Improving Your System

To achieve the best outcomes for students with disabilities, all of the systems that support them must operate effectively. Dispute resolutions systems play a critical role in promoting positive and collaborative home/school/provider partnerships while protecting the educational rights to which students with disabilities are entitled.

Key features to successful dispute resolutions systems include:

• Stakeholders are engaged in an ongoing continuous improvement process
• Data are collected and inform decisions
• Resources (inputs), activities (processes), and results (outputs and outcomes) are examined
• Investments are made in early dispute resolution programs and activities

To promote successful system improvement, CADRE has identified the five management function areas below.  These function areas should be explored when working to improve an entire dispute resolution system or an individual process along the CADRE DR Continuum. We encourage states to utilize the Dispute Resolution System Improvement Performance Enhancement Tool.

To learn more about the function areas, click on them in the table below. Additional resources (Top Tips for DR System Managers; Fundamental Attributes of Exemplary State DR Systems) can be found in CADRE's Exemplar Collection. Please contact CADRE if you would like additional assistance on how to improve your state's system.