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A message from the
Massachusetts Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education


June 2019 
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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

Like me, I am sure you are frequently asked why you entered the field of special education. In my case, the decision certainly related to personal experiences with disability in my family as I was growing up, and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to channel those personal experiences into my professional life. What is not asked as frequently is why we stay in the field of special education, and I'm sure each of us has our own rationale. For me, I can definitively state that I have stayed in special education because of a powerful mentor I had when I was a new special education teacher in the mid-1990's in Newton Public Schools. Dr. Mozelle Berkowitz was the director of elementary special education, and she had an uncompromising vision of full inclusion for all students with disabilities. She began to hire people like me as "inclusion facilitators," helping to make inclusive learning experiences possible in neighborhood schools for students with severe disabilities. It was groundbreaking work at the time, but the lessons she taught me are still relevant today and continue to fuel my passion for this work. I am hopeful they resonate with you as well.

Families matter most.
Dr. Berkowitz strongly impressed upon me the importance of engaging parents as partners in the IEP process. As special education teachers, she encouraged us to make home visits and interview families about their hopes and dreams for their children before they came to IEP meetings. She wanted to ensure that the voice of the family was strong in planning the future direction for their children, and I think about those experiences a great deal as we begin to develop a new IEP for Massachusetts..
 
Presume competence.
Whenever I was stuck on a challenge with a student that seemed insurmountable, Dr. Berkowitz would remind me to start with the belief that the student is already fully competent to master whatever task was creating difficulty and work from that point forward. It was a much more asset-minded view of supporting students with disabilities, and it led to great results. To this day, I hear her voice in my head as we create expectations for students with disabilities. "Don't lower the bar," she would say. "The sky is the limit."
 
Inclusion is the default.
Finally, Dr. Berkowitz shunned the idea that students had to earn their way into general education settings by having the "right" skills. There was no readiness test for inclusion in her mind; inclusion was always the default. She encouraged me to make age appropriate adaptations so that all students could have access to the curriculum and the life of the school. That type of creative problem solving in service of a core and fundamental belief has stayed with me all these many years later. Dr. Berkowitz passed away on June 1 at age 75, and she leaves a tremendous hole in the hearts of everyone who loved her. However, she also leaves a wonderful legacy of inclusion. I will remain in special education to continue to live up to that legacy, and I hope that you will join me in that endeavor. 


Best regards,

Russell


In this Newsletter

- Increasing Access to Competitive Integrated Employment
- A New Face in SEPP
- Need Information About Autism Insurance?

- Key Dates & Deadlines
- Upcoming Opportunities
- Updates
- How Do We Know?


Increasing Access to Competitive Integrated Employment: the Massachusetts Partnership for Transition to Employment (MPTE)

“We believe that it is the right of each person with an intellectual and/or developmental disability to pursue competitive integrated employment. We believe that employment is a path to full participation in our communities.”

-- MPTE Vision Statement

Employment is more than just a job. For adults, employment means a place to go and things to do each day. It means accomplishment, dignity and self-worth, continued learning, relationships, contributing to society, and a paycheck. Most young people share a desire for employment, whether they are small children wondering what they will be when they grow up, or whether they are in high school on the threshold of adulthood. Young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) are no different.

The Massachusetts Partnership for Transition to Employment (MPTE) seeks to improve state and local systems to increase the number of students with ID/DD who transition to competitive integrated employment when they leave high school. Led by the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services (DDS), MPTE is a five-year systems-change grant funded by the federal Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Students and mentor in building supply store

Structure of the Partnership
Central to the MPTE is a coordinated partnership among state agencies, schools, family organizations, workforce development, and self-advocates. MPTE’s Steering Committee includes representatives from:

The MPTE’s active stakeholder consortium includes more than 50 members who are teachers, service providers, family members, and self-advocates, and meets quarterly to share information and provide direction to project activities. 

Four Predictors

The MPTE’s work is guided by four research-based predictors of post-school employment:person using electronic payment pad

  1. Cross-Systems Collaboration: Collaborative policies and practices
  2. Work Experiences: Accessing work experiences that are typical of youth and young adults without disabilities
  3. Family Engagement: Supporting parental involvement and expectations for competitive integrated employment
  4. Self-Determination: Building self-determination, self-advocacy, and independent living skills

All consortium members participate in one of four work groups focused on these predictors. They identify and synthesize existing best practices in Massachusetts and nationally, develop key quality indicators for each predictor, and leverage existing service systems and related policy and programmatic initiatives to develop guidance, policy recommendations, tools for collaboration, and other resources.
 
Consortium members share the belief that establishing high expectations for students, starting at a young age, can move us toward realizing the vision of competitive integrated employment for all youth with ID/DD.
teenager with yellow hard hat and dress clothes
Current Projects

The MPTE has embraced “Charting the LifeCourse” a framework with an array of powerful planning resources developed by the University of Missouri/Kansas City, https://www.lifecoursetools.com/. Charting the LifeCourse tools help individuals and families to develop a vision and plan with partners to achieve a “good life” (including employment) and can be used by schools, agencies, and anyone who wants to plan around life domains and stages. MPTE is preparing a cadre of LifeCourse ambassadors for the state, and the Arc of Massachusetts is organizing its November 16, 2019 transition conference for parents around the LifeCourse model.
 
The MPTE has developed a vibrant Massachusetts Transition to Adulthood Facebook page and will be publishing a series of “Get the Facts” one-pagers for families. For example, see “You can achieve competitive integrated employment even if you need job supports on an ongoing basis,” https://employmentfirstma.org/files/getfacts_1_F.pdf. In addition, MPTE has studied and catalogued systemic barriers to providing individualized work-based learning in schools, as a first step toward developing guidance and resources.
 
The project is alsosmiling teen girl in bakery conducting a study of Massachusetts interagency transition teams, some of which are led by school districts, and others by regional organizations. For example, teams in Worcester, Agawam, Shrewsbury, Saugus, Amherst-Pelham, and the SEEM, CASE, and South Coast Educational Collaboratives bring together school and agency personnel, career and independent living centers, and other community organizations to share resources and information to improve students’ transition to adult life. MPTE is developing an interactive website and guide to developing interagency teams, to promote this effective practice and support the establishment of new teams where none currently exist.
 
Project activities will continue through 2021. For more information, check out our website, www.employmentfirstma.org/mpte, or contact Margaret Van Gelder, Statewide Director of Family and Employment Supports (DDS), Margaret.van.gelder@state.ma.us, or Amanda Green, Secondary Transition Coordinator (DESE), agreen@doe.mass.edu


A New Face in SEPP 

In March 2019, SEPP welcomed Jennifer Lillis as our new intern. Jenn is a fifth-year doctoral student at Boston University. She studies secondary transition, focusing on how educators share responsibility Jennifer Lillisfor preparing students with disabilities to achieve their postsecondary goals. Jenn has been an educator for almost 20 years. She has her master’s degree in Special Education from Long Island University and completed the New York City Teaching Fellow Program. Jenn taught special education in New York City and Monteverde, Costa Rica. Before beginning her doctoral studies, she was the Director of College Access and Alumni Engagement at SquashBusters, a sport-based youth development program in Boston. In this role, she helped her dedicated student-athletes, many of whom were the first in their family to attend college, make their way to and through postsecondary education. Jenn is passionate about equitable access to postsecondary opportunities for all students and loves helping young adults identify and pursue their goals. She is excited to be joining the SEPP team as an intern and to continue developing her knowledge and skills in secondary transition. 
Need Information About Autism Insurance?

The Autism Insurance Resource Center (AIRC) at UMass Medical School is a comprehensive resource for issues related to accessing insurance coverage for autism treatments.They assist with both MassHealth and private insurance and provide information, referral, and technical assistance to families, educators, providers and employers. In addition they have extensive resources on their website, including a fact sheet library, (with translations in Spanish, Vietnamese, and Portuguese.) The AIRC also hosts webinars on a variety of insurance-related topics, and provides trainings at schools and Special Education Parent Advisory Council meetings. For more information, visit: www.massairc.org or call 774-455-4056. Hours are Mon-Fri, 8:30 am-5 pm.

Insurance Tips for Transition-Aged Youth:
  • Disabled dependents are often able to stay on a parent’s employer-sponsored insurance beyond age 26 (regardless of whether or not they also have MassHealth).  
  • Disabled dependents who are on a parent’s employer policy, and also have MassHealth, may be eligible for MassHealth Premium Assistance, which will reimburse the family for the cost of the employer policy.
For more information, check out the Autism Insurance Resource Center’s Fact Sheet, Options after Age 26: Health Insurance Information for Adult Disabled Dependents.
smiling student holding pencil

 
                                       
 

Indicator 7:
Using the SmartForm provided by DESE, districts in Cohorts 1, 3, and 4 should submit all Indicator 7 entry and exit data to the Indicator 7 DropBox in the ESE Security Portal by June 28, 2019. Data is collected on a cohort schedule. For more information on Indicator 7, check out the web page and FAQs. If you need additional information, please contact Brian Coonley at brian.coonley@doe.mass.edu

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Significant Disproportionality Fiscal Responsibilities Webinar
Districts identified as having significant disproportionality based on race or ethnicity in special education identification, placement, or discipline are required to reserve 15 percent of federal IDEA Part B funds for Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CCEIS) to address the disproportionality. Districts will be notified of identification this summer. Notice will impact IDEA grants in the FY 21 grant cycle. Join DESE for a webinar on this topic:


June 12, 2019 
1:00 PM
and 3:00 PM
(two times are offered)
Webinar Registration Link
 
 

PRS Goes Paperless!
DESE's Problem Resolution System office (PRS) has transitioned to a fully paperless communication system with districts. Beginning June 10, 2019, when corresponding with PRS, please send all materials and requested submissions in electronic form only, and all correspondence sent to the districts by PRS will be electronic also. To facilitate this process, please take this opportunity to verify that DESE has the most current, up-to-date information on file for your district. You can review your district contact information on DESE's School and District Profile Directory. District contact information must be updated through DESE's Security Portal/Directory Administration application. If you have questions about communicating with PRS, or need assistance updating your district contact information, please contact Jonathan Spadafora at 718.338.3709 or jspadafora@doe.mass.edu.
brochure front panel with smiling student in a hijab
New Graduation Brochure
DESE is pleased to announce the publication of a new brochure for parents and students, Graduation and Students with IEPs, in collaboration with the Federation for Children with Special Needs. One of a growing series of brochures that provide important information in an accessible way, this newest brochure corresponds with Administrative Advisory SPED 2018-2: Secondary Transition Services and Graduation with a High School Diploma. It clarifies that to receive a high school diploma, all students with IEPs need to:
  • Meet the local school district’s graduation requirements.
  • Earn the “competency determination” (CD) based on MCAS scores.
  • Receive a Free and Appropriate Education (FAPE). 
Like all other brochures in this series, the graduation brochure will be translated into five languages and can be found on the Federation's website

New DESE Websites
  • Statewide Systems of Support has a new electronic version of DESE's turnaround resources. It’s user-friendly for anyone who wants to learn how Massachusetts conducts turnaround work.
  • The Office of Approved Special Education Schools (OASES) and the Office of Public School Monitoring (PSM) both have new websites. Among other features, on the OASES website users can find the DESE liaison for every approved special education school in the state. On the PSM website, users can find information on Tiered Focused Monitoring (such as reports, district assignments by year, etc.).
 
How Do We Know?
Research on Evidence-Based Practices
 

What is some of the research on the effect of work-based learning on student outcomes?
  • Luecking, D. M., & Luecking, R. G. (2013). Translating Research Into a Seamless Transition Model. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 38(1), 4-13. 
  • Mamun, A. A., Carter, E. W., Fraker, T. M., & Timmins, L. L. (2017). Impact of Early Work Experiences on Subsequent Paid Employment for Young Adults With Disabilities. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 41(4), 212-222. This study of 1,053 high school students aged 18-20 found that early work experience increases the probability of being employed 2 years later by 17 percentage points.
  • Sum, A., McLaughlin, J., & Khatiwada, I. (2006). Still Young, Idle, and Jobless: The Continued Failure of the Nation’s Teens to Benefit From Renewed Job Growth  See especially pp. 18-20, Path Dependency of Teen Employment: The Positive Effects of Early Work Experience. “The strong time path dependence of employment among all high school students combined holds true among men and women, each major race-ethnic group, and family income group…. Work experience among teens clearly begets more work experience." 
two smiling middle schoolers
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