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The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are two of the nation’s most important federal laws relating to the education of children. Lately, these two laws have taken on new importance to parents of students with disabilities. Because it’s important that parents understand the requirements of NCLB, The National Center on Educational Outcomes has developed a guide for families which resources centers might find useful to disseminate.

States vary greatly in the proportion of Medicaid long-term care funds expended on home and community-based services. In 2005, Oregon and New Mexico spent over two-thirds of their Medicaid LTC dollars on HCBS while Washington, D.C. and Mississippi spent less than 20 percent on HCBS. To overcome the “imbalance” states, at varying rates, have been “rebalancing” the way that Medicaid LTC services are delivered and financed to allocate a higher proportion of dollars to HCBS.

HHS announced on September 15, 2006, the award of $20 million in grants to states to develop programs for people with disabilities or long term illnesses. The eight states receiving a 2006 award are California, Virginia, Michigan, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Kansas. The award will help states and territories “rebalance” their long-term support programs to help people with chronic illness or disabilities to reside in their homes and participate fully in community life.

The Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (ODMRDD) Division has issued an RFP for a contractor to implement recommendations received through another consultant for their Marketing and Communication plan and to implement a recently completed Communication Planning Tool. The plan is specific to educating all constituents on Quality Management concepts and how information resources will assist in making decisions affecting quality of life. RFP closes 10/20/06.

As part of the 2004 Real Choice grants, New Hampshire and Wisconsin proposed to complete a feasibility study and then develop LIFE Account programs. With no federal legislation creating a savings program, grantees are restricted to modified program that works under existing law. This paper considers six options: Section 1115 Demonstrations, Waivers under Section 1915(c) & 1915(b), Section 1915(i) & 1915(j) State Plan programs, and Section 1937 Benchmark programs and suggests some next steps.

In an effort to improve the quality of care provided in long-term care settings, as well as ensure a committed and qualified workforce, ASPE funded a study of the efficacy of various approaches to pre-employment screening and on-the-job monitoring of nurse assistants to prevent resident abuse in nursing homes. This study is intended to inform policymakers, providers and consumers about the contributions and effectiveness of existing federal mandates and state and provider based strategies.

The revised Set Up and Completion forms are useful tools for HOME Participating Jurisdictions (PJs) to assist in collecting the required data in order to ease data entry into IDIS. The four forms - one for each HOME tenure type (homebuyer, homeowner rehabilitation, rental, and tenant-based rental assistance) - were recently revised to include the data elements required to be collected and reported on as a result of the performance measurement changes added to IDIS in version 10.0.

Review presentations from the Chicago National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) Conference held in August 2006. Presentation titles include: The Maturing of America: Getting America's Communities on Track for the Aging of the Population, On Belonging and Belongings: Older Adults, Katrina and Lessons Learned, Enlightened Leadership: Getting to the Heart of Change.

The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) Conference was held in August 2006 in Chicago. A one day session focused on Aging and Disability Resource Centers. The day was broken into three sections: an AoA/CMS Overview, State Profiles from Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and Illinois and an audience consultation session. Review the overview slides and the state summaries which explore Single Point of Entry and navigating the long-term care systems maze.

ServiceLink, the New Hampshire ADRC grantee, along with New Hampshire Public Television and Easter Seals NH/Seniors Count have developed a year-long community outreach project. The partnership resulted in six feature stories on a nightly newsmagazine and community forums in four locations across the state bringing seniors and caregivers together with local leaders to begin planning the kind of communities they want as they age. View this 6 minute video clip that provides a project overview.