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Subject: Local Determinations/Notifications
Mailed to Superintendents August 20, 2007
Source: Heidi Atkins Lieberman, Assistant Commissioner
Intended Audience: Directors of Special Education, Special Education
Contacts
Date: August 20, 2007
Today, letters were mailed to responsible public agencies informing them of
the determination category used to identify the agency's progress on
selected State Performance Plan (SPP) targets. See SELS of August 14, 2007,
for explanation. Special education contacts were copied on the letters.
The categories used for these determinations are the same categories used by
the U. S. Department of Education's identification of states:
* Meets the requirements and purposes of the IDEA;
* Needs assistance in implementing the requirements of IDEA;
* Needs intervention in implementing the requirements of IDEA;
* Needs substantial intervention in implementing the requirements of IDEA.
The letter identifies the criteria used statewide in this determination
process. It is important to understand that this is the first year of such
determinations and that the data the determinations are based on, as
required by the U. S. Department of Education, is from 2004-2005 and in some
cases 2005-2006. Therefore, it may not accurately reflect your current data.
It is also important to understand that four of the areas (Audit Findings,
Correction of Non-Compliance, Transition Timelines for Transition from First
Steps to ECSE, and Timely/Accurate Data) are focused solely on compliance
and not quality performance. The additional four (Graduation Rate, Dropout
Rate, Assessment Participation, and Assessment Performance) are performance
indicators. The former were required by the U. S. Department of
Education, and the latter were added on as a part of the determination
process by us and reflect our focus on these areas in our performance
reviews.
Additional areas are anticipated to be required next year by the U. S.
Department of Education; information will be shared when we know more about
those additional areas.
As a result of the process, 469 responsible public agencies were identified
in the first category of "Meets the requirements" and 52 responsible public
agencies were identified in the second category of "Needs Assistance." No
agencies were identified in the two lower categories. (Component school
districts of the two Special School Districts (SSDs) are not included in
this count; the data from these are included in the determination label for
the SSDs.)
Agencies should closely monitor their trend data to ensure there is no
slippage. Additionally, keep in mind that the determinations are based on a
different set of data and criteria than that used in making compliance
decisions or improvement plan recommendations during the cyclical monitoring
process.
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