ESS/Program Support and Monitoring (PSM) is proud to announce the release of the SY 2024–2025 Programmatic Monitoring Manual. This manual is intended to assist public education agencies (PEAs) in participating in and preparing for programmatic monitoring activities. The format of the manual changed last school year for ease of printing and locating information. The forms associated with programmatic monitoring activities can be found on the PSM website under Differentiated Monitoring Activities and are no longer located within the manual. 

Please contact your PEA’s assigned specialist with questions.

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

The two-hour, virtual sessions will be hosted by the National Resource Center for Paraeducators, Related Service Providers, and Interveners (NRCP) on the second Saturday of each month from August 2024 through July 2025. The sessions will be based on the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Core Competencies for Special Education Paraeducators and will include topics such as paraeducator roles and responsibilities and effective behavior management strategies. See flyer here.

Upcoming webinars will include the following topics:

August 10, 2024

Understanding the ABCs and Function of Behavior

September 14, 2024

Ethical Practices Within Paraeducator Roles

October 12, 2024

Challenging Behavior and De-escalation

November 9, 2024

Strategies for Paraeducators Working in Secondary Settings

Teacher and paraeducator teams are encouraged to sign up together. The $100 registration fee includes 12 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 Exceptional Student Services (ESS) Data Management team is pleased to introduce Beginning of the Year ESS Data Management training for the 2024–2025 reporting year. We offer two options to attend: virtually or in person.

During this training, our team will provide updates on the annual IDEA 618 requirements, review reporting to AzEDS, and give an overview of ESS data applications and surveys. Please register for only one session.

1. Virtual Training via Zoom: Thursday, August 22, 2024, 9:00–11:00 a.m.
2. In-person training: Thursday, August 22, 2024, 1:00–3:00 p.m.

100 N 15th Ave. Phoenix AZ 85007

Please email ESS Data Management with any questions. 

We look forward to seeing you!

Under Section 616 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004, State Education Agencies are required to make a determination for all Public Education Agencies (PEAs) on the PEA's performance in the implementation of special education. Each PEA's federal fiscal year (FFY) 2022 determination is now available for review through ADE Connect and posted on the ADE/ESS website.

Please visit Arizona's PEA Determinations Website for information on the notification letter, scoring criteria, and public results.

For questions regarding PEA Determinations, please email theESS Operations Inbox.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

FY24 Parentally Placed Private School Student Survey (PPPSS) required by all Public School Districts only (charter schools are excluded), due on August 14th, 2024.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 2004 requires that each public education agency (PEA) maintain its records and provide to the State information related to parentally placed private elementary and secondary school students covered under §§ 300.130 through 300.144.

The application opened on May 15th, 2024 and will close for submissions on August 14th, 2024.

• A PEA’s Entity Administrator must assign the role of “ESS Data Surveys: User” at the district level in ADEConnect to the individual who will submit this survey.
• Instructions: Parentally Placed Private School Students
• FAQs: Parentally Placed Private School Students

Once the role is assigned, please log in to ADEConnect, navigate to the Exceptional Student Services Portal (ESS), and select the ESS Data Surveys application.

From there, click on the blue hyperlinked text “FY24 Parentally Placed Private School Students Survey” to start the survey. When the survey has been completed, the application will display a webpage with the message, “Thank you for submitting.”

Please direct any questions to the ESS Data Management inbox.

Registration for the 2024–2025 Special Education New Director Symposium (SENDS) is closing soon, so please be sure to register if you are beginning your first or second year as a special education director.

The purpose of this professional learning opportunity is to prepare new special education directors for the practical operation of a special education system. Topics covered in SENDS include compliance and legal requirements, fiscal issues, assessment, general supervision, and ADE supports and resources. New special education directors serving Arizona public education agencies (PEAs) in their first or second year of being a special education director (including any previous positions) in the fall of 2024 are eligible to attend SENDS.

The $150 registration fee for SENDS includes:

• Registration for the in-person kick-off session on Day 1 (September 4, 2024) of the IDEA Conference* (with an option to pay to attend Days 2 and/or 3 of the conference).
• Four virtual follow-up sessions scheduled throughout the 2024–25 school year  (November 7, December 5, January 16, and February 13 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.).
• A one-year membership to the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and CEC’s Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) special interest division.

Registration is open until July 19, 2024.

*Information regarding travel reimbursement from eligible PEAs will be provided once registration is completed.

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

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

ADE/ESS is excited to announce keynote speakers for Arizona’s 2024 IDEA Conference: Expect, Engage, Achieve. This year’s conference will be held from September 4–6, 2024, at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix. Please see the conference flyer to learn about Valerie C. Williams, Erik Carter, Perry Zirkel, and Pamela Schuller. Additional national speakers and exciting conference events will be shared soon.

Register for the 2024 IDEA Conference in the Arizona Professional Learning and Development System (APLD). The conference registration fee for professionals is $575 per person and can be paid by credit card, check, or purchase order. Please visit the IDEA Conference Registration web page to learn more about registration options, lodging, and frequently asked questions.

ESS appreciates this opportunity to learn with each of you and looks forward to this year’s conference. Stay informed by visiting the IDEA Conference website for updates, including announcements about premier speakers and conference schedules. Questions can be emailed to the IDEA Conference inbox.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

Edit summarySpecial Education Data Dashboard: Review and Certification Process

The Special Education Data Dashboard (SEDD) is open and accessible for your review. The SEDD application displays student data reported to the Arizona Education Data Standards (AzEDS), fitting the module requirements below. Any necessary updates should be made in your Student Information System (SIS) promptly to sync to AzEDS and will reflect in SEDD the following day.

1. Student Exit Data: Review
   • This module displays exit data for Special Education (SPED) students based on specific exit codes, age range, and dates as outlined in the SPED Exit Flow Chart. It is expected that each PEA reviews this data to ensure compliance with federal SPED guidelines.
2. Preschool Transition Data: Data Entry
   • Public School Districts with Boundaries are required to enter data for students transitioning from the Arizona Early Intervention Program (AZEIP) to Part B. If not applicable, this module will be inactive.
3. Students Without Disabilities: Data Entry
   • This module captures data on students without disabilities with an expulsion (W3) exit code. Each PEA is expected to indicate if such students received educational services during expulsion. This module will be inactive if not applicable.
4. Discipline Data: Review
   • This module displays discipline incidents for SPED students that resulted in a removal from their educational environment. PEAs should review to ensure accurate reporting using the Discipline Data Technical Assistance Manual.

All modules must be monitored and reviewed by July 15, at which time the data in SEDD will become locked and un-editable.

SEDD will reopen on July 22 for the Certification, accessible only to users with the ESS SEDD: Signer role. During Certification, PEAs are required to certify their data within the SEDD application. Certification must be completed by August 5, 2024. Certification is required of all PEAs, including those with no qualifying data within the modules.  

Resources available to assist PEAs include:

• TA Manual: Special Education Data Dashboard
• SPED Exit Flow Chart: Which Students Are Included?
• Discipline Data Guidance Manual
• AzEDS SPED Reporting Resources
• FY 2024 SEDD Webinar
• FY2024 SEDD Presentation

For personalized technical assistance, PEAs are encouraged to attend SEDD Office Hours after reviewing the available trainings. Sign-up is available on the ESS Data Management Team web page. For further inquiries, please contact the ESS Data Management Inbox or call 602-542-3962.

Thank you for your attention to these requirements. We look forward to your active participation in ensuring accurate data reporting in SEDD.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT 

INVITATION: ESS Data Management Office Hours for Special Education Data Dashboard

The ESS Data Management Team is pleased to offer virtual Office Hours to our Public Education Agencies (PEAs) to further assist in meeting the Special Education Data Dashboard (SEDD) data requirements.

Office Hours will be scheduled for one-hour increments and facilitated by a Specialist via Microsoft Teams. To schedule an Office Hours session, please visit our scheduling webpage. Sessions will be available until July 10, 2024, on a first-come, first-served basis. Only one session is available per PEA.

After scheduling a session, you will receive an email confirmation and a calendar invite containing the link to join the session at your meeting time. Please make sure you can access Microsoft Teams before your scheduled session.

If you did not attend the live webinar or an in-person SEDD training, reviewing the SEDD Webinar recording is a prerequisite for Office Hours attendees to ensure a productive session. 

These sessions are intended to assist our PEAs in meeting the data requirements of the SEDD application. Please direct any other ESS data-related questions to the ESS Data Management Inbox.

We look forward to meeting with you.

Please see the attached memo regarding English Learner (EL) requirements for students with disabilities. As required by the regulations that implement the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and English Learner requirements outlined specifically in A.R.S. 15-752, all EL students, including dual-labeled students, are entitled to EL services. These regulations include providing EL services to students who are publicly funded and placed in special education programs such as Emotional Disabilities-Public (ED-P) programs, Approved Private Special Education Schools, and Residential Treatment Centers.

If you have any questions, please email the ESS inbox.