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.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

Reporting of Primary/Secondary Needs in AzEDS

This notice serves as a reminder that the most accurate disability representation should be reported for all students with disabilities throughout the school year.

When reporting needs (disability categories) to AzEDS for students, all eligible needs listed on a student’s IEP should be reported for all special education placements in Arizona. If a student has only one need, that need is reported as the primary need. For students with multiple needs, only one can be reported as the primary need and the other need(s) would be reported as secondary. The primary need is defined as the one that most adversely affects the student’s ability to access the general curriculum.

Accurate disability representation is required for statistical analysis, fulfilling data requests, state funding, data visualizations/dashboards, and making data-driven decisions.

For questions please contact [email protected].

Special Education Directors,

At their annual state conference, the Arizona Association of School Psychologists (AASP) recognizes an outstanding school psychologist and administrator (principal or director) of the year, and they encourage your district or charter to nominate someone who provides excellent support and advocacy for students with disabilities in our state. Nomination forms can be located on the AASP website and should be submitted to Jamie Timmerman and Cathy Herring at AASP. Additional information is included in this flyer. It is recommended to submit at least three letters of support with each nomination. Nominations open on September 1, 2021 and close on September 30, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. The awards ceremony will be held Friday, November 5, 2021 in the morning at Desert Willow Conference Center. 

Please email Jamie Timmerman, AASP Past-President, with any additional questions.