Our Center

The National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations (NCPMI) is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs to improve state and local capacity to implement, scale-up, and sustain effective practices and policies to equitably support the social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of young children with, and at risk for, developmental delays or disabilities. The goal of the Center is assisting states and programs in developing sustainable systems for the equitable implementation of the Pyramid Model for Promoting Social-Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children (Pyramid Model) within early intervention and early education programs. We do this with a focus on: improving the social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of young children birth to five; eliminating the use of inappropriate and disproportionate exclusionary discipline practices; promoting family engagement; using data for decision-making; increasing the use of trauma-informed and culturally and linguistically responsive practices; and fostering inclusion.

Building Capacity

NCPMI builds the capacity of states, programs, and professionals by engaging in the following activities:

1. Developing the knowledge base on effective practices for the equitable implementation of the Pyramid Model as a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework for young children;
2. Providing web-based resources, tools, modules, webinars, guides, training resources, and other materials that will strengthen the implementation of the Pyramid Model;
3. Providing technical assistance (TA) that will provide state and local Part C and 619 programs with the strategies, tools, materials, guidance, and capacity to implement and scale up the Pyramid Model;
4. Providing intensive, sustained TA to states to support local implementation and state scale-up of the Pyramid Model to improve the social, emotional, and behavioral development of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in early care and education programs and early intervention services; and
5. Mentoring diverse future leaders in the field to understand, promote, and evaluate the implementation and scale-up of an early childhood MTSS framework focused on social, emotional, and behavioral development of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with a focus on equity and social justice.

Our Vision

NCPMI envisions a world where all young children will have a positive future through the promotion of their social emotional competence in equitable and inclusive environments.