Please note the update take from School Finance -  May 29, 2013. The original post for this topic can be found here.

On October 5, 2010, President Obama signed legislation requiring the federal government to replace the term “mental retardation” with “intellectual disability” in many areas of government. This measure, known as Rosa’s Law, strips the terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” from federal health, education, and labor policy. “Intellectual disability” or “individual with an intellectual disability” are being inserted in place of these outdated terms. The rights of individuals with disabilities remain the same.

ADE is in the conversion process required by this legislation. References to “mental retardation” are being changed to “intellectual disability” and the acronym “MR” is being replaced with the acronym “ID.” The current acronyms for the disability categories of MIMR, MOMR, and SMR are being changed to MIID, MOID, and SID within SAIS. Additionally, references to a “mentally retarded individual” are being changed to an “individual with an intellectual disability” in resource documents, memos, and other supporting documentation throughout ADE.

ADE’s conversion from “MR” to “ID” in SAIS will be introduced following the FY 2013 rollover. However, not all ADE data collection application and resource material conversions will occur immediately after June 30, 2013. The conversion process for other online applications and resource materials is expected to be finalized no later than December 2013.

SAIS business rules were created identifying the areas within SAIS to be modified to accommodate this change. The rules can be found here within the “Business Rules” section of the webpage under fiscal year “2014.”

On behalf of the Arizona Graduation Workgroup, ADE/ESS is pleased to present two guidance documents related to graduation for students with disabilities: Graduation and Students with Disabilities: A Guide for Public Education Agencies and Graduation and Students with Disabilities: A Guide for Parents. These documents are attached to this email, but are also available on a newly developed ADE/ESS graduation website: http://www.azed.gov/special-education/graduation.

In order to better understand the perspectives of students, families, schools, and agencies involved in graduation planning, the Arizona Department of Education, Exceptional Student Services (ADE/ESS), solicited volunteers from the field to compose a graduation workgroup. This workgroup includes representatives from all relevant stakeholder groups, and its purpose is a continuing one—to discuss and develop guidance to assist public education agencies (PEAs) and individualized education program (IEP) teams in making informed decisions about graduation for students with disabilities.

These documents are intended to clarify Arizona’s graduation requirements, their interplay with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and how graduation requirements impact students with disabilities. They represent the first communication from the graduation workgroup and are not intended to be “one size fits all” guides for all graduation issues nor will they address all questions related to graduation. ADE/ESS, through the advisement of the graduation workgroup, ADE/Legal Department, and other ADE program areas, will continue to generate helpful documents, resources, and web links and to disseminate them to the field on a regular basis. Additional related topics will be addressed in future communications and presentations related to this guidance will be provided at the Directors Institute (August 2013) and Arizona’s Thirteenth Annual Transition Conference (September/October 2013).

The Post School Outcomes (PSO) Survey web-based application accessed via the ADE Common Logon will be available between July 1 and September 30, 2013 for students who exited during the 2011—2012 school year. All public education agencies (PEAs) serving students aged 16 and older are encouraged to participate in the PSO Survey on a yearly basis for programmatic planning and improvement purposes, but are only required to participate in the assigned year for their district or charter school. Note: PSO data from PEAs that conduct the PSO Survey outside of an assigned data collection year will not be reported to the Office for Special Education Programs (OSEP) or publicly reported. However, voluntary participation in the PSO is a great opportunity for PEAs to review and inform their transition practices. All PEAs that participate in the PSO Survey will be able to access their schools’ results through the web-based application.

For information about your PEA’s assigned data collection year for the PSO Survey, consult the updated Complete Cycle 2 PSO Participation List found at http://www.azed.gov/special-education/files/2012/07/cycle-2-pso-quick-list-requirements-3-11-13.pdf.

Trainings: ADE/ESS will offer webinar trainings on the PSO Survey data collection requirement, including information on how to use the PSO Survey web-based application, as well as how to interpret PSO data. Please see the flyer for webinar dates and a description of available trainings. All PEA personnel administering the PSO Survey are strongly encouraged to attend one of the offered webinars. For more information and to register for a webinar, consult the ADE/ESS PSO website, http://tinyurl.com/PSO2013.

For questions related to PSO Survey participation or scheduled trainings, please email psoinbox@azed.gov or contact Lorrie Sheehy via email at Lorrie.Sheehy@azed.gov.

Back to Post School Outcomes (PSO) Survey Page.

The Arizona Education Employment Board (AEEB) is a free employment board, designed exclusively for the education recruitment needs of Arizona Schools.  In 2011-2012, 3077 education jobs were filled by districts and schools using the employment board.  The AEEB averages 8,000 hits per day, with a high of 13,000 hits per day during busy recruitment months (April, May, and June).  The AEEB is one of the most frequently visited education employment websites in the United States.

http://www.arizonaeducationjobs.com

We hope that you will take advantage of this free service in the coming months.

Contact Information:

Tracy Faulkner
Recruitment and Retention Specialist
Tracy.Faulkner@azed.gov
Telephone: 602-364-2195

Back to CSPD

Roll out of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) has begun and educators across the country are being challenged to realign curriculum and address shifts in instructional priorities as they prepare for implementation. Special educators must be proactive and engage in this same work. Instructional resources will be identified that can assist special educators to develop IEPs that are instructionally relevant and designed to increase access to the general education curriculum.

The Arizona Department of Education, Exceptional Student Services is proud to announce three professional development opportunities to support you in this journey:

• February 21, 2013 from 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. IEPs and the Common Core State Standards Webinar. This webinar will provide a brief introduction to the process of aligning IEPs to the Common Core State Standards. Further information will be provided in a full-day conference on March 27 or 28, 2013 – A Common Sense Approach to Writing IEPs Aligned to the Common Core Standards.

Download the presentation handout.

View the archived webinar here.

View questions asked during the webinar here.

• March 27, 2013 from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. A Common Sense Approach to Writing IEPs Aligned to the Common Core Standards. This session is designed to help special educators increase students’ access to the general education curriculum. The learning objectives are: 1) participants will understand the structure of the Common Core State Standards and their instructional implications, and 2) participants will identify a structured protocol to align IEPs with the Common Core State Standards.

• March 28, 2013 from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. A Common Sense Approach to Writing IEPs Aligned to the Common Core Standards. This is a repeat of the session presented on March 27, and is designed to help special educators increase students’ access to the general education curriculum.

To be added to a list of interested participants for our next round of training, please provide your contact information here.

Back to ESS Calendar.