What Will Results Driven Accountability (RDA) Mean for Nebraska?

1. What Will Results Driven Accountability (RDA) Mean for Nebraska?

2. Vision All of the components of NDE’s Office of Special Education accountability system will be aligned in a manner that will support districts in improving results for students with disabilities. • Monitoring ILCD Data Collection Determinations

3. Pieces already in Place Impact Areas Improvement Plans Monitoring Determinations However … Nebraska is not seeing the improvement we need to ensure improved results for students with disabilities

4. Unexpected Results

5. Looking at the Data Compliance Indicators

6. What the Results Data Shows

7. What the Results Data Shows Proficiency rate for children with IEPs against grade level, modified and alternate academic achievement standards.

8. What the Results Data Shows Of those preschool children who entered or exited the preschool program below age expectations , the percent who substantially increased their rate of growth by the time they turned 6 years of age or exited the program.

9. What the Results Data Shows Percent of Preschool children who were functioning within age expectations I each outcome by the time they turned 6 years of age or exited the program.

10. What the Results Data Shows Educational environments for Children with IEPs age 6-21

11. What the Results Data Shows Transition

12. Results Driven Accountability Nebraska needs to rethink its accountability system in order to shift the balance from a system focused primarily on compliance to one that puts more emphasis on improving results for children with disabilities – a more balanced system!

13. Components of RDA • Improvement Plans and Performance Reports • Determinations which reflect a districts performance on critical indicators as well as compliance • Differentiated monitoring and technical assistance supports

14. Improvement Plans • Districts currently develop improvement plans based on district data. Generally, these plans have been developed in response to compliance issues. • NDE Office of Special Education has been largely unsuccessful in moving the Impact Areas to a district level.

15. Targeted Improvement Plans • Districts will develop a comprehensive, multi-year targeted improvement plan focused on improving results for children with disabilities. • Review district performance in each Impact Area • Identify focus for improvement • Review infrastructure to support improvement and build capacity • Develop action plan • Implement the plan and evaluate results

16. Targeted Improvement Plans • Annually districts will report: • Effectiveness of the Targeted Improvement Plan • Progress toward achieving intended outcomes • Any revisions to the plan made in response to the evaluation of the plan’s effectiveness

17. Monitoring The Office of Special Education conducts monitoring activities over a 5 year cycle. By and large the system was “one size fits all.” The current system does a good job of finding discrete instances of noncompliance but does not result in findings that are useful in improving results for students.

18. Differentiated Monitoring and Support • NDE will select standards to be reviewed based on all available information regarding the district including: • Policies/Procedures • Desk Audit of selected student files • Complaints/ Parent contacts • Determinations and • Targeted Improvement Plans • Districts with the more significant issues will get more intensive reviews

19. Differentiated Monitoring Differentiated monitoring will reserve valuable resources – fiscal and human – by focusing on suspected problem areas. The finding resulting from differentiated monitoring will assist districts in improving results for students with disabilities.

20. Differentiated Support Technical assistance must be available to: Support districts and Early Intervention programs in identifying and implementing evidence-based practices which will result in improved outcomes for children with disabilities; and Support the development of effective personnel serving children with disabilities.

21. Differentiated Support Intensive and Sustained Support: TA provided to select districts on order to reach significantly improved results. Targeted Support: TA provided to multiple districts based on common needs in a specific area. Universal Support: TA provided to all districts.

22. District Determinations • Currently the NDE Office of Special Education issues determinations based on a review of district compliance and performance. • Districts get credit for improving or maintaining level of performance • System includes all of the Indicators (compliance and results)

23. Results Driven Determinations System will continue to focus on improved results May be necessary to move to OSEP’s system of “points” for determinations Bottom line is that we can no longer ignore performance that is significantly below established targets.

24. How will we accomplish this? • Reorganized NDE Office of Special Education into 4 Teams: • Monitoring (Jeanne Heaston) • Improvement (Lindy Foley) • Data (Sara Sinani) • Finance (Pete Biaggio) • 2015 Submit NDE’s State Improvement Plan and Annual Performance Report to OSEP which will include plans for revision of Nebraska’s current accountability systems

25. How Will We Accomplish This? Working with Stakeholders to revise process Re-evaluate the use of the SE-CIP and Facilitators Grant to develop a system of Differentiated Support Developing Data reports which will provide greater transparency for districts and the public

26. When will we Accomplish this? “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. ” Walt Disney Over the next 16 months NDE will be developing the first phase of the State SPP/APR (Feb. 2015) Development of Differentiated Monitoring system and Targeted Improvement plans will begin this year Will phase in implementation beginning in 2014-15