As part of our ongoing recruitment efforts on behalf of Arizona’s public schools, ADE/ESS compiles and updates annually a list of education career fairs happening at teacher preparation programs across the country.

For your convenience, we have updated this year’s list.  If your school is planning to recruit for special education teachers out of state, whether in person or by sending flyers or job postings to particular universities, we hope this list will make that task a bit easier for you. This list is also be available on the AEEB job board site under the “Find a University Job Fair” icon. https://www.arizonaeducationjobs.com/guest/post.

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].

Special Education Administrators, please see this second opportunity to participation in an AzSAP Project Activity:

Opportunity for Participation in the Arizona Statewide Autism Project (AzSAP)

An Innovative Project in Cooperation with Arizona Department of Education, Exceptional Student Services, Early Childhood Education, & STAR® Autism Support

The Arizona Department of Education/Exceptional Student Services and Early Childhood Education Sections are pleased to announce a training opportunity designed to increase pre-K/elementary or secondary school teams’ capacity to work effectively with children with developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Each of the two-day trainings provides a background and a strong emphasis on evidence-based teaching strategies and practices for children with developmental disabilities, including ASD. Team members attending the training include special education teachers, general education teachers, related services providers, and paraprofessionals. An administrator is a required member/leader of the team but will attend a two-hour workshop/webinar instead of the two-day workshop.

Each of the trainings is supported by scheduled on-site coaching visits during the remainder of the school year to support implementation.

Training dates for STAR® Pre-K-Elementary: November 6-7, 2019

Training dates for Links® Secondary: October 21-22, 2019

Application/request for participation deadline: September 24, 2019

*Please note that submitting an application/request for participation does not guarantee acceptance.

Please contact Bekah Anderson if you have any questions or you may submit the application/request for participation directly to [email protected].

Special Education Administrators,

Registration is now open for Program Support & Monitoring File Review training. Come and take advantage of this free half-day training! Join ADE/ESS in reviewing a mock file. You will learn how to use the FY 2019-2020 ESS Monitoring Guide Steps and the student file form as well as gain understanding about compliance versus best practice.

Register now through the EMS registration system.

• Tucson- December 10, 2019
• Phoenix- October 22, 2019
• Flagstaff- April 20, 2020

Please contact your program specialist with questions.

Under Section 616 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 (IDEA), States are required to make a determination for all public education agencies (PEAs) of their performance on identified special education criteria. The Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2017 determinations have been posted to the PEA Determinations section of the ESS website. Additionally, PEA Determinations can be accessed through the ESS PEA Determination application under ADEConnect. Please contact your PEA’s entity administrator for ADEConnect to access this application. Your PEA Determination is final unless your agency appeals by October 4, 2019.

A written appeal may be filed if the PEA has documentation that shows the data used to issue the Determination are inaccurate. If the PEA submitted inaccurate data and did not correct the data when given the opportunity by the Arizona Department of Education/Exceptional Student Services (ADE/ESS), then the Determination level will not be changed, regardless of the appeal.

Use the PEA Determination Appeal Form found on the PEA Determinations website. Upon receipt of the appeal, the ADE/ESS will review and provide a written response within 30 days. If the appeal is granted, the ADE/ESS will issue a final determination within 30 days of the written response.

For questions regarding PEA Determinations, please contact the ESS Operations unit using the ESS Operations inbox.

As part of our ongoing professional learning efforts, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE), Exceptional Student Services (ESS), is in the process of compiling feedback for all educators in mathematics. The intent of the survey is to gather information that will support our future work in providing timely and relevant professional development to educators across Arizona.

This survey is intended for general education teachers, special education teachers, and math coaches/specialists/interventionists. Please forward the survey link and encourage your colleagues to respond to ensure a robust statewide sample.

Please take a few minutes to respond to one of the following surveys: Math General Education Teacher Survey Special Education Teacher Survey Math Coach/Specialist/Interventionist Survey

For more information about this survey or any math professional learning questions, please email Eboney McKinney or email Jenifer Hutchinson, ADE’s Math Program Specialists.

We appreciate your feedback.

The monitoring manual that will be used by the Arizona Department of Education, Exceptional Student Services (ADE/ESS), throughout school year 2019-2020 is available on the Program Support and Monitoring web page. The monitoring system is designed to ensure public education agencies’ (PEA) compliance with State and Federal requirements for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 2006 (IDEA) and the Arizona Revised Statutes and to support PEA analysis of student outcomes. Although ADE/ESS uses a six-year cycle for monitoring, we continue to implement a yearly review of each PEA’s data related to special education. Compliance and results indicator data, PEA Determinations, and annual site visit data are all reviewed annually by the assigned program specialist in collaboration with the PEA director.

Regardless of where your PEA is in the monitoring cycle, I urge you to begin to evaluate your special education program against the indicators in the monitoring guide. You are free to forward the link to this guide so that your staff is aware of the requirements for each of the major components in special education. They are also available on the Arizona Department of Education web page. If you have any questions, please contact your program specialist. Contact information can be found on the Program Support and Monitoring web page under “Contact Us.”

ADE/Exceptional Student Services (ESS) and ADE/Early Childhood Education (ECE) sections request that all public education agencies (PEAs) entitled to IDEA Consolidated preschool funds complete a survey that opened on June 17, 2019. The Early Childhood Survey will assist the agency in providing timely technical assistance regarding the operations of early childhood special education programs by PEAs statewide. The survey will be a required activity of each district or charter school serving children with disabilities (3 through 5 years old) and will remain open from June 17, 2019 through September 30, 2019. Instructions for accessing the survey can be found on the ADE web site.

Please email Suzanne Perry (602.542.1113) if you have any questions about the ECE Survey or email Eric Ashenfelter (602.542.4102) if you need help with technical troubleshooting.

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.

ADE/Exceptional Student Services (ESS) has fielded questions throughout the past year relating to students receiving special education (SPED) services and least restrictive environment (LRE) reporting. As a result, ESS has developed an infographic that helps delineate time spent inside the regular classroom against time spent outside the regular classroom. It can also be applied to help delineate appropriate LRE reporting for students in educational environments.

On the ESS web site are the definitions for the placements and the environments along with the infographic to support the field on their data submissions.

Please email the ESS Data Management Team with questions. Thank you.