The Exceptional Student Services (ESS) Data Management team is responsible for collecting, reviewing, validating, verifying, and analyzing special education data in Arizona as required under Section 618 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Are you new to special education reporting? Or are you seasoned in special education reporting and would like a review? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then we cordially invite you to attend the Beginning of the Year Training, hosted by ESS Data Management. This virtual session will cover several special education data reporting requirements and resources to support you in your efforts to provide reliable, valid, and timely special education data per IDEA requirements.
Getting Started
ADEConnect
You will need access to ADEConnect. Contact your local ADEConnect Entity Administrator to request an ADEConnect User Account and permissions to the applications listed below. Necessary roles for each can be found in the sections below.
- Statement of Assurances
- AzEDS Portal / AzEDS SPED Reporting
- October 1 Data Collection (ODC)
- Special Education Data Dashboard (SEDD)
Don’t know who your ADEConnect Entity Admin is? Find your local ADEConnect entity administrator.
A list of roles required for each application can be found in the sections below.
Need additional help? Please review the ADEConnect FAQs document or contact ADE Support for further assistance.
Special Education Data Updates (SEDU)
Join us every month as we discuss a variety of ESS Data Topics and Updates, complete with a live Q&A. These webinars are held on the 3rd Wednesday of every month from 2pm - 3pm (subject to change).
Registration for each webinar is sent two weeks prior via our ESS Data Management Alerts.
View the archive of our past SEDU presentations here: Special Education Data Updates Webinars
Don't forget to sign up for our alerts.
Training Videos
Learn the basics of SPED data reporting by viewing past training on each of our pages.
Application and Portal Overviews
Reviewing, monitoring, and certifying your SPED data throughout the year is imperative to complying with both state and federal reporting requirements. Continue reading below for a brief synopsis of the various applications and tools utilized by ESS Data Management.
AzEDS
The AzEDS portal allows users to review SPED, enrollment, and integrity rule feedback for data submitted through their PEA's Student Information System (SIS). Each AzEDS portal report serves a unique purpose, such as helping users identify missing data or integrity errors. You can access the AzEDS portal from the applications list on your ADEConnect homepage.
Effective FY24, discipline data is reported in AzEDS. This helps improve the collection, use, and reporting of safety and discipline incident data for IDEA data reporting. Discipline data is extracted to pre-populate data within the SEDD application for PEAs to validate before submission. Additional information, including instructions for reporting, is available on our AzEDS SPED Reporting page.
Access to the AzEDS Portal
The following roles (assigned in ADEConnect) are recommended for SPED Directors and Data Managers to access reports in the AzEDS Portal for data review and validation:
| Role |
Permissions |
|---|
| AzEDS Data Coordinator: Base Reports |
Access to basic enrollment and demographic reports |
| AzEDS Data Coordinator: SPED Reports |
Access to SPED-related data reports |
| AzEDS Data Coordinator: Support Program Reports |
Access to Support Program reports |
| AzEDS Data Coordinator: Discipline Reports |
Access to discipline incident reports |
AzEDS Reports
With all of the ADE reports available, you may ask yourself, "What report should I use?" You can refer to the table below for a description of these helpful SPED-related reports.
| Report |
Description |
|---|
| SPED10 |
SPED Data Verification Report
Verify raw data uploaded to AzEDS.
Updated: Pre-integrity, up to 1 hour after your Student Information System (SIS) syncs with AzEDS. |
| SPED11 |
Preschool Outcomes Report
Verify raw data for preschool outcomes uploaded to AzEDS.
Updated: Pre-integrity, up to 1 hour after your SIS syncs with AzEDS. |
| SPED12 |
SPED Preschool Outcomes History Report: Provides a history of Preschool Outcomes up to the last enrollment reported by the entity viewing the report.
Updated: Post-integrity, nightly. |
| SPED50 |
SPED Concurrency Report
Shows only concurrently reported SPED Primary Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) Entry and Exit Dates reported by another PEA to aid collaboration in correcting the concurrency.
Updated: Post-integrity, nightly |
| SPED72 |
SPED Participation Report
Filtered by District of Residence (DOR) and includes students that reside within the PEA, regardless of where they attend, or filtered by District of Attendance (DOA); this includes students that attend a school within the PEA (that are not on the DOR version). Student SPED need(s) and LRE are displayed.
Updated: Post-integrity, nightly |
| SPED73 |
October 1 FED/SPED Report
Verify SPED students served on the October 1 child count. Students are categorized into three sections: Included in the October 1 count, excluded due to failing FED/SPED and/or Membership Integrity, and unknown error pool. Can be filtered by DOA or DOR.
Updated: Post-integrity, nightly |
| SPED74 |
SPED Exit Report
View student exit data to determine valid exits for the Special Education Data Dashboard (SEDD). Data within the report is by DOR only and displays students ages 13-22 based on Calculated Age for Exit. This report will outline each condition to be a valid exit for SEDD and provide feedback for any condition not met. Only students passing FED, SPED, ADM, and Accountability integrity will populate.
Updated: Post-integrity, nightly |
| SPED99 |
Orphan Data Report
View SPED records reported to AzEDS that are not associated with an enrollment. This commonly occurs when enrollments are deleted while SPED data remains, typically resulting in concurrency errors.
Updated: Post-integrity, nightly |
| INTEG15 |
Student Data Integrity Report
View students failing integrity, details, error, and message. To view SPED students, select Integrity Categories: SPED & FED/SPED.
Updated: Daily (6 pm - 9 pm). |
| DISC10 |
Discipline Data Verification Report
Provides a compilation of student discipline data that has been submitted to ADE. Associated Violations (Behaviors) and Actions are displayed under the IncidentID and StudentID for that Incident.
Updated: Pre-integrity, up to one hour after your SIS syncs with AzEDS. |
| DISC72 |
Discipline Validation Report
Shows reported discipline incident information, whether they have passed discipline integrity, and if the incident is receiving any warnings.
Updated: Post-integrity, nightly |
| INTEG55 |
Discipline Incident Integrity Report
Lists the integrity results on discipline incidents.
Updated: Post-integrity, nightly |
| SPED07 |
Post-integrity report of SPED students served over October 1. Available after verification count due date and used for reconciliation in Phase II of the October 1 Data Collection.
Updated: Daily after integrity processing.
Note: This report is found in the October 1 Data Collection application, not the AzEDS Portal. Role access to the October 1 Data Collection application is required.
|
Surveys and Assurances
This section provides information on the Statement of Assurances, and surveys for Parent Involvement, Teacher Attrition, Post School Outcomes, and more.
Statement of Assurances
Under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), the representative body for Special Education for Arizona, Exceptional Student Services, is required to obtain assurances from Public Education Agencies (PEAs) to attest that they are meeting the requirements under state and federal statutes for special education in the state of Arizona. It is a requirement for all entities defined as PEAs, regardless of whether they receive federal funds. All PEAs must submit the IDEA Statement of Assurances (SOA) through the Exceptional Student Services Portal of ADEConnect. The SOA must be submitted by your organization's Superintendent, Charter Holder, or Special Education Director before IDEA funding applications are approved in the Grants Management Enterprise system.
| Role |
Permissions |
|---|
|
ESS Special Education : Signer
|
Signs the statement of assurances for the upcoming fiscal year to draw on the IDEA grant.
Reserved for school SPED Directors, Superintendents, CEOs, Business Managers, Charter Holders, or equivalent titles ONLY.
|
Parent Involvement
All public education agencies are required to annually administer the nine-question State Performance Plan—Indicator 8: Parent Involvement Survey to all parents of students with an individualized education plan (IEP).
Visit the Parent Involvement Survey page for more information.
Teacher Attrition
ESS conducts an annual survey of all public education agencies in Arizona to help track, quantify, and understand special education personnel shortages.
Visit the Teacher Attrition Survey page for more information.
Post-School Outcomes
Each public education agency that serves transition-age students with disabilities is required to participate in the Post-School Outcomes Survey every year. Students who exited high school are contacted and administered a 14-question survey designed to capture student engagement in post-secondary education/training or employment. Data obtained from the PSO survey facilitates results-driven analysis and improvement to secondary transition programs at the state and local levels.
Visit the Post-School Outcomes Survey page for more information.
Parentally Placed Private School Students (PPPSS) Survey
The Parentally Placed Private School Survey is intended to collect the number of parentally placed private school students who were evaluated by the public school district during the school year (July 1 – June 30).
Visit the Data Surveys and Assurances page for more information.
Access to Data Surveys
| Role |
Permissions |
|---|
|
ESS Data Surveys: User
|
Allows users to access to complete surveys for their PEA.
This role does not grant access to the Statement of Assurances.
This role does not grant access to the Post-School Outcomes survey.
|
Post School Outcomes Survey:
ESS Post School Outcomes |
This role is required for users to access the PSO survey and application, as well as administer their PSO student list. |
Data Collection & Reporting
Applications that facilitate data collection efforts that determine Federal IDEA Indicators.
October 1 Data Collection (ODC)
The purpose of the October 1 Data Collection (ODC) application is to gather a child count of special education students who were served on October 1 and report full-time equivalency (FTE) counts for personnel who serve students with disabilities. This is a multi-step process.
The ODC application is found within the Exceptional Student Services Portal within ADEConnect.
Phase I: Verification Count
October 1 is a “snapshot” count date. Count the number of SPED students served on October 1 and report the number of FTE personnel employed and contracted to provide special education and related services on or about October 1. Enter this data via the ESS ODC application available through the ESS portal within ADEConnect. This submission requires an electronic signature.
Phase II: Reconciliation
The reconciliation process compares the number on the verification count submission with the data submitted to AzEDS. PEAs are responsible for ensuring reconciliation by comparing the special education data successfully processed (and reflected in the updated SPED07 report available within the ESS ODC application) with their verified count. Enter or correct special education data for students in AzEDS before the reconciliation due date.
Phase III: Non-Reconciliation (If Applicable)
After the reconciliation deadline has passed, PEAs will be notified if their counts did not reconcile. If your verification count submission does not match the special education data in AzEDS that is reflected on the final SPED07 report, an explanation will need to be provided for the discrepancy. The explanation must be submitted prior to the non-reconciliation deadline through the ESS ODC application available through the ESS portal within ADEConnect.
Access to the ODC Application
Only ONE role needs to be assigned in ADEConnect for this application:
| Role |
Permissions |
|---|
| ESS October 1 Data Collection: PEA User |
Data entry only; cannot sign off on submitted data. Anyone can request that the SPED Director approves. |
| ESS October 1 Data Collection: PEA Signer |
Contains all permissions of the LEA User role, AND authority to sign off on submitted data.
Reserved for SPED Directors, Superintendents, CEOs, Business Managers, Charter Holders, or equivalent titles ONLY.
|
Additional information, including current training and guidance materials, can be found on our October 1 Data Collection page.
Special Education Data Dashboard (SEDD)
The Special Education Data Dashboard (SEDD) comprises several components that require a review of data collected over the entire fiscal year. Instructions for reporting are available on the homepage of the SEDD application and are available through the ESS Portal within ADEConnect. The online application will open in the Spring, and the final data, which includes the submission of an electronic signature, is due at the beginning of the next school year.
Student Exit Data
Based on data extracted from AzEDS, ADE will report an unduplicated count of students with disabilities ages 14-21, by age, disability, race/ethnicity, gender, and EL status who are identified as qualified SPED exiters as outlined in the SPED Exit Flow Chart.
Discipline Data
Based on data extracted from AzEDS, ADE will report the total number of discipline incidents for students with disabilities who were subject to disciplinary action resulting in the removal from the educational environment.
Students Without Disabilities
Based on data extracted from AzEDS, ADE will report the number of expulsions of students in grades K-12 not receiving special education services and indicate whether educational services were provided.
Access to the SEDD Application
Only ONE role needs to be assigned in ADEConnect for this application:
| Role |
Permissions |
|---|
| ESS Special Education Data Dashboard: PEA User |
Data entry only, cannot sign off on submitted data. Anyone can request that the SPED Director approve. |
| ESS Special Education Data Dashboard: PEA Signer |
Contains all permissions of the user role, and authority to sign off on submitted data.
Reserved for school SPED Directors, Superintendents, CEOs, Business Managers, Charter Holders, or equivalent titles ONLY
|
Additional information, including current training and guidance materials, can be found on our Special Education Data Dashboard page.
Stay Informed and Ask Questions
You are always welcome to contact the Data Management team for any questions regarding your SPED data reporting.
We also highly encourage you to sign up for our ESS Data Management Alerts to receive important reminders and announcements regarding due dates, updates, and training from the Data Management team.
All prior alerts can be viewed here: ESS Data Management Alerts Archive.
Other Questions
For questions not directly related to your SPED data, you may need to contact another area within the Arizona Department of Education: