Page 1 October 2017 Madera-Mariposa SELPA

Madera-Mar iposa SELPA

Newsletter

October 2017

In this issue: Get to know your SELPA staff Upcoming Professional Development

Opportunities and SELPA meetings Legal Updates

What is a SELPA? Special Education Local Plan Areas (SELPA) are geographic regions created to ensure special education services for children residing within the region’s boundaries. Together with member LEAs the SELPA encourages collaboration between general and special education in order to provide early intervention and ongoing supports for children. The SELPA facilitates appropriate education services for individuals with disabilities by working cooperatively with other public and private agencies to support a full complement of special education services for students. Responsibilities of the SELPA include:

Ensuring Program Availability for all Children with Disabilities

Governance Committees

Assistance with Compliance Requirements

Fiscal Management

Curriculum Development and Support

Regionalized Services and Program Specialists

Program Evaluation

Community Awareness

and much more!

It may officially be Fall, but at the CDE, Special Education Division, it is the season of compliance. As LEAs start fixing data and analyzing practices it is often asked why is this required? The CDE shared, “The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and implementing regulations in Title 34 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) section 300.600 requires the CDE to place primary focus of its monitoring activities on improving educational and functional results and outcomes, as well as ensuring compliance with IDEA requirements with an emphasis on those most closely related to improved results for students. The CDE routinely monitors compliance with the provisions of the IDEA for every district, every year, through a comprehensive system of oversight. Monitoring activities are completed as part of an Annual Submission Process (ASP).” Currently our SELPA and select LEAs are engaged in the following components of ASP.

Data Identified Noncompliance (DINC) review

Performance Indicator Review (PIR)

Annual Disproportionality Calculations Data Identified Noncompliance (DINC) DINC data is obtained through CASEMIS (California Special Education Management Information System) which collects specific state and federal data from SEIS. The compliance indicators for DINC are: 1. 100% of children were evaluated within 60 days of

parental consent.

2. 100% of children referred for special education prior to age three, who are found eligible, have a developed and implemented IEP by their third birthday.

3. 100% of youth age 16 and above have an IEP that includes specific transition requirements. Continued on

Pg. 2

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Madera -Mar iposa SELPA - Newsletter October 2017

SEIS CORNER - SEIS 2.0 Reminder - The password reset feature will only work if you’re logging in on the SEIS 2.0 site.

Please use beta.seis.org

Professional Development Opportunities

2-Day CPI Course - 11/14 - 11/15/2017 CPI Instructor Course - 10/31 - 11/3/2017 Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses (PSW) - Model for Specific Learning Disability Identification - 11/29/2017

Dyslexia Workshop scheduled for

February 2018!

4. Annual IEPs held once a year (no more than 365 days from last IEP).

5. Triennial re-evaluations conducted every three years. Performance Indicator Review (PIR) PIR is relatively new, beginning in the 2014-2015 school year. PIR evaluates a LEA’s performance on the following State Performance Plan Indicators (SPPI).

Graduation Rate

Dropout Rate

Suspension and Expulsion

Least Restrictive Environment

Parent Involvement

Statewide Assessments

Post-school Outcomes Disproportionality The SPPI also addresses disproportionate representation of racial and ethnic groups in relationship to special education and related services.

Discipline: Is there a significant discrepancy by race or ethnicity in the rate of school suspensions and expulsions, especially greater than 10 days in a school year?

Overall Disproportionality: Is there a higher percentage of students in a specific racial or ethnic group which is being referred to special education?

Disproportionality by Disability: Is there a higher racial or ethnic group represented in specific disability categories.

The negative consequences of continued noncompliance are many, mainly LEAs could have funds held back. What can LEAs do? 1. Educate staff on the importance of following state and federal

timelines for assessment, IEP implementation and reviews.

2. Educate staff on the importance of legally defensible IEPs, especially around well-developed goals and objectives and FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education) offers.

3. Check SEIS on a regular basis to ensure all CASEMIS data is accurate.

4. Ensure thorough assessments, considering limiting factors, to make certain that special education eligibility is appropriate.

5. Involve and educate parents. Ensure they are part of the process and understand the intent of special education.

6. Learn from the noncompliance correction process.

7. Read the notices sent out by the SELPA and call with your questions, or if you require assistance.

8. Check out the State Performance Plan Technical Assistance Project at www.spptap.org.

The goal for next year is significantly less noncompliance issues; so we can spend our time doing what we do best… working with children.

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Upcoming Meetings Superintendents’ Governance Council MCSOS Conference Center - 3:00 p.m.

November 8, 2017 January 17, 2018 March 14, 2018 May 16, 2018

Program Administrators’ Meeting MCSOS Conference Center 9:00 a.m.

November 9, 2017 January 11, 2018 March 22, 2018 April 26, 2018 May 24, 2018

Community Advisory Committee MCSOS Conference Center - 5:00 p.m.

October 24, 2017 February 20, 2018 May 8, 2018

Madera-Mariposa SELPA Fact Corner (So far this school year)

4,007 Total Number of Eligible/Pending Students

74 Students Referred for Initial Evaluation

15 Number of member Local Education Agencies

512 Total Number of active SEIS accounts

177 Total number of sites where students receive special services

Madera -Mar iposa SELPA - Newsletter October 2017

Meet Your SELPA Staff!

Diane Gischel-Lingo, Ed.D., SELPA Administrator Oversees the Special Education Local

Plan and Policies Supervises interagency agreements Coordinates CDE Reviews Responsible for filings, mediations

and fair hearings Alternative Dispute Resolution, etc.

Donna Waddell, Program Specialist Provides consultation related to

autism, behavior, classroom instruction and to LEA programs

Coordinates WorkAbilityI Alternative Dispute Resolution Provides staff development Assists with the Community Advisory

Committee

Yvette Torres, SELPA Data Management Technician Coordinates, collects and reports

students’ special education data for state reporting requirements and compliance

Provides technical assistance in the areas of compliance and information management.

Maintains CASEMIS and performs data analysis to ensure data accuracy and alignment

Graciela Magdaleno, Administrative Assistant Provides full range of support to the

SELPA Performs data collection duties for

DRDP submissions and the WorkAbility I grant program

Works with the Added Authorizations credential program

Provide SEIS support to Regional Programs.

Have suggestions, comments or

something you would like to see in the newsletter?

Call us at 559-662-4665

or email ytorres@mcsos.org