EASTCONN’s New ACCESS Initiative Brings Expert Team to Connecticut Schools

 In a significant move to enhance educational support services across Connecticut, EASTCONN has announced the launch of its Advancing Consultation & Coaching to Empower Student Success (ACCESS) team. 

Led by Dr. Ravit Stein, EASTCONN’s Director of Consultation and Professional Learning, ACCESS brings together a team of over 15 specialists, including doctoral-level school psychologists, behavior analysts, secondary transition consultants, speech-language pathologists, special and general education teachers and assistive technology experts. The program aims to help schools create more inclusive and effective learning environments through evidence-based practices and ongoing consultation.

The ACCESS initiative represents an evolution of EASTCONN’s successful Psychological and Behavioral Consultation (PBC) Services, now expanded to meet the growing needs of Connecticut's educational landscape.

“The heart of our work is that we’re really a community of learners,” said Dr. Stein, who has been with EASTCONN since 2011. “We use this word ‘hungry’ more often than any other word in our department. We’re hungry for knowledge, community, and pushing ourselves from a growth mindset to be better practitioners and better consultants.”

The ACCESS team provides a wide range of services, including implementation of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, program development for academic and behavioral needs, co-teaching guidance, and strategic planning for school-wide initiatives. 

Eric S. Protulis, Executive Director at EASTCONN, said the launch of ACCESS marks a significant evolution in the agency’s ability to provide comprehensive support to Connecticut's schools.

“This initiative not only expands our capacity to meet the complex needs of our districts but also reinforces our commitment to fostering collaborative partnerships that empower educators and build sustainable, effective learning environments,” Protulis said. “With ACCESS, we’re setting a new standard for educational support in our region and statewide, driving positive change that will benefit students, educators, and communities for years to come.”

Dr. Jacquelyn DuBois, a Licensed Psychologist and Senior Educational and Behavioral Consultant who joined EASTCONN in 2015, described ACCESS as “a community of talented, intelligent, driven individuals who are passionate about excellence, supporting high-quality education, supporting our students, supporting our districts, and supporting EASTCONN internally.”

The program's success is reflected in its satisfaction ratings from partner districts. In a recent survey of 23 districts with 60 respondents, ACCESS consultants consistently received high marks for their evidence-based recommendations, meaningful outcomes, and overall satisfaction.

“We hold true to collaborating with our consultees, meeting them with what they need, using a responsive consultation model to best assess their needs from multiple perspectives,” said Dr. DuBois. “We establish a baseline, identify the most likely effective solutions based on best practice and evidence, and then monitor to make sure we are actually helping to meet the needs we identified: are our interventions working? Do we need to adjust? We use the same approach when evaluating our own consultation services. It's really important for us to not just talk the talk, but walk the walk.”

What sets ACCESS apart is its multidisciplinary approach, allowing schools to tap into diverse expertise for comprehensive solutions. Dr. Jennifer Connolly, an Educational and Behavioral Consultant who specializes in supporting students with complex needs, for example, recently supported a student who needed a different way to communicate beyond spoken words.

“We brought in our augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) specialist to help implement a communication system, and later, our assistive technology expert to enhance the student’s learning through technology,” said Dr. Connolly. “As a result, the student received far more support than any single consultant could provide.”

The ACCESS team is also committed to staying current with best practices in education. “I appreciate that this team continues to change as we learn more,” said Dr. Connolly. “We often say: when we know better, we do better. That is the key to our practice and how we evolve. I think it goes back to the hunger and the passion of the team members who just want to get better and better, to never settle for the status quo.”

Looking ahead, ACCESS plans to expand its impact through university partnerships, including leading the Connecticut Psychology Consortium, which recently obtained membership in the national APPIC Match Service for doctoral interns in psychology. The team is also exploring collaborations with community organizations, such as their work with Day Kimball hospital on trauma-informed practices for first responders.

One unique aspect of ACCESS is its commitment to supporting working parents, particularly women working in educational leadership. “I want to empower female leaders who want to both advance their careers and be present for their families,” Dr. Stein said. “We’ve created an environment where these exceptional consultants can do both.”

The ACCESS team’s ultimate measure of success, however, might seem counterintuitive: they strive to work themselves out of a job.                                                       

“Our end goal in every district is to not be needed anymore,” Dr. Stein said. “We evaluate our success by the degree to which districts can operate independently, having built their own capacity for supporting students effectively. We literally measure our success by the degree to which districts can do it without us.”

For more information about ACCESS services, educators and school administrators can contact Dr. Ravit Stein at rstein@eastconn.org or 860-428-0506.

About EASTCONN

EASTCONN is a public, non-profit Regional Educational Service Center (RESC) that has been serving the education needs of northeastern Connecticut since 1980. EASTCONN provides a wide range of innovative programs and services, including special education, that address the diverse needs of children, families, educators and communities.