families and Schools are invalid. Further, while the newsletter, Next STEPs, is called quarterly, the archives indicate just three editions were published in 2008 and 2009, and only two editions appear to have been published in 2010. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Coverage & Recommendation ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">__<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;">[|www.cpacinc.org] __<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> provides a sound overview of the IEP process and is effective in directing visitors to appropriate professional resources. While the website does not, for the most part, try to do the educating, it does provide links to accurate, research-based, and current information that will help parents and families begin the long, arduous process of navigating the tidal wave of information and the on-going process required of effective child advocacy. For families and educators of children with disabilities residing in Connecticut, this site also provides useful links to the services available throughout the state. Teachers trying to build more collaborative relationships with their students’ parents may find some useful hints and supporting research at some of the links in the Projects and Programs Collaboration section. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Helping the child with disability is like solving a puzzle. You have to find the pieces that are right for him/her and the family. All in all, this website is a good tool for exploring options and finding resources available to everyone involved in educating and supporting the child.