Office of Special Education Updates

1. Office of Special Education Updates School Improvement Conference June 25, 2015 2011-2012 Mississippi Department of Education Office of Instructional Enhancement and Internal Operations/Office of Special Education

2. State Board of Education Vision To create a world-class educational system that gives students the knowledge and skills to be successful in college and the workforce, and to flourish as parents and citizens Mission To provide leadership through the development of policy and accountability systems so that all students are prepared to compete in the global community School Improvement Conference

3. State Board of Education Goals5-Year Strategic Plan for 2016-2020 • All Students Proficient and Showing Growth in All Assessed Areas • Every Student Graduates High School and is Ready for College and Career • Every Child Has Access to a High-Quality Early Childhood Program • Every School Has Effective Teachers and Leaders • Every Community Effectively Using a World-Class Data System to Improve Student Outcomes School Improvement Conference

4. Monitoring(Common Findings from Year 1)

5. Cyclical Compliance Monitoring (Year 1) • Thirty-five LEAs participated in the on-site compliance monitoring for year 1 (2014-2015). • The Priority Areas for the Compliance Monitoring are: • Child Find process; • Delivery of services and alignment with IEPs; • Least restrictive environment (LRE) decisions; • Discipline; and • Fulfillment of IDEA Part B fiscal requirements. School Improvement Conference

6. Cyclical Compliance Monitoring • COMMON FINDINGS • Self-review consistent with OSE findings; • Inconsistent/insufficient district policies and procedures for Child Find, LRE and Discipline • Delivery of Services – Revisions to IEPs, missing components, not meeting the unique needs of the students, Secondary Transition services. School Improvement Conference

7. Cyclical Compliance Monitoring • COMMON FINDINGS (Child Find) • A review of the district’s Child Find policies indicate the policies are inconsistent with State Board Policy 7219 and do not specifically address each of the following special populations: homeless children, wards of the state, private school children, children advancing from grade to grade, and highly mobile and/or migrant children. School Improvement Conference

8. Cyclical Compliance Monitoring • COMMON FINDINGS (Child Find) • WPN or evaluation report not provided within 7 calendar days of the MET meeting to determine eligibility; • MET did not include the parent; • Initial evaluation was not completed within 60 calendar days of receiving written parental consent. School Improvement Conference

9. Cyclical Compliance Monitoring • COMMON FINDINGS (Delivery of Services) • All required components of the Present Levels of Performance not addressed; • Annual goals not stated in measurable terms; School Improvement Conference

10. Cyclical Compliance Monitoring • COMMON FINDINGS (Delivery of Services) • Transition planning elements of the IEP are noncompliant with criteria on the National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center (NSTTAC) Indicator 13 Checklist. Indicator 13 Checklist can be located at www.mde.k12.ms.us/docs/sped-spp.../indicator13-checklist.doc?...2 School Improvement Conference

11. Indicator 13 Checklist • Appropriate measurable postsecondary goals are included in the areas of training, education, employment, and where appropriate, independent living skills. • Postsecondary goals are updated annually. • Measurable postsecondary goals are based on age appropriate transition assessments. • Transition services will reasonably enable the student to meet his or her postsecondary goals. School Improvement Conference

12. Indicator 13 Checklist • Transition services include courses of study that will reasonably enable the student to meet postsecondary goals. • Annual IEP goals are related to the student’s transition service needs. • The student was invited to the IEP Committee meeting where transition services were discussed. School Improvement Conference

13. Indicator 13 Checklist • If appropriate, there is evidence a representative of any participating agency was invited to the IEP Committee meeting (with the prior consent of the parent or the student who has reached the age of majority). School Improvement Conference

14. Cyclical Compliance Monitoring • COMMON FINDINGS (Least Restrictive Environment) • There is no evidence to indicate placement decisions were made by a group of persons including the parents, who are knowledgeable about the child, the meaning of the evaluation data and the placement options. School Improvement Conference

15. Cyclical Compliance Monitoring • COMMON FINDINGS (Least Restrictive Environment) • The IEP did not include an explanation of the extent to which the child will not participate with nondisabled children in the regular education classroom. School Improvement Conference

16. Cyclical Compliance Monitoring • COMMON FINDINGS (Discipline) • The district failed to conduct a manifestation determination to determine if the violation of the code of conduct (the behavior) was a manifestation of the student’s disability. • No evidence services are provided to a student following the 10th day of removal for disciplinary reasons. School Improvement Conference

17. Special Education Task Force Updates School Improvement Conference

18. The Special Education Task Force • Forty-four (44) members comprised of legislators, district administrators, principals, parents, special education teachers, general education teachers, parent advocate groups, nonpublic agencies and post-secondary representatives. • Engaged in collaborative dialogue for the purpose of improving Mississippi’s educational system and to offer quality learning and employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. School Improvement Conference

19. Special Education Task Force Activities • Charged with: • prioritizing issues and determining which issues are most likely to improve results for students with disabilities. • examining the State’s disaggregated data for students with disabilities and • focusing attention on the priorities that were identified as likely to improve results. School Improvement Conference

20. Special Education Task Force Report • Preliminary report presented to the State Superintendent on December 16, 2014. • Preliminary report presented to the State Board of Education at the January 2015 board meeting. School Improvement Conference

21. Priorities of the Task Force • Priority A: Access to the General Education Curriculum in the General Education Environment • Priority B: Increase the High School Graduation Rate and Decrease the Drop-Out Rate • Priority C: Increase the Post-Secondary Enrollment Rate and Work-Force Readiness Skills School Improvement Conference 2011-2012 Mississippi Department of Education Office of Instructional Enhancement and Internal Operations/Office of Special Education

22. Priority A Priority A: Access to the General Education Curriculum in the General Education Environment • Problem Statement: • “While many students with disabilities have physical access to general education classrooms, the achievement gap suggests they are not accessing the general education curriculum at an acceptable level.” School Improvement Conference

23. Priority A Strategies • Strategy 1: Increase awareness of “Inclusion” and “Access” by providing a common definition • Strategy 2: Increase the supports provided to students with disabilities in the general education setting • Strategy 3: Increase supports to all students through a multi-tiered support system (MTSS) • Strategy 4: Increase transparency of special education accountability • Strategy 5: Increase the capacity of all educators and administrators School Improvement Conference 2011-2012 Mississippi Department of Education Office of Instructional Enhancement and Internal Operations/Office of Special Education

24. Think About This • Think of access as one’s opportunity to learn. • Offer the same amount of instruction on the same content standards in the same general education classroom to students with disabilities as is offered to nondisabled students. • Increase teachers’ ability to grasp techniques of Universal Design for Learning. School Improvement Conference

25. Priority B Priority B: Increase the Graduation Rate and Decrease the Drop-Out Rate • Problem Statement: • “When comparing the graduation data of students with disabilities to nondisabled peers, there is a discrepancy between students with disabilities that graduate with a standard high school diploma and nondisabled peers.” School Improvement Conference

26. Priority B Strategies • Strategy 1: Increase awareness of requirements for graduation, graduation options, and how to raise test scores • Strategy 2: Increase awareness of outcomes for students with disabilities to inform IEP (Individualized Education Program) team decisions • Strategy 3: Increase student access to kindergarten and high quality pre-kindergarten programs School Improvement Conference

27. Priority C • Priority C: Increase the Post-Secondary Enrollment Rate and Work-Force Readiness Skills • Problem Statement • “Based on post-secondary data, students with disabilities are not exiting school with the skills necessary to be college and career ready.” School Improvement Conference

28. Priority C Strategies • Strategy 1: Improve the Mississippi Occupational Diploma (MOD) • Strategy 2: Increase the number of transition specialists available to provide services to students with disabilities • Strategy 3: Increase the awareness for students with disabilities to develop post-secondary goals • Strategy 4: Improve communication with Institutions of Higher Learning regarding State initiatives, trainings, and webinars School Improvement Conference 2011-2012 Mississippi Department of Education Office of Instructional Enhancement and Internal Operations/Office of Special Education

29. Special Education Task Force Subcommittees • Subcommittees were formed. • Completing background research and developing the activities for the action steps for each strategy to present to the State Superintendent. School Improvement Conference

30. Next Steps for Special Education Task Force • Subcommittees will complete work for Strategies to present at the next Task Force meeting (end June/July). • Additional teachers are currently being recruited to provide guidance on specific content areas. • Subcommittees will prepare some of the Strategies for the next legislative season. • As these initial recommendations reach full implementation, the Task Force will advise on additional strategies and action steps. • The Task Force will continue to serve as one of the stakeholder groups for the State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP). School Improvement Conference

31. State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) School Improvement Conference

32. State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) • Comprehensive, multi-year plan • Focuses on results for students • Results-Driven Accountability • Will be measured by a new Indicator (Indicator 17). • Submitted to OSEP on April 1, 2015 School Improvement Conference

33. Stakeholder Engagement • The Special Education Advisory Panel (SEAP) • The Mississippi Special Education Director’s Workgroup • The Special Education Task Force • The MDE Internal Stakeholders’ group School Improvement Conference

34. Key Questions for Data Analysis • In which results areas are students with disabilities performing below expectations? • Of these low performing areas, what is the area of most concern? • Why is this low performance occurring? • What programs, strategies or practices can be expanded or developed to improve results for students with disabilities in the identified results area? School Improvement Conference

35. Programs, Strategies or Practices • Strategies, supports, and accommodations available for learning and living must NEVER by limited to the strategies, supports, and accommodations that can be used during assessments. • Scaffolds, supports, and accommodations provided during instruction should be available during assessment as long as they do not violate the constructs (invalidate the assessment). School Improvement Conference

36. Programs, Strategies or Practices • Connect to students and what they need instructionally. • Simply having something doesn’t improve outcomes. • Having something that works for you can improve outcomes. School Improvement Conference

37. Indicator 3c Data School Improvement Conference

38. Indicator 3c Data School Improvement Conference

39. Grade 3 Language Arts Data by Disability School Improvement Conference

40. Grade 5 Language Arts Data by Disability School Improvement Conference

41. Grade 8 Language Arts Data by Disability School Improvement Conference

42. Grade 3 Language Arts Data for SLD and L/S School Improvement Conference

43. Grade 3 Language Arts Data for SLD School Improvement Conference

44. Grade 3 Language Arts Data for L/S School Improvement Conference

45. Grade 3 Language Arts Data by Placement School Improvement Conference

46. Grade 3 Language Arts Data by Educational Environment (SLD, L/S) School Improvement Conference

47. Grade 3 Language Arts Data by Accommodations School Improvement Conference

48. State Identified Measurable Result (SIMR) • The state will increase the percentage of third grade students with Specific Learning Disability and Language/Speech rulings in targeted districts who score proficient or higher on the regular statewide reading assessment from 32 percent to 68 percent by FFY 2018. School Improvement Conference

49. Improvement Strategies • The MDE, with support from internal and external stakeholders, developed coherent improvement strategies that are based on the State’s data and infrastructure analysis. School Improvement Conference

50. SSIP Improvement Strategies • Collaborate with other offices in the MDE, to provide literacy professional development for all educators to support the delivery of high quality, evidence-based literacy instruction for students with disabilities. • Increase the number of special education teachers who participate in Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) • Offer additional professional development for special education teachers in targeted schools in a language-based, multi-sensory reading methodology School Improvement Conference