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SPP Data Collection

SPP Indicator 7: Early Childhood Outcomes

What’s Required

In 2005, the Early Childhood Outcomes (ECO) Center created the Child Outcomes Summary Process as a way for states to summarize data on children for federal reporting purposes. States use the Child Outcomes Summary Form (COSF) to document the percentage of preschool children with Individualized Education Programs (IEP) who demonstrate improved functioning in three outcome areas.

• Positive social-emotional skills (including social relationships)
• Acquisition and use of knowledge and skills (including early language/communication and early literacy)
• Use of appropriate behaviors to meet their needs

Starting in 2011, the ECO Center began using the term "Child Outcomes Summary Process" rather than the Child Outcomes Summary Form or COSF, to emphasize that this measurement approach is a team process, not just a form.

What We Do

On an ongoing basis throughout the school year, preschool teachers and Speech/Language Pathologists report on all children, ages three through five, who meet the Entry and Exit Criteria during the reporting period (July 1-June 30). The electronic Childhood Outcomes Summary Form (SuccessEd) collects the following data:

• Positive social-emotional skills at the time of entry/exit,
• Acquisition and use of knowledge and skills at the time of entry/exit,
• Use of appropriate behaviors to meet needs at the time of entry/exit,
• Assessment instruments used to collect data, and
• Reason for exiting (i.e.: aged out, dismissed)

After the data is entered, the entries are reviewed by a Special Education Coordinator for data entry errors to ensure accuracy and to ensure all schools are reported and no duplicate data exists. Case Managers are responsible for printing the completed COSF and placing it in the student's audit folder.

SPP Indicator 11: Child Find

What’s Required

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004), Section 616(b)(2)(B), requires states to collect data from LEAs for State Performance Plan (SPP) indicators 1-14 to report data for the State Performance Plan Annual Performance Report. The LEA is responsible for assuring that the data is accurate and therefore, must be knowledgeable of the process. Once entered and complete, the Coordinator will certify the data. Every district must have a complete and certified status regardless of whether the district has any data to enter. If a district has no data to enter a zero should be entered into the application before the data collection is certified.

What We Do

Periodically, our Assessment Coordinator checks a report in SuccessEd that reflects the information input by campus Diagnosticians and Speech/Language Pathologists.  This report provides:

• Evaluations completed within the state established timeline,
• Evaluations not completed within State established timelines,
• Determined not eligible,
• Determined eligible,
• Determined to have been delayed and the reason for delay.  Detailed Records are sent by the campus to the Assessment Coordinator to support the reason for the delay, and
• All other required components of Indicator 11.

After the data is entered, the entries are reviewed by our Assessment Coordinator for incomplete information to ensure accuracy and to ensure all schools are reported. Detailed records may include, but are not limited to: certified letters, detailed physician's letters, comprehensive records of phone calls made or attempted along with the results of those calls, copies of correspondence sent to parents and any responses received, records of visits made to the parent's home or place of employment and the results of those visits, log of multiple attempts to contact parents or guardians, etc. and should be collected as circumstances warrant.

SPP Indicator 12: Early Childhood Transitions

What’s Required

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004), Section 616(b)(2)(B), requires states to collect data from LEAs for State Performance Plan (SPP) indicators 1-14 to report data for the State Performance Plan Annual Performance Report. State Performance Plan (SPP) Indicator 12 is a percentage of students referred by Part C - Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) before age three who are found eligible for Part B - District Special Education Services and who have an IEP (Individualized Education Program) developed and implemented by their third birthday.

What We Do

Periodically, our Assessment Coordinator checks a report in SuccessEd that reflects the information input by campus ARD Facilitator and/or Diagnostician and Speech/Language Pathologists.  This report provides the data collected for SPP 12:

• Student demographics (including date of birth),
• 120-day transition date,
• Referral date,
• Evaluation date,
• ARD/IEP date, and
• Reason for evaluation delay, detailed records are sent by the campus to the Special Education Assessment Coordinator to support the reason for delay.

After the data is entered, the entries are reviewed by our Special Education Assessment Coordinator for incomplete information to ensure accuracy and to ensure all schools are reported. Detailed records may include, but are not limited to: certified letters, detailed physician's letters, comprehensive records of phone calls made or attempted along with the results of those calls, copies of correspondence sent to parents and any responses received, records of visits made to the parent's home or place of employment and the results of those visits, log of multiple attempts to contact parents or guardians, etc., and should be collected as circumstances warrant.

SPP Indicator 13: Post-secondary Goals/Transition

What is Transition for a Student with Special Needs

"Transition refers to a change in status from behaving primarily as a student to assuming emergent adult roles in the community. These roles include employment, participating in post-secondary training/education, maintaining a home, becoming appropriately involved in the community, and experiencing satisfactory personal and social relationships. The process of enhancing transition involves the participation and coordination of school programs, adult agency services, and natural supports within the community.

The foundation for transition should be laid during the elementary and middle school years, guided by the broad concept of career development. Transition planning should begin no later than age 14, and students should be encouraged, to the full extent of their capabilities, to assume a maximum amount of responsibility for such planning."    (Halpern, 1994)

What’s Required

Federal Requirements:

Transition services and activities must be included in the development of the IEP no later than the first IEP to be in effect when the student turns 16, or younger if determined appropriate by the IEP Team, and must include appropriate measurable postsecondary goals based upon age-appropriate transition assessments related to training, education, employment, and where appropriate, independent living skills.

State Requirements:

Note: Main difference between Federal and State requirements is the age of the student when a Full Transition Plan development is required.

Texas requirements for transition services are aligned to the Federal requirements included in IDEA 2004.  However, state law and guidance include additional requirements for the provision of transition services for students receiving special education services in Texas. A new state law passed in the summer of 2011 requires that "appropriate state transition planning must begin for a student not later than when the student reaches 14 years of age" (SB 1788, 06/17/2011). The Texas Administrative Code (TAC) describes the following nine issues important to the development of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) for students receiving special education services.

Appropriate student involvement in the student's transition to life outside the public school system.

If the student is younger than 18 years of age, appropriate parental involvement in the student's transition.

If the student is at least 18 years of age, appropriate parental involvement in the student's transition if the parent is invited to participate by the student or the school district in which the student is enrolled.

• Any post-secondary education options
• A functional vocational evaluation
• Employment goals and objectives
• If the student is at least 18 years of age, the availability of age-appropriate instructional environments
• Independent living goals and objectives
• Appropriate circumstances for referring a student or the student's parents to a governmental agency for services

What We Do

Transition services mean working as a team with the student, parent, school staff, and outside agencies or community service to develop a coordinated set of activities for a student with a disability that is based on the individual student's needs, considering:

• Student's strengths,
• Preferences,
• Interests,
• Instruction,
• Related services,
• Community experience,
• Development of employment and other post-school adult living objectives, and
• If appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills and provision of a functional vocational evaluation.

All of these activities will be considered for each student, however, specific activities will be determined by the needs of each student.

Transition is a results-oriented process focused on improving the academic and functional achievement of a child with disabilities to facilitate the movement from school to post-school activities.

These activities, though state guidelines, begin on or before the student turns 14 years old with post-secondary goals in education or training, employment, and if appropriate, independent living skills based on age-appropriate transition assessments and, an examination of transition issues including the appropriate courses of study based on transition goals.

The IEP will include transition services needed to assist the student in reaching those post-secondary goals.

The Case Manager is responsible for providing when appropriate, parent, teacher, and student input forms for transition planning and/or as a portion of transition assessment.

Although transition planning must be in place by age 14, it can be completed earlier, depending on the needs of the student.

Earlier transition planning, when appropriate, can be considered for students with moderate to severe disabilities who may need additional services from outside agencies with long waiting lists.

Appropriate student involvement in the student's transition to life outside the public-school system includes student participation in the ARD\IEP committee.

Best practices would indicate that to the extent possible, the student should lead a portion of the ARD/IEP meeting taking into consideration his or her capabilities.

The student will be invited to the ARD/IEP Committee meeting when transition services will be discussed.

The ARD/IEP Committee will make decisions regarding transition goals and services based on age-appropriate transition assessments.

The transition goals and services in the student's IEP are updated annually.

An ARD/IEP Committee will consider, and if appropriate, address the issue of a Formal Functional Vocational Evaluation.

A Formal Functional Vocational Evaluation is an assessment process that provides information about job or career interests, aptitudes, and skills. Information is gathered through situational assessments in the setting where the job is performed and takes ARD Committee input and parent permission.

The ARD/IEP Committee identifies students who will benefit from services in a Vocational Program such as Community Based Instruction (CBI). Community-Based Vocational Instruction (CBVI) or Work-Based Learning (WBL).

The Informal or Formal Functional Vocational Evaluation can be a useful tool in assessing progress for these students. The Informal Functional Vocational Evaluation is an ongoing data collection process and is part of a student’s special education services' ongoing data collection process.

Age-appropriate instructional environments will be available for students who are 18 years of age and older.

The ARD/IEP Committee must determine the appropriate environment for each student in this age category on a case-by-case basis, but decisions should be made by taking into consideration what typical students in general education are doing at that age (e.g. college, technical school, employment, volunteer positions, etc.) and the comparable environments available.

Formal transition planning is completed during the ARD/IEP Committee meeting and focuses on assisting students with disabilities to become independent within the community, to the greatest extent possible.

For students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), IEP goals and objectives will address the skills necessary to function in current and future environments.

Transition (or futures) planning for students with ASD, at any age, includes ARD/IEP Committee determination of need, and establishment of a plan, if appropriate, to support the student's successful transition from current to next environment(s).

Such support might also include assisting students to transition from elementary to middle school level, from middle to high school, and/or across instructional settings.

Before the student's 17th birthday the Notice of Transfer of Parental Rights must be completed. Refer to current the for more detailed information regarding this subject.

Plan Addressing Needed Transition Services.

(This is not the purpose of a Personal Graduation Plan.)

By age 17, inform student/parent of Transfer of Rights to the student when a student reaches age 18 and completes the Transfer of Rights Statement in the ARD/IEP Supplement: Personal Graduation Plan Addressing Needed Transition Services. (This is not the purpose of a Personal Graduation Plan.)

If a student's goal is to be employed after graduation from high school, the appropriate courses should be included in the IEP and addressed on the Graduation Options Supplement; this begins with documentation of the student's goals after graduation.

Adult service providers (agencies) should be included at the transition meeting before graduation, depending upon services needed by the individual student. If an agency commits to providing a service and that service is never provided, the ARD/IEP Committee must reconvene to determine how that need will be met.

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