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About the CADRE Process and Practice Continuum

CADRE’s Process and Practice Continuum offers a database of dispute resolution activity in special education. Users are able to move from broad to more narrow process descriptors and program details, and can explore dimensions such as formality, satisfaction, approach, training and role of the neutral. The CADRE Process and Practice Continuum is drawn from, Beyond Mediation: Strategies For Appropriate Early Dispute Resolution In Special Education. A complete version of the CADRE Continuum including clarifying dimensions can be seen by opening the attachment at the bottom of this page.

At the “Process” level, users will find broad categories that mirror five stages of conflict (prevention, early resolution, conflict resolution, formal procedural safeguards, legal review), with degrees of intervention suggested for each stage. On this continuum, the earliest stage of conflict management is prevention, where conflicts may be avoided through building communications skills or through early resolution practices. After this first stage, conflicts may be resolved through third-party assistance, or, if needed, through more formal procedural or legal actions. To learn more about each of the five broad stages or “Process” levels, click on the name of the “Process.”

Under each of the “process” levels are several “sub-processes,” clusters of individual dispute resolution practices offered by state or local education agencies or, in some cases, by another entity. For example, many different mediation models are offered throughout the United States. You will find detailed information about some of these mediation programs under the “Mediation Models” sub-process. Similarly, there are many different programs in which parents help other parents. These can be found under the sub-process, “Parent-to-Parent Assistance.”

To learn more about any sub-process click on its name. To get a list of individual practices or programs and learn more detail about them, check the box next to a sub-process at the continuum search page.

CADRE has done its best to confirm the accuracy of this information. Programs and the personnel responsible for them may change without our knowledge. Inclusion in the CADRE Continuum of Processes and Practices does not constitute endorsement by CADRE or the Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education.

CADRE Continuum.pdf