Special Education Directors,ADE/ESS is acutely aware of the shortage of qualified special education teachers and related service providers across Arizona. ESS has multiple activities and programs to support PEAs to confront this shortage every school year. The ESS Recruitment and Retention team has created Developing a Grow Your Own Program: A Guide for Special Education Administrators as a reference as you consider developing and implementing a Grow Your Own program as part of your own recruitment and retention efforts.

Special Education Directors,The ADE/ESS Assistive Technology (AT) team is excited to announce the 2022–2023 National Presenter Series with Kelli Suding, MEd. This workshop is designed for special educators and related service providers.“Assistive Technology Integration for All Students”Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2022Time: 8:30 a.m.−3:30 p.m.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERTExceptional Student Services (ESS) Discipline Data Collection (DDC) Application Opening September 14The ESS DDC application will open for fiscal year (FY) 2023 incident entry on September 14, 2022.There are no significant changes to the DDC application this school year. ESS requires all Public Education Agencies (PEAs) to manually enter or bulk upload discipline data incidents into the DDC application. The XML Schema for PEAs choosing the bulk upload option is unchanged.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERTFY23 ESS October 1 Parentally Placed Private School Students Training Webinar ESS Data Management will host a training webinar for the ESS October 1 Parentally Placed Private School Students on September 28, 2022, from 10:00 am – 11:00 am.This webinar is intended for School Districts with geographic boundaries ONLY. (Charter schools are not responsible for private school count or required for proportionate share.)

Special Education Directors,Project EASEL, in partnership with ADE, would like to invite you to tune into the Exploring Strategies for Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) fall and spring professional learning series. We plan to share a variety of information and strategies that will support your understanding and implementation of assertiveness, self-efficacy, and self-regulation.

Special Education Directors,Please share the following literacy professional learning opportunities with general and special education teachers.The following virtual sessions are being offered via Zoom and are free to attend.

Special Education Directors,ESS collects data each year through the Teacher Attrition Survey to make informed decisions about recruitment and retention efforts in Arizona. Participation in the survey is mandatory for all public education agencies in Arizona.For the past few years, the survey has opened in February and closed in May of each fiscal year. This school year, the Teacher Attrition Survey will open on November 1, 2022, and close on January 31, 2023.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT       Special Education Data Updates Webinar Wednesday, September 21st The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will be hosting the next Special Education Data Updates live webinar on Wednesday, September 21st from 2pm – 3pm.

Special Education Administrators,Special Education Learning Experiences for Competency in Teaching (SELECT) is a federally funded program sponsored by the Arizona Department of Education/Exceptional Student Services and is offered through the Institute for Human Development at Northern Arizona University. SELECT courses are recommended for special and general education teachers, administrators, related service personnel, paraeducators, and other interested individuals.

Special Education Directors,The ADE/ESS Assistive Technology (AT) team is excited to announce the start of the 2022–23 National Presenter Series with Penny Reed, PhD. This workshop is designed for special educators and related service providers.Assistive Technology Consideration and Assessment Made EasyDate: September 20, 2022Time: 8:00 a.m.−3:30 p.m.Fee: $19 (working lunch, lunch will be provided)Where: Pendergast Community CenterAddress: 10550 W Mariposa St, Phoenix, AZ 85037