Changing LRE When the Class Isn’t Available

April 6th, 2015  

When making a decision about what classroom setting a student will have, convene the IEP team!  A Nevada school district decided to stop providing a high school student’s language arts instruction in a co-taught class and provided it in a special education class because the co-taught class was not available to juniors at the school.  This violated the student’s IEP because the team did not meet and the parent was not provided an opportunity for input and was not provided written notice.  To avoid the same issues, do this instead:

bullet-point-image-7Convene the IEP team because a decision to change placement must be made with team member input.

bullet-point-image-7Don’t base these decisions on administrative convenience.  Schools need to have a continuum of placements that are available for students’ unique needs.

bullet-point-image-7Comply with the least restrictive provisions for the needs of each student.

bullet-point-image-7Provide written notice of the change that includes an explanation of the changes that are to be made before actually implementing the changes

~From LRE’s Special Ed – connections newsletter

Sped Database – New Accommodations Layout

February 25th, 2015  

The long-awaited changes to the Assessment Participation section of the sped database are complete!

If you’ve been in the assessment section of the database at all this morning, you’ve probably noticed that the testing accommodations look a bit different.  Rather than checkboxes, the available accommodations are now listed in drop down lists.  All of the existing accommodations in students’ IEPs have been transferred over to the new layout.  If you find errors or missing accommodations, please let me know!  A few of the print and error checking routines are still under construction, so please be patient if you find problems with those this morning.  The kinks should be worked out by tomorrow.

You will find a few new categories of accommodations that have been updated to align with the state’s new Participation Guidelines for Alaska Students in State Assessments (available here).

A few key changes to note:

bullet-point-image-6The new Embedded category refers to accommodations that are embedded in the new computerized AMP assessment (e.g., text-to-speech, masking, invert colors, etc.).

bullet-point-image-6The Universal category lists accommodations that are available to all students (IEP or not) for AMP testing.  If these are accommodations that your students use regularly in the classroom or during district-wide and/or state testing, you should list them in the students’ IEPs. (You will not need to amend IEPs prior to the AMP to add these Universal accommodations if they are not currently listed.)

bullet-point-image-6The Alternate Assessment category includes accommodations that are only available for students who will take the Alternate Assessment.  Please do not use these accommodations for students who are not on the Alternate Assessment. They are generally not allowable accommodations for other assessments.

To add accommodations to an IEP, you will need to first select the Category (e.g, Assistive Devices, Directions, Response, Setting, etc.), and then you will be able to select from a list of available accommodations in that category.  When you’ve selected the appropriate accommodations, click on the blue plus sign button to add that accommodation to the student’s IEP.

NewAccoms1

 

 

 

 

 

 

As accommodations are added, they will show up in the list below.  If you need to remove an accommodation, just click on the small trash can symbol to the right of that particular accommodation.

NewAccoms2

 

 

The options for how the student will participate in testing have also changed to align with the new state forms.  The options now read–

The student will:
– Participate in state and district-wide assessments
– Participate in the state Alternate Assessment
– Not be subject to state and district-wide assessment due to the student’s age

NewAccoms3

 

 

For Alternate Assessment case managers:
The three questions related to eligibility criteria for the Alternate Assessment are now listed in the database.  I have already completed these for all students who are currently on the Alternate Assessment.  The hand-filled Alternate Assess criteria checklist still applies as well.

February 2015 FAQs

February 4th, 2015  

FAQs

Q: Should a nurse be invited to the IEP meeting? The nurses are often gone from work when we have the IEP meetings, what should I do?

A: If a student has medical needs that are addressed by the IEP team, then the team should invite the nurse.  Even if the nurse cannot be there, please make sure that they provide any necessary information prior to the meeting and that they receive all relevant information following the meeting.

Q: Where do I put study skills minutes in the IEP?  

A: This depends on why the student has study skills.  If the student is in study skills for reading, writing, math, behavior or social / emotional reasons, put the minutes in those areas.  Study Skills is simply the location.    If the IEP and ESER notes executive functioning needs, then Study Skills can be put as a separate service area.

 

 

 

 

 

January 2015 FAQs

January 12th, 2015  

FAQs

Q: Is it appropriate for me to invite the P.E or music teacher to be the general education rep at an IEP meeting?

A: The teacher serving as the general education representative must have knowledge of the general education curriculum and should have information related to the area of disability.  So, if the student has motor planning issues, or social skills issues of which a music or P.E. teacher may have knowledge relevant for the IEP team, they can certainly be the general education teacher. For a student with difficulties reading, it would likely not be appropriate.

Q: Do I have to have a district rep and who can be the district rep at my IEP meeting? 

A: A District Representative must be in attendance at all IEP meetings. This duty falls on the principal unless a designee is appointed by the principal to function as the District Representative (this should happen only on rare occasions).

The following criteria must be considered when appointing a teacher to act as a District Representative for the KPBSD.  According to the state special education handbook, the appointee must be:

  • Qualified to provide, or supervise the provision of special education
  • Knowledgeable about the general education curriculum
  • Knowledgeable about the availability of resources of the District with the authority of commit district resources and ensure that whatever services set out in the IEP will be provided.

Based on the above criteria, only another administrator, special education teacher, or a related service provider can be assigned to act as District Representative.

November 2014 FAQs

November 7th, 2014  

FAQs

Q: As case manager, what paperwork am I responsible for submitting to Central Office?

A: Case managers are ultimately responsible for ensuring that ALL necessary IEP and ESER paperwork is submit-ted to Central Office after a meeting is held. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

– Use the IEP checklist in the database, and include it with your paperwork when you send it in to Darla or Rebecca.  This makes everyone’s life easier as our secretaries can quickly glance at the checklist to see which paperwork they should expect to find in the envelope.  If there are any special circumstances or oddities with your paperwork, the IEP checklist is a great place to jot the secretaries a quick note.

– If you are waiting on another member of the IEP team to complete their portion of the paperwork (for example an individual report that is part of the ESER), don’t let that delay the rest of the paperwork process. Submit what paperwork you have to Central Office, and make a note on the checklist that the particular report is not yet complete so that Darla and Rebecca can follow up with the appropriate personnel to ensure that the paperwork gets submitted. (Related Services Providers—please note that individual reports should be complete prior to the ESER meeting).

– In situations where there are multiple personnel working on a set of paperwork (e.g. you’re working with your school psychologist to complete an FBA and BIP), make sure you are coordinating with the rest of the team to submit all of the necessary paperwork. The simplest way is to gather all of the paperwork at the school level, and then submit it as one complete packet to Central Office. If you do have multiple people sending paperwork into Central Office, make sure you communicate as a team to be certain that a complete set of paperwork is submitted. You can use the checklist amongst your school-based team to ensure that all necessary components are covered.

Q: Who fills out the information on an ESER?

A: Case managers are responsible for entering all IEP and ESER information in the database, unless the database specifically notes that it is the responsibility of someone else.  Notable examples include the LD portion of the ESER which is the responsibility of the school psychologist, or any goals / objectives / progress reports that are associated with a related services (e.g. speech goals), which should be completed by the related services provider.  The content of the Needs and Recommendations portion of the ESER should be determined by the IEP team as a whole, but entering that information into the database is the responsibility of the case manager.