*2023-2024 Directors’ Meeting Schedule*

County Groups Meetings will happen throughout March, in-person at various locations

Draft agenda sent one week prior to meeting and on calendar invite

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Previous months recordings and notes in the shared directors folder

Link for R. A. Horn Outstanding Student Achievement Award Nomination 2024

Link for Water Outstanding Educator Award Nomination 2024

January 2024 Dear Colleague Letter, Myths and Facts Document, and Article to Explain

Ohio State Lending Library: Try out AT devices for free for 30 days!

This week, the Ohio DEW is released the Science of Reading Course in the OH-ID Learning Management System. (The same system where the Ohio Dyslexia Course was found). The information on the Ohio DEW Professional Development in the Science of Reading webpage provides guidance about this course.

The intent of the Science of Reading Coursework is to improve students' reading abilities through the application of practices grounded in the evidence of the science of reading, which may mean changes or adjustments in practice for many. Currently, literacy staff at ESCs and SSTs are undergoing training to facilitate sessions for districts / schools that accompany the SOR course which will support the course and practices in the classrooms. Guidance on the facilitation for the science of reading sessions will be forthcoming soon.

Collaborative Problem Solving® (CPS) is an entirely different way of understanding and meeting the needs of all children, including those with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges. Join us to learn how to identify what’s really causing challenging behavior and unmet expectations and how to partner with your students to develop solutions.

The CPS approach aligns with CASEL's 5 core competencies, integrates with MTSS frameworks, PBIS, and restorative practices, is evidence-based, neuro-biologically and trauma-informed, and child and family-centered.

Literacy Academy On Demand offers short, easily-accessible courses on literacy for grades K-12. Each course is centered around a brief video of an expert in literacy instruction, along with resources, reflection questions and articles. These courses should take 30-60 minutes to complete. The goal of each course is to provide teachers, coaches and administrators with quick overviews of topics, along with tangible steps that they can take in their classrooms, coaching sessions or team meetings to improve literacy instruction. Look at all the session possibilities!

The IDEA Monitoring and Data Team will hold virtual office hours via Microsoft Teams on Thursday, March 14, from 9-11 a.m.

Bring your questions!

This information was disseminated at the SST16 November Directors meeting. It has now officially been made into a DEW document. Please share widely.

This annotated outline is a relatively comprehensive compilation of the published1 special education decisions under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 (§ 504) or the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for students from pre-K through grade 12, from 1998 to the end of 2023. 2 The coverage focuses on the issues of primary concern to educators and parents, such as eligibility, free appropriate public education (FAPE), least restrictive environment (LRE), and the remedies of tuition reimbursement and compensatory education.3

The Department of Education says it is meeting with schools that underreport cases of restraint and seclusion, tactics used disproportionately on students with disabilities and children of color like Staten’s son.

Lhamon called the practices “a life-or-death topic” and noted the importance of collecting accurate federal data. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced new guidance to schools in 2022, saying that, “too often, students with disabilities face harsh and exclusionary disciplinary action.”

• ALTERNATE ASSESSMENT JUSTIFICATION AND ASSURANCES UPDATE

• The Department has an important update regarding the Alternate Assessment District Justification and Assurances process. District Justification links will no longer be emailed to Superintendents. The Department has transitioned the District Justification and Assurances process to the Comprehensive Continuous Improvement Plan (CCIP). To learn more about this transition and how to access the form within the CCIP, please visit the “District Participation” section on the alternate assessment website. Justification forms must be submitted to the Department by April 26, 2024 via the CCIP. Please direct questions or comments to AAParticipation@education.ohio.gov.

• The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires annually each district or community school to submit a justification when it anticipates testing more than 1.0 percent of students using the Alternate Assessment for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities (AASCD). Starting January 2024, the Department is transitioning the District Justification and Assurances process to the Comprehensive Continuous Improvement Plan (CCIP). Justification links will no longer be emailed to Superintendents.

• All public districts and community schools must complete the assurances. Districts and community schools anticipating testing more than 1.0 percent of its total student tested population in the alternate assessment program must submit a justification. The due date for the Spring 2024 District Justification and Assurances is April 26, 2024. No special link will be sent to superintendents. A template to assist with the district justification process is available. Note that this template is only a tool to help prepare your district justification. All district justifications and assurances must be submitted via the CCIP Consolidated Application. To request a justification form submitted by a district or community school, please contact the Office for Exceptional Children or AAParticipation@education.ohio.gov.

• New for school year 2023-2024 and beyond: Boards of Developmental Disabilities that operate schools and receive and accept IDEA Part B funding (either IDEA Part B Special Education or IDEA Early Childhood Special Education) must complete the alternate assessment district justification form and the assurances. Students reported in the justification form for the Board of Developmental Disabilities school should not be reported by the district of residence.

The assurances are available and housed in the CCIP under Assurance 44 – they have been there since August 2023. The District Justification Page will be available the first week of February. Districts will receive an email via the CCIP Dashboard when the District Justification Page is live. Districts can prepare by reviewing the District Justification Template.

Be sure to consult the updated Ohio Accessibility Manual when working on the testing page of students IEPs to accurately select the accommodations students will use. For example, updated read aloud appendix below:

The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce has partnered with the Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center to produce two new resources for families related to the Third Grade Reading Guarantee Parent Request Exemption.

While a parent has the ultimate authority about whether or not their child is promoted to the fourth grade, they need to consult with their child’s grade 3 reading teacher and school principal.

The first new resource provides information for families about the parent exemption and provides questions families can ask their child’s reading teacher and principal.

The second new resource is a sample letter that families can adapt and use after consulting with their school to communicate with the school if they do not want their child to repeat the third grade based on their English language arts test score.

The new Students with IEPs Graduation Decision-Making tool has been released. This tool will be used to help families understand the pathways available to students with disabilities when it comes to graduation and should be incorporated into IEP meetings starting at age 14. Both the PDF and the Video can support family and student understanding.

The Read Ohio Landing Page links many of the potential resources you may be searching for and in need of, including supports grouped by role: superintendents, principals, teachers, and families. Includes implementation timelines and videos.

And as you're writing RIMPs for students or considering what best practices you need to add to support students, rewatch the RIMP Code Mini-Video series that can be used to refresh understanding of these evidenced based practices or teach new staff who may be unfamiliar.