The Arizona Department of Education, Exceptional Student Services (ADE/ESS), has received clarification, including feedback from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, regarding proportionate share services specific to preschool students. Clarification was sought on whether proportionate share services could be used for parentally private-placed students who are enrolled in a preschool program that is not a part of a district but is located within the boundaries of a school district.

Based upon this clarification it has brought about changes to AzEDS reporting to ensure that data is clean and appropriate based upon feedback. It has also led to evaluating and cleaning up other data metrics related to preschool students to align with cleaner data for consumption by business units at the department.

Please refer to the Proportionate Share Code Removal memo and the Tuition Payer Code memo that detail this information. For assistance with special education data submissions, please email ESS Data Management.

AzSAFE has reopened under a new application effective November 4, 2019, for special education discipline data collection. As Arizona transitions to a new standard for special education data only, AzSAFE has been renamed to ESS Discipline Data Collection. This information is required under Section 618 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Please see this memo for additional submission requirements and basic information on the changes. For questions pertaining to the new ESS Discipline Data Collection, please email ESS Data Management.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT FY 2020 October 1 Data Collection

Public education agencies (PEAs) are required to verify the count of students participating in special education (SPED) on October 1, 2019. Verification will be completed via the web-based ESS October 1 Data Collection application, available through the ESS Portal via ADEConnect.

NEW this year is the addition of the Personnel data to the October 1 Data Collection application. The specific data collection requirements for the Personnel Report has not changed, only the location (previously collected through the ESS Annual Data application).

The October 1 Data Collection consists of three phases:

Phase I: Verification and Personnel (Training Registration Open) Phase II: Reconciliation Phase III: Non-Reconciliation (if applicable)

To review the complete October 1 Data Collection, please see the ESS Data Management FY 2020 Important Dates timeline.

Phase I: Verification

The ESS Census online application will open on Wednesday, October 2, 2019. PEAs must log in to the application to submit the October 1 census verification counts and personnel data. All technical assistance documents and FAQs will be available by accessing the “Help tab” on the home page of the ESS October 1 Data Collection application. Some of these documents will also be available on the ESS Data Management website in the October 1 Data Collection page.

Please note that October 1 is the count date, not a due date or deadline.

October 1 falls on a Tuesday this year. If October 1 is a non-session day for your PEA (i.e., fall break), be mindful of the following information. To ensure an accurate count, include students who were enrolled on the last day school was in session before October 1 as long as they are known to have continued in special education on the first day school was in session following October 1 (whether it be in your school in your PEA or another PEA). The PEA that should count the student is the PEA the student was enrolled in prior to October 1. For more information, please attend one of our trainings below.

 Training Opportunities

ESS Data Management will offer webinars and workshops throughout the October 1 Data Collection timeline, beginning with the Phase I. Please see the training flyer to begin registering via EMS today. In the winter and spring, we will follow up with training relevant to the reconciliation and non-reconciliation phases.

If you have any questions, please direct them to [email protected].

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

Updated Functionality of SPED72 and SPED73 Reports in the AzEDS Portal

To clearly delineate student data by District of Attendance (DOA) and District of Residence (DOR), the SPED72 and SPED73 reports in the AzEDS Portal will update on Wednesday 8/7/19.

When running the SPED72 or SPED73 report by District of Attendance:

This will display students who attend sites within your PEA (Public Education Agency) with a reported DOR outside of your PEA.  The DOR CTDS column in these reports will display the CTDS number of the DOR PEA.

When running the SPED72 or SPED73 report by District of Residence:

This will display student data reported with your PEA as the DOR.  This report will include all students your PEA reports to AzEDS including sites within your PEA, tuitioned-out students, and student data reported by your PEA attending sites outside of your PEA.

Examples:

District of Attendance selection:

• If a student is attending a site within your PEA from another PEA that is identified as the DOR, the student’s data will appear on the reports by District of Attendance.

District of Residence selection:

• If your PEA is the DOR for a student that attends a site within your PEA, the student’s data will appear on the reports by District of Residence.
• If your PEA is the DOR for a student that attends a site outside of your PEA, the student’s data will appear on the reports by District of Residence.
• If your PEA is the DOR for a student that is tuitioned-out to a Private Day school, RTC, or head start program, the student’s data will appear on the reports by District of Residence.