THE VERY SPECIAL EDITION
Volume 18, Issue 1 8/18/08
Dear Staff:
Welcome back to a new school year! We hope you had a wonderful, restful summer. We recently worked with the ILT’s in their training and it was fun to see enthusiasm and excitement from the new teachers! We WILL have a GREAT YEAR!
We hired only a few new EC teachers this year; welcome to you all! We are delighted that most of our teachers stayed with us. We are down a couple of positions this year; our funding is down a little (as was headcount last year).
For this year we can boast continued initiatives leading the system in best reading practices, helping with the push in math foundations, continuing and improving our use of Research Based Interventions and Progress Monitoring in general education to reduce unneeded referrals to special education, beginning a licensed Day Treatment program for some of our most severely behaviorally and emotionally involved students, and benefiting from having most of our students’ information already entered into the EasyIEP system. Please stay involved in all aspects of program development and implementation at your schools!
Please note that ALL professional EC staff are required to attend one of the two EasyIEP and Updates on Forms training on August 22. There are extensive updates in forms (from the State) and EasyIEP (to comply with State changes).
May all your forms finalize without errors!
Have a great year!
Sincerely,
Ann Brady Daphne Wall
Director of Exceptional Programs Exceptional Programs’ Curriculum Coordinator
Staff Development/Meeting Dates:
EasyIEP and New Forms Training: August 22, 20089:00-12:00 OR 1:00-4:00 at RCMS
Reading Foundations Training: First session is August 20, 2008 at CO
Conference for Exceptional Children: November 16-18, 2008 in Greensboro
Note: check the SEA system and staff development calendar regularly for opportunities!
Worth Quoting:
I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.
~Lily Tomlin as "Edith Ann"
What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.~George Bernard Shaw
Transitions from PK to Kindergarten
Most often the paperwork is completed for these new kindergarten students. If you have a student entering kindergarten from PK who has had an IEP, please check the following:
- current IEP reflects the correct school age setting (for example, regular)
- A DEC5 has been completed with the setting change
- CECAS has been sent to Becky.
Resources
Our State Policies(effective 11/1/07) are available at:
Free parent-child materials are available for downloading from Washington Learning Systems at and click on the purple button that says "Free Parent Education Handouts" on the home page.
The Rockingham County Libraryin EdenNChas anew Assistive Technology station, which includes software to help students read and write. Struggling readers can use this station to have the computer read aloud all the content of the Web. You can learn more on the library’s web homepage:
Teacher of Excellence
Please take an opportunity to nominate a Teacher of Excellence from your school. Each LEA is represented by one outstanding special educator at the 58th Conference on Exceptional Children (Nov. 17-19, 2008).
The Teachers of Excellence will have special seating during the Monday morning plenary session, have their names listed in the conference program, attend a reception in their honor on Monday evening, and have their pictures displayed at the conference.
Please email or otherwise send to Ann Brady your nomination for your school with a brief explanation of why you believe the person should be our Teacher of Excellence.
Testing Updates
Assessment Charts Available: We recently received a new and updated chart for assessment options for grades 3-8 as well as one for high school level. Please be familiar with this information! You may access these charts at:
Recruitment
We greatly need additional Occupational Therapy services for our system. If anyone knows an OTR or COTA who might be available to help, please refer him or her to us!
Special Transportation
It is very important that you notify us of bus problems after the first couple of days (moves, no one home, etc.). Please call Jessica Jeffries (627-2709) with this information. If students are not on special transportation it is because they did not have a completed form for this year.
No Shows and Transfers
Please notify Becky Garrison (627-2708 or ) of any students with special needs who are “no shows” or who you know have transferred elsewhere (in or out of system). Please help us to keep our data current. Do not wait until headcount to notify us of student changes. Becky needs to keep current all confidential folder locations and case managers.
CIPP Updates
Rockingham County Schools recently received feedback on our 2005 – 2006 CIPP submission. CIPP of course is our Continuous Improvement Performance Plan. For that year (3 years ago), we earned a status of “needs assistance.” Our rating was based on an average of our ratings on 4 (of 16) indicators. We received the top rating on Timely, Valid, and Reliable Data and on District Audit Findings. One indicator was “N/A” for us (Correction of Identified Noncompliance). Our low score was on Transition from Part C to Part B; we had not been informed prior to the collection of data that all students served under Part C had to have an IEP in place precisely by their 3rd birthday. Last year (2006-07 data) we improved to 81% and for this coming year (2007-08 data) we have met the 100% standard!
EasyIEP Updates
Grade Assignments: Most of our students have moved up a grade. EasyIEP will fix grades at the next upload from SIMS (in September). We are not going to manually change students grades unless there is a compelling reason to do so earlier. If you print an IEP and the grade is incorrect, just hand correct it for now. In order for everyone to have access to students who have moved to your school (due to grade promotion OR moving within our system) we have opened access for all professionals to view all students. Once we upload new information, this expanded access will be closed.
Caseloads and case managers: You remain responsible for managing your own caseload in EasyIEP (assigning yourself as case manager when you are such). You will want to update your caseload list early in the year.
Effective dates: All IEPs and DEC forms should be completed on EasyIEP; this requirement was effective October 1, 2007.
New students: Students who are new to the system and come with completed paperwork will not have forms or IEPs in EasyIEP. If the student moves from GuilfordCounty, we can transfer the EasyIEP records to you if you call.
Changes are here: The State has completely changed forms and the new forms were not all available in final format until a few weeks ago. EasyIEP has had a tremendous task reworking the system to accommodate the new State forms and Policies. We all know that there will be errors in the system, some important, some just annoying. Please email all errors that are found to Ann Brady (). You may also post your problem to EasyIEP on line. We will be diligently looking at the new forms and formatting for the next month in order to clean up the system for our continued use.
Handbook of Parent Rights
A Handbook must be sent to parents:
- Upon initial referral or parent request for evaluation,
- Upon receipt of State complaint or petition for due process hearing,
- When there is a change of placement for disciplinary reasons (suspension over 10 consecutive days or pattern),
- When parent requests a copy, or
- If the notice (i.e., Handbook) is revised.
Otherwise one Handbook per year is required to be sent to parent(s)/guardian(s).
We will soon have a new and updated Handbook; until it is completed, continue to give the current(July 2004) Handbook including the insert to parents when required for one of the reasons listed above. Since we are soon going to have a revised notice (Handbook) that will have to be distributed to parents, you are NOT required to send or give any Handbooksnow except for the reasons bulleted above.
Therefore, unless you have a discipline situation or a parent requesting a Handbook or a Due Process, you are only required to send current Handbooks for initial referrals only. We will send home Handbooks to all our students’ parent(s)/guardian(s) as soon as we receive the revised version from the State and can get them printed.
You may also access the Handbook at:
Staff Development
Required EasyIEP Training: REQUIRED EasyIEP and updated forms training is being held on August 22, 2008 at RockinghamCountyMiddle School. There are two sessions; choose one. The first is being held from 9:00 to 12:00 and the second is being held from 1:00 to 4:00. All special education professional staff are expected to attend one of these sessions; administrators and other staff are certainly welcome. After the 3 hours of direct training, participants may practice with the system to earn one (1) unit of technology renewal credit. You will need to sign up on the SEA system to get credit. This staff development is listed under “technology” and is number 12-335.
In order to earn credit you will need to (1) sign the roster for one of the two trainings on August 22 and (2) turn in to Ann Brady documentation of hours spent on the system and tasks completed. A form that can be utilized will be distributed at the training on August 22.
Whether or not you are seeking technology credit, please call or email Jessica Jeffries (627-2709 or ) with your preferred time.
Preschool meeting: Tuesday August 19, 2008, 8:00 – 12:00, RCC T-103
Reading Foundations Training: We continue to be very proud of the efforts in our system to providing teachers (general and special education) with the skills needed to provide the BEST instruction to ALL students. Reading Foundations Training is offered locally by our staff through our State Improvement Grant.
Reading Instruction Foundation Training, entitled Teaching Students with Persistent Reading Problems, was developed by Rebecca Felton and David Lillie through the North Carolina State Improvement Grant.The staff development program has been designed to introduce teachers to the knowledge, skills and procedures needed to provide effective instruction for students with persistent reading difficulties. The teaching principles, techniques and strategies presented in the program are supported by an extensive body of instructional research involving students with reading difficulties.
The program is designed to provide teachers with a solid foundation of knowledge and skills needed to deliver effective instruction to all students, particularly those who continue to struggle with reading, even after having the benefit of instruction and learning experiences. The program consists of nine units and provides a solid foundation on which to build an effective reading instruction program.
Quotes from previous participants:
- “Reading Foundations is so enriching andinformative that it ought to be a requiredcollege course for anyone pursuing a career in teaching.”
- “Reading Foundations has been an incredible journey in learning to teach reading all over again!”
Who: ALL teachers will benefit
When: First session is full. Two more sessions will be offered this year.
How: Once dates are set, these courses will be available on the SEA system.
Credit: Teachers successfully completing this course will earn 4.0 CEU’s.
For questions, call or email: Daphne Wall (627-2649/.), Phyllis Baker (627-7068/), or Kristi Harris (634-3250/).