The Exceptional Student Services Unit (ESSU) of the Colorado Department of Education serves students with exceptional educational needs. This monthly e-newsletter is sent to administrators, educators and support staff throughout Colorado. Click here to access a calendar of upcoming events, training sessions and other important dates.
In this email:
Recent News
COVID-19 information and resources, including compensatory services
Exceptional Student Services-specific information regarding compensatory services and other topics can be found on the Office of Special Education main page or on the Special Education Director’s Corner. Information and resources for schools also can be found on CDE’s main webpage. Please check this page often for updated information.
IEP Record reviews for SY 2020-21
The student samples for all age groups will be open and available in the Compliance tab of the Data Management System on Thursday, Oct.1. The due date for these reviews is June 2, 2021. You are invited to an informational session on Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 2 p.m. To attend, click on this scheduled Zoom meeting. Meeting ID: 965 9033 7280; Passcode: 325107; or call 669-900-6833. For questions, contact Gloria Durosko at durosko_g@cde.state.co.us.
Monthly SLD Community of Practice gathering
The purpose of this Community of Practice is to hold space for special education directors and designees to gather and share novel solutions to common challenges resulting from COVID-19. The Specific Learning Disability (SLD) Community of Practice will meet once a month starting on Thursday, Sept. 17, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Please come with questions and any solutions or resources your community has found to address common issues regarding SLD in the context of COVID-19. The meetings will be held on Zoom, Zoom Meeting ID: 922 6279 5527; or join by phone at 346-248-7799. Please fill out this short Google form if you are interested in participating, which will gauge interest and get an idea what folks want to address in these conversations. You do not have to fill it out to participate. Questions can be fielded by Veronica Fieldler at fiedler_v@cde.state.co.us or 303-945-5856.
Newly developed Results Matter guidance
CDE’s Preschool and Data and Decision Science teams are excited to share newly developed Results Matter guidance to support districts implementing Results Matter while some children engage in remote or a combination of remote and in-person learning. Please share this with others in your system who may benefit. Contact Tara Rhodes for more information.
SY2020-21 parent survey is now open
CDE recognizes that educators, students, and families are facing unprecedented circumstances and challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. At this time, however, the U.S. Department of Education has not granted waivers related to SPP/APR Indicator 8 – Parent Involvement, and we must therefore proceed with the annual parent survey.
The SY2020-21 parent survey will be available online only. The survey period is Sept. 1 to June 30, 2021. For logistics of how the survey will take place this year, please watch this short webinar or visit the Ind8 webpage for more detail. The SY 2019-20 Parent Survey reports and raw data are available to each AU in the DMS family-school tab. Please find them under the attachments section.
For questions regarding family engagement, please contact Joyce Thiessen-Barrett, Coordinator of ESSU Family and School Partnering. For questions regarding sampling, administering, scoring of the surveys, please contact: Miki Imura, Supervisor of Data Accountability & Achievement.
Alternative dispute resolution news
CDE is seeing a rise of parent calls regarding concerns. A viable option for your Administrative Unit is Special Education Facilitation, a no-cost, impartial third party facilitator service. The facilitation process can support meaningful participation and understanding within special education meetings.
The four individuals on CDE's third party facilitation team are:
- Kim Bundgaard, M.Ed.
- Michelle Nay, M.Ed.
- Beth Niznik, M.Ed., NCSP
- Katherine Rains, J.D.
For information regarding special education facilitation, please visit our website.
Please contact Mary Anne Fleury if you have any questions or would like more information, fleury_m@cde.state.co.us.
Office Hours
Starting Tuesday, Sept. 15, we will offer Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Office Hours, every Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m. Bring your questions about the use of tools, running effective IEP meetings, conflict resolution, etc. Mary Anne and the Facilitators will be available to support you during this time.
We look forward to supporting your Administrative Unit this year, and helping your year run smoothly. Contact: Mary Anne Fleury, Ph.D., for more info, at 303-866-6649, or fleury_m@cde.state.co.us.
Regional meetings for Secondary Transition Personnel – We need to hear from you!
What is going on in your region? What topics are relevant to you? What challenges are you facing? How might your state transition team assist you? Please follow the link provided to communicate your needs. For additional information, please contact curtis_r@cde.state.co.us.
Secondary Transition Newsletter
We launched the first edition of the Secondary Transition Newsletter. Soon, we will use this newsletter to communicate upcoming training, events, and highlight promising practices. Here is the link to the newsletter. Please take a look. For more information contact Gail Lott lott_g@cde.state.co.us.
Secondary Transition Office Hours
Secondary Transition office hours will continue throughout the school year on Wednesdays from 3 to 4 p.m. The office hours will provide an opportunity to pose questions to Gail Lott, senior consultant, secondary transition and collaborate with peers. Each month, we will highlight examples of different transition service delivery models used in districts across the state. To participate, please access the following link: Secondary Transition Office Hours
If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact Gail Lott at lott_g@cde.state.co.us.
Training and Professional Development
Professional development opportunities
CDE has created a webpage of professional development offerings, which includes opportunities specifically from ESSU.
Guidance and training for the Vision Screening Parent Questionnaire for Children Ages Birth through 5
During the COVID-19 pandemic, CDE has offered online tools to gather information about a young child’s hearing and vision status. The Vision Screening Parent Questionnaire for Children Ages Birth through Five Years was developed for this purpose and is still in place during virtual and hybrid school instruction models when in-person vision screening may be difficult or impossible to schedule.
To support consistent interpretation of the completed questionnaires, CDE has created a follow-up guidance document.
A one-hour webinar training will be offered on Tuesday, Sept. 15, from 9 to 10 a.m. Tanni Anthony will review the follow-up guidance for the use and review of this tool for children ages 0 to 5. The webinar will be recorded for people who are unable to participate in this training.
Click here for registration information for this training. Please share this link with your staff who are involved in vision screening of young children
Registration is now open and will close on Monday, Sept. 14, at noon. Accommodation requests must be received no later than this time and are built into the registration content. The handouts and registration link will be sent to registered participants by close of day on Monday, Sept. 14. Please note you must be registered to attend this training. If there are questions about the content of the training, please contact Tanni Anthony at anthony_t@cde.state.co.us.
Eight-week online course: Social Emotional Learning
The purpose of the course is to support participants in the development of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) plans and instruction based on identified building-level and student-specific needs. Participants will explore the evidence-based practices and competencies involved in effective SEL planning and intervention. Assessment for lagging skills and data collection opportunities will be provided. Course is open Oct. 18 through Dec. 20 (eight weeks not including week of fall break). Registration opens Monday, Sept. 14, and closes Friday, Sept. 18 or when registration is full. Visit the CDE Social Emotional Learning Page, or contact Anna Vick, vick_a@cde.state.co.us.
Regional meetings: School-Based Mental Health
Krista Klabo, the school psychology and special education evaluation specialist, will host virtual regional meetings for all eight regions of the state. During this time, school based mental health professionals can learn about updates from CDE and upcoming training opportunities, get to know the new school psychology and special education evaluation specialist, learn about available resources and provide feedback on current issues in the field. You can register Here for your region’s meeting, or you can Contact Krista Klabo at 720-284-2524 or klabo_k@cde.state.co.us with content questions. If you need technology assistance, please contact Amanda Nieser at nieser_a@cde.state.co.us.
CDE Preschool Fall Regional Meetings
The registration Link for the CDE Preschool Fall Regional Meetings and related webinars is open. All events will take place in October and the first week of November.
More information can be found at the Regional and State Preschool Meetings webpage or by contacting Marcia Blum.
How to Support Twice Exceptional (2e) learners
Please join us in a professional development course to learn about how to support twice-exceptional (2e) learners. The first section of the course begins on Oct.17 and runs for four weeks. For more information and registration see the flyer on CDE’s 2e webpage or contact Cynthia Rundquist, rundquist_c@cde.state.co.us.
Save the date for the Fall 2020 Directors’ Meeting
When: Nov. 12-13
Where: This meeting will be held online – the link will be sent to registered individuals shortly prior to the meeting.
For more information, please contact Brittany Deyoe at deyoe_b@cde.state.co.us or Faye Gibson at gibson_f@cde.state.co.us.
Writing post-school goals for students with significant support needs - Register for PD
This training webinar was held Tuesday, Sept. 1. When the recording is available, a notice will be sent through one of the transition list serves. A link to all of the training resources is provided here.
If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact Gail Lott at lott_g@cde.state.co.us.
Transition Talks - Register for PD
CDE's secondary transition specialist will host monthly transition talks on a variety of topics related to effective secondary transition planning. These transition talks will be hosted via Zoom.
- Thursday, Sept. 24 - 2-3 p.m., Assisting Students with Disabilities to Develop a Positive Disability Identity
- Oct. 8, 3:30-4:30 p.m.,Transition Planning as an Ongoing Process/Transition Checklist
- Nov. 12, 3:30-4:30 p.m., The Transition Assessment Process
- Dec. 10, 3:30-4:30 p.m., Measurable Postsecondary Goals
- Jan. 14, 3:30-4:30 p.m., Measurable Annual Goals
- Feb. 11, 3:30-4:30 p.m., Pre-ETS/Transition Services
- March 11, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Outside Agencies
- April 8, 2021, 3:30-4:30, Age of Majority
- May 6, 2021, 3:30-4:40 p.m., Summary of Performance
Please use the following link to access Transition Talks. If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact Gail Lott at lott_g@cde.state.co.us.
Alternative dispute resolution training
We are offering training virtually this year, and they can be broken up into segments of two to three hours. Here are some options for you and your staff:
- Our normal, six-hour Improving IEP Teams Training can be offered in two, three-hour training sessions, or three, two-hour training sessions.
- The full facilitator training normally includes an additional 12 hours on top of the one-day Improving IEP Teams: Skills for Resolving Conflict training. These additional 12 hours can be offered in three, three-hour sessions, with activities to complete in between training sessions (the activities would equal the additional three hours), for a total of 12 hours.
- We also offer what we are calling “Bucket Trainings.” These are designed to provide quick and focused training related to the use of facilitating skills and based on the needs in your Administrative Unit.
Contact: Mary Anne Fleury, Ph.D., for more info, at 303-866-6649, or fleury_m@cde.state.co.us.
Deadlines
Transition Age 15+ IEP record reviews for SY 2019-20
Transition Age 15+ IEP record reviews for SY 2019-2020 are due by Thursday, Oct. 1. These reviews are still required because CDE must collect and report Indicator 13 data for the State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR) to the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in February 2021. To reduce the burden on Administrative Units, CDE extended the data collection deadline for these reviews by four months, from June 1, 2020, to Oct. 1, 2020. Transition record review resources are available on the Indicator 13 webpage. For more information, contact Gloria Durosko durosko_g@cde.state.co.us.
Post-School Outcome Interviews – Data collection window closes Sept. 30
The post-school outcomes interview process began June 1. All interviews must be completed and entered into the data management system by midnight on Wednesday, Sept. 30. There will be no extensions to this deadline. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact Gail Lott at lott_g@cde.state.co.us.
SEPTEMBER
- 22 - A complete and error-free SPED EOY Snapshot is due
- 30 - SPED Discipline Final Report must be reviewed, signed and submitted to CDE
- 30 - 2019-20 End of Year (EOY) expenditure submission is due
OCTOBER
- 12 - SPED EOY Final Snapshot Approval due to CDE
- 19 - 2020-21 Federal Application Narrative Amendment window No. 1 open through Nov. 13
OSEP Monthly Update
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