System of Training

System of Training within the Local Education Agency

Critical Issues

Critical Issue Areas:

� Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)

� Related Services

� Initial Timelines

� Reevaluation Timelines

� Transition

� Confidentiality

� CAP

� DAS/PAS

System for Training

Least Restrictive Environment

It is imperative that all teachers with whom a student comes into contact, but especially the ARD members, have "Least Restrictive Environment" as a focus for that student.� This means simply that each student will receive the maximum amount of time possible in a setting with non-handicapped peers and be able to receive educational benefit from that setting.� Educational benefit will mean that the student can make progress in the general curriculum.� It is an acceptable practice for the individual level of progress within a class setting to be established by the ARD process even if it varies from the norm.

Least Restrictive Environment is exhibited in a continuum of services.� State guidelines direct that the district shall ensure that a continuum of alternative placements is available to meet the needs of children with disabilities for special educational and related services.� The overriding rule is that placement decisions shall be made on an individual basis.� From least restrictive to the most restrictive, that continuum is as follows:

� Mainstream General Education

� Mainstream General Education with modifications

� Special Education Resource

� Special Education Self-Contained

� Special Education Self-Contained, Off-home campus

� Special Education Homebound/Hospital

The following items are legal requirements for ARD's regarding LRE:

� The placement decision is made by a group of persons, including the parents, and other persons knowledgeable about the student, the meaning of the evaluation data, and the placement options.

� The student's placement is determined at least annually based on the student's IEP and is as close as possible to the child's home.

� Unless the IEP of a student requires some other arrangement, the student is educated in the school that he or she would attend if nondisabled.

� For a student receiving special education services outside the regular classroom, the ARD committee must have determined that there is evidence that his/her removal has occurred only when the nature and severity of the disability is such that education in general education classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.

� These guidelines are applicable to all preschool children with disabilities who are entitled to receive a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) as a result of their disabilities.

� Placement is always based on the development of the IEP's. Therefore, the goals and objectives will precede the determination of the placement.

� If a student is placed in a more restrictive environment,; the district must include the following:

1. A description of the previous efforts, if any, to educate the student in a general education classroom with supplementary aids and services and the reason(s) those efforts were not successful, and

2. ARD committee discussion of the issues involved in educating the student in a general education environment with supplementary aids and services and the reason(s) those options were rejected.

3. Or evidence of the reason(s) why efforts to educate the student in a general education classroom are not appropriate if the district did not make previous efforts to do so.

4. Services which might be centralized could be those which require expensive equipment or resources which would be fiscally unreasonable to duplicate or services which special education personnel at each campus cannot be trained or expected to perform (Regional Day School for the DEAF).

� LRE is important in making vocational placements.� All students with disabilities may be considered for enrollment in career and technology education programs and provided the supportive services and modifications, which are necessary for them to succeed.

� The school should verify that the student's IEP includes goals and objectives to facilitate the student's movement toward a more inclusive environment.� The district should plan for transition back to the general education campus.

� In selecting the LRE, consideration is given to any potential harmful effect on the child or on the quality of services that he/she needs.

� In providing or arranging for the provision of nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities, including meals, recess periods, and the services and activities set forth in IDEA, each district shall ensure that each child with a disability participates with nondisabled children in those services and activities to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of that child.� �Nonacademic and extra-curricular activities may include the following:� counseling services, athletics, transportation, health services, recreational activities, special interest groups or clubs sponsored by the district, referrals to agencies that provide assistance to individuals with disabilities, and employment of student, including both employment by; the district and assistance in making outside employment available.� The opportunity to participate should be interpreted as the access to these activities, some of which may require such processes as trying out and/or auditioning to the same extent as students without disabilities.

� The district must� provide evidence that it is able to provide all instructional and related services necessary for students with disabilities to receive a free and appropriate public education.

� If a student with accessibility needs is enrolled on a campus, all necessary programs and services are made accessible.

� Students with disabilities have available an instructional day commensurate with that of students without disabilities.

� Students with disabilities have available to them the variety of educational programs and services available to students without disabilities including but not limited to art, music, industrial arts, and vocational education.

� Facilities for students with disabilities are comparable to facilities for students without disabilities.

� Educational decision leading to the development of the IEP must be based only on a student's individual and unique needs.� Decisions may not be based upon administrative expediency, availability of services, or type or severity of disability.

� The district must develop and implement procedures to monitor the effective implementation of the IEP.

� Federal regulation require that each child's IEP be accessible to the child's teachers and service providers and that each teacher and provider be informed of specific responsibilities related to implementing the IEP and of needed accommodations, modifications, and supports for the child.

� Written progress reports must be sent to parents on the same timely basis as those provided to parents of students in general education.�

� The district must ensure that methods are adopted that provide (1) sufficient information to enable parents to be informed of their child's progress toward annual goals, and (2) the extent to which that progress is sufficient to enable the child to achieve the goals by the end of the year .

� Teachers and/or related service provider must be able to describe instructional approaches used toward achievement of a student's IEP goals.� Additionally, teachers and other related service providers should be prepared to show documentation relating training in instruction of student's with disabilities.

� Part B of IDEA requires that a district revise the IEP as appropriate to address any lack of expected progress toward the annual goals and in the general curriculum.� If progress reports to the parent of a student with a disability indicate lack of expected progress toward meeting an annual goal, IDEA and implementing regulations require that the student's IEP be reviewed and revised if appropriate.

� With respect to IEP accountability, IDEA implementing regulations state:� "Each public agency must provide special education and related services to a child with a disability in accordance with an IEP.� However, Part B of the Act does not require that any agency, teacher, or other person be held accountable if a child does not achieve the growth projected in the annual goals and benchmarks or objectives.

� Educators who work primarily outside the area of special education must receive staff development that relates to instruction of students with disabilities.� Any lack of expected progress toward meeting annual goals or in making progress in the general curriculum, if appropriate, must be reviewed by the ARD/IEP committee.

� Teachers in general education must maintain documentation that they are modifying educational programs of students receiving special education services as specified in their IEP's.� A teacher may make minor instructional modifications without an ARD committee meeting if such modifications are helpful and consistent with the ARD committee's established goals and objectives.� However, the teacher may not amend grading criteria without concurrence of the ARD committee.

� Students must receive the amount of special education, general education, and related services specified in their IEP's.

� If the student has a mainstream instructional setting, qualified special education personnel must be involved in the implementation of the student's IEP through the provision of direct, indirect and/or support services to the student, and/or student's general classroom teacher(s) necessary to enrich the general classroom and enable student success.

� Each teacher involved in a student's instruction must have the opportunity to provide input and request assistance regarding the implementation of the IEP, including a method for a student's general or special education teacher to submit requests for further consideration of an IEP or its implementation.

� There must be documentation that each teacher who provides instruction to a student with disabilities receives relevant sections of the student's current IEP, such as goals and objectives, modifications/accommodations, and adaptations.

� If an assistive technology device or service has been specified in a student's IEP, the technology device must be available and be provided as indicated.

� The district must develop and implement policies, procedures, and operating guidelines for disciplinary removals of students with disabilities that comply with federal and state law.

1. For short term removals totaling more than 10 school days in a school year which do not constitute a change of placement

� An ARD meeting was convened either before or not later than 10 business days after first removing the student for more than 10 school days in a school year.

2. For short term removals totaling more than 10 school days in a school year which do� constitute a change of placement

3. For long-term removals of more than 10 consecutive school days.

4. Special education and disciplinary records of the student with a disability were transmitted for consideration by the person or persons making the final determination regarding the disciplinary action.

System of Training

Related Services

Before a student can be eligible to receive Related Services, they must first meet eligibility as a student with a disability under IDEA to receive Special Education services.� Special education is specifically designed instruction to meet a child's unique needs.� Related services are defined as those supportive services that may be required to assist a student to benefit from special education.

Eligibility for a service is determined by the evaluation of the student by a qualified professional in that area and is based on "educational need" only.� The goals and objectives which drive the delivery of services are designed to help the student become more successful and/or independent in the educational setting and to minimize the effects of the student's handicapping condition on his/her ability to participate in the educational process.� The goals and objectives must be provided as specified by the student's IEP (kind and amount), in a timely manner, and by qualified personnel.� There must be an adequate supply of qualified personnel.

Related services are provided in order to assist the child with a disability in benefiting from the educational process, to assist the child in receiving the best education possible. It is not the educational mastery of classroom goals or TEKS, but a support service which helps to eliminate or lessen the effect of something interfering with classroom skill mastery achieved at the same level of his/her peers.� Although a student may have a medical need for continued services such as physical therapy or occupational therapy, if a problem is NOT interfering with the student's ability to participate in the educational program, then the problem is not educationally relevant and WOULD NOT constitute a need for eligibility or therapy intervention.

Related services include the following therapies:

� Adaptive equipment/assistive technology services

� Art therapy

� Audiological services

� Counseling services

� Music therapy

� Medical or psychiatric diagnostic services

� Orientation and Mobility training

� Parent/family counseling and training

� Psychological services

� Physical therapy services

� Occupational therapy services

� Recreational therapy

� School health services

� Special Transportation

� Social work

� Visual training services

The support to the eligible student may be given through direct therapy sessions provided to the student to help develop greater functional communication skills, fine or gross motor skills, vocational or life skills, sensory-motor processing skills, or psycho/social skills, mobility skills, positioning skills, or self-help skills; or, it may be provided through consulting with the teacher to help modify or adapt the environment or activity demands necessary to progress in the general curriculum and setting.� The therapist may be involved in implementing the curriculum plan as it relates to the functional skills of the student.

System of Training

Timeline for Initial Evaluation

Initial evaluation timelines refers to the timelines established by Federal law setting the amount of time in which a new referral to Special Education must be completed.

The timelines are as follows:

� The initiation of a referral to Special Education must be started at the first suspicion of a possible disability either by a teacher or a parent.

� From the date of the consideration for referral to the completion of the referral process (written report), Federal law permits a total of 60 calendar days.

� Operating guidelines within DeWitt Lavaca Special Education Cooperative limit the home campus to ten days from the start of the referral process (first date on the referral) until it is sent to the Cooperative for processing and direct student assessment.

� After the written report is completed (date of the report), the local education agency (home school campus) has 30 calendar days in which to complete the initial Admission Review and Dismissal (ARD) process.

Before a school decides to refer a student, they should have taken several steps to provide academic interventions.� Included could be general classroom modification provided by the teacher, tutorials, Title I services, dyslexic services, 504 services, and/or regular education counseling.� If those services continue to be ineffective, then a referral may be considered.� Documentation of all interventions should be included with the referral information.

It is mandatory that schools have an established pre-referral process, operating guidelines for the referral process and a tracking system, as well as an adequate supply of diagnostic staff.

For schools within the DeWitt-Lavaca Cooperative, only the pre-referral process is the direct responsibility of the LEA.

System of Training

Reevaluation Timelines

Reevaluations are required by Federal law to be completed at least every three years.� The reevaluation must be completed on or before the tri-annual date.

The ARD prior to the reevaluation date is responsible for determining the "scope of evaluation" (what areas need to be reassessed).� Before the actual reevaluation is to be completed, Notice of Assessment is given to the parent and consent obtained.� Information is gathered by school personnel including current grades, disciplinary actions, results of TAKS/SDAA, updated sociological and health information, and behavior rating scales from both the home and the school.� The assessment and report are completed and an ARD to review the data is scheduled within "a reasonable amount of time".

The school must have operating guidelines that specify the reevaluation process and include a tracking system.

System of Training

Transition

Transition planning, called the Individual Transition Plan (ITP), helps to provide the student and the school with a plan that is individualized to assist in meeting the student's goals once they leave the school environment.� It focuses on four critical areas of the adult life: employment and education; living arrangements; community recreation; and, instructional skills that help the student succeed.�

The ITP is developed by a team of people who can help the student plan effectively for his/her future.� It includes members of the family, teachers and school personnel, people from training programs or agencies that can provide assistance to reach student goals, and the student.� By engaging in the ITP process, the school and student can start planning and preparing with appropriate classes as early as junior high and identify the specific skills and training that the student will need to engage in his/her chosen career.� The student can begin to gain job related skills while they are still in the educational setting. The focus of the ITP committee meeting is to help the student set personal life goals, determine what it will take to get there, determine who/what can help get there, and determine when those steps can be implemented.

The first step involving Transition is awareness.� The student and parents are given an informative brochure on or before the student's 14 birthday (or younger, at age 12). At this step, there must be a statement of transition service needs completed.� The student's interests and preferences will become an important focus.

Then, on or before the student turns 16 years of age, an ITP meeting is completed. A statement of needed transition services must be in place by age 16.�� The student will be invited to participate in the ITP process.� Other agencies, as determined appropriate or needed, will also be invited to participate in the ITP meeting.� If an agency is directly involved with a student, that agency must be invited to participate.� The ITP is to be done as a separate document from the ARD. Once in place, the ITP must be reviewed annually. The ITP will identify the needed transition services to facilitate the transition to the home community and to the receiving school district for students who are incarcerated.� Any special needs identified by the ITP process will be incorporated into the student's IEP.�� The ITP/IEP link must be clearly identifiable.� There will be a process for Agency participation and linkage.� The ARD Notice will informs parents that transition will be considered and that the student will be invited.

System of Training

Confidentiality

Confidentiality is a critical issue for all school personnel.� It, as a student civil right,� is specifically ascribed to Special Education students; but, in actuality, is relevant to all students within the local school district.

�Confidentiality gives the assurance that all information personally identifiable information about a student with special needs is to be shared only with people with "an educational need to know".� That means that chatting with someone who is not directly involved with the student educationally about the student's handicap, progress, or behavior is not acceptable behavior.� It is actually a breach of their civil rights.

Schools are required to do the following relating to confidentiality:

� Establishing and implementing policies, procedures, and operating guidelines concerning the confidentiality of personally identifiable information.

� Assure that all individuals using or collecting personally identifiable information receive training or instruction regarding the State's policies and procedures that ensure protection of the information collected, used, or maintained under Part B of the Act

� Have policies and procedures in place regarding training for new district employees throughout the school year.�� Staff development should be provided in a timely manner to new employees who enter the district and have not received training regarding confidentiality.

� Have one official at the district that has assumed or been assigned the responsibility for ensuring the confidentiality of any personally identifiable information

� Maintain a list, for public inspection of the names and positions of those employees within the district who may have access to confidential information.� The list does not have to be kept in the proximity of where the information is stored, but must be provided upon request.

� Inform the parent when information that is collected, maintained or used is no longer needed to provide educational services to the child and destroys records at parent's request.� Personally identifiable information on a child with a disability must be retained in accordance with applicable state and federal laws.� The information must be destroyed at the request of the parents.� However, a permanent record of a student's name, address, and phone number; grades; attendance record; classes attended; grade level completed; and year completed may be maintained without time limitation.

� Assure that notice of confidentiality is given to the parent on an annual basis in the home language.

� Assure that parents are permitted to inspect and review any education records relating to their children, that are collected, maintained, or used by the district

� Assure that the district provides the parent with explanations and interpretations of the records requested.

� Assure that the district provides the parent copies of the records if failure to provide those copies would effectively prevent the parents from exercising the right to review and inspect the records containing information on the child.

� Assure that the district shall provide any legal representative of the parent an opportunity to inspect and review their child's records.

� Assure that the district shall keep a record or parties obtaining access to educational records, except access by parents and authorized employees of the district, including the name of the party, the date access was given, and the purpose for which the party is authorized to use the records.

� Assure that if any educational record includes information on more than one child, the parents of those children have the right to inspect and review only the information relating to their child or to be informed of that specific information.

� Assure that the district shall provide the parents, upon request, with a list of the types and locations of educational record collected, maintained, or used by the district

� If the district elects to charge a fee for copies of records that are made for parents, the requested fee must not prevent the parent from exercising their right to inspect and review the records.� A district may not charge a fee to search for or to retrieve information.

� The district is responsible for following all requirements pertaining to access to records and amendment of records.

System of Training

Comprehensive Analysis Process

(CAP)

Analyze, Improve, Measure

(AIM)

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) monitors each state education agency (SEA) every four years.� The purpose of these scheduled monitoring visits is to determine if a state has fully met its responsibility to the state's children and youth with disabilities.� A state's responsibility is to ensure that public education agency programs for these children and youth are administered in a manner consistent with the requirements of IDEA '97 and its implementing regulations and the U.S Department of Education's General Administrative Regulations.

When the Texas Education Agency ( TEA) was monitored in March of '92, as a result of the deficiencies found, a corrective action plan (CAP) was developed addressing the following areas: transition services, policies and procedures, procedural safeguards, least restrictive environment, related services, and Child Find.� Monitored again in "96, progress had been made in three areas, but the state was still out of compliance in three of the six areas.� TEA was cited in seven total areas including the following: State Educational Agency Monitoring, Complaint Management, Timeline for Initial Evaluation, Least Restrictive Environment, Related Services, Timeline for Reevaluation, and Transition Services.� The first two areas apply specifically to TEA.� The remaining five areas relate directly to local school districts.� As part of the corrective action plan submitted to OSEP, TEA ensures that districts will participate in training that targets the five areas.

AIM is a comprehensive analysis process developed collaboratively by TEA and the education service centers of Texas to address the five areas found in the corrective action plan.� The purpose of AIM is that schools aim high and target excellence in their programs for students.� To accomplish this, it is felt that there must exist a continuing cycle of analyzing the current services by measuring student results and improving what is offered to students.

The comprehensive analysis process is a model that districts can adapt and use in an ongoing system to assist in determining the effectiveness of the district's special education services in providing all students with disabilities a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) of quality.

The process involves examining district data to evaluate the status of school programs and completing a plan of action for improvement in the several areas.� The areas targeted for improvement include the following:

� least restrictive environment,

� related services,

� timelines for initial evaluation,

� timelines for reevaluation, and

� transition services.�

The comprehensive analysis process has six steps:

A.� Analyze

� collect data

� analyze data

� determine status on a matrix

I.� Improve

� generate solutions/prioritize

� develop and action plan

M.� Measure

� integrate into district/campus improvement plans

During monitoring visits, DEC monitors will verify the process the district used in conducting the analysis, how the district developed the plan of action, and how activities identified in the plan are tied to the district/campus improvement plan which is a document developed by a site-based team that addresses the needs of students in the local education agency and at the individual campus level.

Analysis of data may reveal discrepancies between policy and practice.� The results of the data analysis will be used to determine the LEA's status on matrices for each of the five areas which will then determine where the district will focus for continuous improvement and be reviewed during DEC monitoring visits to verify matrix placement and action plan development.

For individual training on completing and engaging in the process, TEA developed a training notebook and a video which are available within your school district.� It is the responsibility of each campus to see that all employees are trained, including those new to the district.

System of Training

Program Analysis System

Special Education Data Analysis System

(PAS/DAS)

In selecting school districts and charger schools for on-site District Effectiveness and compliance (DEC) visits, the Texas Education Agency analyzed the data elements contained in the Program Analysis System (PAS) and Special Education Data Analysis System (DAS).� The district data is derived from the year prior to the current operational year.� DEC visits are posted on the TEA website.

Specific data elements have been identified within each program area to allow for an evaluation of the districts' provision of services to students in that area.� In totality, there are 67 data elements contained in the PAS and the DAS.�� Examples of data elements include indicators of student performance, district activity, grant amounts, or audit results.� Each program area reviews every district on multiple data elements.

Risk levels are calculated at three levels for each district: data element, program area, and district. The risk levels are assigned as follows:

� Data element risk levels are based on district performance when compared to a statewide standard (e.g., median, state rate, etc.).�

� Program area risk levels are based on the cumulative data element risk levels.�

� District risk levels are based on the cumulative program area risk levels.

�Risk points are assigned to each risk level.�

� Point values associated with data element risk levels are summed and converged at the program area to assign a program area risk level.�

� Point values associated with the program area risk levels are summed and converged at the district level to assign a district risk level.

� &nb

DeWitt-Lavaca Special Education Cooperative