newsletternewsletter · 2015. 4. 8. · [email protected] or 501-683-7219. to request scantron forms...
TRANSCRIPT
Volume 9, Issue 1 February 2015
NewsletterNewsletter
Besides the Cycle
webinars being
available for viewing at
your convenience there
are also eSchool
training videos.
eSchool - Core Modules
1. Introduction
2. Employee Module
3. Referral tracking
4. School Age Module
5. Early Childhood Module
6. CEIS Module
eSchool - Generating Reports and Advance Search
1. AR Special Education Reports
2. Advance Search Teacher Caseload
3. Advance Search Referral Tracking
4. Advance Search For RC and DO Codes
5. Advance Search using Excel for Age and Re-
evaluation List
6. Advance Search Employees in Staff
Information
If there are reports that you would like to see video
training on, please contact Tammy Garrison at
Cycle 4 Webinars
1. DDS
2. School Age
3. Early Childhood
Cycle 7 and Data
Entry Webinars
Coming Soon to a Computer Near You!
Technology is upon us!
With updated technology comes change and
instant access to knowledge and learning. While
most of you were relaxing
and enjoying the winter
vacation from school, Tammy
Garrison was diligently
working to accelerate your
availability to training videos.
Yes that’s right, training at
your convenience.
On the ADE webpage
arksped.k12.ar.us
1) Click Data & Research (under SEU Menu)
2) Click Training Material (One the right)
3) Click Training Videos
Be sure to click on the YouTube Icon to receive
email notices when new training videos are
available OR search YouTube for the ADE SPED
Channel and subscribe
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E
1 Training at your convenience
2-4 Family Survey - Strategies/Reminders
5-7 Family Survey - On-Line Reporting/Instruction
8 Professional Development Opportunities
9 General Information
9 Just For Fun Recipe
Providing Parents/Guardians the
Opportunity to Participate in the Family
Survey is a Requirement!!
In accordance with federal reporting
requirements LEAs MUST provide parents/
guardians the opportunity to participate in
the family survey. It is recommended that
LEAs document the offer to participate
whenever the opportunity is provided. This
is an area Monitoring will be discussing
during on-site monitoring.
Responding parents/guardians numbers
increased in 2013-14 for early childhood
and school age programs. The response rate
is approximately 37% of the 3-21 child
count. If all parents are being offered the
opportunity to answer the survey for each
child at annual review conference, parent
teacher conferences, or other times during
the year one would expect to have a much
higher response rate.
There are concerns about the response rate.
1. LEAs are not offering parents the
opportunity to participate each school
year
2. LEAs are not submitting the scan forms
to IDEA Data & Research for processing
by the deadline.
3. LEAs are not keying photo copies of the
survey into the web-based system prior
to the fiscal year rollover on July 15th.
4. Scantron forms are not submitted with
accurate LEA numbers, Resident LEA
numbers, race/ethnicity codes and
primary disability codes
Family survey scan forms from school
districts and Co-ops MUST be received no
later than June 30th to be included in the
data collection for that school year. The DDS
programs have until July 15th since they
operate throughout June. The IDEA Data &
Research Office spends an additional 2-4
weeks preparing the surveys for
scanning. Surveys not received by the
deadlines are processed for the following
year.
Family Survey – Strategies LEAs with high response rates on the family
surveys implement some or all of the
following strategies for improving response
rates. The most important strategy is to
communicate with parents and staff.
Communication is KEY:
Communicate with parents/guardians as to
why the survey is being conducted. The LEA
staff should:
inform parents about the survey,
explaining how it is part of a federal data
collection and the LEA is required to
provide parents/ guardians the
opportunity to participate;
Inform parents how important their
answers are for the improvement of
services to children with disabilities;
review the survey format with the
parents; and
discuss any questions on the survey
believed to be unclear.
Be proactive:
The single most important tip we can give is
to actively monitor response rates within
your district and take measures to address
low rates. Some districts discuss their
Family Survey Response Rates (RR) in
formal meetings, others distribute
memorandums, and others have held
competitions between schools or districts to
reward those with highest RR’s.
Communicate expectations:
Assuming you have followed step 1, it is
crucial to communicate your expectations
for improving response rates to the staff
involved in distributing these surveys.
The introduction of accountability
measures will not be effective if
communication is poor. For example,
districts requesting many surveys but with
very low response rates may be
experiencing the results of poorly
communicated expectations.
Incorporate into annual conference:
The most logical time to distribute these
surveys is during the annual conference. All
districts we spoke with are utilizing this
dedicated “face time” to distribute their
family surveys.
Note: We strongly suggest that you distribute
surveys face-to-face.
Consider in-house data entry:
Some districts have internalized the data
entry process by utilizing in-house staff to
enter responses to Family Surveys into the
online system (Link: Online Family
Surveys). This method ensures that surveys
do not get damaged or lost during transit
through the Postal system.
When you choose to enter in-house, you can
make the process a part of the annual review
resulting in a greater amount of
participation, less time consuming and a
more cost effective process.
As your annual review comes to an end, you
have to make copies of forms for the
attendees. Ask the parent/guardian to take a
few minutes to answer the survey questions
while you make copies. And the benefits of
this are:
You occupy their time while making
copies
You don’t have to distribute and collect
Scantron forms
Less forms damaged in transport to and
from school rendering them unable to
scan
You save money on postage
Family Survey online system is a win-win
for everyone. See pages 5-7 for detailed
instructions.
Note: This method still requires your staff to
maintain confidentiality of results as well as staff
time to enter responses into the system.
Use all opportunities to make contact
with parents:
Depending upon your district’s methods,
there may be multiple opportunities to
distribute the Family Survey during the
annual conference. One district distributes
the survey while parents are waiting to enter
the conference room. Others distribute the
survey at the end of the conference. Still
others distribute the survey at parent teacher
conferences for parents who do not attend
the scheduled annual conference.
Family Surveys – Reminders Only use the family surveys with six
racial/ethnic categories. If your
Scantron® forms do not include six
racial/ethnic categories please request
current forms and discard the previous
forms. Remember that surveys submitted
to IDEA for processing must be on
original Scantron® forms and must be
completed in pencil.
There are four areas which an LEA
should fill out prior to giving the survey
to the parent if possible
LEA Number
Building Code or Resident LEA
Number
Race/Ethnicity (select all that apply)
Disability (select only primary)
*Note: The corresponding bubbles MUST
be filled in under the LEA Number. Failure
to fill in the bubbles can result in a
noncompliance for Indicator 20.
Fill out the LEA number on each survey.
Surveys sent to districts are tracked by
district and survey number. A LEA
Supervisor with more than one district
could in error give one districts surveys
to another. Without the LEA number on
the survey the original district would get
the credit not the actual district who had
the survey filled out.
If you want survey reports at the building
level (school age) or by resident LEA
(early childhood) please be sure to fill in
that portion of the survey form and send
a request to [email protected]
If an LEA prints the survey from the
internet or photo copies a scan form, the
LEA is responsible for entering the
survey results into the online survey
form.
Photo copied forms sent to the IDEA
Data & Research Office will be
returned to the LEA.
Document the offering of the family
survey during the Annual Review
Conference or any other time. Be sure to
documentation includes
the date the survey opportunity was
offered
the method of delivery (face-to-face
(scan form, photo copy, internet
access, mail)
whether or not the parent accepted the
opportunity
Family survey passcodes are different
from MySped Resource passwords and
can be shared with teachers and families.
When sharing the passcode remember to
provide instructions as outlined on the
next three pages of the newsletter.
If you do not know
your family survey
passcodes contact
Nancy Rea at
501-683-7219.
To request Scantron forms email Nancy
Rea at [email protected]. Please include
the following in your email:
1. District LEA Numbers
2. Type of Survey being requested: Early
Childhood, School Age, or both
3. Number surveys requesting
4. Name of the requestor
5. Contact Number of the requestor
6. Mailing Address
TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Data Entry Training (face-to-face)
Location:
APSCN Computer Lab
101 East Capitol, Suite 101
Little Rock, Arkansas 72203
Dates:
School Age Monday, April 20 @ 9:00am to 3:00pm
Friday, April 24 @ 9:00am to 3:00pm
Early Childhood Monday, April 27 @ 9:00am to 3:00pm
Friday, May 1 @ 9:00am to 3:00pm
DDS Tuesday, April 28 @ 9:00am
Tuesday, April 28 @ 1:00pm
Questions about training?
Contact:
Tammy Garrison
or (501)683-7219
Webinar Trainings
Cycle 7 , 2015
Reporting Requirements
School Age Tuesday, May 5 @ 2:00pm to 3:00pm
Wednesday, May 6 @ 2:00pm to 3:00pm
Thursday, May 7 @ 2:00pm to 3:00pm
State Agencies (ADC & CHDC) Tuesday, May 5 @ 10:00am to 11:00am
Early Childhood Thursday, April 30 @ 10:00am to 11:00am
Thursday, April 30 @ 2:00pm to 3:00pm
DDS Wednesday, April 29 @ 10:00am to 11:00am
Wednesday, April 29 @ 2:00pm to 3:00pm
Survey Monkey Registration Link: Click here to register
OR
Follow the instructions on the
Data & Research web page by clicking on
Training Opportunities and Training Schedule
IM P O RTA N T RE S O U R C E S
IDEA Data & Research Office
(501) 683-7219
If you need training in APSCN applications, please
contact Tammy Garrison at the number above or
email her at [email protected] to request a spot
on the training waiting list. Once we have enough
individuals on the list, we will then schedule a train-
ing at APSCN in Little Rock. Make sure to give us
the names of the individuals to be placed on the list,
email and mailing addresses, phone numbers, and
LEA name and number.
DIS/APSCN
(501) 682-HELP (4357) Option 3
1-800-435-7989 Option 3
[email protected] (24 hour email)
Special Education Home Page
http://arksped.k12.ar.us
Important links from the Special Education home
page:
IDEA Data and Research
Links to the IDEA homepage where you can find
Data Dictionaries, User Guides, Web-ex training
notes, the LEA Annual Performance Report, Focus
Monitoring Profiles, Contact Information, AND
much more. Please visit regularly as we are always
adding new information.
MySped Resource
A secured website where districts can review and
submit data to the State Department.
School Age and Early Childhood Family Out-
comes Survey link.
Click here to visit the website
AR-LEARN
http://www.arlearn.org
ADE Commissioner’s Link Click here to visit the website
Please check this link regularly for updates
Just for Fun Recipe
Valentine French Toast Ingredients: 4 Slices Whole Wheat Bread 6 Eggs 4 Strips of Bacon cooked and crumbled ½ c. Milk 1 t. Vanilla Extract Butter Maple Syrup Salt Pepper Instructions: With a heart shape cookie cutter cut a hole in
center of each slice of bread (make sure to keep the crust together)
Cook and crumble bacon Mix together 2 eggs, bacon, milk and vanilla Melt butter on griddle, spread it out Dip slices of bread (and hearts) in mixture and
place on skillet Quickly add an egg to the center of each slice
of bread Cook to your liking, turn to cook other side Serve with heated maple syrup or jam and
whip cream