IDEA and NCLB Accountability and Instruction for Students with Disabilities NYSCEA Presentation Octo

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IDEA and NCLBAccountability and Instruction for
Students with DisabilitiesNYSCEA Presentation
October 13, 2006Candace Shyer
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IDEA and NCLB Connections

• Responsibility
• Research
• Results

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Its not only about special education.
Responsibility
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IDEA 2004

• Early intervening services are available to
  students
• All children receive timely and appropriate
  evaluations
• Children will not have to wait to fail before
  receiving interventions
• Determinations of eligibility for students with
  learning disabilities are based on research-based
  approaches

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What are Early Intervening Services (EIS)?

• For students not identified as needing special
  education services but who need additional
  academic and behavioral support to succeed in a
  general education environment
• Grades K-12 (emphasis K-3)

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What are EIS Activities?

• Professional development for teachers and other
  school staff to enable such personnel to deliver
  scientifically-based academic and behavioral
  interventions
• EIS includes
• scientifically based literacy instruction
• providing educational and behavioral evaluations,
  services, and supports
• where appropriate, instruction on the use of
  adaptive and instructional software

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What Funds Can be Used for EIS?

• A school district may not use more than 15 of
  the amount it receives under Part B of IDEA in
  combination with other amounts
• can be aligned with activities funded by, and
  carried out under the ESEA if those funds are
  used to supplement, and not supplant, funds
•  

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Required EIS in Case of Significant
Disproportionality

• In the case of a determination of significant
  disproportionality by a school district with
  respect to the identification of children as
  children with disabilities, or the placement in
  particular educational settings of these
  children
• The State must require any school district
  identified to reserve the maximum amount of funds
  under IDEA to provide comprehensive coordinated
  early intervening services to serve children in
  the district, particularly, but not exclusively,
  children in those groups that were significantly
  over identified

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EIS Reporting Requirements

• children who received EIS
• children who received EIS later identified as
  needing special education

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Eligibility for Special Education

• Student shall not be determined eligible for
  special education if the determinant factor is
• lack of appropriate instruction in reading,
  including explicit and systematic instruction in
  phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary
  development, reading fluency (including oral
  reading skills) and reading comprehension
  strategies
• lack of appropriate instruction in math or
• limited English proficiency

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Research

• research that involves the application of
  rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to
  obtain reliable and valid knowledge relevant to
  education activities and programs

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Determination of Learning Disabilities

• State must adopt criteria
• Must not require use of a severe discrepancy
  between ability and achievement
• Must permit use of process based on childs
  response to scientific, research-based
  interventions
• May permit other alternative research-based
  procedures
• School districts must use State criteria

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What is Scientifically-Based Research?

• IDEA defines scientifically based research as the
  meaning given in NCLB
• Research that involves the application of
  rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to
  obtain reliable and valid knowledge relevant to
  education activities and programs and includes
  research that meets specific criteria

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Components of Response-to-Intervention

• Research-based instruction
• Reading
• Early grades
• Increasing levels of intervention
• Ongoing assessments of how student responds

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Determining Learning Disabilities (LD)

• For a child suspected of having a specific
  learning disability, the documentation of the
  determination of eligibility must contain a
  statement of
• whether the child has a specific learning
  disability
• the basis for making the determination
• the relevant behavior, if any, noted during the
  observation of the child and the relationship of
  that behavior to the childs academic functioning
• the educationally relevant medical findings, if
  any

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Determining LDs (cont.)

• whether the child does not achieve adequately for
  the childs age or to meet State-approved
  grade-level standards and the child does not make
  sufficient progress to meet age or State-approved
  grade-level standards or
• the child exhibits a pattern of strengths and
  weaknesses in performance, achievement, or both,
  relative to age, State-approved grade level
  standards or intellectual development

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Determining LDs (cont.)

• the effects of a visual, hearing, or motor
  disability mental retardation emotional
  disturbance cultural factors environmental or
  economic disadvantage or limited English
  proficiency on the childs achievement level and
• if the child has participated in a process that
  assesses the childs response to scientific,
  research-based intervention, the instructional
  strategies used and the student-centered data
  collected

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Data to Review in LD Determination

• To ensure that underachievement in a child
  suspected of having a specific learning
  disability is not due to lack of appropriate
  instruction in reading or math
• Data that demonstrate that prior to, or as a part
  of, the referral process, the child was provided
  appropriate instruction in regular education
  settings, delivered by qualified personnel and
• Data-based documentation of repeated assessments
  of achievement at reasonable intervals,
  reflecting formal assessment of student progress
  during instruction, which was provided to the
  childs parents

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Accountability for Results
NCLB and IDEA improving educational results and
functional outcomes for all children with
disabilities
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Students with DisabilitiesParticipation in State
Assessments

• General assessment
• based on grade the student is in, or
• based on chronological age (which is consistent
  with birth dates of non-disabled peers)- not
  assigned grade level (ungraded)
• New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA)
• chronological age

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NYSAA

• Linked to grade level content standards
• Changes in NYSAA administration format and
  timetable beginning this year

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Measuring what mattersThe State Performance Plan

• Graduation
• Drop Out
• State Assessments
• Suspension
• LRE
• Parental involvement

• Timely evaluations and services
• Disproportionality
• Preschool results
• Post-school results

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Levels of Intervention

• In need of assistance
• In need of intervention
• In need of substantial intervention

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Technical Assistance and Enforcement

• Annual state targets for improvement
• Public reporting of results State and School
  Districts
• Identification of and intervention with school
  districts for performance results
• Focused monitoring effective instructional
  practices
• Directed technical assistance to schools

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Resources for Information

• NYSED VESID Special Education
• http//www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/home.html
• IDEA 2004
• http//idea.ed.gov

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