June 2017

Membership Services Committee / June 2017

Focus Areas: Skilled Staff

The membership services committee will continue hospitality in the month of February next year and the retirement reception in June. We are working to revise our new member packet and expand Colleague Connections.

Association Partnerships / June 2017

Focus Areas: Skilled Staff

Type: Open Committee

Committee meetings have been set for 2017-2018. The will occur on the Wednesdays two week prior to General Membership meetings. We will continue to meet virtually.

Feedback form the Executive Board help the committee identify 3 areas to focus on for the development of initial one page and PPT overviews if important MAASE work.

• SLIP – Ben Hicks in lead
• ED and ASD – Matt Korolden in lead

Ben Hicks will serve as a MAASE representative to CEC as they review presentation proposals in the leadership strand for the 2018 conference.

Association Partnerships / June 2017

Focus Areas: Skilled Staff

Type: Open Committee

No immediate dates. Team will set 2017-2018 meeting dates following summer leadership meetings.

At the Aprio BoD meeting, the AP committee was asked to draft templates for a one-page MAASE work overview and a presentation format for consideration by the BoD in June. These items were submitted for consideration.

MCEC / June 2017

Focus Areas: Skilled Staff

Type: Board Appointed

MAASE Liaison to MCEC Report

Liaison:  Andy Claes

MAASE Board Meeting Date:  6/12/17

MCEC meeting Date:  6/14/17

Report/Update:  6/8/17

Updates and Activities:

MAASE has elected new members to the board for the 2017-2018 school year.  Abby Allen will be coming on board as the Vice President Elect, Rebecca McIntyre as the ISD/ESA Representative, Ben Hicks as the Region 1b Representative, and Greg Bodrie as the Region 3 Representative.  We look forward to another successful year and welcome our new members.  We would like to thank Donna Jones, and Dave Manson for their service and support on the board for the past several years.

The MAASE membership survey has been well received with 165 responses, with the majority of those completing the survey feeling positive about the organization.  There  is always room for improvement and as we move forward, I hope to use the results of the survey, in conjunction with the board members,  to help set targets for the coming year.  These results and a compilation of the written responses will be shared with board members the June meeting for preview and discussed further at the board retreat.

MCEC and MAASE brought a National CEC, David Bateman, to Michigan on the topic of Leading Special Education at the School Site:  A Comprehensive Workshop.   This workshop was provided in two locations;  Lansing Community College on May 19 and Bay College in Escanaba on May 18.  The attendance in Escanaba was less than we had hoped and this may have influenced by the time of year.  Who would have guessed that the weather in May would prevent the David from reaching the UP?  He was unfortunately stranded in a Chicago hotel but was able to present via the web.  Despite this hiccup, the event was well received by the participants.  We can only assume that David professionally dressed as the audience viewed the slides.

MAASE has scheduled our summer retreat at Shanty Creek Resort for July 16-18.  We are trying something a little different this year with overlapping summer retreats for both MCEC and MAASE. MCEC will be having their retreat on the 17-19th of July.   Our hope is to continue to foster communication and partnership among our two organizations.  As there are approximately 4-6 people on both boards, this may ease the transition between meetings.  We are not looking to combine meetings or interfere with the distinguished goals of either organization.  We are planning an opportunity to have a “social summit” after hours at a local establishment on Monday evening.

MAASE continues work around our four focus areas:  program evaluation, high quality staff, high quality evaluations, and specifically designed instruction.  Look for postings on our website for more information and descriptions of these concepts.  Each of our Communities of Practice are working to align their goals and activities to these four focus areas.

MAASE continues to be engaged in discussion with MAISA to provide guidance and clarity around the 51a (virtual charter school) issues.  Through this ad hoc group, the intent is to help steer solutions that include the nuance of special education rule, FAPE, LRE, and best practice.

Are numbers of people doing the work sufficient for the committee/work groups? Yes

Are there any committee (or work group) members worthy of recognition for extraordinary volunteer services? Not at this time

In general, is reasonable progress being realized? yes

Are there any concerns that should be brought to the attention of the President or MAASE BOD? none

Relevant Target /Objective

Update (Progress since the last meeting)

Increase MCEC and CASE membership to 300 unified members in MAASE/CASE/MCEC

We are currently under 200 unified members.

Planning of the summer retreat

New and retiring board members

Committee Liaisons & Representatives: DAS Advisory Committee / June 2017

Focus Areas: High Quality Student Evaluations

Type: Open Committee

Division of Accountability Services Advisory Committee Notes 5/4/17

FAME Project

1. Formative Assessment for Michigan Educators is looking for more teams and coaches for the 2017-18 school year.

i. Coaches training includes 8 days of cognitive coaching training over a 2 year period.

ii. Learning team members learn strategies, tools, targets and planning.

iii. Team members and coaches are made mostly of teachers

2. Assessment Learning Network (ALN) would like to see more special educators involved with the FAME project.  Currently, Monroe has the only special ed FAME team

3. Guide to Formative Assessment for Students with Disabilities

Vanessa Keesler

1. 10 in 10: almost 2 years in now, stakeholder work is all done, plan has 42 strategies and 7 goals that are very collaborative in nature and involves families.
2. Now what pieces do we need to focus on first?  The 42 strategies will be divvied up between Deputies to begin work:

i.  3^rd grade reading

ii.  MTSS work which will be implemented through the transformation zone and will provide a clear definition

3. ESSA is the vehicle for assessment, accountability, equity, and educator workforce and so our state plan was written to embed the ESSA into our 10 in 10.

i.  June 30 we will know which option of the pan will be utilized the A-F system or no grades just a dashboard for each district (which is the boards preference).

ii.  If they go with the dashboard then the n size of 30 goes away

4. Accountability scorecard will be changed – the intent is to do away with the color coding and top to bottom.

5. MMC – from the MDE’s perspective, MMC is important.  The personalized pathways would be beneficial, but still need the MMC.  It just needs to be personalized.

i.  MSER study did not find any positive effects or negative effects regarding the MMC

ii.  MDE is testifying in support of keeping the MMC

iii.  MASSP supports the MMC as it exists

6. 8^th grade PSAT will be required and M-STEP optional but recommended in order to be included in the accountability scorecard.

7. Trump’s new budget proposes a complete cut to Title II, which would mean a 25 FTE reduction at MDE…those potential reductions would be for staff that also support other initiatives like 31a

8. AP tests will be funded for low income

Early Literacy and Math Benchmarks Assessment

Will have color graphics, large font, no scrolling only page turning, and the look and feel of a video game, human voice audio supports for passages and answers and is vertically aligned with grade 3 M-STEP

1. Accessibility matches grade 3 – text to speech

Item Types

Matching, matching in a table, drag and drop (drag and drop zones are very big and when they get close it will suck it into place), hot spot, hot text, order, choice, and dropdown

1. Available on multiple platforms: Chromebook, iPad, desktop, laptop
2. Reading students are tested in: Reading, writing, language
3. Math students are tested in: counting and cardinality, operations and algebraic thinking, number and operations in base 1-, measurement and data, geometry
4. Spring testing (April 10 – May 26)
5. Timing: 2 sessions (part 1 and part 2)
6. Results are available within 48 hours

3^rd grade Reading Law

1. Section 1a: MDE shall approve 3+ screening, formative, and diagnostic assessment systems – renamed into “initial (given in the beginning of the year) and then extensive would be more appropriate for students being watched.

i.  There are between 20-25 that will be on the approved list

2. Section 1b: MDE shall recommend an early literacy coaching model

i.  Recommendations will come out by June 30 for that model

3. Section 2a, 2b, and 2e: the school board (LEA) shall:

i.  Select 1 screening, develop individual reading plans utilize literacy coaches

4. Section 3a, 3b, 3c: district shall provide reading interventions programs to:

i.  Students who exhibit a reading deficiency

ii.  Grade 3 students who exhibit a reading deficiency

iii. Students identified as ELL

5. Section 5 and 6: Students no enrolled in grade 4 UNLESS:

i.  Achieves proficiency on grade 3

ii.  Demonstrates grade 3 reading level through alternative standards reading assessment (can only be approved by Whiston)

iii.  Demonstrates grade 3 reading level via student portfolio of all ELA standards

iv.  Exception: proficient in all other subjects per grade 3 state assessments AND proficient in science and social studies per student portfolio.

v.  Can only happen 1 time!!!

Section 7 – Students not promoted

1. Assigned to HQ teacher and/or reading specialist
2. Utilize evidenced based reading programs
3. Daily targeted small group or 1-1 reading intervention
4. Ongoing progress monitoring
5. Supplemental reading instruction

Section 8 – Good Cause Exemptions

1. As determined by any 504 coordinator or IEP team
2. Less than 3 years ELL instruction
3. 2+ years intensive reading intervention AND retained in K-3
4. Continuously enrolled in current school less than 2 years AND no evidence of individual reading plan (currently no template for what this plan looks like)
5. Parent guardian request AND agreement of Supe, per best interest of student

Assessment Learning Network

1. One platform that will be used to engage all stakeholders in becoming assessment literate
2. PLC focused on assessment practices is the vehicle for promoting assessment standards

Misc / June 2017

Focus Areas: Program Evaluation

The FAPE in the Virtual Setting committee has combined forces with the Section 51a committee. We have sent out surveys to the MAASE community seeking feedback from members regarding concerns and celebrations in the area of FAPE in Virtual Settings. In our meetings, we have included the expertise of Sharon LaPointe as well. We have decided to look at this issue from 2 different angles. Monitoring and the IEP process will be considered when we review the survey questions and comments as well as doing some research of the states that have policies and procedures in place regarding FAPE in Virtual Settings. The goal is to have guidance in place by the fall.

Connie

Urban Special Education Administrators (CoP) / June 2017

Type: Open Committee

Urban CoP did not meet in June

Social Justice

Equity

Restorative Practices

Supervisors of Low Incidence Programs (SLIP) (CoP) / June 2017

Type: Open Committee

MAASE Summer Institute – SLIP Session scheduled for Tuesday PL Day. Please plan to attend. Agenda items will be sought in July for this meeting time.

No June meeting due to inability to attend and no coverage for this time.

Secondary Transition Administrators (CoP) / June 2017

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

Type: Open Committee

SDI and Skilled Staff: CoP Chairs will be presenting at MAASE Summer Institute regarding secondary transition assessment. CoP developed content for this presentation.

Program Evaluation: Discussion about use of the Brad Rose Logic Model from Tuesday Professional Learning session. CoP agreed to make program evaluation the focus for fall of 2017.

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.

Early Childhood Program Administrators (CoP) / June 2017

Focus Areas: High Quality Student Evaluations, Program Evaluation, Skilled Staff

Type: Open Committee

We will meet for breakfast the Tuesday morning before Summer Institute (our usual lobby spot) just to catch up. We will send a reminder closer to the meeting.

Our June meeting had a wide variety of topics, including:

Birth to 3 periodic reviews

Birth to 3 use of Consent and REED

1862 Waivers

Summer Institute plans for presentations

Primary Service Provider model

Legislative updates (GSRP, Head Start, Kindergarten Readiness Assessment, MSDS Codes, etc.)

ASD Program Special Education Administrators (CoP) / June 2017

Type: Open Committee

Purpose of Meeting

• Share work of workgroup for review and input
• Provide opportunity to identify collaborative opportunities
• Provide opportunity to identify service delivery challenges
• Provide opportunity to enhance collaboration amongst members

Meeting Objectives

• Review April work plan
• Provide workgroup with input to enhance Service Provision document
• Consider action steps to enhance collaboration with providers and agency partners

Agenda Items:

–    Provide update of work on MAASE Autism Insurance Benefit 2013 document: work committee shared updated document and is asking committee members for quick feedback for any edits.

–  Collaboration with agency partners in region/protocol for common language across providers

–  Looking ahead to 2017-18: determine next steps for disseminating and implementation of guidance document across MAASE membership and service providers in our state