2009/2010

Special Education Program

School Allocation

Workplan & ReportingHandbook

for First Nation Schools

Special Education Program (SEP)

#113 – 100 Park Royal South

West Vancouver, BC V7T 1A2

Tel: (604)925-6087

Toll Free 1-877-422-3672

Fax: (604) 925-6097

The First Nations Schools Association (FNSA) and the First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC) will be responsible for allocating the Special Education Funding from the Department of Indian Affairs for First Nations Schools.

This handbook outlines the information for First Nations schools to access the Special Education Program Funding (SEP) allocated to them.

The amount of funding allocated to each First Nations school is described in a letter sent directly to each school.

Further information about the Special Education Program Funding is available by contacting the FNSA/FNESC office at (604) 925-6087 or 1-877-422-3672.

Program Summary

Funding available for school allocations:$7,427,290

Funding accessed through:Workplan

Deadline for Workplan:October 9, 2009

Special Education Interim ReportFebruary 19, 2010

Deadline for Final Report:June 18, 2010

Application Changes

New this year, is the addition of the data collection component of the SEP workplan. At the 2008 FNSA AGM, the FNSA membership passed a motion supporting the collection of SEP data along with the workplan. In addition, the data collected is intended to match the students reported in the special education column on the nominal roll.

The application now serves two purposes: an application process to access SEP funding and the collection of SEP incidence rates of special needs. Each section will be described separately.

Workplan Section A: SEP Data Collection

To complete this task you need:

1. Access to your teaching staff who can assist in identifying special education needs and services.

2. A list of the special needs students attending your school that have been assessed/identified by specialists and their assessment reports.

3. A list of the other students in your school who have significant special education needs but who have not been identified as special needs students by a specialist. Rather, these students have been identified using classroom-based assessments by school staff.

4. IEPs that have been developed for students with special needs.

5. The Special Needs Screening Template(included with the workplan).

6. Sections B and C of your Special Education Workplan.

Instructions

Step 1: For each “Assessed/Identified by a specialist” special needs student, place their initials on the Data Collection Form, check (√) the “Assessed/Identified by a specialist” column and indicate their gender and grade level.

Step 2: Using the Special Needs Screening Template as a guide, check (√) each column on the Data Collection Form that closely matches the student learning and behavioural characteristics (the assessment report, IEP, and teacher advice should assist in completing Step 2).

Step 3: Place the initials of each student with significant special education needs who have not been identified by a specialist on the Data Collection Form. Check (√) the column that indicates “Assessed/Identified by School Staff”. Indicate their gender and grade level.

Step 4: Using the Special Needs Screening Template as a guide check (√) each column on the Data Collection Form that closely matches the student’s learning and behavioural characteristics (Assessment reports and teacher advice should assist in completing this step).

Step 5: Check (√) the column that indicates the current status of the

student’s IEP.

Step 6: Using your current Special Education Workplan, indicate activity

numbers that describe programs /services that the student is

participating in.

Step 7: Using the Special Needs Screening Template as a guide, review the descriptions in the area you checked. Place an X in the one or two checked (√)columns that “best match” the student’s learning and behavioural characteristics (a “best match” indicates the important or salient area of special need).

Link to Nominal Roll

At the 2008 FNSA AGM, the FNSA membership passed a motion supporting that schools link the special education data collected by FNESC/FNSA described in the above section to the INAC nominal roll.

INAC Nominal Roll

For each student listed on the Special Education Data Collection Form (section A of the workplan), ensure that a 1 is put in the special education column on the nominal roll form shown above.

All other students listed on the nominal roll that do not have special needs are listed as a 4 in the special education column of the nominal roll.

On the bottom of the first page of the workplan, you are asked to sign that you have ensured that the students listed on the data collection form match what is reported on the nominal roll form.

Workplan Sections B and C: Accessing SEP Funding

Accessing Funding

Since this funding allocation is based on a predetermined formula, formal proposals are not required to access funds. However, the FNSA requires that requests for funding be submitted in the form of a workplan. The format for the workplan can be downloaded from the FNSA website or filled out manually on the workplan provided. Workplans can be mailed or faxed (604-925-6097) or emailed ().

Description

The Special Education Program Funding is intended to support activities related to High Cost special education in First Nations schools. Activities for this initiative will fit into the following categories:

  1. Student Assessment
  2. Early Intervention Programs/Activities
  3. Individual Student or Small Group Programs/Services
  4. School Wide or Large Group Programs/Services
  5. Professional Development

Funding available to First Nations schools for special education initiatives is being distributed directly to schools using a formula that provides a “base plus per capita” amount. The funding available to your school is outlined in the allocation letter.

A description of the five categories and sample activities are provided in this handbook. Please feel free to adapt or modify the suggestions to meet your needs, or to combine several ideas, depending on the level of funding available. We also encourage you to combine funding from other sources and/or form partnerships with other communities, if appropriate, to increase the amount of money available for your initiative.

Please feel free to combine funding available in order to meet the needs of your school. For example, New Paths for Communities funding can be used in conjunction with the Special Education funding.

Workplan Instructions

Sections B: SEP Activity Descriptions. Number each activity; place a check mark on the category (please check only one); and fill in the number of students, outcomes, performance indicators and data source columns. Descriptions and definitions of some of the terms in these sections are explained in the following section of the handbook. Photocopy additional pages if needed. Please make sure to provide a description of your initiatives in the space provided.

Section C: SEP Program Budget A budget must be completed for each activity. Please also complete the summary budget table at the bottom of this section.

Funding Process

First Nations schools will be provided with 75% of their allotted funds upon receipt and approval of their workplan. The final 25% will be forwarded to schools upon submission of the FirstNationsSchool Annual Reporting Form.

Workplan Deadline

October 9, 2009 by 4:30 pm

Any schools that do not submit a workplan will forfeit this year’s funding. Any forfeited funds will be reallocated to schools that submitted workplans. Schools are welcome to apply for their allocations prior to this date. The October deadline is given for schools that require some additional time at the beginning of the school year.

Reporting Requirements

The Special Education Interim report is due February 19, 2010

Final reports on the SEP Workplan activities are due by June 18, 2010.

The timely submission of final reports is crucial to the continued success of FNSA/FNESC activities. Information provided through these reports is used to support submissions for future funding. Without evidence of program success, the FNSA and FNESC are extremely limited in our ability to access additional funding for First Nations.

Please ensure that reports are submitted by the deadline shown above. Schools that do not submit final reports will have their 2010/2011 allocations reduced by 25%.

At the 2006 SEP regional sessions, the concept of using the Individual Education Plan (IEP) as way to document student growth was presented to participants. Feedback from the sessions indicated that the following charts were a logical way to collect the needed data and that this process would not create a heavy reporting burden for school staff. Although there is no collection of specific goals and achievements, the process of setting goals, the tools for measuring their progress and the documentation of their completion will provideevidence that progress is being made. FNESC/FNSA will then further aggregate all the school data and include the summary in the final report to INAC in July.

Student IEP Summary Chart

Although this is not part of the SEP workplan, information pertaining to student IEPs will be requested as part of the final report. The first chart is intended to be a summary sheet that will be part of each IEP. It is a way to collect the information so that it can be easily aggregated for each school in June. It is intended to summarize the IEP to make the year end school summary easier to complete.

Some examples of goal areas:

Academic – Literacy Academic – Numeracy

BehaviourSocial Emotional

PhysicalLanguage/Communication

Life Skills

If a student does not achieve a goal/goals on their IEP, then the date of goal completion column would be shown as “did not complete” for that particular goal.

Student IEP Summary Chart
Goal Area / Tool for Measuring Progress / Date of Goal Completion

Student IEP Summary Chart Example

Goal Area / Tool for Measuring Progress / Date of Goal Completion
Academic (Reading) / PM Benchmarks / February 2008
Behaviour / Attendance chart/graph / April 2008

School Aggregate IEP Chart

The second chart is the school aggregate chart and will now be part of the SEP final report that is submitted in June. Data from IEP summary chart (above) will be summarized in the table below. Each broad goal area will be listed along with the number of goals set, number of goals achieved and the measurement tools used for each goal area.

School Aggregate IEP Chart
Goal Area / Number of Goals Set / Number of Goals Achieved / Measurement Tools Used

This section is intended to explain the categories provided for Special Education Program funding and give some examples of activities and services that would fall within each category.

Student Assessment

Student assessments in this category are meant to include individual assessments to determine student difficulties and school wide assessments which are meant to provide data for longitudinal studies and give feedback to schools on program implementation.

  • Psychoeducational assessment costs: assessor fees, travel, meals and accommodation costs
  • Travel, meals and accommodation costs to take a student to a location for a specialized test/assessment
  • Purchase of testing materials to be administered by school staff e.g. Gates MacGinitie, Canadian test of Basic Skills, Canadian Achievement Test, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test
  • The costs associated with providing in-school assessments e.g. teacher on call costs if a staff member is assessing students
  • Purchase of screening tools e.g. FAS/E screening tool, phonological awareness screen
  • Other costs associated with assessments/screening

Early Intervention Programs/Activities

Early intervention programs or activities are meant to address social and educational issues before the difficulties are manifested in the school environment. The integration of services is beneficial to the students and the schools. We encourage schools to explore other funding avenues such as Head Start, Brighter Futures and childcare dollars from Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC).

  • Community awareness and prevention programs/events e.g. symposium on FASD
  • Early reading intervention programs
  • Oral language development programs/services
  • Parent engagement in school activities
  • Drug and alcohol awareness programs for youth
  • Early numeracy activities/programs
  • Early intervention and support for potential behaviour disorder students
  • Programs that promote emotional literacy

Individual Student or Small Group Programs/Services

This category is intended to address the needs of individual students requiring specialized services, or small groups of fewer than 10 students for whom specialized instruction or programs may be provided.

  • Hiring of staff to work with high needs students: e.g. attendants, teacher assistants
  • Hiring of a special education teacher or learning assistance teacher to work with individual or small groups of students.
  • Purchasing of materials/programs to address the individual needs of students or small groups e.g. reading materials, social skills curriculum, behaviour support programs
  • Purchase of augmentative devices, FM system and/or closed captioned materials for hearing impaired student (theoretically covered by Health)
  • Purchase of specialized equipment not funded by health
  • Speech and language pathology services
  • Occupational therapy
  • Counseling
  • Art therapy

School Wide or Large Group Programs/Services

This category is intended to include those programs/services provided to the school as a whole or to group of 10 or more students. The reason for this approach is to encourage the establishment of ‘best practices’ that address the high occurring special needs (e.g. learning disabilities and behaviour disorders) as well as the general school population.

  • Implementation of school-wide research-based reading program (this type of approach, although targeting all students, specifically benefits certain special needs students by enabling them to function appropriately in a classroom environment – i.e. reduction of behaviour issues)
  • Implementation of a school wide behaviour support program/philosophy e.g. Effective Behaviour Support
  • School bully proofing or violence reduction activities
  • Purchase of curriculum/materials for large groups of students e.g. high interest, low vocabulary books
  • Hiring of special education teacher or learning assistance teacher to work with large groups of students with special needs

Professional Development

This category includes professional development activities for school staff i.e. teachers, teacher assistants, volunteers, as well in-services and support activities for parents.

  • Attendance at conferences related to special education
  • Post-secondary courses related to special education (university or college) tuition, travel and accommodation costs if applicable
  • Consultant fees for the provision of community-based workshops or training: fees, travel, accommodation
  • Purchase of training materials
  • Parent and/or community education events or training
  • Honorariums for the inclusion of elders in community events

In order to show accountability and justify ongoing funding, it is imperative that schools use methods of measuring outcomes and are diligent in the collection, recording and reporting of data. Some of the headings on the workplan and reporting form charts may be confusing, so definitions and examples are being provided in order to clarify the terms. This list is by no means complete, so feel free to add to it or change it to meet the needs of your school.

Output:

An output is essentially the activity, program or service that is provided or implemented. In other words, what the funding was used for.

Examples

  • Program materials purchased
  • Training costs (professional development)
  • Assessment materials
  • Assessment costs
  • Community events
  • Professional services i.e. speech and language

Outcomes:

Outcomes are the consequences or results of the activity, program or service

provided. They can be immediate (short term), intermediate, or long term. Early

intervention activities, for example, will most likely have long-term outcomes

expected.

Examples

  • Improved reading levels
  • Improved social interaction with peers
  • Increased awareness of a certain topic due to training
  • Increased knowledge of Individual Education Plans
  • Increase in the number of books available to students
  • Improved math scores
  • Improved classroom management

Sample Outcomes from School SEP final reports:

  • Community support for FASD programs
  • Coordinated plan for service delivery
  • Decrease in behaviour problems
  • Fine/Gross motor skill development
  • Identify best teaching practices
  • Improved academic performance
  • Improved anger management
  • Improved attendance
  • Improved classroom management
  • Improved communication
  • Improved emotional literacy
  • Improved language skills
  • Improved life skills
  • Improved listening skills
  • Improved literacy skills
  • Improved social interaction with peers
  • Improved social skills
  • Improved student access
  • Improved word recognition
  • Increased comprehension
  • Increase support for staff/students
  • Increased awareness of topic area
  • Increased independence
  • Increased motivation
  • Increased opportunities for communication
  • Increased opportunities for inclusion
  • Increased participation
  • Increased readiness to learn
  • Increased reading levels
  • Increased resources
  • Staff more knowledgeable of IEP's
  • Staff more knowledgeable of subject area
Performance Indicators

A performance indicator is basically ‘the proof’ that shows you achieved the results. These usually take the form of something measurable such as test scores (quantitative), but can also be anecdotal (qualitative) in some cases.

Examples

  • Number of assessments done
  • Improved attendance (provide percentage/number)
  • Decrease in office referrals (provide percentage/number)
  • Improved behaviour reports from parents/staff
  • Informal or standardized test scores
  • Improvements in report cards
  • Number of Individual Education Plans
  • Attendance of staff/community members at training event
  • Number/amount of materials purchased
  • Decrease in referrals to other agencies i.e. counseling, treatment programs
  • Increase in the number of grade 12 graduates

Sample Performance Indicators from School SEP Final reports: