Results-Driven Accountability (RDA) Indicator 8 and the Parent Survey

Results-Driven Accountability (RDA)
C o n t i n u o u s Imp ro v e me n t P r o c e s s : F re q u e n t l y A s k e d Q u e s t i o n s
Indicator 8 and the Parent Survey
Indicator 8
Timelines
The Exceptional Student Services Unit (ESSU) reports the results of the various
indicators to the Office of Special Programs (OSEP) every year as a reflection of
their annual performance report (APR) for the State’s Performance Plan (SPP).
There are compliance and performance indicators. Indicator 8 is a performance
indicator. Specifically, the ESSU provides to OSEP the “percent of parents with
a child receiving special education services who report that schools facilitated
parent involvement as a means of improving services and results for children
with disabilities.” (20 U.S.C. 1416(a)(3)(A))
For the parent-school survey, an AU must have at least a 16% return rate. I
noticed that the DMS is calculating percentages of results. Is there a
requirement for a specific percentage for overall results? If not, will this be a
requirement in the future?
The ESSU reports the statewide percentage of families who reported their
schools to be facilitative of their involvement as a means of improving services
and results for students with disabilities (i.e., indicated by family scores of 75%
or greater). The percentage in the upper left corner of the Survey results
indicates the percentage of families who provided that score via their survey
results.

August 2014 – May 2015 –
Conduct record reviews based
on the student sample (due:
June 1).

June 2015 - Submit the
signed verification of Indicator
7 data

September 15 2015 –
complete the submission of
data entered in the ESSU Data
Management System from
post-school interviews
(Indicator 14 data collection
on students who exited one
year prior and are 16+ years
Communication
of age)
How does the ESSU communicate with all AU Directors?
Any announcements that will be delivered to ALL AU Directors will be sent via email from Jason Baggs,
[email protected]. As an added precaution, please make sure that Jason’s email and
[email protected] are on your list of safe senders.
How will the ESSU store data for and document communication with the AUs?
In the ESSU Data Management System, all information around students, staff and data collections will
be located on the Profile tab. Data samples will be uploaded and attached in the Attachments area.
AU Directors’ signed verifications from data collections will be uploaded by the AU to the Attachments
area on the Profile tab. In addition, any reports from the Office of Civil Rights, received by the ESSU,
will be uploaded to the Attachments area of the Profile tab.
AUs will see a Dispute Resolution tab (not seen by the staff at the ESSU outside of the Dispute
Resolution team). This tab will be used by the Dispute Resolution team to exchange files and
documents with the AU when needed. Any communication with the AU regarding current cases of
dispute resolution will also be documented on the Communication log. If/when a complaint or dispute
is resolved, any public facing reports will be posted on the website and also to the Attachments area of
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the Compliance tab for the AU, thus enabling the AU Partners to be able to view the reports within the
DMS.
The Compliance tab will include logs of any communication between the ESSU and the AUs with regard
to the work of following up on compliance.
Inquiries regarding fiscal will be documented on the Communication log of the Fiscal tab.
All inquiries or calls from families or from the field (e.g., agencies, community representatives, AU local
staff) will be documented in the Communication log of the Family-School tab. When a call is received
from a family, all attempts will be made to gather permission from the family to share their identity
with the AU Director, thus providing the means for the AU to resolve issues directly. If a family does
not wish to identify themselves, the AU Partner will log the call with an anonymous inquiry,
documenting a summary of the details of the call. Professionals who call the ESSU with inquiries or
reports will need to identify themselves so the AU Directors are able to address any issues directly.
Their inquiries or input will be documented in the Communication log of the Family-School tab.
Any inquiries from the AU regarding the Indicator 14 post school outcomes interviews or regarding
performance data will be documented in the Communication log of the Performance tab. The ESSU
Data Team will also post performance data files in the Attachments area of the Performance tab.
Calls specific to improvement planning will be posted in the Communication log of the Improvement
tab. Any documentation around an AU’s body of evidence for an improvement plan would be
uploaded to the Attachments area of the Improvement tab.
What will be the process that the ESSU will use to follow up on concerns received from parent calls?
Currently, all parent calls are addressed by Joyce Thiessen-Barrett. In the near future, the ESSU will be
instituting a new procedure which will direct parent calls to the appropriate AU Partner. The process
for responding to the calls will mirror the current process. The content of these calls will be posted to
the Communication log on the Family-School tab in the ESSU DMS. The AU Partner will contact the AU
Director to alert him/her to the fact that a call had been received and will note that the call is
documented on the Family-School tab in the DMS. If the concern is specific to a particular child, the
ESSU DMS is “behind” CDE’s Identity Management program and is thus a secure location for exchange
of information between the ESSU and the AU. The AU Director may then follow up locally and
document any communication in the DMS.
What will be the process that the ESSU will use to follow up on concerns from the field?
The ESSU occasionally receives calls of concern from the field (e.g., agencies, advocates). The AU
Partner will document the stated concerns in the Communication area of the Family-School tab in the
DMS. The AU Partner will then contact the AU Director and share the concerns heard from the field
and report any supportive documentation. The AU Director will respond by providing any information
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specific to the area of concern. This information will then be posted to the Communication log of the
Family-School tab. Follow-up communication may or may not be needed after the initial cycle of
communication; all communication will be posted via logs.
Compliance
Can an AU still use the paper checklist that was distributed in the fall of 2014 for conducting record reviews?
The paper review checklist that was distributed last fall should no longer be used. That checklist was
developed as an interim process for November and December, 2014, when the ESSU DMS was late in
opening and there was a need to have the data from the Indicator 13 Transition IEP reviews for federal
reporting. In addition, documenting reviews on paper results in duplicative work and increases the
potential for error when responses are transferred into the DMS. Record reviewers may use a variety
of portable technology to conduct record reviews directly in the DMS, e.g., iPads, iPhones, Macs, thus
removing the need for a paper process.
What is the plan if an Administrative Unit does not complete the student record reviews?
The record reviews are due June 1st. In the meantime, the ESSU AU Partners will be reaching out to
their AUs if their percentages for completed record reviews are low. The ESSU will be offering their
support to the AUs in completing these processes, if requested.
When should amendments be conducted if the AU’s record review finds procedural errors that may indicate a
violation of FAPE?
When the AU’s record reviews find omissions or errors in the IEPs that may indicate a denial of FAPE,
the AU must conduct an IEP meeting or complete an IEP amendment as soon as possible after
discovering the error, in alignment with the AU’s policies and procedures.
Enrich
Have the DLM and PARCC accommodations for Enrich been released?
The most recent update to Enrich includes the specific accommodations that are allowable for DLM,
PARCC, etc. These accommodations were reviewed and verified by the Assessment Unit for accuracy.
AUs should remind their staff that students who meet the participation requirements for the alternate
assessment should NOT select accommodations for PARCC but should review the student’s needs for
accommodations for DLM.
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RESULTS DRIVEN ACCOUNTABILITY: CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT PROCESS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Where can I learn more?
Resource information

OSERS OSEP RDA Core Principles:
http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/osep/rda/core-principles.html

OSEP Results Driven Accountability:
http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/osep/rda-summary.doc

The National Post School Outcomes Center: http://psocenter.org/
The Colorado Department of Education
Exceptional Student Services Unit
Cindy Millikin, Director of RDA
1560 Broadway, Suite 1175, Denver, CO 80203
303-866-6619  [email protected]
May 2015
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