Don’t miss this opportunity to sign up your new special education teachers for Teach Camp!

Teach Camp is a three-day, camp-themed professional learning experience packed with practical resources, strategies, and a strong campfire community of support so that new special education teachers not only survive but thrive as they begin their teaching journey. Teach Camp is available to special education teachers who will begin their first, second, or third year of teaching special education in one of Arizona’s public schools in the fall of 2026.  

Navigating the Journey: Camp Essentials 

• 3-day summer “camp” to be held July 7–9, 2026, at Rio Salado College Conference Center, 2323 W. 14th St., Tempe, AZ 85281 
• The cost per teacher is $195
• Each camper will receive: 
  • The Survival Guide for New Special Education Teachers (3rd edition) 
  • One-year membership to the Council for Exceptional Children 
  • Additional valuable resources to pack in their teaching backpack 

Trailblazing Together: What Teach Camp Alumni Are Saying! 

• “The resources and guidance provided have helped boost my confidence as I begin my journey as a special education teacher.” 
• “I’m hiking away with a full backpack of ideas and a happy teacher heart! Huge thanks to everyone who planned, presented, and made camp such an unforgettable experience. I’d sign up again in a heartbeat—just point me to the trailhead!” 
• “I loved the warm, welcoming environment, the rockstar presenters (aka our fearless trail guides), and meeting so many fellow campers who were eager to share their survival skills and teaching hacks. Teach Camp was s’more than I expected!” 

Ready for Your Teachers to Join the Adventure? 

Registration for Teach Camp is open on a first-come, first-served basis and has been extended until Friday, June 26, 2026. Registration must be approved by the special education director and completed by the district or charter organization, not the special education teacher. Please note that there is a limit of ten registrations for each district or charter, after which participants will be placed on a waiting list. Travel reimbursement is available for eligible districts and charter organizations for up to five travelers per organization with additional travelers as funding allows. Reimbursement details are provided in the registration form. Please be aware that we may reduce the group size per district or charter organization to accommodate the attendance of more districts/charters and budget constraints for travel reimbursement. On-site registration is not available.  

Spots are limited—register your teachers for Teach Camp today! 

Please email the ESS Recruitment and Retention Inbox with any questions about Teach Camp. 

ESS/Program Support & Monitoring is pleased to announce the release of the SY 2026–2027 Programmatic Monitoring Guide Steps. Attached is the release memo that indicates some of the recent updates.

The Guide Steps is a technical assistance document created to aid public education agencies (PEAs) in understanding the requirements specific to programmatic monitoring. Legal compliance may be more extensive as it relates to a state complaint or due process. Any examples should not be taken directly and added to a student’s IEP or evaluation because each student is unique and has his/her own set of circumstances that must be addressed through his/her individual evaluation and IEP.

We hope that these Guide Steps assist PEAs in reviewing student documentation for compliance purposes and in reviewing systemic, programmatic needs within the PEA. Questions can be directed to your PEA’s Program Support & Monitoring Specialist.

ADE/ESS is pleased to announce that registration for the 2026–2027 Special Education New Director Symposium (SENDS) is now open!

The purpose of this professional learning opportunity is to support new special education directors in effectively navigating federal and state special education requirements, accessing ADE/ESS resources, and building a strong professional network. The SENDS series addresses key areas of ADE/ESS oversight and support including compliance and legal requirements, funding, data management, dispute resolution, assessment, and professional learning opportunities.

Eligibility
New special education directors directly employed by Arizona public education agencies in their first or second year of being a special education director (including any previous positions) in the fall of 2026 are eligible to attend SENDS.

Registration
The $100 registration fee for SENDS includes:

• Registration for the in-person kick-off session on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, at ADE North,100 N. 15th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85007 
• Follow-up webinars scheduled during the 2026–27 school year 
• A one-year membership to the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and CEC’s Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) special interest division as well as the Arizona Council for Exceptional Children (AZCEC) and the Arizona Council of Administrators of Special Education (AZCASE)

Registration is open until Wednesday, September 9, 2026.

Travel Reimbursement
Funding is available to support travel costs for districts and charter organizations traveling 50 miles or more from the district, charter, or school work location of the special education director to ADE North, 100 N. 15th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85007.  Reimbursements will be issued to the district or charter organization, not the special education director, through the Arizona Procurement Portal. Please note that APP registration is required.  Additional information regarding travel reimbursement for eligible PEAs will be provided upon completion of registration. 

Register for the Special Education New Director Symposium (SENDS) training!

If you have questions about SENDS, please email the ESS Recruitment and Retention Inbox.

The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will host the next live Special Education Data Updates webinar on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm. This session will cover a variety of data topics that will include:   

• Reminders

• Trending topics

• FY27 Data Management Updates

• NEW SPED Reports 101

• Discipline Data Outreach

• Top Three Integrity Errors

• Q&A  

Please register by clicking this link. Registration is required to attend. If you have any questions, please email the ESS Data Management inbox.

Beginning May 1^st of each fiscal year, -40055 integrity rule is re-run to capture any misaligned or unreported data related to SPED Exit Date, SPED Exit Reason, Enrollment Exit Date, and Enrollment Exit Reason in AzEDS.

If a student’s SPED Exit Reason does not align with the student’s year-end enrollment status or withdrawal enrollment status, then the discrepancy will trigger -40055 integrity error. As of May 22, 2026, 18,196 students are failing this rule. Please review your SPED72 or your INTEG15 report in the AzEDS portal to see if you have any students failing this integrity error for your PEA.

For guidance on resolving this error, please refer to the SPED-Related Integrity Rules document available on AzEDS SPED Reporting webpage for detailed steps.

Please direct any questions to ESS Data Management.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 2004 requires that each public school district with geographic boundaries maintain records and provide to the State information related to parentally placed private elementary and secondary school students, in accordance with §§ 300.130 through 300.144.

The application is now open and will close for submissions on August 13, 2026.

Each PEA must assign the ESS Data Surveys: Userrole in ADEConnect at the district level to the individual who will submit this survey. Once the role has been assigned, users should log in to ADEConnect, navigate to the Exceptional Student Services (ESS) Portal, and select the Data Surveys link within the Surveys and Assurances section. From there, select the "Take Survey" button under the Parentally Placed Private School Student Survey section to begin.

Upon successful submission, a “Thank you for submitting” confirmation page will be displayed.

The PPPSS Technical Assistance Manual is available to support this data collection requirement.

If you have any questions, please contact the ESS Data Management Inbox.

The Exceptional Student Services (ESS) Data Management team is pleased to announce that the recording of the FY26 Special Education Data Dashboard (SEDD) webinar is now available for your viewing and reference. If you or your staff were unable to attend our webinar held on Thursday, April 23rd, we recommend watching this video to become familiar with reporting requirements and application updates for the FY2025-2026 SEDD process. PEAs can access the recording on our Vimeo account and our SEDD webpage.

The ESS Data Management team is also pleased to announce that we will begin hosting office hours starting on Monday, May 18th. Office hours provide PEAs with the opportunity to meet one-on-one via Microsoft Teams with an ESS Data Management specialist to review any ESS data reporting issues and challenges as they pertain to SEDD. PEAs can register for a 30-minute session by navigating to the ESS Data Management Bookings page.

Office Hours and other technical assistance opportunities are intended to provide guidance; however, they cannot replace the requirement for the PEA to verify and correct data prior to the submission deadline. If a specialist must reschedule a session due to emergent and/or conflicting obligations, we will do our best to communicate this in a timely manner.

Important Dates

• Now: SEDD is currently open
  • Validate that users have the correct access to the application
  • Validate that data is landing appropriately in SEDD
• July 15, 2026: AzEDS Data Deadline
  • Last day any data can be synced to AzEDS for FY26
  • Preschool Transition and SWOD data entry
• July 22, 2026: SEDD Certification opens
  • LEA Signer must complete electronically
• August 5, 2026, by 5:00 p.m.
  • Late submissions may hold IDEA funds and impact PEA determinations

Please email the ESS Data Management inbox with any questions.

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

• Reminders
• Trending topics 
• Year End Check List
• FY27 Data Management Updates
• Top Three Integrity Errors
• Q&A  

Please register by clicking this link. Registration is required to attend. If you have any questions, please email the ESS Data Management inbox.

All school districts, charter schools, secure care facilities, and the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB) are required to annually administer the State Performance Plan Indicator 8 Parent Involvement Survey to parents of students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP). The survey opened on January 19, 2026, via ADEConnect Data Surveys and will close on May 31, 2026.

Mail Merge Feature: The survey application has merged the individual student login codes and parent letters. This feature will make it easier for users to disseminate parent instructions.

Additional forms and guidance can be found on the Parent Involvement Survey Info for Schools website and in ADEConnect on the Data Surveys page.

If you do not already have access to the survey application or need to add additional users who should have the right to use this information and administer the survey, contact your entity ADEConnect administrator and ask to be assigned the ESS Data Surveys: User Role. If additional assistance is needed to be assigned the User Role, use the Help Desk ticketing system via ADEConnect.

Please email the Parent Survey Inbox with questions.