A Discussion for SupportingLocal Districts’ Critical Special

Education Data Needs

Special Education Superintendents’ Advisory Meeting 12-11-2009

Main Special Education Reporting Needs

• State/federal counts – Fall, Dec 1, Feb, End-Of Year • Day-to-day workflow, case management

– Time lines: referral-IEP-Annual Review– IEP documents and all other paperwork – Medicaid

• Data-driven compliance: analyzing counts for SPP, CIMS

Special Education Data Issues

• Quantity - special education uses a lot of data for time lines, consents, other mandated multi-step processes, etc.

• Double entry of data / lack of available current data among some general student information systems (SMS) and special education systems

• Examples of Funding Consequences– State may redirect up to 15% of IDEA flowthrough funds

for data-related and performance issues– State funding memberships– Medicaid

Why Use ISD Instead of State Forms?• ISDs typically use their own forms because:

– State IEP forms are often outdated and don’t keep up with MDE’s own policy and procedures (last state IEP version is 2007).

– MDE does not develop forms for many mandated tasks (eligibility, notice, and many more).

– State forms tend to quote regulations but are not formatted effectively for practical everyday use.

– State forms don’t capture ISD-specific policies and procedures (Examples in Kent: transportation reasons, Medicaid permission)

Local SMS

Current Student Management Systems (SMS)

Other ISDs?

File Transfer

Sp Ed Module created by

General SMS (if available)

3rd party SMS products for

Special EdMI-CIS

Kent ISD Special Education

Portal

Discussion

Student Management Systems (SMS)

• Locals within Kent ISD have a variety: Infinite Campus, Pentamation, Powerschool, CIMS, Skyward, StudentPlus, Total Recall, etc.

• Based on committee input, Kent ISD has endorsed Powerschool.• Extended special education modules for some SMS are not

always available, and vary in ability to handle everyday special education management tasks.

• Systems vary in their ability and flexibility to import/export data and edit forms.

MI Compliance Information System(MI-CIS)

• Free• Effective reporting platform for some state reports, but not all• Issues:

– Has fields useful for everyday tasks, but has limited export capability

– Imports nothing - manual entry into MI-CIS required– Limited number of districts have access IEP module (state

form) but module does not include many other required special education forms

Special Education Modules Created by Student Management Systems

• When available, a seamless extension of the SMS • Vendor issues:

– Cost– Usually limited to state forms: Lack of editing flexibility,

infrequent updating, no ability to address local policy or issues

– Not always available or effective - districts often chose another product for everyday special education

3rd Party Special Education Products• Can be an effective remedy for the problems encountered with SMS

special education modules and enjoy significant market share nationwide

• Successful products have two key features:– Well developed data import/export features– Form editing under control of end user

• Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) endorses: TIENET and Spectrum K-12

• Vendor issues:– Cost– Flexibility– Control

Kent ISD Special Education Portal and eIEP

• Successfully imports data monthly from local districts to help produce:– Medicaid logging– eIEP and all other forms

• At this time, no electronic data returned to local districts – data from paper eIEPs, data sheets must be manually entered in a local SMS

Special Education Portal?Kent ISD Special

Education Portal

General EducationSystems

Should Kent ISD develop the Special Education Portal to return electronic data from the Kent ISD IEP and other forms and screens to local districts for import?

• Medicaid• eForms

Local Info System:

SMS or MI-CIS

Current:Use data

sheet, IEP to enter data manually

uploads

Future:Save updated

forms and other data and send data files back to localsDraft Final

File Transfer Process• Secure channel already in place• Common file format(s), SIF-compliant data fields• To use new system, local district would need to:

– Match Special Education Portal fields to data fields in local SMS

– Set rules for what fields to accept, what fields to overwrite – what and when

– Work with local IT staff and/or vendor to automate data merging process

– Get files, periodically merge data using UICs and other data to identify students

An updated Special Education Portal could:• Continue to do Medicaid and include convenient entry to the

eIEP from same login (now separate)• Fill-in and print Kent ISD forms with on-screen validation • Export files to quickly populate SMS on state and federal count

fields and other management data• Replace MI-CIS as an everyday special education tool

– Continue to rely on MI-CIS for some reports• Eliminate double entry in data sheets, MI-CIS, or other• Produce relevant reports• Facilitate better technical assistance

Discussion

Options to consider given that:• Local SMS will likely vary for some time; and • KISD-endorsed Powerschool has no special education module

Question: To support local special education data needs, should Kent ISD:• Purchase a 3rd party special education product to exchange data

with Powerschool and other local SMS? or • Continue to develop Kent-provided resources (Medicaid and

eForms , eIEP) via the Special Education Portal? or • Do nothing different at this time?

Other ISDs: General + Special Ed Data In general (local district choices vary):• Wayne – Zangle for both - Wayne also supports Zangle in 74

local districts in Oakland, Branch, Livingston, Calhoun • Calhoun – Zangle/Powerschool + FOCUS (new)• Macomb – Powerschool + TIENET (new)• Jackson – Powerschool + Exent• Ingham – Powerschool + MI-CIS• Ottawa – Powerschool/Infinite Campus + MI-CIS or Infinite

Campus special education module • Kalamazoo – Pinnacle SIS (new) + KRESA-developed system • Muskegon – Pinnacle SIS (new) + MI-CIS• Saginaw – Various local choices + MI-CIS