What if you had a clear, actionable roadmap for making inclusion thrive? That’s what you’ll find in The Way to Inclusion: Leadership Book Study. If this question has been circling in your mind as a Special Education Director, School Administrator, Special Education Teacher, General Education Teachers, or Instructional Coach, this virtual book study is for you!

 Virtual Meetings will be held via Zoom from 3:30-5:00 pm.

• January 15
• February 5 and 19
• March 5
• April 1   

 Together, we’ll tackle barriers, strengthen collaboration, and create systems that work for educators and students.

 Join authors Dr. Julie Causton and Dr. Kristie Pretti-Frontczak in partnership with the Arizona Department of Education’s Exceptional Student Services Academic Achievement & Inclusive Practices Team as they guide you through strategies that help you:

✅ Build systems that support all learners
✅ Redesign schedules and staff roles
✅ Strengthen collaboration
✅ Lead change with courage and clarity

This is inclusion made doable, and creating a space for Arizona leaders to reimagine what’s possible.

 Sign up now!

 Learn about the facilitators: https://inclusiveschooling.com/about.

 For additional questions, please contact Academic Achievement & Inclusive Practices.

We are pleased to announce that both the SPED73 and SPED07 reports have been updated and finalized to reflect integrity processing (State SPED, FED SPED, ADM, and Accountability) and data submitted through the Phase II deadline of December 10, 2025.

The SPED07 report will be considered the final data for federal reporting purposes and non-reconciliation activities, if applicable to your PEA.

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we worked to ensure that the SPED07 report is accurate, valid, and final. 

For questions, please email the ESS Data Management inbox. 

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

SPED73 and SPED07 Report Update

Due to an issue with the Data Mart processing, the SPED73 and SPED07 reports were last updated on December 8, 2025. These reports should be updated later today, and we will send a follow-up alert to advise when they are available based on last night’s integrity run.

As a reminder, the SPED73 report provides a list of students receiving special education services, indicating whether each student was counted in the federally reported ESS October 1 Child Count.

The SPED07 report displays a list of students ages 3-21 identified in AzEDS as receiving special education services over the October 1 child count date, as of the most recent integrity run.

In the meantime, we recommend using the SPED72 report to view a student’s integrity status, which indicates whether they are passing or failing.

The final SPED07 report will be generated on Thursday, December 11, after 10:00 am.

We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

For questions, please email the ESS Data Management inbox. 

Updated Discipline Data Guidance Document Now Available

The ESS Data Management team would like to inform you that an updated version of our Discipline Data Reporting Guidance is now available on the AzEDS SPED Reporting page. The updated guidance offers clarification, specifying the required discipline incident reporting to align with the reporting requirements set forth by the United States Department of Education and the Office of Special Education Programs.

Questions related to required discipline incident reporting for special education data collection purposes can be directed to the ESS Data Management inbox.

Please see the attached memo, which contains ADE guidance to assist public education agencies (PEAs) in planning compliant and effective graduation pathways for students with disabilities. The ADE Exceptional Student Services (ESS), Academic Standards, Accountability, and School Finance sections collaborated in the development of this document. This memo is also being added to the “Trending Topics” section of the ADE/ESS website.

For additional information, please refer to the contact details provided in the memo.

Are your staff looking for new professional learning on current special education topics? We have an excellent opportunity for them!

Special Education Learning Experiences for Competency in Teaching (SELECT) is a federally funded program sponsored by ADE/ESS and 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.

Review the NAU SELECT Spring At-A-Glance flyer to view classes in each of the three sessions, or click the links below to register. Registration closes when classes are full or two weeks before the start of class.

Register for the January 12 – February 13, 2026 Session

• Exceptional Children in General Education Programs: Inclusion in Early Childhood
• Behavioral Management in Special Education: Trauma-Informed Practices
• Methods and Materials in Special Education: High Leverage Practices: Collaboration
• Administration and Supervision of Special Education: Legal Aspects and Compliance

Register for the February 16 – March 27, 2026 Session

• Administration and Supervision of Special Education: Conflict Resolution
• Behavioral Management in Special Education: Advanced Tier 2 PBIS & MTSS Problem-Solving Systems
• Methods and Materials in Special Education: High-Leverage Practices: Data-Driven Planning
• Methods and Materials in Special Education: Principles and Practices of Effective Co-Teaching

Register for the March 30 – May 1, 2026 Session

• Exceptional Children in General Education Programs: Autism and Communication Skills
• Diagnosis and Assessment of Exceptional Children: Psycho-Educational Assessment and Interpretation for Special Education Administrators
• Foundations of Special Education: Secondary Transition for Students with Disabilities
• Assistive Technology Applications: Literacy

Course Options

• Read more about professional growth contact hours: Free for those seeking professional development.
• Read more about university credit: Ideal for teachers or administrators who need official transcripts.

For more information, please email the SELECT Inbox.

Help your team grow their expertise—share this opportunity today!

ESS/PSM is excited to announce that in-person regional training opportunities will be available this school year. These trainings are free for participants and will cover two key topics: completing a mock student file review and accessing resources for crafting a compliant Prior Written Notice.

Dates, times, and locations are listed below. To register, please email Veronica Reza directly. Please register by December 19, 2025.

If you have any further questions, please contact your PEA-assigned PSM specialist.

The SPED School Concurrency vs Federal Primary Need Indicator Guidance has been modified to reflect updates for the 2025-2026 reporting year.

Direct questions to the ESS Data Management Inbox.

Office Hours 

To help you be more successful in the Reconciliation (Phase II), ESS Data Management is offering PEA’s the opportunity to meet 1-on-1 with an ESS Data Management Specialist via Microsoft Teams. Feel free to register for an appointment by visiting our Bookings page.

The FY26 training for the October 1 Data Collection – Phase II was held on Thursday, November 13, 2025. If you were unable to attend, you still can view the recorded webinar. For your convenience, you can access the webinar on Vimeo, or the ODC Webpage. 

Be sure to watch the Phase II training video prior to signing up for an appointment. 

Should you have any questions, please email the ESS Data Management inbox. 

For the Special Education Data Updates (SEDU) webinar scheduled for tomorrow, November 19, at 2:00 PM, please note that Monica Paz from School Finance will be unable to present due to illness. While this is unfortunate, we have rescheduled this special session for Tuesday, December 2, at 2:00 PM. Save your School Finance questions for the rescheduled SEDU session with Monica Paz.  

You can register for the rescheduled session here: December 2026 SEDU.

Meanwhile, tomorrow’s SEDU webinar is still happening! With the October 1 Data Reconciliation Phase underway, we would like to use this time to provide the field the opportunity to ask general, troubleshooting questions about data reporting issues they may have. No personally identifiable information (PII), please.

For your convenience, we’ve attached a condensed version of tomorrow’s presentation for reference.

We hope you’ll take advantage of this additional SEDU session and join us!