March 7, 2012 ESC-20/AACASE Special Education Director Meeting

 The process for Nonpublic school placements is the same with the addition of new procedures for placements into previously approved nonpublic schools  Procedures can be found on the PMI webpage  LEA will submit their request for non-public placements to or  The TEA representative will review the letter of intent to contract with the non-public facility, the LEA assurance checklist and the student’s IEP  For further questions, you may contact Judy Struve directly

 Letter Enclosed  Area with required action is Critical Element 3: Dispute Resolution  See Page 3 of 7  Due to findings, the ARD Guide and Procedural Safeguard documents will be revised within the 60-day timeline. Print in small quantities until new release.

 See HB 359 Matrix

 Cindy Swain,TEA, recently shared that the previous answer on the (IEP) Annual Goal Development Q&A said exactly what TEA thought was correct at the time it was reviewed.(IEP) Annual Goal Development  Progress reports must be provided in the manner of calculation outlined in the measurable goal in order to provide information on progress toward meeting the annual goal.  While that is logical and TEA does not believe that canned comments like mastered or continued give the necessary information, the law does NOT require that the data be collected in a certain way or that the progress be reported in a certain way.  The work on the model IEP form has made TEA look at compliance differently, so they continue to be thoughtful about how we present the must and should information to school districts and parents.

The IDEA does not provide any specific requirements as to the contents of periodic progress reports. A best practice strategy, however, is to report progress using numerical data. For example, if the goal or objective states that the student will perform a skill correctly four out of five times, then the progress report would reflect how many times out of five the student successfully performed the skill. Similarly, if the goal or objective states that the student will do something with 80% accuracy, then the student’s progress would be reported in terms of a percentage. If numerical data are not included, specific information regarding the student’s progress should be provided. Simply including generic statements such as “progress being made” or “continuing” should be avoided.

 See Enclosed Letter

 SPP 7 is currently open  SPP 13 and 14 online application will open on April 1, 2012  SPP 11 and 12 online application will open on July 1, 2012  All applications will close on August 31, 2012  After the closing date of August 31, 2012, the TEA cannot return data for any of the SPP applications and there is NO appeals process  The LEA's performance on the compliance indicators will be used by the Agency in the annual Determinations analysis  LEA's performance on the compliance indicators will be reflected in the LEA public reporting on SPP Indicators in the spring  Any issues related to the submission of inaccurate data or the non submission of data will be addressed by the Division of Program Monitoring and Intervention

 TEASE training documents are posted at ESC-20 Website: blic/SpecialEducation  There can only be one Certifier per district for each SPP application.  If the person established as the Certifier has left that position or the district, then that role will need to be revoked by the Superintendent before a new Certifier can apply for access.  All LEAs are encouraged to review their TEASE roles for all SPP applications.

Larry Rodriguez

Evelyn Villarreal