Executive Summary/Overview

The New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) Office of Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID) employs many strategies designed to support and compliment each other for the purpose of assuring compliance and identifying and correcting noncompliance in a timely manner. The core function of General Supervision remains program monitoring for which VESID has a variety of protocols. However, for the past several years, VESID’s Special Education Quality Assurance (SEQA) system has been maximizing the impact of most Quality Assurance (QA) program reviews by focusing on the most critical Key Performance Indicator (KPI) areas (i.e., Achievement, Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), Student Exiting/Transition). The area to be reviewed is determined by previous district performance and each protocol incorporates disproportionality issues identified pursuant to Chapter 405 of the Laws of 1999. These QA reviews reflect a data driven collaborative process that focuses on outcomes but also ensures timely corrective action. Focused review protocols have been developed, or are in process, for public schools, State agency programs, approved private preschool and school-age programs, BOCES, charter schools and the State-operated and State-supported schools.

In addition, interagency agreements have been incorporated in our General Supervision system. VESID staff meet regularly with other State agencies (Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, Children and Family Services, etc.) to work and plan collaboratively to address systemic issues. Memoranda of Understanding are considered in the QA review process.

In 2000, VESID developed, and is currently upgrading, a Quality Assurance Information System (QAIS) to facilitate the tracking of complaint investigations, QA reviews and corrective action resolution. Staff are able to analyze the frequency of individual compliance issues on both a regional and statewide basis to determine whether technical assistance or other interventions are necessary. Such assistance is often provided by regional staff at the monthly meetings of Special Education Directors held throughout the State. QAIS also tracks the type and frequency of specific issues identified by the Legislature in 1999 (Chapter 405) needing attention by the Department and corrective action by school districts. VESID selected the Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) Plan as the vehicle for identified districts to describe the strategies they will employ to address systemic problems related to identification, placement, declassification and disproportionality.

Approximately 200 formal complaint investigations are conducted each year by the same SEQA staff who conduct QA reviews. In a marked improvement, 100 percent of all complaint investigations during the 2003-04 school year (7/1/03 to date) were completed on time as compared to 89 percent last year.

New York State averages nearly 1,400 impartial hearings with decisions each year, in comparison to fewer than 400 mediations. In July 2002, VESID developed a “real time” web based monitoring system that helps ensure timeliness by tracking all aspects of the impartial hearing system and alerting staff to the need for intervention. As of September 2003, 95.5 percent of the open hearings were timely, up from only 36 percent in December 2002. Also, the Department has taken steps to ensure all appeals to Impartial Hearing Officer decisions are reviewed by the State Review Office in a timely manner. As of December 31, 2003 the Office of State Review had eliminated its backlog of pending appeals and had no appeal pending review beyond thirty days except for appeals in which a party had requested an extension of time to submit papers. In 2001, 2002 and 2003, State Review Officers issued 95, 101 and 165 decisions, respectively. As of March 30, 2004, the Office of State Review has continued to issue timely decisions.

VESID’s system of General Supervision relies heavily on the 42 Special Education Training and Resource Centers (SETRCs) as the primary providers of technical assistance to the field. SETRC and SEQA staff collaborate in identifying regional training needs (all providers, public and private, benefit from it), developing the annual QA review schedule, conducting QA reviews and assisting in the implementation of district improvement plans. In the larger urban areas, this assistance has involved implementing Partnership Agreements with the Big Five City school districts. In 2001, VESID and the Department’s Office of Elementary, Middle, Secondary and Continuing Education jointly established a statewide network of Regional School Support Centers (RSSC). These RSSCs work with Chapter 405, State Improvement Grant (SIG) and other targeted districts to assist in planning and coordination of local and regional services to address identified needs and ensure the integration of general and special education.

Seven regionally based Transition Coordination sites collaborate with SEQA and Vocational Rehabilitation district staff to provide technical assistance on transition to schools, families, students and other agencies. Using a strategic planning model, mini-grants are provided to help schools implement improvement plans.

A regionally focused State oversight initiative that has been particularly successful is the five-year Special Education Space Requirements Planning process. First required in 1989 and due on February 1 of every fifth year thereafter, these plans are data based and developed by a team of regional stakeholders, including parents. All 38 BOCES and New York City submit these plans for VESID approval, which is based on how well each plan ensures the provision of appropriate long-term instructional space in the region and how well it expands opportunities for students with disabilities to be educated in sites that promote integration with nondisabled students, while reducing the number of classrooms at separate sites. It is expected that the completed 1999-2004 cycle will reflect a statewide total of 11,000 fewer students with disabilities in separate sites over that period of time.

Policy development and dissemination remain key components of VESID’s General Supervision system. Numerous field memoranda, the “Parents Guide,” the “Sample IEP and Guidance Document” and the mandated “Procedural Safeguards Notice” are all examples of VESID’s efforts to ensure effective implementation of the IDEA for all students with disabilities attending school districts, BOCES, approved private schools, approved preschools, State agency programs and the State-Operated and State-supported schools. VESID’s Policy and Partnership Unit also developed regulations, subsequently approved by the Board of Regents, which addressed and streamlined the Impartial Hearing System and gave VESID the authority to disapprove district building projects inconsistent with the approved Special Education Space Requirements Plan.

VESID and other Offices of the Department are developing comprehensive strategies to aggressively address areas of teacher/provider shortages, particularly in New York City. The New York City Joint Action Plan also involves the Office of the Professions, the Office of Teaching and the Office of Counsel. Many of the activities and strategies will have statewide implications.

Nearly all of the preceding initiatives and activities are dependent on the data collection and reporting done by VESID’s Strategic Evaluation Data Collection Analysis and Reporting (SEDCAR) Unit. Data related to all of VESID’s 14 KPIs, including assessment data, are reported to the Department annually. These data are reported not just by school districts but also by private schools, BOCES, preschools, State agency programs and all other programs serving students with disabilities. The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) data collection forms and instructions are reviewed annually to determine impact on State data collection forms (i.e., child count, environment, exiting, discipline and personnel). Data collection systems and procedures are enhanced annually to improve the efficiency, quality, timeliness and ability to share data with all stakeholders. As an additional measure to enhance accuracy, SEDCAR has trained SEQA staff on data reporting guidelines, who in turn have trained Special Education Directors at monthly regional meetings. SEDCAR and SEQA staff have jointly trained special education and information system staff in each of the Big Five Cities and will continue to do so annually. SEQA and SETRC staff use KPI data to determine which districts, BOCES, State agency and other programs will be reviewed each year and to determine the type of QA review. Policy staff use the data to determine the need for guidance to the field, targeted brochures and regulatory amendments. SETRC and the other networks, in consultation with regional SEQA staff, use these data to determine personnel development needs and to target individual districts and schools for assistance.

In summary, VESID’s system of General Supervision is data driven, comprehensive (covers all students with disabilities regardless of placement) and collaborative (the various offices and networks are guided by a single strategic plan, meet regularly and support each other’s efforts). This collaboration helps to ensure accurate and timely communication, consistency and necessary coordination of the many aspects of General Supervision. VESID annually reports its progress to the field in relation to the KPIs through the Pocketbook of Goals and Results for Individuals with Disabilities, now in its eighth edition (See http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/pocketbook/2003/home.html). The Pocketbook is available on-line, and thousands of copies are distributed throughout the year to stakeholder groups and at meetings and presentations.

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