Monthly School Special Education Coordinator Meeting

1. Monthly School Special Education Coordinator Meeting March 10, 2014

2. Topics • OEC Onsite Visit (September 2012) • IDEA Funds • Excent/Enrich • Preparing for IEP Meetings • Annual Reviews • Letters of Notification • IEP Development • Progress Monitoring • Summary/PWN • Special Reviews vs Annual Reviews • Transition Services

3. OEC Onsite Visit – September 2012 LAST UPDATE EVER!!!!!!

4. OEC Onsite Visit – Closure • 2/28/2014 • “The SCDE is happy to inform you that the SCPCSD has corrected the noncompliance found from onsite monitoring within the one-year timeline, which includes LEA systemic noncompliance and individual student level noncompliance. The OEC has verified the total correction of this noncompliance in accordance with IDEA and OSEP guidelines.” • Does this mean every file in the SCPCSD and every school is in complete IDEA compliance? • Does this mean we need to relax our processes now that we’ve been cleared? • At the end of the day, the letter from the OEC is another way of saying, “Thank for doing your job by meeting the obligations of your school’s charter.”

5. IDEA Funds

6. IDEA Funds • The funds have been loaded (based on what was provided to us back in November). • Schools will be given a one-time amendment to their IDEA funds later this month. Information will be provided to school leaders during their next District Leaders’ Meeting.

7. Excent/Enrich

8. Excent/Enrich • Enrich - We’ve actually seen it • Here is what we know at this time: • Same components (different order) • Better linkage between present levels (narrative  Findings  Goals) • Progress monitoring tools built-in • MUST HAVE a baseline number for each goal • Better reporting capabilities (state-wise accommodations report) • Attachments gets “filed” into an actual meeting, not just global attachments • Any annual review removes all old data (including present levels and goals) • There will be an upgrade to Excent sometime in the next month to incorporate the Smarter Balanced Testing Accommodations (for next year)

9. Excent/Enrich • Here is what we don’t know, but need to make you aware of: • What from Excent moves forward • Some components from current IEP move forward • The most current IEP (PDF) moves forward • What doesn’t: • Attachments(we’re working on a solution for this – but start thinking about keeping a backup copy of the attachments for your active students) • What this means: • A lot more information to come (after April) • Summer training on Enrich • You’ll need to physically have the most current IEP with you (the one that carries over until next year).

10. Preparing For Annual Reviews April 10, 2013

11. Annual Reviews • The Process • Letters of Notification • IEP Development • Progress Monitoring • Summary/PWN • Special Reviews vs Annual Reviews • Transition Planning

12. Letters of Notification

13. Letter of Notification • IEP meeting notifications must include the purpose, time, location of the meeting and who will be in attendance. This is why an email asking the parent to attend a meeting doesn’t suffice (even if they attend). • If the meeting changes for any reason (date or even time), do a new letter to give to the parent and document in Notes section as to why the meeting changed • If the student is 13 or older or will turn 13 during the course of the IEP, transition must be checked as a meeting purpose and the

14. Letter of Notification • So there has to be documentation that a formal invite that included all of the required components (date, location, purpose, and attendees) was provided. • Even if the parent attends, the meeting could be determined null and void if proper notification wasn’t provided.

15. Letter of Notification • If you do not have proper notification to parents, you have denied them the opportunity to participate in the development of their child’s IEP. • This is a huge issue and one that is frequently addressed by the courts and due process hearing officers.

16. The IEP Process

17. The following slides were adapted from a presentation conducted by the SC Department of Education, Office of Exceptional Children.

18. IEP Section IStudent Information • The percent of time the student spends in the regular education environment auto populates from Placement History.

19. IEP Section IStudent Information • “Date of IEP Meeting” reflects: • Date of Initial IEP meeting or; • Date of Annual Review • “Date of Special Review” changes whenever additional meetings are held throughout the school year • Remember that the IEP Initiation Date is either the first day of the following school year (If Not Birthday IEP) or reflects a change during the school term and you MUST provide PWN to explain the reason for the change

20. Dates • If this is an AR, all dates change • Date of IEP meeting • Initiation date, • date of anticipated AR, and • IEP ending date • If this is a SR, only 2 dates change • IEP meeting date and • IEP initiate date

21. IEP Section II“The Foundation” This is the basis from which all other Individualized Education Program (IEP) components are developed

22. IEP Section IIAcademic and Functional Strengths and Needs • Describing Academic and Functional Strengths and Needs provides an overview of factors that impact performance and the development of services and programs designed to meet the student’s unique learning needs • There are 3 areas within this section • Academic and Functional Strengths and Needs (Present Levels or PLPs) • Functional Behavior • Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (Findings)

23. IEP Section IIAcademic and Functional Strengths and Needs (PLPs) • PLPs • Disability statement that tells WHAT the disability(s) is and HOW it/they affects the student’s access and progress • Strengths and weaknesses within each area of disability (what the student can and cannot do within each area) • These are the student’s educational needs • Written in narrative format to briefly give the “big picture”

24. IEP Section IIAcademic and Functional Strengths and Needs (PLPs) Example Questions What is Josephina’s area of weakness? What is Josephina’s area of strength? What type of Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance might be developed? Might Josephina require any instructional accommodations?

25. IEPs & Present Levels • Present levels ARE NOT meant to be a history of the child’s educational experience. It’s literally, a snapshot of where the child is CURRENTLY functioning. Present levels answer the question, “Where is the child currently functioning?” Note the word “currently” • So for the 1st IEP after a transfer, you could see a comment about “the child just recently transferred from ABC HS where he . . ..” • At the 1st annual review (one year later), this statement wouldn’t be included.

26. IEP Section IIAcademic and Functional Behavior • If a Functional Behavioral Assessment is warranted, this must have taken place as part of an evaluation or reevaluation

27. Functional Behavior • Does the student’s behavior warrant a FBA? • Has a FBA already been done, not will one be done • Reasons for needing a FBA would be found above in the PLPs • Results (data/numbers) of the FBA would be found below in the Findings

28. IEP Section IIPresent Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (Findings) • The Findings • Identify Educational Need • Serve as a baseline or starting point • Are directly connected to goals and services • Describe with data what the student can do at the time the IEP was written

29. Findings BASELINE DATA • numbers, percentages, frequency counts, amounts, times, quantities, figures, statistics,…

30. IEP Section III Accommodations to the General Curriculum • Accommodations : • Are justified in the PLPs • Do not reduce learning expectations • Provide access by enabling the student to participate more fully in instruction and assessment • Permit the student to better demonstrate skills • Must be part of daily instruction • Should never be introduced for the first time when a student is participating in state-wide or district assessments

31. Accommodations • Instructional Accommodations: • Why does the child need INSERT ANY ACCOMMODATION HERE as an instructional accommodation? Because according to the present levels it states that it’s needed. • Instructional accommodations need to be specific. There is a different between “oral admin” and “oral administration of assignments and tests for science and social studies.” • What’s your procedures for documenting accommodations?

32. Accommodations • These are necessary to “level the playing field”, not “I think John would benefit from” • Oral admin is for students with significant reading problems • Retaking tests failed is not an accommodation • Failing a test because the appropriate accommodations and special education instruction haven’t been provided is one thing • Failing a test because the student hasn’t studied/ prepared for the test, is entirely different

33. IEP Section III Modifications in the General Curriculum • Modifications: • Change learning expectations • Must be clearly described

34. IEP Section III Supplementary Services • Supplementary Services: • Aids services and supports that can be provided in general education, education-related settings and in extracurricular and nonacademic settings • Supplementary Services: • Might include parent training, providing the student with a one-on-one assistant, or providing staff with professional development to assist in meeting the unique needs of the student

35. IEP Section IVIEP Goals and Objectives • Annual Goals must: • Directly link to the PLPs and Findings and when applicable, the Transition needs of the student • Annual Goals tell us: • What we expect the student to learn or be able to do in 1 year; and • How we will know when the student has learned or demonstrated that he can do it

36. IEP Section IVIEP Goals and Objectives • The essential characteristics of IEP Goals are that they must be measurable and be measured • If an IEP Goal is not measurable it violates the IDEA and may result in the denial of a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) • If a Goal is not measured that violates the IDEA and may result in the denial of FAPE • Bateman & Herr, 2006

37. IEP Section IVIEP Goals and Objectives • Every Measurable Goal Must: • Allow a clear yes or no determination of whether or not it has been achieved • Pass the “stranger test” (IEP Team Members can agree if the goal has been achieved)

38. IEP Section IVIEP Goals and Objectives • Objectives/Benchmarks • “Spell out” what the student will need to do to complete the annual goal. • Are the same skill in each benchmark with degree of proficiency to which the student performs the skill changing from benchmark to benchmark • Are required for all goals of students taking alternative assessment (SC-Alt)

39. Measurable Annual Goals Critical Components • Behavior – clearly identifies the performance being monitored; “Jeremy will read aloud” • Condition – describes what must be present for the student to demonstrate the skill or behavior at the expected level of performance; “when presented with a passage from the 2nd grade curriculum” • Level of Proficiency – how many, how often, to what standards the behavior must occur; “48 words per minute with less than 2 errors” • Measurement – as measured by; “as measured by weekly one minute oral reading fluency probes” • Timeframe –may be included; “In 36 weeks”; “by the end of the 2012-2013 school year” – may also be left blank since it’s “implied” that by the annual review . . . .”

40. IEP Section IVIEP Goal Example • In 36 weeks, when presented with a passage from the 2nd grade reading text, Jeremy willread aloud from 38 to 48 words per minute correctly as measured by weekly one minute oral reading fluency probes. • Location of Services • Special Education Classroom • Virtual Special Education Classroom • Not “virtual classroom”

41. IEP Section IVIEP Goal and Objectives • Remember, for any student that participates in the SC-Alt (Alternate Assessment), the IEP team must develop goals AND objectives for any area of need identified in the PLAAFP.

42. Annual Goals • You should be able to answer the question, “If you want Jeremy to be here (ending point in the AG) by the end of the year, where is he starting from (baseline in the Findings? • In 36 weeks, when presented with a passage from the 2nd grade reading text, Jeremy will read aloud 48 words per minute as measured by weekly one minute oral reading fluency probes. • How many words is Jeremy reading aloud now? • How many errors is he making?

43. Annual Goals • Measurements should be clear • Wrong • Solve math problems with 80% accuracy with less than 6 errors • Answer 8 out of 10 comprehension questions with 75% accuracy • Right • Solve math problems with 80% accuracy on 4/5 trials • Answer comprehension questions with 80% accuracy on 8 consecutive assessments • Read 50 words per minute correctly on 2 out of 3 grade-level passages

44. Annual Goals • All annual goals must have baseline data in the Findings • All objectives must have baseline data in the Findings

45. IEP Section VTime • Special Education and Related Services must be denoted in MINUTES • Subtract the total MINUTES in special education and related services from the total amount of minutes in the school week

46. IEP Section VRelated Services • Related Services are: • Supportive services provided to students with disabilities to assist them in benefiting from Special Education • Like the need for special education, determined on an individual basis as part of the IEP process • Connected to other parts of the IEP to include Functional Strengths and Needs and Findings • Accompanied by measurable annual goals that are denoted in section IV IEP Goals and Objectives

47. IEP Section VRelated Services • The IDEA regulations contain a list of related services IEP teams can consider and they include, but are not limited to: • Audiology, Counseling Services (including rehabilitation counseling), Early Identification and Assessment of disabilities in children, Interpreting Services, Medical Services, Occupational Therapy, Orientation and Mobility Services, Parent Counseling and Training, Physical Therapy, Psychological Services, Recreation, School Health Services and School Nurse Services, Social Work Services in Schools, Speech-language pathology services and Transportation

48. Related Services • In South Carolina, Speech-Language Impairment is a category of disability just like Learning Disability, Intellectual Disability, … • SLI must be listed as a disability (primary, secondary, tertiary,…) and NOT as a related service if the student meets the eligibility criteria • If the student DOES NOT meet eligibility criteria under SLI, but the IEP team determines (based on data) that the student needs speech-language services in order to benefit from special education, then speech becomes a related service • This is rare

49. IEP Section VIParticipation in Statewide Testing • Consideration for the use of Accommodations and/or Modifications for Statewide Testing should: • Be based on individual student need and; • When selected, must be clearly reflected in IEP Section III – Accommodations to the General Curriculum and in Section II the PLPs/Findings

50. Testing/Accommodations • State Wide Testing • Why does the child get INSERT accommodation on statewide testing? Because that’s what he receives as part of daily instruction. • These accommodations must be provided. • As we gear up for HSAP, PASS, and EOCs, special education coordinators need to communicate with testing coordinators about which child receives what accommodations. • “I think”, “The teachers have been told” or “I’ve been told” are not sufficient methods of verification. Have case managers show you the IEP so there is no misunderstanding.