Special EDge
January 2018 FCPS Special EDge Hot Sheet
Special Education Bundle
Special Education has provided a Special Edition Bundle for January.
The bundle this month includes:
- Administrative Updates: FAQ Special Education 2017
- Guidelines for Successful Parent Involvement Article
- IEP Chairperson Administrator Updates November 2017 & January 2018
- Special Educator IEP Meeting Checklist and Agenda Guidelines
- PARCC Scribe Resources
- The NEW Maryland Assessment, Accessibility, & Accommodations Policy Manual
The bundle link is below entitled Meet Google Drive. It is organized in folders by month.
NEW~Maryland Assessment, Accessibility, & Accommodations Policy Manual October 2017
This manual provides guidance on Accommodation selections for student with disabilities (IEP & 504) and English Learners.
This manual is provided electronically only, as it may be revised over the course of the testing administration each year.
This manual is also linked on the home page of the Special Education website.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING ESY 2018
Reminder that the ESY dates for 2018 are July 9th to August 2nd. IEP teams should make ESY decisions for students by March 2nd.
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 23, 2018, to william.crabill@fcps.org.
Applications are NOW OPEN for the ESY dates listed above. If you are interested in working during ESY, and are available for the entire four week window, please submit your application using the links below.
Links are also located on our Special Education website on InsideFCPS. The application will close March 1, 2018. You will be notified if you were selected via a letter mid-April.
ESY STAFF APPLICATIONS
ESY Special Education Instructional Assistant
https://goo.gl/forms/Yr095lJyfR1NzpLF3
ESY Teacher
https://goo.gl/forms/YxTZwENRKiGfFQy73
ESY SLP
https://goo.gl/forms/kl6RgsgaAg5n1i003
ESY Therapist
https://goo.gl/forms/5ddyi6uY81yhyVRG2
ESY Behavior Support Specialist
IEP Chairperson Training
Administrators participated in IEP Chairperson Training on November 29, 2017 and January 16, 2018 with a focus on monitoring for continuous improvement to close the achievement gap for students with disabilities.
Please see the IEP Chairperson November 2017 Presentation and the IEP Chairperson January 2018 Presentation linked here.
An article was shared entitled Guidelines for Successful Parental Involvement linked here.
The questions and answers from our Administrator Updates this summer are linked here.
These resources are available on the Special Education Website on the IEP Chairperson professional learning page.
School Data Collection Change: Indicator 11 & Reciprocal Data Collection from Every FCPS School
The Department of Special Education and Psychological Services is streamlining the way school-based staff shares important special education data. The areas of data collection that are updated incluce Indicator 11 and Reciprocal Placement.
Indicator 11 Initial Eligibility
Indicator 11 data is collected from each school, on an on-going basis, to show initial eligibility timelines from screening referral to parent consent for evaluation to the actual date of the eligibility IEP meeting. This reported annual data tells us the percent of children with parental consent to evaluate, who were evaluated within 60 days. The FCPS annual target is 100% of children with parental consent to evaluate are evaluated and eligibility determined within 60 days. Anything less than 100% requires FCPS be in a Corrective Action Plan, or CAP, when the reason for delay is unacceptable.
Reciprocal Placment
Reciprocal Placement data is collected from each school, on an on-going basis, to show the students with IEPs who have moved into the school, during the school year, from other Maryland counties or out of state. This data must be input between July 1 and June 30th of each school year. This reported data informs staffing decisions.
Schools will be contacted in the near future when the data will begin to be collected via a specific database that selected point person staff from every school has access to input the data on an on-going basis to the M Drive. Thank you to each school for identifying a point person(s) to submit this data in this new format.
In the meantime, continue to document this data as usual.
If you have questions ask your Special Education Supervisor or Coordinator.
Specific Learning Disability: Dyslexia, Dysgraphia & Dyscalculia Reminder and Update
REMINDER:
The Specific Learning Disability Eligibility Report which includes the Addendum for Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and Dyscalculia should only be completed during initial eligibility, reevaluations and any IEP process where eligibility is reconsidered and specific learning disability is a suspected disability.
If you would like to review the presentation resources:
The presentation is linked here and on the Special Education Website under Professional Learning: https://tinyurl.com/3DNov15
The resource page is linked here: http://bit.ly/D3Resources
Student Services Team Notes
The Student Services Team (SST) documents responses to student needs that are evidenced-based. These SST notes/form (located in the reference guide above) document when and what the response will be to provide services and supports to the student to ameloriate the concern and promote access of learning for the student.
These Student Services Team Notes/Form are a part of the student record and must be filed in student's blue folders. They should be printed and attached to the screening referral in the blue folder.
The Maryland Department of Special Education audits the inclusion of SST notes in students with IEPs' student record annually to discern documentation of exhausting efforts to meet student needs with any and all interventions possible.
Eligibility Worksheet Revisions
- SE 5B IEP Team Eligiblity Report for Specific Learning Disability (now includes the Multiple Disability question that is on all eligibility worksheets)
- SE 18 IEP Team Eligibilty Report for Developmental Delay (wording refined in the eligiblity questions to include 25% delay and other factors)
Please destroy any previous copies of these eligibilty worksheets and use the current forms that are uploaded to FormFinder under Special Education and Eligibility Worksheets.
Special Educators Quarterly Check-ins-Google Hangouts
- Specialized Programs Video Link
- High School Video Link
- Middle School Video Link
- Elementary School Video Link
Please watch to see the latest and greatest Special Education news updates from FCPS.
These video links are also available on our Special Educaton Website.
Scribe Accommodation on PARCC
The eligibility criteria for accessing the Scribe accommodation on the PARCC assessment is critically important information for IEP and 504 Teams in their decision-making for this accommodation. Please note that the Scribe accommodation criteria remains the same from last year.
For scribe, a student may qualify one of two ways (does not need to meet criteria for both, only ONE):
Physical Disability: The student has a physical disability that severely limits or prevents the student’s motor process of writing, typing, or recording responses during testing. This includes students with reduced ability to record responses due to pain, fracture, paralysis, loss of function, or loss of endurance, as well as students whose handwriting is indecipherable or illegible
Written Expression Disability: The student has a documented disability in the area of written expression which results in significant interference in their ability to express their knowledge in writing/keyboarding, even after varied and repeated attempts to teach the student to do so.
The following documents are attached for your reference:
Aligned Written Expression Data Table for Scribe
- Specifically for students who have a Written Expression Disability
- A student MUST have 1 aligned data point that show a significant deficit in written language skills. A team may have more data to support this deficit, but only 1 is required.
- Data used to determine eligibility for PARCC accommodations must be collected within 90 days of when the team discusses these in an IEP meeting.
- Please note that the link for the rubric to compare writing samples both with and without a scribe can be found on the LiveBinder and here: http://tinyurl.com/hfjmhaj. This data can be accessed using any writing samples that a student may be asked to compose, not just during the writing block.
Intensive Instruction and Intervention for Scribe
- Specifically for students who have a Written Expression Disability
- A student must receive intense instruction that focuses on written language skills for at least 2 years to be eligible for a scribe on PARCC.
- If a student has unusual circumstances (i.e. new to FCPS, significant regression due to sudden medical condition, etc.), please contact our office to discuss prior to the IEP meeting where PARCC accommodations is being discussed.
IEP Team Meeting Notes Documentation
- The determination of whether or not a student is able to access a Scribe on PARCC must be documented in the Prior Written Notice of IEP Team Notes. This document provides an outline of how to document this decision.
Also, please note that if a student accesses Scribe on PARCC, it is imperative that a student's IEP aligns with these written language needs. The Present Levels of Performance should identify this need and there should be corresponding goals to address services related to this need.
Special Education & Psychological Services FAQs from Professional Learnings 2017-2018.
Rochelle's Special Education Tip
With a Little Help from Our Instructional Assistants
When developing the Present Levels, in some cases it would be helpful to obtain information from the instructional assistants/paraprofessionals who are providing services to the students. Also, ask them if the accommodations they are implementing are helpful, a waste of time, or being rejected by the student. Get their input on the need for extended time.
In order to get the proper help from the instructional assistants/paraprofessionals, make sure you are reviewing the IEPs and 504 Plans with them. You should actually sit down with them and review the accommodations section of these documents. Provide them with a snapshot of the IEP and take a few minutes to explain it.
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