Special EDge
November 13th, 2025
March 19, 2026
A Short Note
I hope you all have a rejuvenating Spring Break!
State Alternate Assessments
✅ If you were a Qualified Assessor last year, you should have received an email from Krista Hought notifying you of the steps that need to be taken to renew for this year.
💌 If you are new to the district, or need to take the initial training, you should have received an email from Krista Hought with information about that.
🙋For any questions or concerns, please contact Krista Hought
Current Plan for Testing Window
Testing windows:
ELA, Math, and Science Grade 11: February 3, 2026
Alt-SEED All Grades: February 3, 2026
Science Grades 5 and 8: March 3, 2026
ELA and Math Grades 3 - 8: March 31, 2026
All testing windows will close at 5:00 PM on June 12, 2026
ESY emails have started going out!
Emails for students who qualify for ESY, based on their IEP, have been getting an email to sign up for ESY! Please encourage families you work with to fill this out. The new workflow is below. Thank you!
✨ ESY case managers, we have an exciting new workflow for ESY, which will require LESS work from you! Yay!
📝 If a student qualifies for ESY, per their IEP, their parent or guardian will receive a Smartsheet link to complete, that allows them to indicate whether they will be attending ESY or not and whether they would like transportation to the site.
✅ If email will be a barrier for a family, you can help them, by entering what they tell you verbally - you will also be emailed the link. 🙂
⭐ Based on what is listed in the IEP, it will automatically be marked if they will be offered the short or long session of ESY or GRO/EXCEL and that will be communicated to the family when they receive their link.
❗You will NO LONGER have to print forms, collect signatures from families, and send them back to me! Hurray!
👍 If ESY times are not currently listed on the student's IEP, you will be getting an email from me (Sara), asking you to fix this, so we can ensure that families receive the correct information.
📆 DATES for ESY: July 13-30 (Monday-Thursday ONLY)
🏫 FYI - We do not have solidified locations for ESY, yet. Locations will be finalized when we find out who will be attending ESY. The location will be chosen based on student equipment need.
HDESD Learning Labs!
Did you know that HDESD offers this Learning Lab website? It has many, many printable resources and even a video library!
Explore the Learning Labs website!
Kudos to ALL of you this week, for the long days you've worked (this week or previously this year) in order to connect and partner with families!
Student Services Launchpad
Have you ever wanted all of the most important Student Services links all in one place?? You’re in luck! Look at our new Student Services Launchpad for tons of helpful links. We recommend that you bookmark this page or add a shortcut to your Drive for easy access!
Important Dates and Upcoming Events
- March 23-27: Spring Break
- April 1: Building Directed SIW
- April 13: Teacher Directed SIW
- April 15: Educator Network Day
- April 22: Building Directed SIW
- April 29: Teacher Directed SIW
- May 6: Job Alike SIW
- May 12: CPI Refresher Training
- May 13: Teacher Directed SIW
- May 20: Building Directed SIW
- May 27: Teacher Directed SIW
- June 3: Building Directed SIW
- June 11: Last Day of School with Students
*CPI Registration: Click HERE
Action Items
- Look for an email about Alternate Assessments from Krista
- Plan for ESY - Links have started going out!
- Check out the Learning Labs
- Check out the incredible work of teams in Campus Kudos!
- Utilize the Student Services Launchpad
- Save the Date for upcoming events
Contributions to the Blog
Do you have something you'd like added to the blog? Please reach out to Sara Young at sara.young@bend.k12.or.us if you'd like to share something!
Previous Blogs
Previous Special EDge Student Services Blogs: