SWCSD SPED Compliance Newsletter
🍀 March 2024
Important Updates
📈 Q3 Progress Reports
All Quarter 3 Progress Reports should be dated 03/15/2024 and should be sent home no later than 04/08/2024.
Progress Reports should be completed by the student's IEP case manager. Please make sure you are coordinating with the student's entire team (including Related Services staff) to ensure all goal areas are being reported on.
All progress reports should be completed for the IEP that is active on 03/15/2024, even if it was completed recently. If you have no new data collected, please provide the baseline data that you used in the present levels for each goal area.
If the student has a transition plan in their IEP, you must complete TWO separate Progress Reports (one traditional progress report reporting on the student's goals and one transition progress report reporting on the student's transition activity progress).
To review other pertinent Progress Report information,
Before you know it, we will be in May! Make sure to mark your calendars for the following Quarter 4 Progress Report dates:
Report date: 05/30/2024
Reports must be sent home by (ES/IS): 06/07/2024
Reports must be sent home by (MS/HS): 06/14/2024
🗓️ Articulation Forms for Next School Year (2024-2025)
As many of you know, we are already thinking about next school year; I can't believe we are already beginning to wrap up Quarter 3!
Articulation forms should be completed for the following:
1) Pre-K to KG (for all preschool students transitioning to kindergarten in 24-25)
2) ES to IS (for 4th-grade students transitioning to intermediate school in 24-25)
3) IS to MS (for 6th-grade students transitioning to middle school in 24-25)
5) K-12 SLC (for all students receiving services in Specialized Learning Classrooms)
Please begin filling out these forms to include pertinent information regarding students on your caseload and the services they receive.
🏫 Upcoming State Testing Window
State testing will be here before you know it, which means we need to start getting our ELA Reader Accommodations Applications in! Please remember students will only qualify for a reader on English Language Arts state tests if they meet the guidelines outlined by SWCSD.
SWCSD Grades 3-12 will be testing for ELA:
April 8th through April 26th
SWCSD Grades 3-12 will be testing for all other subject areas:
April 15th through May 3rd
All ELA Reader Applications for students who qualify are due by:
Friday, March 15th, 2024
If a student was already approved in the fall, an additional reader application DOES NOT need to be completed.
📝 Alternative Assessment for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities (AASCD)
As a reminder, SWCSD students testing via Alternative Assessment will be testing:
February 26th through April 12th
Please review previous compliance newsletters for more information if you believe one of your students qualifies for AASCD.
📓 Upcoming SAT for High School Students
Per the state of Ohio, all students are meant to have access to a college admissions assessment during their junior year of high school.
SWCSD Juniors will be testing for the SAT on:
March 6th
There will also be a makeup date on March 20th for SAT testing if the student misses the original testing day.
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Compliance Tips of the Month
☀️ Extended School Year (ESY) Services
What are ESY Services?
ESY is considered anything beyond the traditional 180-day school year that is offered at no cost to the family (usually provided during the summertime).
How does a student qualify for ESY?
The decision about ESY eligibility is made by the IEP team yearly. A student who has received ESY in previous years does not guarantee that they will receive those services again. During ESY discussions, the team must determine if the student requires these services in order to access their free appropriate public education (FAPE).
During these IEP team discussions, many factors are considered when determining if ESY is appropriate for a student. One of the main factors is regression / recoupment. Regression / recoupment looks at whether the student will lose skills due to a school break and how long it will take for the student to regain those skills when school starts again.
Some of the other factors that may be discussed by the IEP team are:
- The nature and severity of a student's disability
- Educational progress / goal achievement
- Behavioral considerations
- Age and skill levels
- Attainment of self-sufficiency
How can you (the case manager) be prepared for those discussions during the IEP team meeting?
First, you should keep track of which students may benefit from ESY and/or have had ESY discussed at their IEP team meetings throughout the school year. Then, ensure you have collected plenty of data to bring to your ESY determination meetings. Since regression / recoupment will be a topic of conversation, any data collected around school breaks may be beneficial to have prepared (i.e. data points before vs. after winter break, spring break, long weekends, etc.).
Remember that there is no single criterion when deciding eligibility, but one way to show that a student is making reasonable progress is by examining the progress data on the student's IEP goals and objectives. The data should be able to determine if the student is making progress and help determine whether they will be denied FAPE if ESY services are not provided.
The easiest way to prepare this data is by compiling Progress Reports from the student and any other data you have collected based on the student's IEP goals and objectives.
When should ESY meetings be held?
ESY meetings typically are held after Spring Break during the month of April. By completing meetings during this window, the IEP team will be able to review data collected from the first three quarters of the current school year and throughout the student's IEP period.
In our best-case scenario, SWCSD would like to have a determination made by early May so that we can determine ESY staffing needs and hire necessary service team members before the summer break. With that being said, ESY can be determined at any point during a student's IEP period.
Remember, case managers must have a SPED Coordinator at our ESY determination meetings. Please work with your SPED Coordinator to begin setting up those meetings for students who may require ESY services.
What happens after the ESY determination meeting?
Whether or not the student is approved for ESY services, a PR-01 should be completed by the IEP team after an ESY determination meeting and should be sent home to the family to provide a summary of the decision made by the IEP team.
If the determination has been made that the student will receive ESY services, the case manager will be asked to:
- Complete the 23-24 Extended School Year Request Google Form
- Complete an amendment to include the need for ESY services in Section 4 of the student's IEP document
- Complete a PR-01 explaining the reasoning for the amendment to the student's IEP document (the PR-01 for the ESY determination meeting and the amendment can be combined if completed within a timely manner)
Want more information on Section 4: Extended School Year Services?
Check out the detailed IEP guidance below!
Need to meet with the SPED Compliance SST regarding a question?
Ms. Jill Tucker (she/her)
Email: jill.tucker@swcsd.us
Website: tinyurl.com/SWCSDSPEDComplianceSST
Location: 3805 Marlane Drive, Grove City, OH 43123, USA
Phone: (614) 801-3074
🎓 Want to earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs)?
Do you already read the SWCSD SPED Compliance Newsletters every month? This opportunity is for you!
In order to earn credit for reading the newsletter, there will be a quick quiz for each month to check that you read it. Each newsletter quiz has the opportunity to earn you 0.5 hours. For the entire year, that would be 4.5 hours towards your CEUs!! Check out the monthly quiz below!
Also, check out other CEU opportunities on the Frontline District Catalog below!