Deadline for Submitting Data to MADOE: December 15, 2006

Instructions for completing the data collection requirements associated with Indicator 7: Measuring Preschool Outcomes (Deadline: Friday, December 19, 2008)

Access to the Security Portal

The procedure for accessing the MA ESESecurity Portal is similar to the one used to submit the district’s FY 08 240 grant application. An individual in the district should already have been assigned the “SPP” security role enabling that person to submit materials over the Security Portal. This person needs to access and upload the required spreadsheet for this data collection activity. If this person is no longer associated with the district or if you need to assign this duty to a new staff member, please contact your district “Directory Administrator” to use the Directory Administration application to assign the security role.

Access to the Excel Spreadsheet

1. Login to the ESE Security Portal
2. Click “Drop Box Central” from the list of applications
3. Select “Special Education State Performance Plan” at the Drop Box Central screen and click “Next.” (If you do not see the drop box, contact your District Directory Administrator to have access granted.)
4. On the next screen, select your organization type, organization, and click “Next.”
5. You are now in the “Special Education State Performance Plan” drop box, where you will find a blank spreadsheet titled “indicator_7_leacode_Year3.xls.” Open this spreadsheet and save to your computer.
6. Once information has been filled in, please save the spreadsheet to your computer, keeping the same file name.
7. Repeat steps 1-4 to access the Security Portal again.
8. Upload the completed Preschool Outcomes Excel spreadsheet.
9. When the file is uploaded a “Success!” Window informs you that your upload was successful. You will also see the file appear under “SPED\District Name\DOE Inbox” along with the date and time of transmittal. The Department will be notified via email that a file has been uploaded and is ready for review. To view all of the files in your Inbox or Outbox, click “Expand All.”
10. Click “Logout” to exit the Security Portal.

Completing the Excel Spreadsheet

1. Each row should contain data for each individual child included in the entry/baseline cohort for your district. For districts with more than 40 preschool children with disabilities as of November 1, 2008, the completed spreadsheet should contain at least 40 rows of data. For districts with fewer than 40 preschool children with disabilities as of November 1, 2008, the spreadsheet should contain a sufficient number of rows of data to reflect all preschool children with disabilities in the district.
2. The following data elements must be included in the entry/baseline report for each child that is due on December 19th:

--SASID

--LEA Code

--Date of Birth

--Entry Date to Preschool Special Education Services

--COSF Entry Rating for Outcome 1: Positive social-emotional skills (including social relationships)

--COSF Entry Rating for Outcome 2: Acquisition and use of knowledge and skills (including early language/communication and early literacy)

--COSF Entry Rating for Outcome 3: Use of appropriate behaviors to meet their needs

Please note: the exit/progress data elements (Columns “J” through “W”) should be left blank. They will be filled in in the spring when we complete the exit/progress data collection process.

1. Individual paper forms of the completed COSF should not be sent to the Department but instead should be kept at the local school district. We ask that you keep them locally as they will serve as a reference in May when we begin exit/progress data collection activities.

Your district’s responses to the Child Outcomes Summary Form will be considered complete when the required Excel Spreadsheet titled “indicator_7_leacode_Year3.xls” is saved with the LEA code and uploaded via the MA ESE Security Portal by the deadline of December 19, 2008.