Updates

The Heart, Art, Craft, and Sciences of Reading/Writing for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities

The Exceptional Student Services Professional Learning and Sustainability, Special Populations, and Assistive Technology teams are partnering to offer a professional learning opportunity focused on a literacy strengths-based teaching and learning approach for students with low-incidence disabilities in grades K–12.

This three-part series will focus on the sciences of reading and writing, adapted to meet the complex needs of all students at Tier 1. The Assistive Technology team will also share tips, tricks, and tools on using technology to enhance reading and writing for all students. Educators will walk away with skills and strategies that can be implemented the next day. This literacy series is for all educators! Participants can earn a total of 4.5 professional development credits for attending the entire series.

The ADE/ESS Secondary Transition team would like to thank those who participated in the 2021 PSO data collection season. The PSO Survey helps PEAs collect and report information to meet Indicator 14 requirements. Between June 1 and September 30 of this year, PEAs statewide worked hard to reconnect with former students who had IEPs when they exited high school during the 2019–2020 school year. Through their efforts, 6,245 former students responded to the survey, for a 78.7% participation rate with 71.8% of respondents engaged in postsecondary education/training or employment. A more detailed view of this year's PSO Survey results will be posted on the PSO Website by October 31, 2021.

Project EASEL, in partnership with ADE/ESS, would like to invite you and your staff to tune into the Exploring Strategies for Social Emotional Learning Fall and Spring series (see attachment). We plan to share a variety of information and strategies that will support your understanding and implementation of Assertiveness, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Regulation.

November Math Office Hours

The ADE Math Team has scheduled office hours to allow educators to meet together to network, problem-solve, and develop solutions to allow all Arizona teachers and students to continue to feel supported and to be successful.

Grade-band meetings are provided for all math teachers, including special education teachers! These grade-band meetings will include opportunities for networking, problem solving, and sharing different implementation models. Office hours are one hour long with an additional 30 minutes at the end for a Q & A session. Participants can earn one hour of professional development credit for each session attended.

The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will be hosting our next Special Education Data Updates live webinar on Wednesday, October 20th from 2pm – 3pm.

Special Education Directors,

The ESS Program Management team has announced the FY22 webinar series of topics related to IDEA federal funding. Please visit the ESS Program Management website to register for each Zoom session and read session descriptions. The webinar series will take place on Tuesdays at 11:00 a.m.

A new Data Quality Validation integrity rule -51002 will be introduced into the integrity process on FY22 Enrollment data shortly. This update is a continuation of our effort to ensure clean data for the state. A new one-sheet Integrity Tool is now available on our AzEDS SPED Reporting webpage for troubleshooting tips for Integrity Rule -51002.

Assistive Technology (AT) National Presenter Series 

The ADE/ESS Assistive Technology team is kicking off our 2021 AT National Presenter Series with Chris Bugaj. Chris is offering 3 separate presentations, attend one or attend all!

Christopher R. Bugaj, MA, CCC‐SLP, is a founding member of the Assistive Technology Team for Loudoun County Public Schools. Chris co-hosts the Talking with Tech podcast, and has hosted The A.T. TIPSCAST, a multi‐award winning podcast featuring strategies to design educational experiences.

What does it mean to be fluent in mathematics? In this webinar, we will examine the key components of fluency and make connections across mathematics standards that specify fluency as the intended end-of-year outcome in each grade level from K–6. Additionally, we will explore instructional routines, strategies, and games that will help all students develop flexibility to solve contextual and mathematical problems involving whole numbers.

This notice serves as a reminder that the most accurate disability representation should be reported for all students with disabilities throughout the school year.

When reporting needs (disability categories) to AzEDS for students, all eligible needs listed on a student’s IEP should be reported for all special education placements in Arizona. If a student has only one need, that need is reported as the primary need. For students with multiple needs, only one can be reported as the primary need and the other need(s) would be reported as secondary. The primary need is defined as the one that most adversely affects the student’s ability to access the general curriculum.