Copy
A message from the
Massachusetts Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education


September 2019 
View this email in your browser
Special education banner -- images of teachers and students.

SEPP Headlines
The newsletter of the
Office of Special Education
Planning & Policy Development (SEPP)

From the State Director's Desk

Dear Colleagues and Partners,Russell Johnston

Welcome to the start of the 2019-2020 school year! It's great to see our students back in school benefiting from all that you and your teams have to offer. For me, the start of each school year is a time of both looking back and envisioning a better future. 
 
Thank You to Liz Keliher
Looking back, I want you all to know that Liz Keliher recently stepped down from her position as DESE’s Assistant Director of Special Education Planning and Policy. I was extremely fortunate to be able to work with Liz during the five years that I've been with the agency. She is a remarkable special education leader. Liz was instrumental in shepherding many of our special education-related initiatives to completion, and I particularly enjoyed working with her on our latest advisory on aided and augmentative communication, a document with ideas and resources to support students who are nonverbal. We will miss Liz and her talents tremendously, but she set a high bar for her role, and we look forward to introducing a new assistant director to you in the near future.
 
The New School Year
In looking ahead, I am excited about all that is on the horizon this school year. In the coming months, and with the support of a stakeholder engagement partner, we will solicit your input on a new draft of the technical assistance document "Is Special Education the Right Service?" We look forward to working with you more directly in updating that document and introducing other tools and resources related to the new IEP. 
 
Another change this year will be the format and focus of our special education directors' regional meetings. As you know, we hold three quarterly meetings per year in five different locations, focused on examining and improving special education practice across the state. Based upon your feedback, this year’s meetings will include a greater concentration on special education instruction, possibly involving more presentations from school and district leaders like you. Our planning is still underway, but we are redoubling our efforts to provide you with materials you can readily use. We want to make the best use of your time. 

Invite Us to Visit!
Finally, it wouldn't be a new school year if we weren't back on the road visiting schools! We appreciate all the invitations we received last year, and I want to renew my request for invitations again this year. My team and I are particularly interested in seeing how you and your staff implement high-leverage special education strategies (flexible grouping, scaffolded supports, intensive instruction, etc.) in inclusive educational settings for students with disabilities. If you invite us, we will come! I firmly believe we will make better policies in Malden if we see what's happening firsthand in Massachusetts schools, so I hope to hear from as many of you as possible very soon.
 
Have a tremendous school year!


Best regards,

Russell


In this Newsletter

- Building Inclusive Communities in Early Childhood
- Dyslexia Legislation and Reminder
- IDEA Equitable Services (aka Proportionate Share) Reminders
- Data Collection Activities and Cohort Assignments for the SPP/APR
- Key Dates & Deadlines
- Upcoming Opportunities
- Updates
- How Do We Know?

Building Inclusive Communities in Early Childhood

“Building Inclusive Communities has definitely changed things! It has brought our school community closer.”

-- Kelly Hurley, Special Education Team Chair, Chicopee Public Schools

“Inclusive education is both the vision and practice of welcoming, valuing, empowering, and supporting  the diverse academic, social/emotional, communication, and language learning of all students in shared environments and experiences for the purpose of attaining the goals of education.”

-- Dr. Richard A. Villa and Dr Jacqueline S. Thousand

Building Inclusive Communities (BIC), a joint project of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and Early Education and Care (EEC), brings together teams of professionals from public preschools, early care and education programs, early intervention, out-of-school-time providers, and Head Start to learn how to make inclusion a reality in their programs. BIC helps school and community programs to:

  • understand the legal and research justification for inclusion,
  • develop action plans to strengthen their community partnerships,
  • engage with families as partners,
  • address disproportionality and implicit bias, and
  • implement good inclusive practices and build strong community connections for children with and without disabilities.

In October 2018 and March 2019, DESE and EEC convened two conferences for early childhood professionals, led by nationally known inclusion experts, Dr. Richard A. Villa and Dr. Jacqueline S. Thousand. During the course of the school year, ten district/community teams participated in a virtual and in-person Professional Learning Community, guided by Drs. Villa and Thousand, and during the 2019-2020 school year, these teams will continue to work on refining and implementing their action plans. A conference for a new group oPreschool boy smilingf up to 200 early childhood professionals will be held on October 21, 2019, and teams from this group will then be invited to apply to become part of this project. Five teams will be selected. Please watch the SEPP home page for registration information. The original ten districts – Canton, Chicopee, Gardner, Haverhill, Holyoke, Marlborough, Newburyport, North Adams, Rockland, and Worcester – will serve as collaborating mentors for other districts, even as they continue to promote inclusion in their own districts.

Participants in BIC learn about a decision-making process for determining where, when, and how to address IEP goals for young children with intensive and pervasive support needs. They also learn how to use a communication tool and a blueprint for collaboratively creating meaningful inclusive opportunities for young children in home, school, early care, and other community settings.
In Chicopee, BIC team members Kelly Hurley and three colleagues (two classroom teachers and an autism inclusion teacher) meet once or twice a month to plan ways to infuse an inclusive vision and implement inclusive practices in their school. Through BIC, Kelly has learned about “the power and impact of inclusion, that starts at a young age to make our students more compassionate and accepting huTeacher reading to preschool classman beings, hopefully across their whole lives.”

Kelly reports that simple changes can be meaningful. For example, the Chicopee team has reorganized the cubbies outside the preschool classroom, so that students in the substantially separate classroom can interact socially with other students. Instead of offering separate gym classes, Chicopee now offers inclusive preschool gym, with a structured activity for the first 10 minutes and then facilitated free play. A multicultural night attracts families across preschool classrooms.

After the first year of BIC involvement, Kelly says that Chicopee is now analyzing potential systems changes. For example, her team is studying ways to increase the time that students with disabilities spend in regular preschool classrooms.

According to Drs. Villa and Thousand, “children with distwo preschoolers playing with soap bubblesabilities and their families continue to face significant barriers to accessing inclusive high-quality early childhood programs. Too many preschool-aged children with disabilities are only offered the option of receiving special education services in settings separate from their peers without disabilities.” Why is this problematic? Because research shows that students with and without disabilities can achieve better life outcomes when they are educated in inclusive environments.*

Through the BIC project, district and community partners are working to improve Massachusetts early childhood outcomes through a commitment to inclusive education.


*For example, see U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Education. Policy Statement on Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Programs, 2015.


Dyslexia Legislation and Reminder

The MA Legislature approved Chapter 272 of the Acts of 2018 on October 19, 2018. The law requires DESE, in consultation with the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC), to "issue guidelines to assist districts in developing screening procedures or protocols for students that demonstrate one or more potential indicators of a neurological learning disability, including, but not limited to, dyslexia."

In service of that law, DESE has recently contracted with a vendor, Pivot Learning, to assist DESE and EEC in developing the Massachusetts Dyslexia Guidelines in consultation with local stakeholder groups. We plan to make working drafts of this resource available during the 2019-2020 school year for input, with the final guidelines to be issued in the fall of 2020. The guidelines will assist districts in developing screening procedures or protocols for students who demonstrate one or more potential indicators of a neurological learning disability including, but not limited to, dyslexia.
colorful letters spelling dyslexia
DESE reminds districts that your current screening processes should continue, as well as your work on developing and implementing procedures and protocols pertaining to suspected reading disabilities and/or dyslexia. Districts should not defer screening and support for students in anticipation of the forthcoming guidance document.

Should you need guidance and assistance now, DESE encourages you to review the resources on our web page dedicated to dyslexia. The page includes the following informational classifications: General Resources, Screening, Intervention, IEP-Related, Accommodations and Assistive Technology, Specially Designed Instruction, Social Emotional Needs, and Other State Dyslexia Guidelines.


IDEA Equitable Services (aka Proportionate Share) Reminders

Child Count
Public school districts have a federal obligation to find and evaluate students with disabilities enrolled by their parents in private schools, and to calculate and spend a proportionate share of federal special education grant funds on equitable services for these students. boy with backpack

Child Count and Proportionate Share Calculation
As described on the DESE website, districts must annually determine the number of eligible students with disabilities who are privately-enrolled and educated within the district for Fund Codes 240 (students aged 3-21) and 262 (students aged 3-5). The child count is the number of eligible students, not the number of such students receiving services. Child count must be performed on any date between October 1 and December 1, inclusive, of each year. The child count conducted between October 1, 2019 – December 1, 2019 will determine the amount that the district must spend providing special education and related services to parentally-placed private school children with disabilities in the subsequent fiscal year (FY21).

Written Affirmation
In accordance with IDEA Equitable Service (proportionate share) requirements, LEAs that do not receive written affirmation following a consultation meeting must contact DESE at ideaequitableservices@doe.mass.edu with the following information about their consultation and outreach efforts to the private schools and home-school representatives:
  • The dates of attempts to participate in the consultation process,
  • The nature of the attempts, and 
  • The results of each attempt for consultation.

Data Collection Activities and Cohort Assignments for the Massachusetts State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR)

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the federal law that outlines rights and regulations for students with disabilities in the United States who need special education.
 
IDEA requires states to develop a multi-year strategic State Performance Plan (SPP) that evaluates each state's efforts to implement the requirements and purposes of IDEA. In the SPP, each state provides baseline data, establishes performance targets, and outlines improvement activities that respond to the 17 indicators of performance and compliance that the Federal Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) requires. In addition, for each Indicator, the state publicly reports data at both the state and local education agency (LEA) levels.
 
In order to ease the data collection efforts for Indicators 7 (Early Childhood Outcomes) and 14 (Post-School Outcomes), and the Special Education Program Plan Statement, the state is divided into four cohorts. Over a four-year cycle, every LEA in the state participates in data collection activities for these Indicators and the Program Plan Statements. DESE seeks to ensure that the cohort demographics remain representative of the state as a whole and on occasion may reassign an LEA to a different cohort to maintain representativeness. We are currently conducting a cohort realignment activity, and LEAs have received a cohort re-assignment letter. LEAs should be assured that DESE's Special Education Planning and Policy Office is making every effort to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Additional information on data collection is available on the SEPP webpage. DESE updates the Cohort list each August to reflect any changes. If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact Bob Hanafin, 781-338-3364 or bob.hanafin@doe.mass.edu.

High schoolers walking in hallway
                                       
 

Special Education Program Plan Statements
Boston Public Schools and Districts in Cohort 1 must submit a completed Special Education Program Plan Statement by Tuesday, October, 1, 2019.


Indicator 7
As the school year begins, we want to provide you with information about Indicator 7 data collection and reporting requirements. SEPP collects Indicator 7 data (Child Outcomes) as part of the State Performance Plan/ Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR). For Indicator 7, districts may be collecting entry data, exit data, or both during the 2019-2020 school year, according to the cohort schedule.

Indicator 7 Resources
If you have further questions, please contact Brian Coonley at brian.coonley@doe.mass.edu or 781-338-3374.
Little boy counting on his fingers

                                      
 

Special Education Directors' Regional Meetings
DESE continues to offer in-person regional meetings for special education directors. Follow the SEPP website for information about the October 2019 schedule, with five locations around the state.(Virtual participation will be available for the October 25, 2019 session.) The October meetings include an introduction and updates from State Director Russell Johnston, as well as presentations from Barry Barnett, the Director of our Problem Resolution Office, and a special LEA presentation on Dyslexia. There will also be an opportunity for Q & A.

girl with pink sweater

College and Career Advising and My Career and Academic Plan (MyCAP) 
Registration is open for Cohort 2 of the College and Career Advising/My Career and Academic Plan (MyCAP) Professional Development Series. The three-day workshop series is being offered regionally during the 2019-20 school year. Schools are asked to register teams of four high school staff led by counselors and including teachers and administrators. Teams will design a high quality college and career advising framework that identifies activities and lessons in the three domains of college and career readiness: personal/social; career development education; and academic, college, and career planning. Individual students’ achievements within each domain will be captured in the individual student-driven academic and career plan called MyCAP. This training is closely aligned with the Massachusetts Model for Comprehensive School Counseling (MA Model 2.0).

boy raising his hand

 
Intelligent Lives Airs on WGBH, October 22, 2019
WGBH will air Dan Habib's documentary, Intelligent Liveson the program America Reframed, on October 22, 2019. Please check your local PBS listings for details, as dates and times may vary. This documentary tells the story of three pioneering young American adults with intellectual disabilities who challenge perceptions of intelligence as they navigate high school, college, and the workforce. Academy Award-winning actor and narrator Chris Cooper contextualizes the lives of these central characters through the emotional personal story of his son Jesse.

Intelligent Lives will also stream for free for 30 days, starting October 23 at worldchannel.org.

The Arc of Massachusetts 2019 Transition Conference
Saturday, November 16, 2019
The College of the Holy Cross, Worcester

This full-day conference for families will feature the Charting the LifeCourse Frameworks and Tools from the Institute for Human Development at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Co-founder and parent Jane St. John will lead participants through the LifeCourse frameworks and tools to use in secondary transition planning. In addition, all attendees will be able to select from 27 workshops on Meaningful Day and Employment, Community Living, Safety and Security, Healthy Living, Social and Spirituality, and Services and Supports. All families of teens and adults with disabilities, aged 12-26, are invited to attend. Registration is open until Monday, November 4, 2019, and is $75.00 per person. Scholarships are available.
 
 

FY20 Fund Code 274 and Fund Code 249 Discretionary Grant Programs
DESE will not fund the 274 and 249 discretionary grant programs for FY20. The IDEA allocation for state-level activities is not sufficient to allow for supplementary grants to all districts and approved private special education schools in FY20. If IDEA supplementary funds do become available late in FY20 or in FY21, DESE anticipates that it will make funds available to support implementation of the new IEP development process and related activities.

We regret any inconvenience to districts and approved private schools resulting from the unavailability of Fund Code 274 and Fund Code 249 in FY20.


Extended Evaluation Form
DESE's Extended Evaluation Form has been updated and is available in multiple languages.

Significant Disproportionality
In accordance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), DESE recently identified districts where there was significant disproportionality by race and ethnicity with regard to students with disabilities’ identification, placement, or discipline. All district superintendents, special education directors, and district business leaders received emails from DESE with information on the status of their district. A more detailed letter along with a data snapshot showing district data has been made available in each district’s Special Education State Performance Plan DropBox in the security portal. The information in the DropBox also includes a June 21, 2019 memorandum from Senior Associate Commissioner Russell Johnston. The letter and memorandum go into greater detail about significant disproportionality in special education and IDEA’s requirements.
Measuring tape
 During the 2019-20 school year, DESE will run a series of meetings and organize a professional learning community for identified districts or those at risk for identification next year. These activities will help participating districts review their policies, practices, and procedures; analyze data; and, for those identified with significant disproportionality, plan for implementation of comprehensive coordinated early intervening services in FY21. More information about this opportunity will be available soon. 

 
 
How Do We Know?
Research on Evidence-Based Practices
 

What is some of the research on early childhood inclusion?
Benefits for students with disabilities
  • Green, K., Terry, N., & Gallagher, P. (2014). Progress in language and literacy skills among children with disabilities in inclusive early reading first classrooms. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education 33, 249-259.
  • Holahan, A., & Costenbader, V. (2000). A comparison of developmental gains for preschool children with disabilities in inclusive and self-contained classrooms. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 20, 224 – 235.
  • Nahmias, A., Kase, C., & Mandell, D. (2014). Comparing cognitive outcomes among children with autism spectrum disorders receiving community-based early intervention in one of three placements. Autism, 18, 311-320.
  • Rafferty, Y., Piscitelli, V., & Boettcher, C. (2003). The impact of inclusion on language development and social competence among preschoolers with disabilities. Exceptional Children, 69, 467–479.
  • Strain, P. S., & Bovey, E. H. (2011). Randomized, controlled trial of the LEAP model of early intervention for young children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 31, 133–154.
Benefits for students without disabilities
  • Cross, A. F., Traub, E. K., Hutter-Pishgahi, L., & Shelton, G. (2004). Elements of successful inclusion for children with significant disabilities. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 24(3), 169-183.
  • Diamond, K. E., & Huang, H.-H. (2005). Preschoolers’ ideas about disabilities. Infants and Young Children, 18, 37–46. 
  • Odom, S. L., Buysse, V., & Soukakou, E. (2011). Inclusion for young children with disabilities: A quarter century of research perspectives. Journal of Early Intervention, 33(4), 344-356.
  • Odom, S. L., et al. (2004). Preschool inclusion in the United States: A review of research from an ecological systems perspective. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 4(1), 17-49.  
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education logo
Copyright © 2019 Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, All rights reserved.


If you're not on our mailing list, please subscribe to our list

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list


Twitter Facebook You Tube Website