Special Education Directors,

Please share this announcement with your Business Managers and Grant Writers.

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.

• October 12 - American Rescue Plan (ARP-IDEA) Funds and MOE Considerations
• November 9 - Proportionate Share and the October Data Collection
• December 14 - High-Cost Child and Extraordinary Special Education Needs Fund Applications
• January 11 - Allowable Costs Under the IDEA
• February 8 - FY23 IDEA Funding Application
• March 1 - Maintenance of Effort Compliance
• April 12 - Topic – TBD
• May 10 - Fiscal Year Wrap-Up

ESS Program Management will also host Office Hours each quarter at 1:00 p.m. PEAs are invited to attend these informal Zoom meetings to bring questions directly to their program specialist.

• November 16 – 2nd Quarter ESS Office Hours
• February 15 – 3rd Quarter ESS Office Hours
• May 17 – 4th Quarter ESS Office Hours

Sign up for the ESS Program Management listserv and take the FY22 Training Survey to give feedback on April’s topic.

Send questions about IDEA and other federal funding opportunities to the ESS Program Management Inbox.

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.

Part 1 Teaching the Whole Child

Tuesday, October 26, 2021, from 3:30–5:00 p.m.

Part 2 Understanding the Words

Tuesday, November 30, 2021, from 3:30–5:00 p.m.

Part 3 Bridging the Processes

Tuesday, January 11, 2022, from 3:30–5:00 p.m.

Materials

Participants will receive the book, Fundamentals of Literacy Instruction and Assessment, Second Edition.

Register early to ensure that you receive the book in the mail before the first session.

Cost

The cost is $30 per person.

Location

All three sessions will be held virtually on Zoom.

Accommodations must be requested at least one week in advance of each session. Please email Sandra Figueroa or email Christy Hegebush with any questions.

Register today!

Special Education Directors,

Please share the following message with your staff who support Post School Outcomes (PSO) Survey data collection.

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.

Our team wants to recognize PEAs that performed exceptionally this season to complete PSO requirements. We are excited to share the PSO Celebration Website, which highlights the PEAs that completed all PSO surveys and met criteria for one of the following categories:

• PSO All-Star—Met or exceeded the statewide participation rate goal of 80% and engagement rate average of 71.8%
• PSO MVP—Met or exceeded the statewide participation rate goal of 80%

Please join us in congratulating Arizona's exemplary PEAs for their hard work and dedication!

Questions regarding PSO can be sent to the PSO Inbox.

Special Education Directors,

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.

New targeted webinars announcement! Project EASEL will be offering 3 new targeted webinars. 

• Career and Technical Education (CTE)
• Secure Care
• Secondary Transition

Registration is required for each session. Please view this flyer for upcoming sessions with updated details and registration links.

Topics include:

Raise Student Confidence through Self-Efficacy Activities and Guided Practice

• Tuesday, October 26, 2021 @ 3:00 p.m.

Teach Students Respectful Communication through Assertiveness

• Tuesday, November 9, 2021 @ 3:00 p.m.

Teach Students to Self-Regulate in Career and Technical Education (CTE) (Targeted)

• Tuesday, November 30, 2021 @ 3:00 p.m.

Teach Adjudicated Students to Believe in their Abilities (Targeted)

• Tuesday, December 14, 2021 @ 3:00 p.m.

Teach Respectful Communication and Self-Advocacy to Students Receiving Transition (Targeted)

• Tuesday, January 11, 2022 @ 3:00 p.m.

On behalf of the Project EASEL, we want to say welcome back to a new and exciting school year, and we look forward to seeing you virtually this fall.

If you have any questions, please email the Pattie Noonan at [email protected].

Special Education Directors,

Please share the following message about upcoming math professional learning with general and special education teachers who teach mathematics.

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.

Elementary Math Office Hours (Grades K–5)

Monday, November 1, 2021 from 3:30–4:30 p.m. with Q & A from 4:30–5:00 p.m.

Register in advance for the Grades K–5 meeting.

Middle School Math Office Hours (Grades 5–8)

Tuesday, November 2, 2021 from 3:30–4:30 p.m. with Q & A from 4:30–5:00 p.m.

Register in advance for the Grades 5–8 meeting.

High School Math Office Hours (Grades 8–12)

Thursday, November 4, 2021 from 3:30–4:30 p.m. with Q & A from 4:30–5:00 p.m.

Register in advance for the Grades 8–12 meeting.

Note: accommodations must be requested at least one week in advance of each webinar.

Please email Rob Hilliker with any questions.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT     

Special Education Data Updates Webinar 

 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. This session will cover a variety of data topics that will include: 

• Reminders 
• Trending topics 
• Topics requested by you 
• Q&A 

Registration is required to attend: Register for Special Education Data Updates webinar.

For questions, please contact ESS Data Management via email at [email protected]. 

Special Education Directors,

Please share this announcement with your Business Managers and Grant Writers.

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.

• October 12 - American Rescue Plan (ARP-IDEA) Funds and MOE Considerations
• November 9 - Proportionate Share and the October Data Collection
• December 14 - High-Cost Child and Extraordinary Special Education Needs Fund Applications
• January 11 - Allowable Costs Under the IDEA
• February 8 - FY23 IDEA Funding Application
• March 1 - Maintenance of Effort Compliance
• April 12 - Special Education Funding - How, When, and What Order to Spend?
• May 10 - Fiscal Year Wrap-Up

ESS Program Management will also host Office Hours each quarter at 1:00 p.m. PEAs are invited to attend these informal Zoom meetings to bring questions directly to their program specialist.

• November 16 – 2^nd Quarter ESS Office Hours
• February 15 – 3^rd Quarter ESS Office Hours
• May 17 – 4^th Quarter ESS Office Hours

Sign up for the ESS Program Management listserv and take the FY22 Training Survey to give feedback on April’s topic.

Send questions about IDEA and other federal funding opportunities to the ESS Program Management Inbox.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

New Integrity Rule -51002 – Student Home and Mailing address required

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.

It is expected for each site enrollment reported by your LEA, both a Home and Mailing address be reported. This will provide ESS with the ability to ensure that special education services can continue if educational programs are disrupted by a change of boundaries based on residence changes. Student site enrollments missing Home, Mailing, or both addresses will fail rule -51002. Student addresses are submitted at the site level. If your LEA is reporting the student at multiple sites, both a home and mailing address for the student must be reported for each site. This will allow both addresses to remain intact during the school site level deduplication process.

This new Data Quality Validation integrity category is now available on your INTEG15 report under the Integrity Category dropdown. Selecting only this category will show any students failing this rule for your LEA.

Please contact [email protected] with any questions regarding this update.

Special Education Directors,

Please share this announcement with your staff.

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.

Designing Educational Experiences for All!

10/19/2021 4:00–5:15 p.m. (Arizona time)

This session will allow participants to take the opportunity to mesh contemporary educational principles such as Universal Design for Learning, the Growth Mindset, Project-Based Learning, the Maker Movement, the Least Restrictive Option, and the use of technology to transform practices to empower students of all abilities to take charge of their own learning.

Registration link:

Register for the Designing Educational Experiences for All! session

Feature Presentation! Necessary Considerations for Technology Implementation

10/20/2021 4:00–5:15 p.m.  (Arizona time)

What’s the point of technology in educational design? What features of technology can be used to design educational experiences that work for every learner? Participants will explore a wide variety of necessary features presented by different technologies that can be used as universal supports for learners in inclusive learning environments. Leave with practical ideas for how to consider, select, and implement contemporary technologies for instructional experiences. 

Registration link: 

Register for the Necessary Considerations for Technology Implementation session

Seven Up! 7 Ways to Boost Your AAC Implementation

10/21/2021 4:00–5:15 p.m. (Arizona time)

Teaching core vocabulary and using partner-augmented input/aided language stimulation are practices more widely implemented now than ever before. This session will focus on seven additional factors that can be used to boost the language acquisition process.

Registration link:

Register for the 7 Ways to Boost Your AAC Implementation session 

Count Me In! Developing Fluency with Whole Numbers 

Choose one of the following dates: 

Wednesday, September 29, 2021 from 3:30–5:00 p.m.

Register in advance for the session on September 29.

Tuesday, October 5, 2021 from 3:30–5:00 p.m.

Register in advance for the session on October 5.

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.

Note: Accommodations must be requested at least one week in advance of each webinar. 

Please email Rob Hilliker with any questions.