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Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID)
Special Education and Vocational Rehabilitation Services

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School District Self-Review Monitoring Protocol

Revised April 2008

Disproportionate Identification of Racial and Ethnic Groups for Special Education and Related Services (Indicator #9)

New York State Education Department
Office of Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities
Special Education Quality Assurance
16^th Floor · One Commerce Plaza
Albany, NY  12234

Table of Contents

Overview of Self-Review Requirements 

Timelines for Completion of the Self-Review 

Focus of the Self-Review 

Directions for Conducting the Self-Review 

Identification of Noncompliance 

Report to the State Education Department (SED) 

SED Review of Self-Review Monitoring Report 

Correction of Noncompliance 

Technical Assistance Resources 

Questions

Attachments

Attachment 1:     Checklist to Complete the Disproportionality Self-Review Monitoring Protocol

Attachment 2:     School District Self-Review Monitoring Protocol

Attachment 2A:   Part 200 – Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Section 200.1(zz) – Definitions of Disability Classifications

Attachment 3:     Data Analysis of Students Referred to the Committee on Special Education

Attachment 4:     Individual Student Record Review Form

Attachment 5:     Focused Rubric to Evaluate the CSE Process

Attachment 6:     Interview Questions to Identify Improvement Activities

Attachment 7:     Disproportionality Self-Review Monitoring Report

Self-Review Monitoring Protocol

For Districts Identified for Significant Disproportionality Under

Indicator #9 of the State Performance Plan

 Overview of Self-Review Requirements

School districts that have been identified under federal Indicator #9 of the State Performance Plan by the State Education Department (SED) as having significant disproportionality based on race and ethnicity in the identification of students with disabilities are required to complete this self-review monitoring protocol.  School districts must determine if the disproportionate representation of racial and ethnic groups in special education and related services is the result of inappropriate identification through implementation of the district’s policies, procedures and practices used in the identification of students with disabilities.

Timelines for Completion of the Self-Review

The self-review must be completed by between August 1 and October 1 of the school year in which the school district is identified.

Focus of the Self-Review

The self-review monitoring process is a focused review of a school district’s policies, procedures and practices (i.e., implementation of policies and procedures) that most closely relate to the identification of children as students with disabilities.

This review has four focus areas described below:

I.    School-wide Approaches and Prereferral Interventions.  The Board of Education must have written policy that articulates a school-wide approach to prereferral interventions throughout the district.  Both the policy and its implementation will be reviewed in order to determine if there are equitable opportunities for students to receive supportive interventions that enable them to be successful in the general education environment.  Procedures and practices will also be analyzed to determine if the policy is implemented in a consistent manner for all students and that students of different racial or ethnic groups are not treated differently in any schools of the district.

II.   Referral of Students to the Committee on Special Education (CSE).  The practices of the school district will be reviewed to determine if teachers and administrators make appropriate use of prereferral interventions and if student referrals are handled consistently school-wide.

III.   Individual Evaluations of Students with Disabilities.  The school district’s evaluation practices will be reviewed to determine if students of all racial and ethnic groups, and particularly students of the identified group, have received appropriate evaluations.  The evaluations must include a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional, developmental and academic information about the student that may assist in determining whether the student is a student with a disability.

IV.  Eligibility Determinations.  The district’s CSE process will be examined to determine to what extent students of the identified racial and ethnic groups are provided appropriate instruction and resources to promote learning prior to referral and that the CSE recommendation is based on the students’ evaluations.

Directions for Completing the Self-Review

·    Checklist to Complete the Disproportionality Self-Review Monitoring Protocol (Attachment 1) – This form provides a step-by-step process to complete the self-review.  The district must maintain documentation for every step of the review process for later verification.  There are six forms (Attachments 2-7) that must be completed as part of the self-review monitoring process.

·     School District Self-Review Monitoring Protocol (Attachment 2) – This form establishes the protocol to conduct the self-review.  The protocol:

• specifies the regulatory requirements relating to the four focus areas;

• identifies documentation (e.g., written policies, data charts, student record reviews, interview summaries, CSE meeting minutes) that must be reviewed; and

• identifies information to “look for” in reviewing documentation (e.g., consistent application of prereferral interventions for students across all racial/ethnic groups within the district).

     

The school district must use this form to guide the self-review and to document its compliance findings in detail and identify, for self-correction purposes, any corrective action and improvement activities needed to address compliance issues.  This form is not submitted to SED, but should be used to guide the district to self-correct compliance issues.

·     Data Analysis of Students Referred to the CSE (Attachment 3) – This chart is used to assist the district in determining if students of the identified racial/ethnic groups in all buildings within the district have had equal access to prereferral interventions and that all students have been treated equally in the referral process.  This chart will help the team determine patterns of over- or underutilization of prereferral interventions.

·   Individual Student Record Review (Attachment 4) – This form is used to guide the collection of information from individual student records (i.e., evaluations, IEPs).  The School District Self-Review Monitoring Protocol (Attachment 2) should be referenced in determining what docu­mentation in a student’s record must be reviewed and what information to look for in the review of that documentation.  Using this form, for each regulatory citation for each individual student in the sample, a determination must be made whether the requirement was met or was not met or was not applicable to the individual student.  One form should be used for each student record reviewed.  Information from these forms is used to determine compliance. 

·    Focused Rubric to Evaluate the CSE Process (Attachment 5) – This form is used to focus on key decision points during the CSE meeting that affect determination of eligibility.  The rubric provides information about how the CSE addresses these key points and if the CSE makes decisions consistently across the district.  It may also provide insight into how the CSE decision-making process may or may not contribute to an over- or under-identification of students by race/ethnicity.  All instances of “minimally addressed or no evidence” must be reported as noncompliance.

·       Interview Questions to Identify Improvement Activities (Attachment 6) – This form is used to interview staff to identify issues relating to school-wide approaches and prereferral supports and services, referrals of students to the CSE and individual evaluations of students with disabilities. The information learned from staff interviews should assist the team to identify improvement activities.  Documentation of improvement activities must be noted in Attachment 2 for any issues needing improvement.

·    Disproportionality Self-Review Monitoring Report (Attachment 7) – This form is a sample of the electronic report the school district will compete to document the results of the district’s self-review to SED.  For each regulatory require­ment, the district must document its findings of compliance or noncompliance.  This information must be submitted electronically to SED between August 1 and October 1, but no later than October 1.

Identification of Noncompliance

The team must carefully review all findings from all the documentation and evidence to make its determination of compliance for each regulatory requirement.  Any absent or inappropriate policy, procedure or practice must be reported as a noncompliance issue. Please refer to these criteria below when making determinations of compliance/noncompliance.

·      When fewer than 90 percent of the total number of records reviewed (Attachment 4) show evidence that a particular regulatory requirement has been met, the regulation must be noted as “noncompliant.”

·      When other required documentation from Attachments 3 and 5 provide evidence of noncompliance, the issue must be reported as “noncompliant.”

·      In cases where 90 percent or more of the total records reviewed show evidence that a particular requirement has been met, but other evidence from Attachments 3 and/or 5 show findings of noncompliance, the issue must be reported as “noncompliant.” 

Report to the State Education Department (SED)

The only documentation to be submitted to SED is the Disproportionality Self-Review Monitoring Report (Attachment 7). This report must be submitted electronically.  To complete this form, go to http://pd.nysed.gov/ and follow the directions for completion and submission.  The district should NOT submit the other forms completed or the documentation reviewed during the self-review unless requested by SED.

Pursuant to the New York State Archives and Records Administration Records Retention and Disposition Schedule ED-1, the school district must maintain documentation of its review for a period of seven years. This documentation is subject to review by SED and, therefore, should be maintained in an easily retrievable and organized manner.

SED Review of Self-Review Monitoring Report 

SED will review the Self-Review Monitoring Report and respond as follows:

1.   If the school district reports to SED that, based on its self-review, the district has not identified any compliance issues relating to its policies, procedures and practices, SED will arrange for a review of that determination. 

2.   If the school district reports to SED that, based on its self-review, the district has one or more compliance issues relating to its policies, procedures and practices, SED will notify the district that it must correct all instances of noncompliance not later than one year from the identification of the issues.  SED will periodically contact the school district to ensure that correction of noncompliance has occurred within a year. 

Correction of Noncompliance

Year 1 – Self-identification and Correction

If the school district identifies school district policies, procedures and practices that are not consistent with State and federal requirements, the school district must:

• document issues of noncompliance to SED using the Disproportionality Self-Review Monitoring Report (Attachment 7) ;

• document on the self-review protocol (Attachment 2) the steps the school district will take (i.e., corrective actions and improvement activities) to correct findings of noncompliance;

• correct all instances of noncompliance immediately, but not later than one year from identification of the issues (i.e., date reported to SED);

• for issues of disproportionality, publicly report (e.g., public meeting, posting on school district website on the revision of policies, practices and procedures); and

• provide an assurance and documentation to SED that the school district has corrected all issues of noncompliance.  (Further information on this documentation will be provided to individual districts based on compliance findings.)

SED may determine, based on the nature and extent of the findings in the report submitted by the school district to SED and/or the verification of that report that a school district is in need of assistance, in need of intervention or in need of substantial intervention.

Identification as a “School District in Need of Assistance” for two Consecutive Years:

If a school district is identified as a “school district in need of assistance” for two consecutive years, the State must take one or more of the following actions:

• conduct a monitoring review of the school district’s policies, procedures and practices;

• require the school district to obtain technical assistance;

• direct the school district’s use of IDEA funds; and/or

• impose special conditions on the school district’s use of IDEA funds.

Identification as a “School District in Need of Intervention” for three consecutive years:

If a school district is identified as a “school district in need of intervention” for three consecutive years, the State will take one or more of the following actions:

• any of the actions described above;

• require the school district to prepare a corrective action plan or improvement plan;

• direct or withhold the school district’s use of IDEA funds; and/or

• impose special conditions on the school district’s use of IDEA funds.

Identification as a “School District in Need of Substantial Intervention”

If the State determines that a “school district needs substantial intervention” in implementing the requirements or that there is substantial failure to comply with the requirements, the State make take other actions, including recovering or withholding a school district’s IDEA Part B funds.

Technical Assistance Resources

The following sources may assist you in addressing issues of disproportionate representation by race and ethnicity of students with disabilities receiving special education and related services.

• The Metropolitan Center for Urban Education’s Technical Assistance Center on Disproportionaltiy (TAC-D) - http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/metrocenter/tacd.html
• Special Education Training and Resource Centers (SETRC) http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/lsn/setrc.htm
• National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems http://www.nccrest.org/publications.html

Questions

Questions regarding the Disproportionality Self-Review Monitoring Protocol may be directed to the Policy Unit at (518) 473-2878 or to the Special Education Quality Assurance Regional Offices at http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/ quality/
qaoffices.htm

Attachment 1

Checklist to Complete the Disproportionality

Self-Review Monitoring Protocol

Maintain all documentation used to complete the self-review for seven years.  Records should be retained in an organized and easily retrievable format.  All documentation is subject to SED review.

Attachment 2

SCHOOL DISTRICT SELF-REVIEW MONITORING PROTOCOL

Indicator #9 – Disproportionate Identification of Students in Need of

Special Education and Related Services by Race and Ethnicity

Directions

SCHOOL DISTRICT SELF-REVIEW MONITORING PROTOCOL

          This form (Attachment 2) establishes the protocol to conduct the self-review.  The district must conduct a review of each focus area as identified on this protocol.  Each section of the protocol provides the following information:

Four focus areas that must be reviewed:

          I.   School-wide Approaches and Prereferral Interventions

          II.  Referral of Students to the CSE

          III. Individual Evaluations of Students with Disabilities

          IV. Eligibility Determinations

Citation and Issue:  Regulatory requirements are identified that have been determined by SED to be most closely related to having significant disproportionality based on race and ethnicity in the identification of students with disabilities.

Documentation and Evidence:  For each focus area, the protocol provides a specific list of documentation (information to “look at”) and evidence (information to “look for”) that must be considered in the district’s review of its policies, procedures and practices in the identified focus area.

Determination of Compliance Y (Yes) or N (No):  A notation of Y indicates that the district is in compliance with the specific regulatory requirement.  A notation of N indicates that the district is not in compliance with the regulatory requirement.  The determination of compliance for some issues may be able to be made based solely on the review of individual student records.  For other issues, the school district may need to consider other sources of documentation as well, as indicated on the protocol. 

As applicable to each regulatory citation:

·       Determination of Y (compliance): 

o   90 percent or more of the total number of records reviewed (Attachment 4) show evidence that a particular regulatory requirement has been met (i.e., marked “Y” or “NA”); and

o      Other required documentation from Attachments 3 and 5 provide evidence of compliance.

o    Fewer than 90 percent of the total number of records reviewed (Attachment 4) show evidence that a particular regulatory requirement has been met’ or

o      Other required documentation from Attachments 3 and 5 provide evidence of noncompliance.

o   In cases where 90 percent or more of the total records reviewed show evidence that a particular requirement has been met, but other evidence from Attachments 3 and/or 5 show findings of noncompliance. 

The team should carefully review all findings from all the documentation and evidence to make its determination of compliance for each regulatory requirement.

Findings:  This section is to be used to document the specific details of its findings that would identify issues of inappropriate policies, procedures and or practices.

·       As examples:

o      “70 percent of the records reviewed showed evidence that assessments were administered in the student’s native language.”

o      A review of the CSE decision-making process in five out of seven instances showed the report of the student’s evaluation was not discussed in determining if the student had a disability.

In these examples, findings of noncompliance must be made.

Corrective Actions and Improvement Activities:  The team must identify any corrective actions necessary to correct identified compliance issues.  The district should also note any improvement activities necessary in the identified focus area, whether related to a compliance finding or not, to address the school district’s significant disproportionality based on race and ethnicity in the identification of students with disabilities.

This form (Attachment 2) must be kept on file by the school district and is not submitted to SED unless requested.

I.   School-wide Approaches and Prereferral Interventions

The Board of Education’s written policy for school-wide approaches and prereferral interventions will be reviewed to determine if it:

     ·  provides equitable opportunities to provide supportive interventions that allow a student to be successful in the general education environment, and

     ·  is implemented in a consistent manner for all students in all schools of the district.

Please note: Data Analysis of Students Referred to the CSE (Attachment 3) must be completed to determine compliance/noncompliance for this focus area.

The practices of the school district will be reviewed to determine if prereferral interventions are consistently available to all students prior to referral to the CSE.

Please note: Individual Student Record Review (Attachment 4) must be completed to determine compliance/noncompliance for this focus area.

The following chart may be used to calculate the percentage of student records with evidence of compliance.  Compile the results based on the results of each record reviewed for each citation (Attachment 4).  Consider these results along with other required documentation in making a final compliance determination for this focus area. 

III.  Individual Evaluations of Students with Disabilities

The district’s evaluation procedures and practices will be reviewed to determine if students of all racial and ethnic groups have received appropriate evaluations that include a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional, development and academic information about the student that may assist in determining whether the student is a student with a disability.

Please note: Individual Student Record Review (Attachment 4) must be completed to determine compliance/noncompliance for this focus area.