(See Cluster I, General
Supervision -
Explanation of
Progress/Slippage - Chapter 405)
Information Dissemination
-
VESID provides materials on LRE/FAPE
to families whose primary language is not English by providing
special education publications in four different languages:
Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Haitian Creole.
-
The Parent's Guide and the
Procedural Safeguards Notice were provided in four
different languages for parents whose primary language is not
English.
-
The Procedural Safeguards Notice
which includes information on LRE and FAPE was revised in
August 2003.
-
All policy memoranda developed
were disseminated to school district personnel, parent
networks, and training networks.
-
All policies were placed on the
web and sent to groups and individuals on the VESID list
serve.
Focused Reviews
Special Education
Quality Assurance (SEQA) staff developed a new Quality
Assurance Focused Review protocol designed to maximize the
impact of a Quality Assurance (QA) review by focusing on only
one Key Performance Indicator area (i.e., Achievement, LRE,
Student Exiting/Transition) at a time. These QA reviews
reflect a data driven collaborative process that focuses on
outcomes and ensures timely corrective action. (See Cluster I,
General Supervision, Table GS.I, II, III -
(Performance Indicators #’s 1, 2 and 3) and Cluster IV,
FAPE/LRE, Table FAPE.V. for further information).
Regional Space Plans
(See Cluster I, General
Supervision, Table GS.I, II, III -
(Performance Indicators #’s 1, 2 and 3) and Cluster IV,
FAPE/LRE, Table FAPE.V. for further information).
Technical Assistance to Chapter
405 Districts
VESID provides
technical assistance to address Chapter 405 problem areas
through the Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD)
planning process. The development of the CSPD plan is based on
a thorough analysis of district and building data to determine
needs, identify specific goals and outcomes in regard to
student achievement, district performance and
disproportionality, and identify benchmarks represented toward
achieving identified goals. VESID provides technical
assistance to address the Chapter 405 problem areas through
the Special Education Training and Resource Center (SETRC)
network, Regional School Support Centers (RSSC), Quality
Assurance (QA) review process and regional training and
technical assistance. The three levels of intervention for
school districts identified for Chapter 405 issues include:
Targeted Technical Assistance:
The issues in these districts were considered to be systemic
in nature and not resolvable through technical assistance and
regionally provided training alone. All targeted districts
have an approved plan in place and continue to receive
technical assistance for both the planning process and
professional development through the RSSC and SETRC networks.
Regional Technical Assistance:
These districts were required to address the resolution of the
problem(s) in their CSPD plan and participate in regional
training programs sponsored by the Department or through local
sources. A sampling of the types of training provided at the
regional level includes: pre-referral and intervention
strategies, co-teaching models, systematic ways of examining
data, reassessing assessment, and team building and parent
training.
Self-Review: Similar to
Regional Technical Assistance, these districts addressed the
resolution of the problem(s) in the CSPD plan and implemented
the plan with local and regional resources. The attainment of
goals associated with the problem area(s) were documented in
the CSPD plan as updated and revised annually with the support
of the SETRC representative.
In 2002-03, VESID provided
technical assistance to Chapter 405 Districts as follows:
-
Targeted Technical Assistance- 13
districts
-
Regional Technical Assistance-89
districts
-
Self-Review-251 districts
-
Total-353 districts
(See Cluster I, General
Supervision, Table GS.I, II, III -
(Performance Indicators #’s 1, 2 and 3) and Cluster IV,
FAPE/LRE, Table FAPE.V. for further information).
Joint Action Plan
Teacher shortages continue to have a significant impact
upon issues related to the over-identification of students
with disabilities and the disproportionate identification of
students of ethnic/racial minorities. In collaboration with
the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) and the New
York State Education Department (NYSED), a Joint Action Plan
was developed to assist in addressing issues around teacher
shortages. The Action Plan involves multiple offices within VESID, the Office of the Professions, the Office of Teaching
and the Office of Counsel. Many of the activities and
strategies of the Action Plan have policy and program
implications on a statewide basis, including legislative
proposals to address shortages and statewide surveys of
Institutes of Higher Education (IHE’s) with teacher
preparation programs to assist in determining the current
capacity of the IHE system to address teacher shortage areas.
As a result, several initiatives have been implemented to
begin addressing these issues.
(See Cluster I, General Supervision,
Table GS.IV).
Disproportionality and
Technical Assistance Plus (Data Plus)
A Request for Proposal (RFP) was developed calling for the
provision of technical assistance to regional and State staff
as well as to targeted districts around issues regarding
disproportionality. A Proposal from the Metro Center for Urban
Education at New York University in collaboration with RMC
Research and Learning Innovations at West Ed was accepted to
provide technical assistance to regional and State staff as
well as to targeted districts regarding Chapter 405 issues of
disproportionality. Delays in the contract process and revisions
to the original proposal resulted in delays in the initiation
of the project, originally scheduled to begin in the fall of
2003.
State Improvement Grant
New York’s State
Improvement Grant (SIG) directs technical assistance,
professional development and comprehensive planning services
to designated districts in need of improvement based on key
performance measures and disproportionality. VESID’s second year
of implementation of the SIG was in 2002-03. During that
period, the NYSED finalized the establishment of three
regional SIG teams that were intended to provide levels of
professional development to targeted districts, continued
development of training modules associated with root cause
associated with poor performance and disproportionality, and
continued implementation of the Higher Education Support
Center to foster impact on preservice education programs. The
SIG Grant targets approximately 34 districts including the Big
Five Cities. Each district receives an IDEA Discretionary
Grant (not SIG Funds) of $50,000 per year for two years to
support intensive professional development activities.
