Monitoring and Assistance for Exceptional Student Education (ESE)

1. District Exceptional Student Education (ESE)Monitoring and AssistanceOn-Site Visit Dates of Visit

2. Introductions

3. On-site Visit Agenda and Expectations

4. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Improving educational results for children with disabilities is an essential element of our national policy of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities. 20 USCS § 1400

5. Congress suggestions for improving results… • Have high expectations and ensure access to the general education curriculum in the regular education classroom. • Coordinate special education with other efforts so that special education becomes a service rather than a place. • Provide whole-school approaches and early intervening services to reduce the need to label children as disabled in order to address their learning and behavioral needs.

6. From Preschool to Post-School OutcomesPreparing Florida’s Students to Become College, Career and Life Ready Equity, Access and Attainment

7. Theory of Presuming Competence: Least Dangerous Assumption “…in the absence of conclusive data, educational decisions ought to be based on assumptions which, if incorrect, will have the least dangerous effect on the likelihood that students will be able to function independently as adults. Furthermore, we should assume that poor performance is due to instructional inadequacy rather than to student deficits.” – Anne Donnellan, 1984as quoted by Cheryl Jorgensen, 2005

8. Students with Disabilities as 21stCentury Learners • Students can be active learners in 21st century learning environments when they have: • Instructional supports that invite their engagement • Instructional accommodations that change materials and procedure, but not the standards • Assistive technology that ensures access to the standards and the curriculum

9. IDEA ‘Big Ideas’ • Student outcomes are the primary focus. • Special education is a service to enable success in the general education curriculum. Students with disabilities (SWD) are general education students first. • Effective early intervention is key to positive outcomes. • SEAs (states) and LEAs (districts) are accountable for student outcomes and responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of efforts (e.g., LEA Determinations)

10. The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP’s) Accountability Framework - Results Driven Accountability OSEP’s accountability system includes a shift from a system focused primarily on compliance to one that puts more emphasis on results. Therefore, it is critical that resources be aligned to support improved educational results and functional outcomes for students with disabilities.

11. Implications for BEESS way of work • Shift to a results-driven system – focus on outcomes/results. • Integrating support to districts through a multi-tiered system. • Focused monitoring around barriers to equity and access. • Collaborative, data-based problem-solving. • Guided by State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) and State Performance Plan (SPP).

12. Focus on Equity and Access in Order to Reduce Barriers for College, Career and Life Readiness for Students with Disabilities On-site monitoring focus areas: • LEA Determination Criteria • Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS) • Over-identification • Discipline • Placement • Discipline (suspension and expulsion) • Incidents of restraint and seclusion • Graduation rates • Dropout rates • Least restrictive environment (LRE) • Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Low performing schools

13. Six Key Practices for Moving Your Numbers

14. What Matters Most for SEAs and LEAs • Focus on what adults do – intentionally and collectively – to include and assist all students in learning at higher levels. Initiated and funded by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO)

16. Redefining SEA Work to Support All Districts Effective LEAs • Known to be engaged in certain practices believed to be associated with higher learning; • Committed to district-wide implementation of such practices; and • Committed to and showing evidence of improving the performance of all students and student groups.

17. Key Practices 1: Use Data Well • Use (and require the use of) data at all levels to focus critical conversations, identify needs, gauge/monitor progress, and make continual improvements to instructional practice (ensuring that teams are working with district-wide data, not only school-level data)

18. Key Practices 2: Focus Your Goals • Establish a foundation to guide all work • Align all work across the district with the district goals/district strategic plan to improve student learning • Focus all work across the district to meet district-wide goals and strategies • Align decisions about resource management with district goals • Focus PD on district goals

19. Key Practices 3: Select and Implement Shared Instructional Practices • Hold all adults to high standards and clearly define expectations around the core work of teaching and learning, and for supporting all children to learn at higher levels • Reduce the number of initiatives and ensure that all work aligns directly with a small number of goals and strategies • Avoid programs or initiatives as the “answer” or silver bullet • Support shared learning and responsibility among adults for the success of all students • Embed intervention as part of the district’s instructional process/framework

20. Key Practices 4: Implement Deeply • Require that identified instructional strategies chosen for improvement are implemented in every building and in every classroom across the district • Define what full implementation of identified instructional strategies chosen for improvement looks like. • Require the use of aligned structures (i.e., teacher-based teams, school-level teams, district-level teams) that support shared implementation of focused instructional strategies.

21. Key Practices 5: Monitor and Provide Feedback and Support • Measure both adult implementation and student achievement to focus on the impact of district actions on student performance • Value accountability and make results the central focus of the school system • Provide a balance of defined autonomy and flexibility for schools to met expectations, but require that every single school meet them

22. Key Practices 6: Inquire and Learn • Share leadership and support the development of essential leadership practices across the district • Align curriculum, instruction, and assessment in real ways • Move from a focus on individual buildings to a focus on district-wide implementation to sustain the work • Make sure the district leadership team includes staff from across the district, not only cabinet level personnel or administrators • Use the expertise around you, always reaching to the next level; never be satisfied with where you are

23. Local Education Agency (LEA) Profile The LEA profile is intended to provide districts with a tool for use in planning for systemic improvement in exceptional education programs. The profile contains a series of data indicators that describe measures of educational benefit, educational environment, prevalence, parent involvement and provides information about district performance as compared to state level targets in Florida’s State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR).

25. Sample District Population and Membership for SWD

26. 2018-19 Lake District Data Total Enrollment: 43,947 SWD Enrollment: 6,985 Students with Disabilities as Percent of Total Population, District Percentage Source: EDStats Tool

27. Florida, 2018-19 Lake, 2018-19

28. 2019 LEA Determinations

29. LEA Determinations • Just as states are now receiving determinations that are based on both compliance and performance, Florida began phasing in performance indicators for the 2016 LEA Determinations

30. Alachua 2018 Compliance Elements: 6 of 8 points earned

31. Sumter Alachua 2018 Performance Elements: 1 of 9 points earned

33. 2019 LEA Determination Criteria 2020 LEA Determination Criteria Federal Uniform Graduation rate (2019-20) 72% Dropout Rate (2019-20) 8.5% Regular Class Placement (2020-21) 85% • Federal Uniform Graduation rate (2018-19) 70% • Dropout Rate (2018-19) 9.5% • Regular Class Placement (2019-20) 85%

34. Focus Areas During the On-Site Visit

35. Focus Areas During the On-Site Visit • SPP 1: Graduation Rate • SPP 2: Dropout Rate • SPP 4B: Suspensions and Expulsions • SPP 5: Least Restrictive Environment (Regular Class) • SPP 7b2: Preschool Skills • SPP 11: Child Find - Percent of children who were evaluated within 60 days of parental consent • SPP 13: Secondary Transition with IEP Goals • Restraint/Seclusion • Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CCEIS) • ESSA – Low performing Schools • ELA Performance– 3rd Grade • Math Performance – Grades 6 through 8 scores • ESSA – 1% Cap for Alternate Assessments

36. Federal Cohort Graduation Rate

37. Federal Uniform High School Graduation Rate Calculation: • Number of first-time ninth graders from four years ago plus incoming transfer students on the same schedule graduate • MINUS students from this population who transferred out or left to enroll in a private school or home education • DIVIDED into the number of standard diploma graduates from the same group

38. Federal Uniform High School Graduation Rate - Alachua State Target = 62.3%

39. Federal Uniform Graduation Rates for SWD (Medium Districts) 2015-16 to 2017-18 State Target = 62.3%

40. Dropout Rate

41. Dropout Rate • Calculation • Number of students with disabilities in a given year who dropped out • divided by • Number of students with disabilities who received a standard diploma, special diploma, certificate of completion, special certificate of completion, died or dropped out.

42. Dropout Rate - Alachua State Target = 10.0%

43. State Target = 10.0%

44. Discipline – Suspensions and Expulsions

45. Discipline Calculations for CCEIS and SPP4 Source: Survey 5 Discipline and All Year Enrollment

46. Discipline 4A • Calculation • Numerator: Number of students with disabilities suspended out-of-school/expelled for more than 10 days cumulative days divided by the total year enrollment of disabled students (multiplied by 100) • Denominator: Number of nondisabled students of being suspended out-of-school/expelled for more than 10 cumulative days divided by the total year enrollment of nondisabled students) (multiplied by 100) • Risk ratio = Numerator divided by denominator

47. Discipline (4A) - Alachua Suspensions and Expulsions • Students with disabilities (SWD) who were suspended or expelled greater than 10 days compared to nondisabled students • Number is expressed as a risk ratio (risk for students with disabilities compared to nondisabled students) • SWD in Alachua are 3.42 times more likely to be suspended or expelled for more than 10 days than nondisabled students in the district

48. Trend Data for SPP 4A Discipline – Alachua

49. Discipline 4B • Calculation • Numerator: Number of students with disabilities from a specific racial/ethnic group of being suspended out-of-school/expelled for more than 10 days (for instance, Hispanic students with a disability who were suspended/expelled for more than 10 cumulative days divided bythe total year enrollment for all Hispanic disabled students) • Denominator: Number of all nondisabled students of being suspended out-of-school/expelled for more than 10 days (for instance, all nondisabled students who were suspended/expelled for more than 10 cumulative days divided bythe total year enrollment for all nondisabled students) • Risk ratio = Numerator divided by denominator

50. Discipline (4B) - Alachua Suspensions and Expulsions • Students with disabilities (SWD) by race or ethnicity who receive greater than 10 days of out-of-school suspension or expulsion compared to all nondisabled students • Expressed as a risk ratio (risk for students with disabilities for a specific race compared to all nondisabled students) • Black SWD in Alachua are 6.07 times more likely to be suspended or expelled for more than 10 days than all nondisabled students in the district