The State must determine if the local education agencies (LEAs) have disproportionality and provide a review of policies, procedures, and practices that contributed to the disproportionality. In an effort to conduct a review of policies, procedures, and practices, the State conducts a compliance review and requires the LEAs to convene a team of stakeholders to self-assess and complete the compliance review documents. To effectively begin the review, each LEA must identify appropriate stakeholders such as regular and special educators representing administration, professional learning, parents, curriculum and instruction, school psychology, student support services, and school improvement. List the Compliance ReviewTeam members below.

Stakeholder Name / Position

Focus Area 1: School-Wide Approaches and Prereferral Interventions

Directions: Review your LEA’s written policies and procedures for school-wide approaches and prereferral interventions. Determine if these provide equitable opportunities to support interventions that allow students to be successful in the general education environment. Upon completion all documentation will be reviewed. Complete the following checklist pertaining to SST procedures and gather the evidence to support your answers.

School-wide Approaches and Prereferral Interventions
Georgia Rule 160-4-2-.32 (Student Support Team) / Rate Your Compliance
Yes / No
  1. The LEA has written procedures for implementation of the SST Rule (i.e., use of systematic processes to address learning and/or behavior problems of students, K-12, in a school).

  1. The LEA provides high quality, sustained professional learning activities on the written procedures for appropriate LEA and school personnel to assist with the implementation of the SST Rule.

  1. The LEA provides sustained supervision to monitor the implementation of compliant practices for the SST Rule.

  1. The LEA uses the supervision and monitoring data to identify schools and/or personnel that require technical assistance to support compliant practices in the area of SST.

  1. The LEA provides prereferral interventions that are equitable by type, degree and frequency across all racial/ethnic groups.

Sampling of Documentation to Support Compliance Ratings / Sampling of Evidence to Consider
Look at:
  • Written LEA policies and procedures for school-wide approaches and prereferral interventions
  • Building-level procedures implementing board policy or plan
  • CNA or Comprehensive Data Analysis Worksheet
  • SST: Data Analysis of Student Referrals
  • Available resources for prereferral interventions, both those provided by the LEA to all schools and those interventions only available at specific schools
  • Individual Student Records Review Form
/ Look for evidence that:
  • Written procedures give direction for adherence to each component of the Georgia SST rule (consider using the Georgia Special Education Rules Outline).
  • Building-level procedures implement board policy.
  • Resources identified for prereferral interventions provided by the LEA to all schools and those interventions only available at specific schools.
  • Building-level research-based tiered interventions have been systematically implemented.
  • Prereferral supports are available to all students by type, degree, frequency across all racial and ethnic groups.

Provide a list of the evidence and documentation you will present to the GaDOE to support your compliance rating:

Individual Student Records Review Form, School Wide Approaches and Pre-referral Interventions

District:
School Year:
Person Completing Form:
Date Completed:

Purpose:

Complete the SST: Data Analysis of Student Referrals sheet to critically analyze the SST process and the consideration for special education. The intent of this analysis is to identify potential sources of disproportionality in the referral process. Pre-referral interventions, when implemented in a consistent manner school-wide, have been shown to reduce thenumber of students who may need special education and related services in order to progress within thegeneral education curriculum.

Directions:

Please review ten (10) student records using the following tool.Note: If no conclusive pattern emerges, include additional students in the sample.

Column 1 - / List student names within the sample as described above
Column 2 / List school of attendance
Column 3 - / List grade level
Column 4 - / List racial or ethnic group
Column 5 - / Indicate whether the appropriate members of team were present during meeting(s)
Column 6- / List of research-based interventions put in place
Column 7 - / Indicate whether there was documentation of the steps in the SST process
Column 8 - / Duration of implementation of intervention(s) and frequency of progress monitoring during intervention(s)
Column 9 - / Reason(s) for referral for special education evaluation (A = academic; B = behavior; AB = both academic and behavior)
Column 10 - / Student was found eligible for Special Education (Y = yes, N = no)

Guiding Questions

  1. Using the data from the sample, discuss if the SST process is being implemented in your LEA with fidelity and integrity and at all levels?
  1. How many students were referred for a special education evaluation last school year? What percent of students referred to special education were determined eligible?

1 Disproportionality Compliance Review- Placement (rev. 8/31/17)

SST: Data Analysis of Student Referrals

1.Student

/

2. School

/ 3. Grade / 4. Racial/ Ethnic Group / 5. Were Appropriate Members of SST in Attendance at Meeting(s)?
Y/N / 6. Name(s)
of Interventions / 7. Steps of SST Process are Clear
Y/N / 8. Duration of Intervention(s) and Frequency of Progress Monitoring / 9. Reason for Special Education Referral: Behavior, Academic, Both / 10. Found Eligible (Y/N)

Focus Area I- School-wide Approaches and Prereferral Interventions

Focus Area 6: Placement

Directions: Review your LEA’s written procedures for LRE.Determine if students fromspecific racial/ethnic groups spend a disproportionate amount of time in pull out special education classes. Upon completion all documentation will be reviewed. Complete the following checklist pertaining to LRE procedures and gather the evidence to support your answers.

Least Restrictive Environment
Georgia Rule Number. 160-4-7-.07 (Least Restrictive Environment) / Rate Your Compliance
Yes / No
  1. The LEA has written procedures for implementation of the LRE Rule.

  1. The LEA provides high quality, sustained professional learning activities on the written procedures for appropriate LEA and school personnel to assist with the implementation of the LRE Rule.

  1. The LEA provides sustained supervision to monitor the implementation of compliant practices for the LRE Rule.

  1. The LEA uses the supervision and monitoring data to identify schools and/or personnel that require technical assistance to support compliant LRE practices.

  1. The LEA ensures that every Individualized Education Program (IEP) team meaningfully considers various support systems and activities that could be used to assist Students with Disabilities (SWD) to be educated successfully in general education classes prior to the consideration of pullout special education services.

  1. The LEA ensures that special education teachers provide support to general education teachers in a variety of ways including, but not limited to, consultation, implementation of accommodations or modifications, and co-teaching.

  1. The LEA ensures that a continuum of alternative placements is available to meet the needs of children with disabilities for special education and related services.

  1. In determining the educational placement of a child with a disability, including a preschool child with a disability, each LEA ensures that the placement decision is made by a group of persons, including the parents, and other persons knowledgeable about the child, the meaning of the evaluation data, and the placement options.

  1. The LEA ensures that placement discussions are based upon a completed Individualized Education Program developed by the IEP team, focused on individualized student needs.

  1. The LEA ensures that the IEP teams review the students’ progress at least annually to determine appropriate placement and progress towards annual goals.

Sampling of Documentation to Support Compliance Ratings / Sampling of Evidence to Consider
Look at:
  • Eligibility Reports
  • IEP (to document team members, supplementary aids/services, and placement decisions)
  • Progress Reports
  • CNA or Comprehensive Data Analysis Sheet
  • SST: Data Analysis of Student Referrals
  • Individual Student Records Review-Placement Form
  • Building-level scheduling procedures
  • Student schedules
  • Teacher/Support Staff schedules
  • List of programs with locations offered by LEA
/ Look for evidence that:
  • Written procedures that give direction for adherence to each component of the LRE rule (consider using the Georgia Special Education Rules Outline).
  • School personnel can explain rationales for educational program placement, which is individualized to meet the student’s needs.
  • Special education and general education teachers collaborate about their students’ needs.
  • Building-level administrators create school-wide class schedules that meet the needs of students with disabilities (e.g. schedule special education students first).
  • Student schedules reflect services on the IEP.
  • Teacher/Support Staff schedules reflect common planning times for general and special education teachers.

Provide a list of the evidence and documentation you will present to the GaDOE to support your compliance rating:

Focus Area 6: Placement

Individual Student Records Review Form,Placement

District:
School Year:
Person Completing Form:
Date Completed:

The purpose for completing the Individual Student Records Review Form (Placement)is to examine a sampling of placement decisions made for students with disabilities. The record review will assist the LEA and the GaDOEteam to review all documentation to determine compliance.

Please review ten (10) student records using the following tool. Note: If no conclusive pattern emerges, include additional students in the sample.

Guiding Questions

  1. Were there significant differences in interventions and supports that were provided in the separate class/school to students in high incidence eligibility categories (e.g., OHI, EBD, SLD, SI, ID,etc) compared to the general education settings? Describe the significant difference. Are those differences substantial enough to support removal from the general education classroom? Is LRE a barrier that directly or indirectly impacts graduation outcomes for students with disabilities?
  1. Are there any equity gaps by sub-groups or schools in the placement of students in more restrictive settings (i.e., gender, race/ethnicity, elementary, middle, high, disability, etc.)? Please describe the equity gaps.
  1. Describe how noncompliance in the area of LRE might be contributing to the problem of disproportionality.
  1. If students are frequently placed in separate/other settings, are there evidence that the IEP teams considered less restrictive options and the placement decisions are based on the students’ IEP needs? Are students’ services provided as close as possible to the child’s home? If not, describe why students are not served as close as possible to the child’s home school.
  1. Describe the continuum of services available in your LEA.

1 Disproportionality Compliance Review- Placement (rev. 11/7/17)

Focus Area 6: Placement
Directions: Review your written procedures for Placement. Determine if students from specific racial/ethnic groups or disability categories are placed in more restrictive settings. Upon completion, all documentation will be reviewed. Complete the following checklist pertaining to placement procedures.
Student’s Name: Home School: Service School (if different): Grade: Race: Eligibility category:
Individual Student Records Review -Placement
Placement / Evidence that Requirement has been met Y/N/NA / Source of Data/Comments
  1. The LEA ensured that the consideration for a continuum of services was made available to meet the needs of the child with a disability for special education and related services.

  1. The LRE decision was made by a group of persons (IEP team), including the parents, and other persons knowledgeable about the child, the meaning of the evaluation data, and the placement options.

  1. The child's placement was determined at leastannually, is based on thechild'sIEP,and is as close as possibleto the child's home.

  1. The student received supplementary aids and services that provided an equitable opportunity to participate in nonacademic and extracurricular activities with nondisabled peers.

  1. Is the student making appropriate progress on IEP goals?

  1. Did the IEP team’s rationale for placement describe why the student needs a more restrictive setting? What services and supports are being provided in the student’s current setting? (Mark N/A if student spends greater than 80% of their time in the general education environment)

Student Name / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
Rationale for Placement and Current Services/Supports

1 Disproportionality Compliance Review- Placement (rev. 11/7/17)