Data Management

The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will host the next live Special Education Data Updates webinar on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm.

Effective April 21, 2026, a new special education (SPED) data integrity rule will be implemented to validate preschool outcomes assessment scores (COS) reported to AzEDS.

As of March 30, 2026, a new special education (SPED) data integrity rule was implemented to validate and capture student exits from SPED services. Under IDEA, students are eligible for SPED services through 21 years of age unless they have graduated with a regular high school diploma. Students who turn 22 years of age during the school year are eligible to complete the year with services; however, they have effectively reached the maximum age allowable for services.

Section 618 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires public education agencies (PEAs) to report specific data each year, including discipline incidents for students receiving special education services, expulsions of students not receiving special education services, and students who exited special education during the reporting year. PEAs review, validate, and certify these data using the Special Education Data Dashboard (SEDD).

The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will host the next live Special Education Data Updates webinar on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm.

The ESS Data Management team is holding a webinar via Zoom to guide PEAs through end-of-year reporting in the SEDD application. The session will cover recent application updates, exit and discipline data requirements, and key deadlines to support accurate and timely reporting. A recording of the webinar will be made available for those unable to attend.

The FY27 Statement of Assurances application is open for submission. All public education agencies (PEAs) must submit the IDEA Statement of Assurances (SOA) through the Exceptional Student Services (ESS) Portal within ADEConnect. This is required before any FY27 activities in the ESS Portal are allowable. The portal will block any PEA that has not completed the SOA effective July 1, 2026, which is when FY27 begins.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT: FY27 Statement of Assurances, required for all Public Education Agencies, opens April 1, 2026

Based on the feedback we received from PEAs, the Question-and-Answer session held in November 2025 was a great success, and many of you shared how helpful it was to have the opportunity to ask your most pressing questions. In response, our Data Management team has decided to hold these sessions twice a year—each March and October.

The ESS Data Management team is pleased to announce the release of a new reference tool designed to support your work in resolving SPED-related integrity errors generated from student data submitted to AzEDS.