Special Education Administrators,

The ADE/ESS is pleased to announce FREE upcoming math webinars:

Please see this flyer for more information and share with others who may also be interested in this professional learning opportunity. Questions can be directed to [email protected] or [email protected].

Dear Special Education Directors,

All school districts and charter schools are required to annually administer the State Performance Plan Indicator 8: Parent Involvement Survey. The survey is open now through May 31, 2020.

NEW!

• Districts will distribute login codes to parents of their Private Day/Tuitioned-out students.
• Students over 18 years-of-age will take the survey, unless a parent has retained IEP rights. The parent who has retained special education rights will complete the survey, not the student.
• Secure Care facilities will administer the survey.

Start today! Log into ADEConnect – ESS Portal – ESS Data Surveys – Parent Involvement Survey. If you don’t have access to the survey application, or need to add additional users who should have the right to use this information and administer the survey, contact your entity ADEConnect administrator and ask to be assigned the ESS Parent Survey User Role.

The survey application displays links to:

• Survey Instructions for PEAs
• Survey Instructions for Families
• Student lists with login codes (Use the 2020-Parent Involvement Survey FY’20 list)
• Current Progress Report
• Annual Question-by-Question Reports

Regularly visit www.azed.gov/specialeducation/parent-involvement-survey-admin for additional information.

• Survey News
• FAQ: Participation Tips, Survey Instructions
• Family Engagement Strategies

Becky Raabe, Survey Coordinator

[email protected]

(928) 637-1871

Special Education Directors,

To address the shortage of qualified teachers of the deaf (TOD) and teachers of students with visual impairments (TVI), the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB) is asking Arizona educators to take this survey.  The purpose of this survey is to identify the impact of the shortage, identify possible solutions to the shortage, and to gain the thoughts and opinions of Arizona LEAs and institutes of higher education on the specific knowledge and skills needed to adequately prepare teachers to work with students with these types of needs.

Please review and provide feedback by the end of the day on Friday, January 24, 2020.

Special Education Directors,

The ADE/ESS is very excited to announce some changes to its main conferences, the Directors’ Institute and the Transition Conference! These conferences have been combined and rebranded as:

Arizona’s IDEA Conference

Save the Date

Arizona’s IDEA Conference in 2020 will take place over three days, August 31—September 2, at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix. This year’s theme is: Converging Ideas: Connections for Student Success.

Content

The new combined conference will maintain special education administration and secondary transition strands, including national and local experts. There will also be sessions specifically targeted to youths and young adults with disabilities as well as family members/caregivers.

Why Combine?

Although ADE/ESS has been invested in and very proud of its historical dual conferences, in recent years these events have been held close together in the calendar year. This was largely due to the rising costs of hosting a professional development event at a conference center during the “peak” season in Arizona. Keeping costs reasonable and aligned to the State rate, and also avoiding summer holiday time for school staff meant that these huge events were held almost back to back. This has been a tremendous resource cost for ADE/ESS, as well as for special education professionals who wanted to access content at both events. Combining both conferences in a venue capable of hosting more participants allows for an efficient use of resources and time and allows participants to access even more quality content at the same time!

Registration

Each registration fee will allow participants to access all content, regardless of strand (registration information will be made available in late Spring). Additionally, ADE/ESS has increased the total number of participants who will be able to attend in order to accommodate participants who historically attended both conferences.

Coming Soon

ADE/ESS is busily building the new website for Arizona’s IDEA Conference. Also, student artwork will still be featured in the graphics for this event, but the new conference will also have its own new “brand.” Stay tuned for new developments over the Spring!  Update: Website is now available: http://www.azed.gov/ideaconference/

Call for Proposals

ADE/ESS invites the submission of proposals for Arizona’s IDEA Conference. Proposals should address the theme and be targeted to special education administrators, transition professionals, or youths with disabilities and their family members/caregivers.  Please follow this link to submit. Proposals are due February 7, 2020.

Please email feedback or questions to the new Arizona’s IDEA Conference email Inbox: [email protected].

The ADE/ESS is pleased to announce training for school personnel on how to recognize and intervene with commonly occurring behavioral health issues. The trainings will take place in Phoenix from February 5-7, 2020.

The National Council for Behavioral Health will deliver Youth Mental Health First Aid Certification Training to Arizona educators. This 3-day interactive training will teach participants how to:

• Teach the Youth Mental Health First Aid course, including the 5-step action plan, evidence-supported treatment and self-help strategies, and prevalence data
• Present the program with fidelity to the tested core model
• Apply the program to a range of adult learning styles
• Tailor presentations to diverse audiences and learning environments

Upon the successful completion of the course requirements, as outlined by the National Council for Behavioral Health, participants will be certified to teach the standard Youth Mental Health First Aid course. For more information about Youth Mental Health First Aid Training, please go to: https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/training-courses/mental-health-first-aid/.

The cost of the training is $90. Space in the trainings is extremely limited. Please use this link to submit an application to participate in the training.

If you have questions, please email Aanya Rispoli.

The Arizona Department of Education is pleased to announce training through Crisis Prevention Institute. Crisis Prevention Institute offers nonviolent crisis intervention that equips participants with skills, confidence, and an effective framework to safely manage and prevent difficult behavior.

Training for new trainers through the Instructor Certification Program includes a three-day training and involves independent work to be completed through online modules. The Instructor Certification Renewal Program includes one day in the classroom in conjunction with online modules to be completed independently. To be eligible for the renewal course, participants must have completed the Instructor Certification (or Renewal Program) and must be seeking to fulfill the two-year instructor proficiency requirement. All Certified Instructors and Instructor Candidates are required to complete the online modules and accompanying Learning Guide prior to face-to-face instruction.

Training for new trainers and the renewal training will occur from February 18-20, 2020 at the Desert Willow Conference Center at 4340 E. Cotton Center Blvd, Phoenix, AZ 85040.

The cost for the Instructor Certification Program for new trainers is $175 and the cost for the Instructor Certification Renewal Program is $75.

If interested, please fill out the form.

For further information, please email Aanya Rispoli.

Administrators of special education,

The slides from today's presentation on Medicaid School Based Claiming can be found on the ESS web site.

The ADE/ESS Secondary Transition team is excited to share the Winter Edition of its quarterly news bulletin!

In the first issue, the Secondary Transition team and the different roles within ESS – Special Projects are introduced, technical assistance services are highlighted, and an overview of the 2019-2020 statewide Regional Training season is provided. Be on the lookout for future bulletin releases, which will showcase secondary transition news happening on local and national levels.

For questions or feedback, please email the Secondary Transition team.

ADE/ESS is pleased to host a webinar and feedback opportunity with AHCCCS, entitled, Medicaid School Based Claiming Transformation Discussion, on Wednesday, December 11 from 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

AHCCCS is exploring the opportunity to transform the Medicaid School Based Claiming (MSBC) program to include payment for services that are provided to all Medicaid-eligible students/members, not just those with an IEP. Lisa DeWitt, Third Party Accounts Manager at AHCCCS, will be presenting information about the proposed expansion during this webinar. Following the presentation, AHCCCS would like to collect feedback from special education administrators about the proposals in order to help shape its plan. Here are the options for joining the meeting:

Join online: https://www.webex.com/ and click on Join in the top right corner. Meeting number (access code): 802 944 518 Meeting password: Medic@id

Wednesday, December 11, 2019 2:30 pm | (UTC-07:00) Arizona | 1 hr

or Join by phone: Tap to call in from a mobile device (attendees only) +1-415-655-0003 US Toll

To ensure compliance with federal reporting and program requirements for the fiscal year 2020, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) is collecting data for students enrolled on October 1, 2019. Reports will be prepared using enrollment data that has been submitted by Arizona school districts, charter schools, and other public education agencies (PEAs) via their respective student information systems to ADE and that has passed AzEDS Integrity.

Arizona school districts, charter schools, and other PEAs must have student-level enrollment and program data submitted by 5:00 p.m on Wednesday, January 15, 2020. Between now and January 15, PEAs are strongly encouraged to review and correct data submissions, using ADE program area staff for support.

Please read this letter for all of the information related to the October 1 enrollment collection and please direct questions to the associated contact in the letter.