ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the efforts to convene learning partnerships among the different stakeholders involved. It begins with some background to the legislation and describes the project that was funded to support implementation of the law. Then it outlines the challenges faced in this project in terms of the complexity of the landscape of practice. In the mid-1970s, the United States Congress passed a piece of legislation called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This act requires states to provide free, appropriate, public education to all individuals with disabilities. The IDEA Partnership works with over 50 national organizations, including groups that represent policymakers, administrators, practitioners, families, and youth. The practice communities are broad and long-lived enough to call on people's identities and serve as context for the various learning partnerships and focused activities we facilitate. One of the most important examples of such a community convened by the IDEA Partnership is the National Community of Practice on School Behavioral Health.
