FCPS Special EDge Hot Sheet
December 2016 Brief Info blasts about Special Education
December Special Education Bundle
Each month in alignment with the Special Education Hot Sheet, a Special Education Bundle will be linked to provide a streamlined opportunity to access all updates and information related to Special Education and Psychological Services at scheduled times throughout the year.
This endeavor is purposeful to promote a consistent message.
The bundle link is below entitled Meet Google Drive.
NEW SEIA Request Process
Please note the SEIA Request Process has been revised, schools should be using this process moving forward.
- The presentation outlining the changes is linked here: SEIA Request Process Changes Presentation-November 2016
- Additionally, the SEIA Request Process Guide is located here : SEIA (IEP or 504) Request Process Guide-NEW December 2016
**This document can also be found in your school's special education folder on the M:Drive in your 16-17 school year folder.
ESY
We have worked with multiple stakeholders to identify dates for ESY 2017. This year, ESY will be held July 3 – July 28, 2017. Due to the 4th of July holiday, services during the first week will be held on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. All remaining weeks, services will be provided Monday through Thursday.
As you make your ESY decisions, ensure that you send your ESY transportation referrals to transportation within ten days of the meeting. Changes in the ESY transportation referrals can be made via email up until May 31, 2017, to william.crabill@fcps.org.
We are excited to share that applications for ESY staff below are now open.
Links are also located on our special education website on InsideFCPS. The application will close March 1st, 2017. You will be notified if you were selected via a letter mid-April.
Please apply below to show your interest.
ESY STAFF APPLICATIONS
ESY Assistant
http://tinyurl.com/ESY2017Assistant
ESY Teacher
http://tinyurl.com/ESY2017Teacher
ESY SLP
ESY Therapist
FCPS Specialized Programs
Did you know we have a Special Education Specialized Programs Binder online?
It is filled with information about the Special Education Pre-K, Learning for Life, Challenges, Pyramid and SUCCESS programs.
The binder can answer questions such as:
- What should I expect if I were to walk through one of these classrooms?
- How will I know when a student in the Pyramid program is ready to try a mainstream class?
- What is the difference between the Learning for Life program and the Challenges program?
Find all these answers AND MORE at the Special Education website. Click on the Specialized Programs tab at the top. Great reading!
County IEP Process
FCPS makes every effort to educate students with disabilities in their home school or within a specialized program in FCPS. Therefore, IEP teams have a duty to ensure that school staff have implemented strategies and interventions to address educational and/or behavioral challenges before a referral to CIEP is made. If the following have occurred and the student does not make progress on IEP goals and objectives, a referral to CIEP is recommended. A Central Office Special Education Coordinator/Teacher Specialist must be in attendance at the school IEP meeting where this referral is made.
The steps in the process are as follows:
- Contact Central Office Special Education Coordinator/Teacher Specialist to discuss student needs and set up an observation.
- Review instructional practices, collect data, and determine appropriateness in consultation with Central Office Special Education Coordinator/Teacher Specialist.
- Review academic interventions, collect data, and determine appropriateness in consultation with Central Office Special Education Coordinator/Teacher Specialist.
- Ensure the IEP is up to date with present levels of academic and functional performance, accommodations, supplemental aids and services, and goals to address students’ areas of weakness.
- If there are behavioral concerns, a BIP is in place and being implemented.
- Recommendations from school based and/or central office staff have been implemented.
Once these steps have been followed a referral to a county is appropriate. Please note, incomplete packets will be returned to the school for completion.
The CIEP Referral is electronic and is located on FormFinder under the heading Special Education.
PARCC Appendix D Decision Making for IEP & 504 Teams
Of the 95 student records audited this Summer 2016, 95% were found compliant for using the Appendix D decision-making process for the Human Reader of Entire Test, Text-to-Speech, and Interpreter accommodation access on PARCC ELA.
FCPS fared very well in the MSDE PARCC Appendix D ELA IEP Team Process Audit compared to other local school systems.
Please note the following adjustments to the PARCC Accommodation Decision Making Process Guide for IEP and 504 Teams which is updated on the PARCC Live Binder specific to the Elementary Level:
The use of math fluency assessments is now located on the Live Binder as a decision-making tool for mathematic calculation devices on PARCC Math. These assessments replace Elementary FCPS Quarterly Fluency Assessments that are no longer available.
Special Educators can use these 3-minute timed fluency assessments on the Live Binder by grade level to discern calculation ability.
The research-based reading interventions list has been updated to accurately reflect existing reading interventions that can be used as data points for Appendix D decision-making for the PARCC ELA at the elementary level.
Also added to the intervention list as a decision-making data point for Appendix D is Evidenced-based Instructional Program (EBIP) if the foundational standards of the EBIP focus on decoding/phonics and the student’s IEP has a related decoding goal at the elementary level only.
Everything related to PARCC Accommodation Decision Making for IEP/504 Teams can be found at the Live Binder link below.
Rochelle’s Special Education Legal Tips
Tip #1: Sometimes it seems as if every 504 Plan and IEP includes an accommodation for “Extended Time.” When asked how much time, the automatic answer is often “time-and-a-half.” Typically, this response is not based on any data. Also, the “Extended Time” accommodation is not limited in the typical 504 Plan or IEP to classwork, homework, tests, or projects. It is written as a general, “Extended Time.”
Do not include “Extended Time” unless you have evidence that the student needs it. If the student does need it, specify the circumstances. “Extended Time” for homework is generally a big mistake as the student is then always behind. Why would a student need “Extended Time” for a long term project? That makes no sense. Just because a student has ADHD does not mean the student needs the accommodation.
So, if this comes up in a 504 or IEP team meeting, explain there is no data supporting the request and that the teacher will start keeping data to determine if the student needs “Extended Time.” Then address it at the next 504 or IEP team meeting.
Remember, if you write the accommodation into the 504 Plan or IEP, you have to implement it, and you may have to prove you are implementing it if you are investigated by the Office for Civil Rights or the Maryland State Department of Education.
Tip#2: Some IEP teams are slipping in their compliance with the not so new 5-Day Rule which requires school personnel to provide the parents with an accessible copy of each assessment, report, data chart, draft IEP, or other document that it plans to discuss at the IEP team meeting “at least 5 business days before a scheduled meeting.”
Compliance with the 5-Day Rule is mandatory, except in “extenuating circumstances.” Parents expect the documents to be delivered to them in a timely manner. “Extenuating circumstances” must be documented and communicated to the parents. A meeting starts off on a bad foot when the parent is handed documents for the first time or when the parent has just received the documents a day or two prior to the meeting. E-mail the documents if you must in order to meet the 5-Day Rule. Remember that students’ bookbags are bottomless pits and often the parents do not get what you have sent home via bookbag.
A problem for many school systems is that related service contractors either are unaware of the 5-Day Rule or take it as a mere suggestion. If you can, have your contractor contracts provide that the related service providers will provide final reports to the Case Manager prior to 5 business days before the day of the IEP team meeting.
The Case Manager or another responsible school employee should be tasked with the job of reminding the contractor of this obligation.
Finally, while it is desirable that a draft IEP be developed before the IEP team meeting which is being held to develop the IEP, a draft IEP is not a requirement. You can develop the entire IEP at the IEP team meeting. That is not best practice, but it is legally permissible.
Copyright © 2016 Pessin Katz Law, P.A. All rights reserved.