Please see this important announcement regarding training for school-based sign language interpreters below. ADE/ESS contracts and works with TAESE to support assessment and training of school-based interpreters by TASK12. Training slots are limited, so don’t let this important opportunity pass by – please forward to your staff as appropriate.

The Training of Interpreters in Public Schools (TIPS) is accepting registrations from Arizona sign language interpreters to participate in an intensive training that begins with a face-to-face on January 11, 2020 and is followed by three online modules over a five-month period. The aim of this training is to improve interpreter performance skills and ultimately benefit children and youth who are deaf or hard of hearing. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to:

LeeAnn Lundgreen TASK12 | www.task12.org Technical Assistance for Excellence in Special Education www.taese.org | Utah State University | Tel: 435.797.9045

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.

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.

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

In response to a large number of questions from the field, ADE/ESS is issuing this Hot Topic regarding the FAPE obligation for children living in group homes. This Hot Topic has been put together in collaboration with the ADE Foster Care Liaison, Department of Child Services, and the State Attorney General’s Office. We hope this provides the necessary information to better assist those in the field working with this special population of children.

Special Education Directors,

The University of Arizona has been awarded $2.5M from the US Department of Education for two important projects.

The primary goal of the first project is to prepare teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs). This project will provide new applicants to the program with full tuition coverage and an opportunity to work closely with scholars from the rehabilitation counseling field. With adoption of the distance education model, all teacher candidates can complete the training program remotely.

If you know of a potential candidate who is considering becoming a TVI, this might be a perfect opportunity with financial support available. Questions can be directed to Sunggye Hong, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Special Education Unit Chair and Program Director of Visual Impairment Specialization at [email protected] and 520-621-0945.

The primary goal of the second project is to prepare educational interpreters. This project is an undergraduate program that will provide new applicants to the program with money for tuition. Undergraduate students must have finished ASL 1 - 6 and have at least 56 general education units completed.

If you know of a potential candidate who is considering becoming an educational interpreter, this is an excellent opportunity with financial support available.  Questions can be directed to Dr. Cindy Volk at [email protected].