Who Are We?
South Carolina Partnerships for Inclusion (SCPI) is an early childhood technical assistance (TA) center focused on increasing inclusive opportunities and school readiness for preschool children with disabilities. SCPI understands that the path to successful adulthood begins with positive early childhood experiences. We reinforce this by partnering with school districts to build local capacity to support all young children and their families to belong and thrive within their communities. We use a professional development model of technical assistance, training, and ongoing support to meet the needs of districts, schools, and educators.
As part of the newly formed TA network, SC TEAMS (South Carolina Transition, Early Childhood, Academic, Multi-tiered Systems, Social/Emotional/Behavioral), SCPI supports the South Carolina Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Services (OSES) to increase the local capacity of districts and schools to support the implementation & scaling up of evidence-based practices to improve outcomes for children ages three to twenty-one with disabilities in the state.
How Did We Get Here?
Our work took root in 2016 as the SC Preschool Inclusion Initiative, a project under the SC Gateways: Cradle to Career grant, to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to increase inclusive opportunities and improve school readiness outcomes for preschool children with disabilities in selected districts. Upon expiration of the SC Gateways contract, the South Carolina Department of Education's OSES committed to supporting the continuation of this work, awarding this project a 5 year contract. During that time, school districts participating in this initiative received technical assistance to develop cross-sector leadership teams and create and execute an implementation plan to ensure that all preschool children have access to, and are able to meaningfully participate in, the general education curriculum.
In the fall of 2021, we were awarded a new contract with OSES that allowed us to significantly expand our scope of work. SCPI currently functions as the early childhood TA center as part of a comprehensive TA initiative being developed within OSES called SC TEAMS.
What Is Our Mission?
Our mission is to increase inclusive opportunities and school readiness for preschool children with disabilities to lead to more positive outcomes for children and families. Our goal is for local education agencies (LEAs) to be better positioned to increase access to the general education curriculum for preschool children with disabilities. We support school districts across the state and offer tiered technical assistance to assist them in meeting state SPP/APR targets for Early Childhood Indicators.