Exceptional Student Services Blog

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT: FY24 Statement of Assurances required by all PEAs opens on 4/3/23

  • Mon, Mar 20 2023  •
    • Data Management
    • Updates

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT 

FY23 Statement of Assurances required by all PEAs opens on 4/3/23

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), the representative body for Special Education for Arizona, Exceptional Student Services, is required to obtain assurances from Public Education Agencies (PEAs) to attest that they are meeting the requirements under state and federal statute for special education in the state of Arizona.

It is a requirement for all entities defined as PEAs regardless if they get federal funds or not.

All PEAs must submit the IDEA Statement of Assurances (SOA) through the ESS Portal of ADEConnect.

The application will open on 4/3/23 and close for submissions on 6/15/23.

INTERNAL PD INFO: Multi-Tier Behavior Supports (MTBS) Year 1

  • Mon, Mar 20 2023  •
    • Professional Learning and Sustainability
    • Updates

Special Education Directors:

Are you concerned about the current rate of suspensions and expulsions at your school or district? Do you feel students are losing valuable class time due to disruptions and other behavior problems? Are teachers struggling to be successful with classroom management? Are administrators spending too much time dealing with discipline issues?  If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, then you might find the solution in Multi-Tier Behavior Supports.

INTERNAL PD OPPORTUNITY: Expanding Expression Training (EET) for SLPs, SLTs and SLPAs

  • Mon, Mar 20 2023  •
    • Professional Learning and Sustainability
    • Updates

Greetings,

The ADE/ESS is pleased to announce the 2023 Seminar for School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists: Expanding​ ​Expression​ ​Training: ​ A​ ​Multi-Sensory​ ​Approach​ ​for​ ​Improved​ ​Writing,​ ​Oral Expression,​ ​and​ ​Comprehension​ Across​ ​the​ ​Curriculum with Sara​ ​L.​ ​Smith,​ ​MS,​ ​CCC-SLP​ ​​(and founder​ ​of​ ​EET). The intended audience for this seminar is Speech-Language Pathologists, Speech-Language Technicians, and Speech-Language Pathology Assistants.

INTERNAL PD INFO: Nominate Outstanding Individuals for Arizona’s Secondary Transition Services Awards

  • Mon, Mar 13 2023  •
    • Transition News
    • Updates

Special Education Stakeholders,

Nominations are now being accepted for this year’s Arizona Secondary Transition Services Awards!

On behalf of the Arizona Department of Education, Exceptional Student Services, and other partnering agencies, you are invited to submit your nominations for this year's Secondary Transition Services Awards, which will be presented at Arizona's 2023 IDEA Conference.

INTERNAL PD INFO: Reminder: Deadline is March 22 for 2023 IDEA Conference Call for Proposals

  • Wed, Mar 8 2023  •
    • Updates

Special Education Stakeholders,

Arizona’s 2023 IDEA Conference: Creating Connections and Strengthening Systems, will be held in person from August 21–23, 2023 at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix.

ADE/ESS is requesting proposals that represent your creative and research-based work. The conference will feature numerous professional learning opportunities, including IDEA legal issues, instructional practices, national trends and hot topics, special education compliance, preschool and secondary transition, and content for related service providers.

ASSESSMENT INFO: 2023 ADE Accommodations Survey Now Available!

  • Tue, Mar 7 2023  •
    • Updates

Special Education Directors,

It has been two years since ADE conducted the 2021 Instructional Accommodations Survey, a biennial inquiry that has informed ADE of accommodation trends since 2015. The information collected from the survey assists in planning presentations and training for the field. We invite you and other personnel, including both general and special educators, related service providers, as well as support staff, who provide instruction for students with disabilities to take a few minutes to respond to this year’s survey.

RECRUITMENT & RETENTION INFO: We are recruiting SLPs, SLTs, and SLPAs for you! Post your open positions now!

  • Fri, Mar 3 2023  •
    • Professional Learning and Sustainability
    • Updates

Special Education Directors,

The Arizona Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ArSHA) will be holding its annual convention in Phoenix on March 31–April 1. There will be hundreds of Speech-Language Pathologists, Speech-Language Technicians, and Speech-Language Pathology Assistants attending this event. 

The Arizona Department of Education sponsors the public school strand at the convention to support high-quality, relevant professional learning for school-based speech personnel. This year’s sponsored topics include remediation of speech sound disorders and developmental language disorders, assistive technology (AT), augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), and supporting students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT: Special Education Data Updates Webinar Wednesday, March 15th

  • Wed, Mar 1 2023  •
    • Data Management
    • Updates

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT 

Special Education Data Updates Webinar Wednesday, March 15th   

The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will host the next Special Education Data Updates live webinar on Wednesday, March 15th, from 2pm – 3pm. This session will cover a variety of data topics that will include (subject to change):   

  • Reminders 
  • Trending topics 
  • Top 3 Integrity Errors 
  • Q&A 

RECRUITMENT & RETENTION INFO: We are recruiting at CEC for you! Post your open positions now!

  • Mon, Feb 27 2023  •
    • Professional Learning and Sustainability
    • Updates

Special Education Directors,

The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) will hold its annual convention in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 1–4. Thousands of special educators and related service providers will attend this event. It also will draw large numbers of students enrolled in special education teacher preparation programs.

INTERNAL PD OPPORTUNITY: Register Now for "Creating Goals That Are Easy to Monitor" - April 28, 2023

  • Thu, Feb 9 2023  •
    • Professional Learning and Sustainability
    • Updates

 

Greetings,

Writing better goals and effectively monitoring student progress towards those goals are foundational skills for Related Service Providers. Positive student outcomes can only be achieved when school-based therapists are able to do both consistently. Good data on good goals leads to effective interventions and allows therapists to write better progress reports in less time. And we know that “time spent on paperwork” is a leading cause of therapist burnout. For all of these reasons, we are very excited about the next presentation in our series of Related Service Provider Seminars: Creating Goals that Are Easy to Monitor and a Stress-Free Companion Monitoring Tool with Carlo Vialu, PT, MBA, and Peggy Morris, OTD, OTR/L, BCP. This workshop is designed for Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, and Speech-Language Pathologists and will convey ASHA, APTA, and AOTA CEUs. Please share with your staff.

Creating Goals That Are Easy to Monitor and A Stress-Free Companion Monitoring Tool