September 2014 FAQs

August 25th, 2014  

FAQs

Q: How do I input the minutes in and minutes out of general ed on the summary of services page?

A: Students may receive special education services in the general education or special education classroom or a combination of the two. In order to appropriately determine a student’s LRE, the amount of time that a student participates with his or her non-disabled peers must be determined. One example is: a student has 50 minutes of Reading in the IEP and has 20 minutes in the general ed classroom and pulled out to special ed for the other 30 minutes. On the summary of services, 20 minutes is inputted in the Minutes IN and 30 minutes is inputted in the Minutes OUT on the reading line.

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Q: Which day is the first day of an evaluation timeline?

A: The timeline begins on the date that the district (school) received the consent. If at a meeting, the parent signs and dates the consent to evaluate then the date of the meeting is the first day of the timeline. If the parent did not sign the consent at a meeting, but returned it to you at a later date, the day the school received it is the first day of the timeline. Either way, write the received date at the bottom of the consent form and include that date in the database for documentation.

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Q: What does the Red M next to the student’s name in the database mean?

A: The Red M signifies that a meeting was held at least 3 weeks ago and Pupil Services has not received the original paperwork from the meeting OR Pupil Services has received some paperwork but some paperwork is missing. Original paperwork is due to Pupil Services and a copy of the paperwork is due to parents within 3 weeks of the date of the meeting.

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Q: What should we keep in the building files at our schools?

A:  Keep COPIES at the school and send the originals to district office – ALWAYS!! A copy of each of these documents must be kept: (1) current IEP, (2) most recent ESER, (3) most recent individual evaluation reports, (4) invitations for most recent IEP meetings, (5) PWNs since the last IEP meeting, (6) consent for initial placement, (7) progress reports since last IEP.

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Q: What should I write in the PLAAFP under “Parent comments/ concerns…”, specifically when the parent doesn’t attend the IEP meeting?

A: This section of the PLAAFP is for the parents’ words regarding their children. This should be what parents say they want for their child or any concerns that they may have. Some examples include: “Parents work with Johnny at home. They are concerned that he takes 3 hours to complete his homework,” or “Johnny’s parents were not able to attend the meeting. When setting up the meeting, Johnny’s parents expressed they would like the team to discuss accommodations to allow him to be successful in his general ed math class.”

Non-examples include:   “Parents did not attend the IEP meeting” or “None at this time.”

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January 2014 FAQs

January 7th, 2014  

FAQs

 

 

 

Q: Is it all right to have the same accommodations listed for the top two boxes on the accommodations section of the IEP?

A: The top two boxes of the accommodations section of the IEP are titled: ‘advance appropriately toward annual goals’ and ‘be involved/progress in gen. curriculum.’ The same accommodations may be required to support the student in both the attainment of their goals and objectives and to access to the general ed curriculum, but care should be taken to ensure that this is the case and that it wasn’t just easier to copy and paste to the next field. You can find more information regarding completing this section of the IEP from the Resource Page at pupilservices.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/wpmu/kpbsd-special-education-guidelines/individualized-education-program-iep/program-modifications-accommodations-supports-for-school-personnel/

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Q: How should I complete the pre-evaluation planner?

A: The pre-evaluation planner is a tool that KPBSD uses to organize the evaluation process. The planner includes information regarding what types of assessments should be completed and who will be responsible. Two tips for this planning worksheet: 1.  Do not include the names of the assessments that evaluators will use. The choice of assessment is up to the evaluator based on his / her professional judgment based on the referral question. Evaluators may find that they require more than the one assessment listed on the worksheet to determine eligibility or to make recommendations for a student and they need to have that flexibility within the scope of the area chosen to assess. As a rule of thumb, just as we do not include the names of programs in the IEP, we should not include the names of assessments in the pre-evaluation planner.   2.  In some instances, it is important to include the position of the person responsible as opposed to the name of the person.  There are times when the “who” changes due to a student moving or other unknown and having the position responsible makes more sense.

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Q: What is Child Find and does it pertain to me?

A: Districts must coordinate activities that actively identify, evaluate, and offer sped and related services to eligible children ages 3-21 in their districts. Child Find falls to the school site (as all staff have an inherent responsibility) and any evaluations will be initiated by the school intervention team when a student is already enrolled. When students are not school age, the Child Find Coordinator assumes responsibility for child find activities.

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Q: I am a high school teacher and I need more information about the consent on the cover page about transition agencies.

A: At age 16 (or prior, if appropriate), transition activities must begin. This includes planning for agencies to support students’ achievement of their post-secondary goals. These agencies require specific consent from parents to participate in the meetings where transition will be discussed. Transition agencies should be contacted for students and a representative should be at the meeting to discuss transition (always annual reviews). Once invited on the invitation, the parent must sign their consent for the representative to attend the meeting.

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September 2013 FAQs

September 4th, 2013  

FAQs

Q: I don’t understand minutes in and minutes out of regular ed on the summary of services page. Help!

A: Students may receive special education services in the general education or special education classroom or a combination of the two. In order to appropriately determine a student’s LRE, the amount of time that a student participates with his or her non-disabled peers must be determined. If a student has 50 minutes of Reading in the IEP and has 20 minutes of that time in the general ed classroom and is pulled out  to special ed for the other 30 minutes, then 20 minutes goes in the Minutes IN and 30 minutes goes in Minutes OUT on the reading section of the summary of services.

Q: Which day is the first day of an evaluation timeline?

T: The timeline begins on the date that the district (school) received the consent. If at a meeting, the date the parent signs and dates the consent to evaluate is the first day of the timeline. If the parent did not sign the consent at a meeting and returned it to you at a later date the first day is the day the school received it. Either way, write the received date at the bottom of the consent form and include that date in the database for documentation.

Q: What does that Red M mean again?

A: The Red M signifies that a meeting was held at least 3 weeks ago and Pupil Services has not received the original paperwork from the meeting OR Pupil Services has received some paperwork but some paperwork is missing. Original paperwork is due to Pupil Services and a copy of the paperwork is due to parents within 3 weeks of the date of the meeting.

Q: I usually send paperwork home to parents at the same time I send it to district office. It is embarrassing to have to contact the parent to correct mistakes found by district office. What can I do?

A: The hard copy of the IEP is the legal document that the school is to follow and is the educational record for both the district and the parent. Therefore, that document must not only reflect the decisions made by the team for the student, but must reflect our best work as school district employees. Always print out the IEP and proofread it. You may consider asking a colleague to proofread it for you. You may contact Pupil Services secretaries or your program coordinator prior to printing and sending the document anywhere, and we will be happy to proofread it for you! Proofreading should be for typos as well as for content inconsistencies or errors.

Q: What should I write in the PLAAFP under “Parent comments/ concerns…”?

A: This section of the PLAAFP is for the parents’ words regarding their children. This should be what parents say they want for their child. Some examples include: “Parents work with Johnny at home. They are concerned that he takes 3 hours to complete his homework,” or “Johnny’s parents were not able to attend the meeting. When setting up the meeting, Johnny’s parents expressed they would like the team to discuss accommodations to allow him to be successful in his general ed math class.”

Some non-examples include: “Parents did not attend the IEP meeting” or “None at this time.”

 

Amending an ESER to Add a Service

December 1st, 2012  

Amend ESER

**Sometimes this process is best captured as a three-year reevaluation.  If you have questions or concerns, contact your program coordinator.**

Do NOT amend the ESER to do the following:

  Change a student’s eligibility category – this requires a complete evaluation.

  Remove a related service – we do not reverse what has already been identified as a need.

  Remove an educational need or change a recommendation. The IEP is the fluid document that describes the student’s current level of functioning.

 

Adding Services to IEPs

October 1st, 2012  

The PLAAFP, Summary of Services, and Goals and Objectives must be aligned with the needs and recommendations outlined in the ESER.  (The State Compliance Monitors identified this as an area we need to address).

 If the student has need of adding any SPED service that is not yet documented in the ESER, then the student must be evaluated specifically for that need/service. The student’s needs and recommendations from the evaluation may then be added to the ESER. This applies to all areas of service.

Examples: 

 A student cannot have only articulation/language needs and recommendations within the ESER and receive any other SPED services in the IEP

 A student cannot have only math needs and recommendations within the ESER and receive services in the IEP, for reading, writing, articulation/language, OT or other SPED services

 A student qualified for special education in writing and the needs/recommendations section of the ESER only addresses writing, you cannot write goals and objective in areas outside of writing.

 

If there is a need to add services but not change the eligibility category at this time:

 The team must collect the data to show the education need for the service.

 A permission to test is needed if new assessments are required

 A permission to test would not be needed if looking at progress monitoring data that has been collected (note, we cannot add related services using only progress monitoring data)

 The team will hold an IEP Amendment Meeting (unless this additional falls in line with an annual review) and amend the ESER to include a new individual evaluation report that addresses the educational need for the new service. **It would be best practice to hold a meeting rather than using the “without meeting” option of the amendment.

* The amended ESER will list the new area of service(s) in the “Education Needs” section.  **The team will NOT change the ESER date.

* The ESER and the PLAAFP will include all areas of needs that are on the Summary of Services.

* Goals and objectives will be written to address the new area of service.

* An IEP amendment form will be completed with a change noted in goals/objectives and in type/or amount of service.

* The changes will be documented on a PWN.  The changes to both the ESER and the IEP can be documented in a single PWN as long as all changes are clear for both areas.