Thank you for your interest in EMSTAC! Unfortunately, our project has come to the end of its five-year contract with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). We are continuing to provide our website with all its valuable resources to you. Please feel free to use the site and the resources provided.

The Access Center: Improving Outcomes for All Students K-8, funded by the U.S Office of Special Education Programs, is pleased to share with you a report entitled Providing Technical Assistance to Local School Districts: Lessons Learned. This report is a summary of some of our findings in providing technical assistance to school districts through our work on the OSEP-funded Elementary and Middle Schools Technical Assistance Center (EMSTAC), which concluded March 31, 2003. We hope you find the report useful in planning different ways of delivering technical assistance.

We are using the EMSTAC findings as we move forward in our new work under the Access Center. We welcome your insights about TA delivery and hope to have an opportunity to collaborate with you on the Access Center. Please visit our website at www.k8accesscenter.org to learn more about our activities, materials, and resources planned for the next five years.

Additionally, OSEP has funded other centers that focus on other TA topics that help improve outcomes for students with disabilities. To learn more about these new projects, please see the list on OSEP's web site at www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP/index.htm or the Federal Resource Center site at www.dssc.org/frc

EMSTAC, a U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Project, worked with school districts and designated individuals (called Linking Agents) to implement new and effective practices in special education. It was funded for the fiscal years 1997 through 2001. Opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the Department of Education's position or policy.