DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT    

ESS October 1 Data Collection (ODC) – SPED73 and SPED07 Reports Accurate - Phase II Due Date 1/25 

Thank you for your patience while Exceptional Student Services (ESS) worked with ADE-IT on troubleshooting issues with the reports and functionality for October 1 child count processing. 

The issues are now resolved, and the October 1 reports are now accurate. For SPED students, the AzEDS Portal SPED73 report and the ESS October 1 Data Collection application SPED07 report both provide accurate feedback for students reported in AzEDS served over October 1. 

The October 1 process will close on January 25, 2023, at 5pm. Please ensure your SPED07 count reconciles with the Verification Count submitted in November. If your counts reconcile, continue to monitor your reports through the deadline and no further action is needed.  

Please refer to the updated Important Dates document on the ODC timeline for a complete outline of the due date requirements for this data collection. If you have any questions or concerns, please email ESS Data Management at [email protected].  

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT   

ESS October 1 Data Collection (ODC) – Phase II Due Date Extended

Exceptional Student Services (ESS) is working with ADE-IT on troubleshooting issues with the reports and functionality for October 1 child count processing.

Since public education agencies (PEAs) cannot utilize reports between systems in reconciling their October 1 counts, the October 1 process will now be closing on January 25, 2023 at 5pm.

ESS expects the reports to function accurately soon, and we will notify the field when this happens. At this time, the SPED07 report has been paused until we can work through the issue with IT. PEAs should still continue working on clearing up any outstanding integrity error  to ensure the most accurate information is submitted to the department.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. Please refer to the updated Important Dates document on the ODC timeline for a complete outline of the due date requirements for this data collection. If you have any questions or concerns, please email ESS Data Management at [email protected].

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT   

ESS October 1 Data Collection – SPED73 and SPED07 Report Inaccuracies

Exceptional Student Services (ESS) Data Management has identified an issue with some students either showing “N” for Oct 1 Eligible on the SPED73 report or missing from the SPED07 report. Our IT team is currently working to resolve this issue.  Please continue to monitor your INTEG15 report to ensure student integrity errors are corrected so they may populate your reports once the resolution is in place. 

The January 18 Phase II deadline remains in effect at this time.

An alert will be sent when this issue has been resolved. Thank you for your patience.

Please refer to the Important Dates document on the ODC timeline for a complete outline of due date requirements for this data collection, and contact [email protected] with any questions.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT       

Special Education Data Updates Webinar Wednesday, January 11th 

   The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will be hosting the next Special Education Data Updates live webinar on Wednesday, January 11th from 2pm – 3pm. This session will cover a variety of data topics that will include (subject to change):

• Reminders 

• October 1 Data Collection Phase II
• October 1 Data Collection Phase III
• Important Dates Document
• Discipline in AzEDS

• Trending topics 

• October 1 Data Collection Phase II
• Homebound/ Home-based/ Homeschooled
• Preschool LRE
• Review of AzEDS SPED Portal Reports
• Review Acronyms Document

• Topics Not in Scope

• Vouchers Data Management

• Top 3 Integrity Errors 

• Q&A    

Registration is required to attend: Register for Special Education Data Updates webinar.

For questions, please contact ESS Data Management via email at [email protected]. 

Special Education Directors,

Please see the following memo regarding preschool outcomes data in AzEDS for fiscal year 2024. In order to streamline the preschool outcome data collection process, the data collection and processing for these submissions will move into one single student accountability system (AzEDS) moving forward. The ESS Early Childhood Special Education and Operations teams will provide targeted technical assistance for this data collection process in March 2023.

If you have any additional technical questions, please email ESS Operations.

Special Education Directors,

Please see the following memo regarding the reporting of discipline data. This communication includes a reminder of discipline data submission elements and a new requirement to submit information for children reassigned to an alternative education program as an alternative to suspension or expulsion or placed into an alternative to a suspension program beginning in fiscal year 2024. This additional reporting requirement was developed in response to feedback provided to Arizona from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and is designed to ensure that all eligible children with disabilities are served appropriately and equitably.

If you have any questions regarding this requirement, please email ESS Operations.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

Discipline Data Submissions

Please review the following memo which outlines upcoming changes to discipline data submissions in FY24.

Memorandum of Discipline Data Submissions.

Beginning in the next fiscal year, ESS will require Public Education Agencies (PEAs) to report any instance in which a PEA removes a child with a disability from his/her educational placement for disciplinary purposes into AzEDS via their Student Information System.

NOTE: SPED discipline incidents will still be collected in the ESS Discipline Data Collection application for FY23.  Any discipline data submitted to AzEDS for FY23 will be used for testing purposes only and will not be used for ESS data collections.

For any questions related to special education discipline data submissions, please contact ESS Data Management.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT 

Exceptional Student Services (ESS) Portal information icon added for select applications

To aid Public Education Agencies in their interaction with ESS applications, a new information icon is available for select applications in the ESS portal. Selecting the information icon will produce a pop-up window with more information about the application, roles required to access, contact information, and website links for more training or information.

The blue information icon can be found to the left of the application button if available for that application. Additional applications will have information icons added in the coming weeks.

For any questions regarding this new feature, please feel free to contact [email protected].

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT 

Upcoming change for Fiscal Year 2024 - Special Education Disabilities allowed for Preschool Programs for Students with Disabilities.

An update to allowable special education (SPED) disabilities for preschool programs will be introduced in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024. This update is a continuation of our effort to further validate SPED reporting and ensure accurate data for the state.

Updates to integrity rules and validation matrices will take effect on 7/1/23 to allow all SPED disabilities to be reported for preschool programs except EDP. 

While disability codes DD, HI, PSD, SLI, and VI are only recognized for purposes of calculating Average Daily Membership (ADM), it does not restrict reporting other disability categories beyond those five codes for children with disabilities in preschool programs.

Integrity rules -40035 and -40029 validate the Concurrent Need and Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) Code Eligibility Matrix, and the Concurrent PEA and Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) Code Eligibility Matrix. Both matrices will be updated for this change closer to the start of FY24 and published on our ESS Data Management website.                                                               

Please contact [email protected] with any questions regarding this update.  

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT      

New Technical Assistance Document for Reporting Parentally-Placed Students on an ISP to AzEDS

The following information applies to school districts with a geographic boundary only.

School districts with a geographic boundary providing Special Education (SPED) services to parentally-placed students on an Individual Service Plan (ISP) are required to report SPED services to AzEDS.

A new technical assistance document has been developed to assist school districts with this reporting requirement.

Please review the SPED Student Reporting – Parentally-Placed Students that Receive Services on an Individual Service Plan document located under Tools & Resources on the AzEDS SPED Reporting webpage.

Additionally, for requirements reporting counts for parentally-placed students in private non-profit schools, please review the October 1 Data Collection Manual.

If you have questions regarding this guidance, please email [email protected].