Washington State Project STEPS
What is Washington State Project STEPS?
Washington is one of several states affiliated with the Sequenced Transition to Education in the Public Schools (Project STEPS), a national outreach project. The foundation for the Washington State Project STEPS is the National Project STEPS training and technical assistance model. The STEPS model relies heavily on community planning. The model is designed to ensure an understanding of the components of transition, combined with a process for developing and implementing a transition system for young children and families.
Project STEPS supports a community approach to supporting families and children in planning for transitions among environments. Effective transitions prepare children to enter school ready to be successful.
Community teams include representatives from:
- Childcare
- Head Start
- ECEAP
- Families
- Public Schools
- Early Intervention Programs
- Public Health
- Child Find Coordinators
- Migrant, bilingual, tribal, special education and related service providers
Participants receive training and guidance in:
- Planning
- Team building
- Change management
- Group problem solving
- Joint decision-making
Participants also:
- Develop shared vision
- Define the scope of their activities
- Identify legal and programmatic needs
- Address barriers to collaboration
The project supports a variety of follow-up activities for community teams, and makes available to communities training in the Helpful Entry Level Skills Checklist - Revised.