ISD Collaborative (CoP)

ISD Collaborative (CoP) / October 2018

Focus Areas: High Quality Student Evaluations, Program Evaluation, Skilled Staff, Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)

Type: Open Committee

• Next ISD Collaborative CoP meeting will be on Monday December 3rd at Clinton County RESA.
  • 10:00-12:00 Presentation on State Complaints
  • 1:00-3:00 Regular Business
• Region 2 has started preliminary conversation about the Spring 2019 conference.

• A Catamaran Support session was provided from 10:00-12:00
• Updates from SEAC and the Data Advisory Committee were provided.
  • Discussion of revision to the business rules for dropout calculation
• Discussion of the status of transition assessment consent requirement across the state
• Special Education obligation at Alternative Ed/Adult Ed was discussed by the group
• General Supervision Grant status was discussed by the group
• Catamaran topics including state complaint work flow and SLCAP/CAP verification
• New monitoring manual was discussed
• Regional reports were provided

ISD Collaborative (CoP) / April 2018

Focus Areas: High Quality Student Evaluations, Program Evaluation, Skilled Staff, Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)

• Bridging the Gap Conference – May 10th – 11th in St. Ignace
• Next ISD Collaborative CoP scheduled for June 11th from Noon – 3 at Clinton County RESA

• Janet Timbs & Charles Thomas provided an overview of the Virtual Monitoring process and answered questions from the group
• The group received updates from the March DAS meeting
• The group received updates from the Michigan Transition Services Association Conference
• The group discussed the possibility of creating a searchable complaints database
• The group shared their experiences with FMs/CAPs
• Current Complaints were discussed, group provided support to one another in resolving Complaint questions
• Current activities in Catamaran were discussed
• The group approved the nomination and appointment of Steve Berg for co-chair of the ISD Collaborative, replacing Darla Jackson whose term ends at the end of this school year.
• Conversation on risk/threat assessments, resources to be shared out via email
• Regional reports

ISD Collaborative (CoP) / October 2017

Focus Areas: High Quality Student Evaluations, Program Evaluation, Skilled Staff, Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)

The next ISD Collaborative CoP has been scheduled for Wednesday December 6th at 7:00 am.

• The new ISD Collaborative CoP description was shared with the group.
• MI Monitor Listserv will be shut down.  A new ISD Collaborative CoP Listserv will be started.
• Discussion of ESSA and the 1% cap and the role that ISDs will play in this.  See MDEs 1% Cap Guidance for ISDs for more information:  http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/1_Cap_Guidance_for_ISDs_595801_7.pdf
• Discussion of district’s experiences in implementing the new Seclusion & Restraint legislation.
• Discussion of ABA Therapy in the schools and potential supplanting issues.  Several resources on this topic were emailed to the group.
• Catamaran – In person regional trainings will be held at:
  • Monroe – date TBA
  • KRESA – 11/13/17 tentative date
  • Clare-Gladwin – date TBA
  • COP – 11/16/17
• Discussion of B13 CAPs – be on the lookout for inconsistencies between the district’s letter of findings and their SLCAPs
• Discussion of B12 CAP Verification – some are utilizing their Special Education management system reports to access names for data verification.  Others are waiting for reports to be loaded in Catamaran.
• Discussion of experiences with FM Visits
• Complaint experiences shared
• Regional Reports
  • Region 1 is beginning discussions for a Spring Conference, will partner with Directors to assess support of the Conference and identify any possible areas of focus
  • Region 2 has been working on collecting some of their resources in a central location
  • Region 3 has not met yet, a report will be provided in December
  • Region 4 has been partnering with their Directors on work around the CrEAG
• Action Items – members to check in with their Directors to find out more about any plans in place in the counties to make sure their member districts are aware of/abiding with the requirements of IDEA.  Group to report back out in December.

ISD Collaborative (CoP) / June 2017

Focus Areas: High Quality Student Evaluations, Program Evaluation, Skilled Staff, Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)

Type: Open Committee

CIMS: Data Quality Concerns
B4 and Sig Dispro: An extensive amount of incorrect discipline data was pushed into CIMS workbooks which resulted in issuance of warning letters and identification of Sig Dispro for Discipline.  It is highly recommend  to compare CIMS student level data with actual MSDS data on the Discipline and Consequence Summary for Fall 2015, Spring 2016 and EOY 2016 to verify the accuracy of the discipline data for your locals.

*Please note, the local districts did not receive their student data, only the ISD and so only the ISD can verify this information.

It is very important that if there are ANY discrepancies identified you report the discrepancy to John Robertson robertsonj@michigan.gov  and COPY Jessica Brady bradyj@michigan.gov and then request a recalculation and new letters to be issued that reflect the new percentages and ratios.

Ed Environments: warning letters were issued on May 15 with districts receiving warning letters for actually being in compliance.  It appears there was a mail merge issue and so MDE pulled back all letters and reissued approximately a week later.

Timely, Valid and Reliable Data was issued as part of the Determinations.  TVR looks at the static list of students enrolled during Spring 2016 and EOY 16 count and the exit status for the same group of students in EOY 16 and Fall 16.  It is important to identify LEAs and PSAs who may not be exiting students  in a timely fashion and work with them to improve their exit processes.

Complaints:
MDE recommended referring to Due Process Complaint 16-00246 from April 20, 2017 for an example of a behavior related due process case.

There are timeline conflicts in CIMS.  The final decision for any complaint

Accountability: Sending Scores Back Program Discontinued:

As per Matt Gleason of MDE, effective 2016-17 and beyond under the new state level accountability system, there is no district level accountability and so no entity level to send scores back to.  To continue with the SEE program under the new accountability system would remove non-resident students from the accountability entirely and present issues of bias in reporting on special populations.

Effective 16-17 school year, the sending scores back program will no longer exist. Current SEE’s and S2E2’s will be used for reporting purposes only.

The concern is that indicator data will show up in CIMS, but not on your accountability scorecard and so will be a very big issue for any district operating regional or center based programs.   Teri Chapman is looking into this. Superintendent Whiston is willing to revisit the conversation but doesn’t understand why it would be needed under a dashboard accountability system.

This is also an issue in regards to the 1% CAP proficiency CAP that will be discontinued and also all the Ed Environment letters that were just issued to the center based programs around the state were most likely reflective of this change.

ISD Collaborative (CoP) / April 2017

Focus Areas: Program Evaluation, Skilled Staff, Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)

Type: Open Committee

Region 4 is hosting the Michigan ISD Representatives for Compliance and Technical Assistance Conference at the Courtyard Marriott in Detroit on May 10-12. The focus of the conference this year is on collaboration and includes guest speakers such as Chris Collins of Wayne Sate, Randy Liepa Superintendent of Wayne RESA and includes breakout sessions with topics including “Implementing Seclusion and Restraint”, “Establishing Effective Resource Programs” and “Adaptive Skills for Effective Technical Assistance Consultation.

The MDE-OSE and the EOTTA are working to revamp the B12 data formula.  We participated in a cross collaboration with the Early Childhood CoP and a representative from the EOTTA joined us to discuss the proposed changes, answer questions about the changes and to solicit feedback regarding the changes.

This group discussed the recent B13 webinar that was held on April 3.

1. During the webinar one of the presenters reported that if multiple community agencies are identified then multiple consent to invites are required.  This issue was clarified later in the webinar and it was clearly stated that if an IEP system will allow for multiple communities agencies to populate on 1 consent form, then that is acceptable.
2. the OSE will be looking more deeply at the alignment between post-secondary goals and the course of study.  A student who wants to be a nurse should not be on a certificate of completion track, that is a misalignment.
3. The OSE would like to see the entire IEP uploaded for verification.  It was shared that if compliance could not be found in the obvious location, then they would look at other areas of the IEP for it, if the whole IEP is available.  Otherwise, they will simply issue non-compliance.
4. Like last year, if a district is non-compliance in the same area then they will not be issued a CAP, as it will be an UNC.

Center Programs and graduation rates have been a hot topic.  There are 2 types of graduation rates, 1) MISchoolData which is purely an operating district rate and 2) the accountability scorecard which is a resident district rate.  MISchoolData the public reporting portal and so the media report what they see on this site, which may be lower for districts who operate center programs.

Seclusion and Restraint: Teri Chapman reported that 4-6 cross representatives will meet in May and will be the writers of the Seclusion and Restraint guidelines.  Local District S&R Policies must be completed by start of SY2017-18 along with a mandatory training, which includes substitute teachers.

ISD Collaborative (CoP) / December 2016

Focus Areas: Program Evaluation, Skilled Staff

Type: Open Committee

Monitor’s Conference: 

This year’s Monitor’s Conference will be hosted by Region 4 in Detroit, May 10-12.

Registration will begin Wednesday, May 10 at 12:00PM with an optional group dinner at 6:00PM.  There is a team building activity planned for Wednesday evening at 5:00PM, so please try to arrive for that.

The Monitor’s Conference will have the 4 MAASE Focus Areas embedded throughout.

ISD Plan Amendment Requests: The majority of members of this group received letters from MDE asking that amendments be made to the ISD Plan due to 1862 language changes.  Some ISD’s have already submitted amended plans and have had them approved.  Discussion revolved around the Guidance on Early child hood Michigan Mandatory Special Education and Early On Services for Infants and Toddlers Birth to Three Funding Support document and what language changes are being implemented that have successfully been approved.

Complaints: Five ISDs have been involved in complaint outcomes where the MDE-OSE has investigated an eligibility issue and over turned eligibility in their final report.  Discussion among this groups members revolved around the MDE-OSE interpretation that State complaint procedures can be used to resolve any complaint that meets requirements of 300.153, including matters concerning identification, evaluation, educational placement , or the provision of FAPE.  The MDE-OSE has stated that If the SEA determines that the public agency’s eligibility determination is not supported by child-specific facts. The SEA can order the public agency, on a case-by-case basis, to reconsider the eligibility determination, in light of those facts.  MDE-OSE has interpreted “reconsider” to mean overturn.

ISD Collaborative (CoP) / October 2016

Focus Areas: Program Evaluation, Skilled Staff, Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)

Type: Open Committee

The Monitors will be taking over Motown in May! This years Monitor’s conference will be held May 10-12 at the Marriott Courtyard in Detroit. Region 4 is working hard to plan a fabulous agenda that will align with the 4 MAASE focus areas. More to come!

REED Rubric Presentation: Renee Thelen (Ionia ISD) and Jamieson Bennet (Berrien RESA) collaborated to create a REED Rubric.  Renee and Jamie gave a brief presentation to the group and shared the rubric with everyone to be used in efforts to improve the quality and consistency of REEDs.

Renee and Jamie also presented the REED Rubric at MAASE Summer Institute and were able to make additional adjustments and enhancements that were based on feedback from participants at SI.  They also demonstrated the effectiveness of the REED Rubric with the Region 3 Monitors.  As a group we all looked at a REED document and were able to use the rubric to come up with a common perspective on the quality of the REED and the needed improvements to share with the staff who complete them.  This product will result in an increase of highly skilled staff.

Renee and Jamie, the Mi Monitors thank you for your work on this project and your leadership!

51A Presentation: Tom Koepke presented to the group regarding 51a.  There are a lot of questions regarding 51a and Macomb County has some materials that they have created and shared with the group.  They are meeting with charters individually in order to start the 51a conversations.  Although Macomb is leading the charge, they say there are still many questions surrounding how virtual schools are providing FAPE.

This dangling question will align nicely with the Virtual FAPE work group that was just put together by MAASE, which will align with MAASE focus area of program evaluation and specially designed instruction.

Parent Friendly Procedural Safeguards: There have been many suggestions in the past to create a set of parent friendly procedural safeguards as a way to be more parent friendly and an attempt to eliminate the us vs. them feeling that some parents experience when they are dealing with schools. The intent would be to create a product that would better inform parents of their rights and avenues available for pursuing those rights in partnership with the school/district.  A group will begin to start the conversation on this.

Sig Dispro Formula:  It was discovered that sig dispro data may be incorrect for districts located within ISD’s who operate under their own schools of choice plan.  The sig dispro formula will send a data for a student coded as 02 schools of choice under 105 or 03 schools of choice under 105c to the actual school who accepted them under schools of choice.  However, districts who utilize their own schools of choice plan are not allowed to use the CEPI codes of 02 and 03, and so must use 06.  The data for any student coded as an 06, according to the sig dispro forumla, goes back to the Resident District based on address.  This caused several schools in Kent to be considered as Sig Dispro when they were not.  The recommendation is to check and see what Schools of Choice Plan your ISD operates under and then verify data.  MDE has adjusted the Sig Dispro formula now so that the data for any student coded as an 06 will and NOT IEP Placed will go to the Resident District providing FAPE, NOT based on address.

ISD Collaborative (CoP) / February 2017

Focus Areas: Program Evaluation, Skilled Staff

Type: Open Committee

MICHIGAN ISD REPRESENTATIVES FOR COMPLIANCE AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CONFERENCE

May 10-12, 2017

Courtyard by Marriott Detroit Downtown

Join colleagues from across Michigan in networking to share ideas and resources, mentor new staff, learn and develop guidance documents, provide technical assistance, and much more! 

Target Audience: ISD Special Education Representatives/Technical Assistance Providers
Learning Objectives: Participants will develop an understanding related to Program Evaluation and Skilled Staff, including the impact of recent education policy efforts and key topics related to special education law and policy.

B12 Data Issues: Kent ISD and Macomb ISD have been collaborating with MDE regarding the validity of data pushed into CIMS workbooks as findings of non-compliance.

1. SRMs that were entered during the approved appeals window (July 15 – Sept 15, 2016) were not accounted for in the B12 data pushed to workbooks.
2. Any child who fell into the following category was considered noncompliant:
   • EO and MMSE eligible,
   • not yet 3 years old,
   • transition conference held, and
   • exited on an IFSP with a code of 34 “Completion of IFSP”

Category #2 above is a large issue, because Part C allowable processes are resulting in Part B noncompliance.  MDE-OSE states that even if the child is not yet 3 years old, if they are MMSE eligible, then they need to be exited on an IEP or at the very least an Initial IEP component must be submitted to MSDS.  The EOTTA does not support that statement.  What we know so far, is that MDE-OSE has reached out to OSEP for guidance on this issue and that in the meantime, the districts who were issue CAPS have been asked to submit their CAPS with statements that “the district does not believe the finding to be accurate and will not address the student(s) until further guidance has been issued from MDE-OSE”.

Former “MAT” members and a few ISD Directors met to discuss the future of this CoP.  The group came up with 5 areas our group should focus on, on a go forward basis:

1. Data
2. Collaboration with others
3. Strengthening Family Coordination
4. Technical Assistance
5. Professional Development