Updates

The ESS Data Management team is pleased to announce that a new report is now available in the AzEDS Portal, SPED50 – SPED Concurrency Report. This report will help PEAs find concurrent SPED data in AzEDS along with the concurrent PEA, Site, and dates reported to aid in determining the accurate reporting for the student. This report will only show Primary SPED LRE data reported by your PEA that overlaps with Primary SPED LRE data reported by another PEA (Concurrency).

Special Education Directors,The ADE/ESS Secondary Transition Team is excited to announce a virtual professional learning opportunity on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 from 2:30–3:30 p.m. for school administrators, school counselors, Career and Technical Education (CTE) staff, and special education staff. Please share with any other stakeholder who is interested in this topic.CTE Recruitment for Inclusion of Students with Disabilities: Innovative Strategies from a Panel of Your Peers

A new series of LRE decision tree documents have been made available on the ESS Data Management website. These documents will provide a roadmap and assist in determining the correct LRE code for students with disabilities. Each LRE decision tree has been separated into 5 categories:Preschool No Early Childhood ProgramPreschool with Early Childhood ProgramPublic SchoolRTCSecure Care

ADE/ESS is updating our contact lists of designated Lead Speech-Language Pathologists, Lead Occupational Therapists, Lead Physical Therapists, Lead Assistive Technology Specialists, and Lead School Psychologists. We intend to use the contact lists to:Keep related service providers informed of relevant PDFacilitate opportunities for developing discipline-specific professional learning networks or communities of practiceDevelop a pool of expert, experienced, school-based practitioners we may call upon for such things as surveying the need for particular topics in PD and providing content expertise to inform or review guidelines and policies developed by ADE/ESS

The ADE/ESS Secondary Transition (ST) Team is excited to launch a variety of webinar sessions for the upcoming 2021-22 fall semester.Transition TuesdaysTransition 101 SeriesGetting Centered on Out-of-the-Box Thinking: Person-Centered Planning for Transition-Aged Students

Are you looking for Occupational Therapists and/or Occupational Therapy Assistants?In October 2021, ADE/ESS will be recruiting for OT personnel on behalf of all public education agencies (PEAs) at the Arizona Occupational Therapy Association’s annual fall conference. ESS will operate a booth in the exhibit hall to promote the advantages of working in a school setting and distribute flyers listing all current and anticipated OT vacancies in Arizona public schools. We will also run a banner ad on the conference website directing OTs to the Arizona Education Employment Board.

Due to the passage of HB2863 during the Spring 2021 legislative session, the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and Blind (ASDB) is now considered a local education agency (LEA) for the provision of free and appropriate public education (FAPE), for the submission of data and other required reports, and for the provision of courses of study that lead to graduation with a regular high school diploma for all students enrolled in their campus locations. This status change began July 1, 2021 (fiscal year 2022).This memorandum addresses specific areas of responsibility that will impact both ASDB and public education agencies (PEAs) that place eligible students at ASDB through the IEP and voucher process.Updated ASDB Student Reporting guidance from ESS Data Management is available here.

Special Education Directors,ADE/ESS is pleased to announce the availability of the school year 2021–2022 Programmatic Monitoring Manual on the Program Support and Monitoring (PSM) web page. The newly revised manual can be found on the PSM web page under “Resources.” Please see this memo for more information.

Special Education Directors,ADE/ESS and The Interpreter Mentorship, Education & Training (IMET) Program are excited to offer two different training opportunities for educational interpreters. Please review both of the linked flyers for information on each opportunity. Information on how to apply can be found in the flyers and in the body of this post.

Special Education Directors,ADE/ESS and STAR Autism Support are collaborating to offer resources and professional learning opportunities to support PEA staff with free Virtual Learning Opportunities this Fall.