Data Non Compliance Indicators (DINC) Technical Assistance Guide

Documentation and Reporting of Correction of Noncompliant Findings Identified Through Data Analysis

DRAFT

Table of Contents

Background2

Overall Process and Timelines3

General Instructions3

Contact Information4

Data Identified Noncompliance Data Collection Web site 4

Logon4

Data Collection Menu7

Data Collection Entry Screen8

Saving and Submitting11

Submitting Complete Data12

Appendix 1:California Special Education Management Information System

Data References for Noncompliant Findings13

Appendix 2:Overview of Data Identified Noncompliance Process15

Documentation and Reporting of Correction of Noncompliant Findings Identified Through Data Analysis

Background

The Office Special Education Programs (OSEP) of the U.S. Department of Education requires that a state must examine data it receives through its data collections to determine if the data demonstrates noncompliance with the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). If noncompliance is identified, the state must make a finding of noncompliance and require the local educational agency (LEA) to make correction using federally-specified procedures (OSEP Memorandum 09-02, October 17, 2008).

In order to carry out these requirements, the Special Education Division (SED) at the California Department of Education (CDE) reviews and analyzes student level data submitted to the California Special Education Management Information System (CASEMIS) for compliance with state and federal requirements. Specifically, the data is analyzed in relationship to three compliance indicators from the California State Performance Plan:

  • Indicators 11: One hundred percent of children were evaluated within 60 days of receiving parental consent for initial evaluation.
  • Indicator 12: One hundred percent of children referred by Part C prior to age three, who are found eligible for Part B, have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) developed and implemented by their third birthday.
  • Indicator 13: One hundred percent of youth aged 16 and above have an IEP that includes the eight required measurable postsecondary goals.

In addition, the California Special Education Management Information System (CASEMIS) data is analyzed for compliance with the state and federal timeframe requirements for:

  • Annual IEP meeting (once a year)
  • Triennial re-evaluation to determine the student’s continued eligibility (every three years)

The specific CASEMIS data reporting elements for each of the five areas identified above are located in Appendix 1.

Overall Process and Timelines

Appendix 2 depicts all of the steps in the annual Data Identified Noncompliance (DINC) process. The following is a description of the major steps that will be followed each year:

August: June 30 CASEMIS data is analyzed to determine noncompliance.

September to November: Districts are notified of noncompliance findings. The DINC Web site is made available for LEAs to examine noncompliance and to record corrections that are made.

December to February: December CASEMIS data is used to verify correction of previous noncompliance and to retest for new noncompliance in the same areas found noncompliant in the prior June 30 submission. Federal procedures require the CDE to evaluate a subsequent data set to determine if there is continuing noncompliance in the same areas. This is called a Prong II test.

March: LEAs are notified if they have successfully completed a Prong II evaluation. If the LEA does not meet the requirements of Prong II, they must correct any new student findings of noncompliance and submit a revised CASEMIS Table A by March 31. Specific instructions will be sent at this time.

April: The March 31 Table A submission will be evaluated to verify correction of previous noncompliance and to retest for any new noncompliance in the areas found noncompliant again in December 1 submission. LEAs that do not pass this second prong II evaluation will be required to conduct a CDE guided root cause analysis and submit a compliance plan for CDE approval. In addition, the LEA will be given an overall compliance determination of “needs assistance”. Two consecutive years of a “needs assistance” determination requires the CDE to take certain actions that will affect the use of IDEA funds (see 34 CFR 300.600 et seq). Specific instructions will be sent at this time.

General Instructions

Each LEA that has received a letter from the CDE regarding DINC must correct student level findings and record the correction on the DINC Web site. For each type of noncompliance there are corrective actions specified in Corrective Action table on Page 9.

Contact Information

The SED’s Focused Monitoring and Technical Assistance (FMTA) Units will monitor and provide technical support to the districts during the correction process. If districts need assistance or have questions regarding the correction or documentation of corrective actions, please contact the district’s assigned FMTA consultant. The list of assigned FMTA consultants can be found at

Technical questions should be addressed to CASEMIS via the e-mail link at the bottom right of the page or via phone at the number listed.

Data Identified Noncompliance Data Collection Web site

In order to monitor and report the correction of the noncompliant items, the SED created a Web site. Each identified LEA is required to use this Web site to record correction information. The Web site address is:

Logon

The LEA should have both Web site address and password available when they wish to logon. For security reasons the password was sent separately from the notification letter. The password was included in an e-mail to the district superintendent or charter school administrator. If you have questions about your passcode or the Web site, contact Steven Rogers, Education Research Evaluation Assistance in the Assessment, Evaluation and Support Office by e-mail at .

When the LEA logs on to the Web site, the following screen appears:

The LEA should select “District” as the Type of Logon and click “Continue”.

SELPA Logon: SELPA directors may log on to the Web site to review the progress of member districts by selecting the “Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA)” radio button instead of the “District”.

The next screen will ask you to select your SELPA from a drop down list. After you select your SELPA, another drop down box appears in which you will select your LEA. Once you have selected your LEA, you will be prompted for a password. Enter the password sent to your superintendent or administrator.

Data Collection Menu

The Data Collection Menu contains identifying information about the LEA and lists all of the potential noncompliance areas. Only those areas where the LEA is noncompliant are available to be used and have live links. Any other areas will not have a live link and will have a message that the LEA has “No Noncompliance for This Indicator”. In order to proceed, the LEA must select one of the live, noncompliant area links. Once selected, the LEA will enter the Data Collection Entry Screen for that noncompliant area (e.g. 60 day timeline).

Data Collection Entry Screen

The top of the screen includes information about the district and the status of data submission and CDE approvals. It also contains information about each student whose data was noncompliant. The Web site has been prepopulated with information about students, including the Last Name, First Name and Student ID# supplied by the LEA.

Student List: The LEA may download a list of students to facilitate their work by clicking the “Download List” button at the bottom of the page and following the prompts.

Customizing Screen Display: The screen display can be customized to display all students, only those students whose data has not been saved, or only those students whose data has been saved. The LEA can customize by using the radio buttons just above the list of students.

Number of Records per Page: The LEA can select the number of records to be displayed on a page by using the “Results per Page” pull down list at the bottom of the page.

The LEA is responsible for correcting the noncompliance for the student. The Corrective Actions Table lists the required corrective actions for each type of noncompliance encountered in the Data Collection Entry screens. Please note that there are individual corrective actions for each of the transition elements. The LEA must record the following information to document correction:

Corrected Date: This is the date that the noncompliance was corrected (not the date the entry was made into the data system).

Evidence of Corrective Action: Enter the evidence that the district has in its possession that demonstrates that the noncompliance was corrected. “The students new IEP was completed and signed on September 20, 2014”.

Location of Evidence: This is the location where a reviewer could locate and examine the evidence in a follow-up review. “A print copy of the IEP is located in the student’s file in the Special Education Office.”

Corrective actions for each of the noncompliant indicator findings is specified below:

Corrective Actions Table
CASEMIS Noncompliance Name / Student NC Finding Corrective Action
60 Day / If the IEP has not yet been completed, the LEA must convene the team to develop the IEP and update the student data record. If the IEP was late, but has been completed, the LEA must update the student data record.
Part C to B / If the IEP has not yet been completed, the LEA must convene the IEP team to ensure that the student transitioning from early intervention services under Part C has an IEP developed and implemented, and update the student data record. If the IEP was late, but has been completed, the LEA must update the student data record.
IEP / For the student whose annual review was late and has still not been completed, the LEA must convene the IEP team to review and revise the IEP and update the student data record. If the IEP was late, but has been completed, the LEA must update the student data record.
3 Year Evals / For the student whose triennial review was late and has still not been completed, the LEA must convene the IEP team to review and revise the IEP and update the student data record. If the triennial review was late, but has been completed, the LEA must update the student data record.
SECONDARYTRANSITION
8-ELEMENTS
Tran_Reg1 / The LEA must provide evidence that the IEP contains measurable postsecondary goals for education or training, employment, and, as needed independent living. In addition, the LEA must update the student data record.
Tran_Reg2 / The LEA must provide evidence that the IEP contains measurable postsecondary goals that are updated annually and must update the student data record.
Tran_Reg3 / The LEA must provide evidence that the IEP contains measurable postsecondary goals based on age appropriate transition assessments related to training or education, employment, and where appropriate, independent living and must update the student data record.
Tran_Reg4 / The LEA must provide evidence that the IEP contains transition services will reasonably enable the student to complete the annual goals. The LEA must also must update the student data record.
Tran_Reg5 / The LEA must provide evidence that the IEP includes a course of study with focus on improving the academic and functional achievements to facilitate movement from school to post school. The LEA must also update the student data record.
Tran_Reg6 / The LEA must provide evidence that the current IEP includes annual goal(s) that match transition services identified on the IEP. The LEA must also update the student data record.
Tran_Reg7 / The LEA must send a notice of meeting inviting the student to the IEP meeting to discuss transition services and must reconvene the IEP team for the purpose of transition planning. The LEA must also update the student data record.
Tran_Reg8 / The LEA must send a notice of meeting inviting a representative of any agency that is likely to be responsible for providing or paying for transition services and must reconvene the IEP team for the purpose of transition planning. If no other agencies are involved in the payment or provision of transition services, the LEA must submit a statement to that effect. The LEA must also update the student data record.

Saving and Submitting

At the far right of the individual student listing, there is a “Date Save” and a “Save” column. The “Date Saved” column is updated automatically. The LEA can save a student record individually or in bulk. To save individually, the LEA clicks the “Save” link on the far right of the student listing. This will save that individual student’s information only. At the bottom of the page there is a button labeled, “Save Data on this Page”. Clicking on this button will save all of the data.

Submitting complete data

Once the LEA has entered information in all of the correction fields the data can be submitted to CDE by returning to the Data Collection Menu page and clicking the “Submit” button. PLEASE NOTE: the “Submit” button will only appear if there are entries in every box in every noncompliance area. Also, once the information is submitted it cannot be edited.

This will submit their correction information to the FTMA consultant for review. If they corrections are acceptable the FMTA consultant will approve the final version and the district will have completed the necessary elements for DINC.

To adhere to federal and state confidentiality regulations, districts should never submit student level data via unsecured e-mail or fax.

Appendix 1: California Special Education Management Information System (CASEMIS) Data References for Noncompliant Findings

The list below identifies the CASEMIS data fields used to identify noncompliance:

  • IEP-Identified students whose last IEP date was older than one year (CASEMIS A-36 LAST_IEP)
  • 60 day-Identified students whose initial evaluation to determine eligibility did not occur within 60 days of parent consent and no reason was reported (CASEMIS A-28 PRNT_CSNT, A29 INIT_EVAL, and A-30 EVALDLAY)
  • Part C to B-Identified students who were in Part C of IDEA prior to age three, but did not have an IEP by their 3rd birthday
  • 3yr Eval-Identified students whose triennial review was older than three years (CASEMIS A-37 LAST_EVAL)
  • Tran_Reg1-Identified students who are 16 years or older and the student’s IEP does not includes appropriate measurable postsecondary goal or goals that cover education or training, employment, and, as needed, independent living. (CASEMIS A-47 TRAN_REG1)
  • Tran_Reg2-Identified students who are 16 years or older and the student’s IEP secondary transition service goal(s) are not updated annually. (CASEMIS A-48 TRAN_REG2)
  • Tran_Reg3-Identified students who are 16 years or older and the student’s IEP does not have evidence that the measurable postsecondary goal(s) were based on age appropriate transition assessment. (CASEMIS A-49 TRAN_REG3)
  • Tran_Reg4-Identified students who are 16 years or older and the student’s IEP does not contain transition services that will reasonably enable the student to meet his or her postsecondary goal(s). (CASEMIS A-50 TRAN_REG4)
  • Tran_Reg5-Identified students who are 16 years or older and the student’s IEP does not identify transition services that include courses of study that will reasonably enable the student to meet his or her postsecondary goal(s). (CASEMIS A-51 TRAN_REG5)
  • Tran_Reg6-Identified students who are 16 years or older and the student’s IEP Is does not contain annual IEP goal(s) related to the student’s transition service needs.(CASEMIS A-52 TRAN_REG6)
  • Tran_Reg7-Identified students who are 16 years or older and the student’s IEP does not contain evidence that the student was invited to the IEP Team meeting where transition services were discussed. (CASEMIS A-53 TRAN_REG7)
  • Tran_Reg8-Identified students who are 16 years or older and the student’s IEP does not indicate, if appropriate, that a representative of any participating agency was invited to the IEP Team meeting with the prior consent of the parent or student who has reached the age of majority. (CASEMIS A-54 TRAN_REG8)

Appendix 2:O

1