Special Education Administrative Support and Performance Based Monitoring

Accountability and Planning

Provide assistance to facilitate ongoing compliance and preparation of special education performance-based monitoring.
Assistance in addressing 125% issues.
Assistance with addressing and implementing continuous improvement plans.
Provide training and technical assistance to LEA's/SSA's to facilitate the accountability and needs assessment process.
Assistance with addressing state determination issues.

Accountability and Monitoring

Pre-planning and preparation for initial monitoring visit and/or onsite monitoring
Technical Assistance/professional development regarding monitoring documents and responsibilities of district and charter school personnel
Assistance with addressing and implementing continuous improvement plans

RF Monitoring

Provide technical assistance and support for all aspects of residential facilities monitoring.

ESC Region 10 Public Meeting Final Report: 2009-2010

Region 10

Indicator 8:

Required Indicator

Question: What activities and practices can schools implement to encourage parent involvement that will result in improve student outcomes?

LEAs should encourage and nurture trust/respect by inviting parents for classroom observations, encourage classroom/campus opportunities for parents to volunteer, provide opportunities for 2-way communication and training, and be respectful of parent’s schedules, transportation needs and child-care needs when scheduling ARDS and meetings.
Establish an LEA ombudsman/case manager/advocate approach when the child is referred and then determined eligible so that families and the school have a single point of contact throughout the child’s special education educational career. This would encourage the school to have knowledge of the “whole” child and the parents/families to have a person whom they can trust to give them support, guidance, and important information so that parents can see the “big picture” of their child’s educational programming. This would also encourage a more thorough discussion at the local level when disagreements or misunderstandings occur.
Hold schools accountable for quality parent training and hold staff accountable for appropriate treatment and interactions with parents; also hold campus administrators responsible for a climate that discourages/encourages parent involvement.
Create and implement school sponsored events (maybe 3 to 4 a year) that include both parents and staff members whose mission statement is to support students with special needs.
Mandate an annual “state of the LEA special education program” in every LEA to provide parents and stakeholders with explanations of how the special education program is performing and then have annual meetings at the LEA that allows this type of public meeting format for improvement planning.

Region 10

Indicators 1 & 2:

Question: When it appears that s student with disabilities may not graduate, what can the school, parents, and the communities do to prevent the student from dropping out?

Build business-school collaborative's that offer supported employment opportunities; provide the businesses that join with incentives for establishing the skill-sets necessary for employment and then provide quality training to students with special needs that ensures that the businesses involved have a qualified employment pool.
Provide vocational technical schools that focus on specialized skills that meet the needs of students with disabilities
Start post secondary planning much earlier—at least by the junior high years so that students become involved in student-centered planning for their future.
Provide opportunities to parents and students to gain a bigger picture of the special education time frames, process, and school training opportunities so they all can make appropriate plans for the future
Mandate that adult service agencies and service providers are at the planning table by no later than the junior year in high school and hold those agencies accountable for their part of the post secondary adult services and support.

Region 10

Indicators 4:

Question: How can positive behavior support be implemented by parents, schools and other local agencies to keep students with IEPS in their classrooms?

Train all school staff and parents of students (both gen. ed. and sped) on the differences between positive behavior supports and the discipline assignments required under the student code of conduct.
Always determine the function of the behavior for a students with special needs before assigning an out of classroom discipline assignment such as ISS, OSS or DAEP—this analysis may indicate a need for social skills training, alternative teaching approaches, more intervention as a result of harassment or bullying, etc. and not a need for punishment of the student with disabilities.
For students with sensory issues, all staff need to be aware of how sensory stimulus may have impacted the student’s behavior and all school/ transportation staff (not just teachers) need to be trained on all aspects of sensory issues.
Hold principals and staff accountable when BIP is not implemented as designed—do not punish a student for what the adult has done to either stimulate the inappropriate behavior or reward it.
Limit the use of law enforcement agencies or SROs in the school for behaviors that are persistent misbehaviors or minor incidents (student is not endangering himself or others) when dealing with students with disabilities; this growing practice has taken the responsibility/accountability of appropriately implementing the BIP out of the campus’s hands and has completely placed punishment into the hands of the law enforcement officers.

Rosemary Manges
Telephone: 972-348-1770
FAX: 972-348-1771
Email: rosemary.manges@region10.org