NWREL Establishes

Technical Assistance Guidelines

By Rhonda Barton

What does good technical assistance look like? That question is taking on new importance as schools seek help in meeting the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act. With federal regulations calling for high-quality technical assistance grounded in research, there's more reason than ever for organizations like the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory to examine their "TA" procedures and standards.

A committee of more than a dozen NWREL staff members recently set about doing just that: developing a definition of technical assistance and establishing a framework for the delivery of such services. The group agreed that technical assistance is "the timely provision of specialized advice and customized support to resolve specific problems and increase clients' capacity." Technical assistance proceeds in three phases: planning, delivery, and follow-up.

Those steps apply to all technical assistance, whether it's helping a school implement a comprehensive reform plan or researching a specific question for a client and having a substantive e-mail exchange.

Steve Nelson, director of NWREL's Office of Planning and Service Coordination, organized the committee at the request of Chief Executive Officer Carol Thomas. He reflects on the fact that NWREL has been in the technical assistance business for its entire history. But, only recently has there been a need to formalize institutional policy addressing the subject. He says that federal regulations were just one of the driving forces. "A second reason was to ensure that the satisfaction of our customers remains high," Nelson continues. "We also want to make certain that our research and development connect with our delivery efforts."

Principles of NWREL's Technical Assistance

It is aligned with the mission and customer service values embraced by NWREL.
It is a collaborative process that builds and strengthens relationships with clients in order to best meet their needs and solve their problems.
It builds upon, honors, and coordinates with clients' existing efforts and circumstances.
It builds client capacity by providing individuals and organizations with new knowledge and skills and the opportunity to apply these to current and future situations.
It is grounded in current policy, professional standards, and best available research and practice.
It is well-documented, evaluated, and reported.
It is supported by the professional development of NWREL staff to continually improve their content knowledge and methods of delivery.

Another motivator was the desire to differentiate NWREL's work from that of other organizations. "There's now a consistent set of standards we can point to, that might not be present in other TA providers," adds Nelson.

In developing the new standards, the committee looked at the research literature as well as government standards for technical assistance. Interestingly, they found citations about TA in basically every government agency and were able to cull the common themes.

Committee member Michael Garringer of NWREL's National Mentoring Center says developing the standards helped people realize that not all TA looks the same. Garringer's form of technical assistance is "light on face time," as he spends most of his day in his office researching, analyzing, and synthesizing information so as to thoughtfully respond to queries from hundreds of federal grantees around the country. Staff members in other NWREL centers might undertake intensive visits to a handful of sites. "It was important for us to draft something flexible enough to apply to both extremes—and everything in between," says Garringer.

In the end, Garringer believes that the most important aspect of the standards is "just defining what it is we're doing and offering a framework to think about how we can do it better." He adds, "Without a shared understanding of how we help people, it would be easy to lose sight of what the client needs and wants." Finally, the TA standards stress the importance of follow-up—not only to determine if the client's immediate needs were met but also to look at long-term outcomes. Nelson says that NWREL will continue to assess and act on client feedback in designing future technical assistance efforts.

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