ESS collects data each year through the Teacher Attrition Survey to make informed decisions about recruitment and retention efforts in Arizona. Participation in the survey is mandatory for all public education agencies in Arizona. 

  The survey opened on November 1, 2024, and will close on January 31, 2025. Please see the attached memo for further details. Answers to frequently asked questions regarding the survey can be located online. If you have additional questions, please email the ESS Recruitment and Retention Inbox.  

Thank you for completing the Teacher Attrition Survey. 

Special Education Professionals,

In partnership with ADE/ESS, the College and Career Competencies (CCCs) Project invites you to tune into a Fall 2024 professional learning opportunity for educators: Developing More Resilient Learners Through Self-Efficacy Instruction.

Target Audience: Special educators, school counselors, social workers, related services providers, instructional coaches, and interventionists

Date: Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Time: 3:00–3:45 p.m.

Description: Do your students lack confidence in their abilities or give up easily when encountering obstacles? Do they become frustrated when learning becomes challenging? Students who don’t have confidence in their abilities and avoid challenges need to improve their self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is an individual’s perception of their ability to complete challenging tasks. Students who have strong self-efficacy understand the connection between putting forth effort and making progress. They accept their mistakes as learning opportunities and utilize calming techniques when learning becomes difficult. Educators who support students in developing self-efficacy observed increased confidence and the ability to view mistakes as learning opportunities in their students.

Please join us for this interactive 45-minute webinar as we explore these topics: 

• Teaching self-efficacy with free curriculum
• Measuring students’ self-efficacy
• Individualized support for developing students’ self-efficacy
• Accessing free self-efficacy courses for special education professionals

Register for Developing More Resilient Learners Through Self-Efficacy webinar.

For more information, see www.cccframework.org.

ESS/Program Support and Monitoring (PSM) is excited to announce that in-person regional training opportunities are taking place this school year. Trainings are free for participants. The content to be covered includes completing a mock student file review and learning about resources for crafting a compliant prior written notice. The dates, times, and locations are listed below. 

Please email Veronica Reza directly to register for one of these trainings. Additional training dates may be added based on responses from the field and internal capacity.  Any further questions can be directed to your PEA’s assigned PSM specialist.

Each year, ESS updates its contact lists of Lead Speech-Language Pathologists, Lead Occupational Therapists, Lead Physical Therapists, Lead School Psychologists, and Assistive Technology Specialists. We use these contact lists to:

• Keep related service providers informed of relevant professional learning
• Facilitate opportunities for developing discipline-specific professional learning networks or communities of practice
• Develop a pool of expert, experienced, school-based practitioners we may call upon for such things as surveying the need for particular topics in professional learning and providing content expertise to inform or review guidelines and policies developed by ADE/ESS

 Please complete this brief survey, even if your PEA has had no changes in personnel since last year or has no designated leads for related service providers.

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

The ADE/ESS Assistive Technology (AT) Team is pleased to announce the second presentation in our 2024—2025 AT National Presenter Series: Technology Tools to Support Executive Functioning and Self-Regulation for K-12, with Elisa Wern, M.Ed., OTR/L, ATP. This presentation is intended for special education administrators, special education teachers, general education teachers, OTs, PTs, SLPs, and assistive technology specialists.

Date/Time:                  Wednesday, November 13, 2024 - 8:00 AM – 3:30 PM (Seats are limited; register now!)

Fee:                                $25 - lunch on your own

Where:                          Conference Center at Rio – Rio Salado College (2323 W. 14th Street, Tempe, AZ 85281)

Elisa Wern is an Occupational Therapist with a master’s degree in special education and is a RESNA Certified Assistive Technology Professional (ATP). With over 20 years of experience in pediatric therapy, she presents at various state and national conferences, including regional training, AOTA, CEC, PATINS A2E, ATIA, Closing the Gap, OTAP/ECHO TIES Project, CATE, TalkingAAC, and AAC in the Cloud. Elisa is the Local Assistive Technology Specialist for Alachua County Schools in Gainesville, Florida, where she coordinates AT services for the district and serves as the Lead Occupational Therapist. In her spare time, she runs a private practice, AT & OT Consulting and Coaching, supporting students and families primarily through teletherapy evaluations, consultations, and interventions, as well as providing consultation for companies. She proudly served as a Year 1 Mentor as a Joy Zabala Fellow and coordinates the Facebook group book study on Comprehensive Literacy for All.

Session Description:
In today’s diverse classroom environments, fostering executive functioning and self-regulation skills in students is critical for their academic and personal success. This session is designed for K-12 educational staff and therapists who seek to integrate educational and assistive technology tools into their practice to enhance these essential skills. Participants will explore a range of innovative technological solutions, including low- and no-tech tools, apps, software, and devices, which can aid in improving organization, time management, task initiation, emotional regulation, and more.

Session Outline

• Overview of Executive Functioning and Self-Regulation: Understanding the key components, the research behind them, and their importance in student development.
• Assessment and Identification: Tools for assessing executive functioning and self-regulation challenges specific to the educational setting and occupational therapists.
• Technology Solutions: Detailed exploration of specific tools such as digital planners, reminder apps, visual schedules, and resources.
• Implementation Strategies: Practical guidance on integrating these tools into daily routines and individualized education plans (IEPs) and 504 Plans.
• Case Studies, Research, and Best Practices: Real-world examples of successful technology integration and its impact on student outcomes.
• Interactive Demonstrations: Hands-on opportunities to explore and experiment with selected technology tools.

By the end of this session, participants will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to effectively leverage technology to support the executive functioning and self-regulation needs of their students, leading to more independent and successful learners. The session includes hands-on time with no-tech, low-tech, and technology-based applications and strategies, featuring a mix of free and paid resources to support executive functioning.

Register for Technology Tools to Support Executive Functioning and Self-Regulation for K-12.

If you have questions about this training, please email [email protected]

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

Special Education Data Updates Webinar: Wednesday, October 16, 2024

The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will host the next live Special Education Data Updates webinar on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm. This session will cover a variety of data topics that will include (subject to change):   

• Reminders 

• Trending topics 

• 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.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT 

Reporting Special Education Students Attending Secondary Transition Programs and October 1 Child Counts 

On February 13, 2024, Public Education Agencies (PEAs) were notified that new school sites must be created if they meet specific criteria. In the process, it became necessary for PEAs to report students in Secondary Transition programs located in businesses or colleges, including creating new entities for these programs. 

We appreciate your patience while we create these new entities in our systems and update AzEDS and integrity rules to allow reporting. We anticipate PEAs will be able to successfully report their students attending Secondary Transition programs in AzEDS by November. 

Special Education students attending Secondary Transition programs must be counted for the October 1 Child Count if they received services on October 1.  

Once AzEDS has been updated to allow the reporting, we will send a follow-up alert with guidance. 

Please email the ESS Data Management inbox with any questions or concerns. 

The Center for Technical Assistance for Excellence in Special Education (TAESE), in partnership with ADE/ESS, is pleased to offer Saturday Mornings with the NRCP to paraeducators, related service providers, teachers, and administrators working in Arizona public education agencies.

The National Resource Center for Paraeducators, Related Service Providers, and Interveners (NRCP) hosts the two-hour sessions on the second Saturday of each month through July 2025. The sessions are based on the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Core Competencies for Special Education Paraeducators and include topics such as paraeducator roles and responsibilities and effective behavior management strategies.

Upcoming webinars will occur on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time. Please be aware of your time zone and adjust accordingly. Topics include the following:

October 12, 2024

Prevention and Intervention for Severe Behavioral Issues

November 9, 2024

Strategies for Paraeducators Working in Secondary Settings

December 14, 2024

Student and Staff Wellness: Trauma-Informed Practices for Kids and Preventing Educator Burnout

Teacher and paraeducator teams are encouraged to sign up together. The $100 registration fee includes twelve live webinars and extended access to the recordings via a Canva site until August 2025. Those who register will receive information on how to access the recordings.

Register for Saturday Mornings with the NRCP.

The attached flyer includes additional information about the professional learning series. Please email Laura Lema with any questions.

The State Educational Agency Communication Disability Council (SEACDC) is made up of SLP contacts from various state departments of education across the United States. The Arizona Department of Education, Exceptional Student Services is represented in this council. The SEACDC is hosting a free, virtual School-Based Speech-Language Pathology Symposium on Oct 17–18, 2024.

The symposium will cover various topics from national-level presenters who have graciously volunteered their time to provide state-of-the-art information relevant to school-based practice.  SEACDC is not an American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) continuing education (CE) provider. However, a certificate of attendance for professional development hours will be generated for each session attended. These will be accepted for renewal of ASHA CCC. SLPs do not need to be ASHA members to attend. These sessions will not be recorded. Please share this with your speech-language pathologists. Flyer may be found here.

Thursday, October 17, 2024, 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. (1:00–5:00 p.m. EST)

Session 1 - Inclusive Preschool Services - Stephanie Bear

Session 2 - Multilingual Learners - Hunter Smith 
Session 3 - Speech Sound Production - Kelly Farquharson

Session 4 - IDEA and Eligibility Determination - Angie Neal

Friday, October 18, 2024, 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. (1:00–5:00 p.m. EST)

Session 1 - Collaborative Goal Writing - Charity Avery & Amy Goddard 

Session 2 - The Continuum of Services and LRE - Tiffany White 

Session 3 - Feeding and Swallowing - Kristen West 

Session 4 - Development Language Disorder (DLD) - Katharine Radville and Tim Deluca

Register for the School-Based SLP Symposium.

Special Education Directors,

We invite all educators to our upcoming free virtual professional learning series on Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

This series is an excellent opportunity to deepen your understanding of UDL principles and how they can be applied to create more inclusive, accessible learning environments for all students.

These virtual sessions will focus on providing practical strategies that can be implemented across diverse classroom settings, supporting the success of all learners. We encourage your schools to take advantage of these no-cost virtual learning sessions to deepen knowledge and understanding and enhance instructional practices to ensure every student succeeds.

The registration links are in the attached PDF flyer or on the following website: ADE UDL Virtual Sessions for September-November.

Thank you for your continued dedication to fostering inclusionary education. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact the facilitator at [email protected].

We look forward to your participation!