March’s Special Education Coordinator Meeting

March 12, 2013

Agenda

• Indicator 14• SC-Alt• April’s Meeting• SCDE Onsite Visit Follow-Up• Evaluations/Reevaluations/Referrals• Dates to Remember

Indicator 14• Post Secondary Outcomes

• Via SCDE contractor • New procedure from SCDE:

• Districts ensure accuracy of information.

• Zenobia will send out Ind 14 pulls by the end of day on Thursday (3/14/13).

• Schools will need to go into Excent to make the corrections to the cells that are highlighted.

• After ensuring all corrections are made, schools are to send Zenobia a clean pull of Indicator 14 (please send encrypted with standard password).

• Deadlines to Zenobia are noon on March 25th.• If you have any questions, please let Zenobia

know.

SC-Alt

• Testing is in full-swing.• Last day of testing is April 26, 2013

• Royal Live Oaks still needs to pick up the testing materials

• New Participation Guidelines (click):• Procedures still the same: Notify

Robbie prior to making an IEP team decision to move a child over to SC-Alt.

April’s Meeting

• There has been a change:• April 9th meeting canceled

• Rescheduled:• April 10th

• Face-to-Face (at District Office)• 9:30am – 3:30pm

SCDE Onsite Follow-up

• On March 6, 2013, the district received official follow-up from the SCDE regarding their onsite visit.

• What was received:• Individual file feedback• Global feedback from pre-submission

documents:• Student handbooks• District Policies • School-Level Procedures

SCDE Onsite Follow-up

• Brief overview of the findings:• Commendations:

• The SCPCSD offers choice for SWD• OEC appreciates the revised

language in the SC Charter School Law re: District Responsibility

• General education staff understands IDEA and special education

• Offer multiple ways of conducting meetings

• District professional development is articulated

SCDE Onsite Follow-Up

• General Area of Concerns:• Procedural issues such as PWN and

meeting notifications• Parents may be less involved with their

children’s special education programs • Postsecondary transition • Large number of “special reviews” that

took place prior to the onsite visit

SCDE Onsite Follow-up

• Citations• 24 out of 24 IEPs cited for noncompliance • 19 out of 19 additional folders reviewed from

the two schools cited for noncompliance

• Additional Citations:• Certification: Services not being delivered by

an appropriately certified and highly qualified teacher

• Policy/Procedures: Schools didn’t have written procedures (specific to the school) and District didn’t have their procedures (monitoring/oversight) in writing

SCDE Onsite Follow-up• IEP Compliance:

• Top Areas of Noncompliance• Are children with disabilities achieving at high levels?

• Q55: Severity of Disability Statement in PLOP (N=9)• Q60: PLAAP (N=8)• Q62: Annual Goals Relating to Disability (N=14)• Q63: Other Annual Goals (N=11)• Q65: Progress Measured (N=8)• Q66: When Progress Reported (N=8)• Q69: Nonparticipation with Nondisabled (N=13)

• Are youth with disabilities prepared for life, work and postsecondary education?

• Q34: Strengths Considered (N=7)*• Q77: Meeting Notice (Transition) (N=8)*

• Does the District implement IDEA to improve services and results for children with disabilities?

• Q6: Parent Right to Assessment (N=7)*• Q23: PWN Completion (N=19)

SCDE Onsite Follow-up

• IEP Compliance• Basic Compliance• *SCDE’s new interpretations:

• Q34: Strengths Considered (N=7)*• In the present levels, a statement regarding the

student’s strength IN THE AREA of the child’s disability(ies) must be evident.

• Bad Example: Billy’s strength is math. In the area of written expression, he’s still writing sentences that lack proper capitalization which makes it difficult to read his writing.

• Good Example: In the area of written expression, his strength is in the area of spelling; however, when he writes his sentences, he lacks proper capitalization which makes it difficult to read his writing. (this then becomes a FINDING which needs baseline data to properly reflect as a present level)

SCDE Onsite Follow-up• IEP Compliance:

• *SCDE’s new interpretations:• Q77: Meeting Notice (Transition) (N=8)*

• For all kids age 12 and up, for every meeting, this needs to marked on the letter of notification:

• “To discuss transition service needs or to develop a transition plan”

• Q6: Parent Right to Assessment (N=7)*• During a reevaluation, when the IEP team

determines that no additional data are needed, the following statement MUST BE in writing to the parents: “The parents have the right to request an assessment to determine whether the child continues to be a child with an disability, and to determine the educational needs of the child (34 CFR § 300.305(d)). The LEA is not required to conduct the assessment unless requested to do so by the child’s parents.”

• We are going to deal with this through adding a statement to our evaluation/reevaluation document. This form will be updated (and put on SharePoint) by Wednesday morning.

SCDE Onsite Follow-up• Next Steps:

• School-Level Corrective Action Plans• More information will be provided

regarding the school-level corrective action plan.

• Individual File Corrections • Each file cited for noncompliance

must be corrected ASAP, but in no case later than November 1, 2013.

• We’ll talk about specifics on how to hold correction meeting and requirements at our April 10th meeting.

Evaluations/Reevaluations/Referrals

• RtI/SIT/SAT/…teams – all charters address this issue• These data are critical for helping the

team determine whether the student’s weaknesses/low scores/poor performance is due to a disability or to a lack of intensive, differentiated, additional instruction

• Reevaluations – make sure you’re addressing all areas adequately and are describing the existing information upon which the team is making the continued eligibility decision.

Data Calendar Change

• March 19 – 20: IEPs marked complete (canceled – however still need to mark IEPs complete shortly after an IEP meeting)

• March 25th (noon): Indicator 14 corrections

Dates

• March 19, 2013 “Writing IEPs” web-training is canceled. • Rescheduled:

• April 11: at 2:30pm for all teachers• April 11: 3:30 – 4pm (for ms and hs

teachers)

• April 10, 2013• 9:30am – 3:30pm• District Office