SWG 2021-08-05 Meeting

Participation

Support

Nancy Wilson, Ann Su - Ed-Fi Governance Support

Meeting recording LINK

Refer to the PPT   or additional details on the meeting minutes and discussions.

The meeting was held on 2021-08-05 1:00Pm -2:00pm CT via WebEx

Agenda

• #1 How different states are using the GeneralStudentProgramAssociation and StudentSpecialEducationProgramAssociation
  • Understanding of the workflow
  • Understanding of the dates in the model including the program involvement date, participation date, IEP effective date and the service begin date.
• #2 Tickets from the field
  • DATASTD-1127 – multiple Sped Ed Environments under same IEP
  • DATASTD-1513– additional Sped service attributes
  • DATASTD-1560 – tracking Sped services for non-enrolled students

Meeting Notes

#1 How different states are using the GeneralStudentProgramAssociation and StudentSpecialEducationProgramAssociation

• NE - GeneralStudentProgramAssociation and StudentSpecialEducationProgramAssociation begin & end dates
  • The begin and end date in the GSPA is for the group of the information for that student. If we collect the SPED data for a student, the very first time, then the IEP begin date and the SPED begin date will be the same.  SPED begin date is usually the first day of school for that year. Most students don’t have a change in the record during the year. At the end of the year, they don’t have an exit.  The next year, it repeats.  
  • Anything in that record changes for example disability, setting or participation code changes, the record to be ended with an end date and a new record is inserted with the new begin date with the most recent values.  This way we know the SPED (for example disability) values were on Student Count date or when we are looking at their attendance and absence information.  
  • Begin date cannot be used for when the student was identified as a special education student.
  • The IEP dates have a very specific meaning. NE does not use the IEP date for when the student was identified as a special education student.  NE does not collect IEP begin and end dates.  If an IEP plan changes, we do have the ability to collect a new SPED record with begin date = IEP Begin Date.  Often NE has only one SPED record. 
  • What is the first day the student was SPED? NE has an extension for this called it as the ‘Initial IEP Date’.  That date should not change for the student.
  • NE has the ‘Exit Code’ for changing of the SPED record. NE created a new descriptor value for the ‘ReasonExited’, this is not for exiting the SPED program, it is for creating a new record.

  • NE does not collect any other dates.  Because they are not required for state or for federal reporting.  School district's SPED system tracks all of the other dates.

  • Majority of districts (small districts) use the same SPED system that flows into our Ed-Fi system through our ESUs. For our larger districts, the SPED data comes from the SISs.
  • Child Find Collection is not coming via Ed-Fi. They have a separate process that they collect this from the LEAs and it is an aggregate value.
• Indiana - concern for how the dates are used
  • Combined 3 different data collection systems in legacy model to state SPED collection for the following:
    • Special ed status on a certain date
    • Timeline compliance for evaluation (parent consent date starts that clock)
    • Termination - when, how, reason for student to exit system
  • Begin date can be fluid (changing services)
  • Told vendors they can use last evaluation date if being tracked in their SIS - want to capture the data directly from IEP system
  • Early childhood transition date at three years of age from Part C Birth to 3
  • Child Find collection re identification/evaluation
  • One domain is used for all three:
    • SPED Eligibility
    • Receipt of services
    • IEP
    • IN starts this in Dec 2021 and will track how this all works
  • State-wide IEP system used as a placeholder
  • Transition date: early childhood to LEA
• 3 states collecting Child Find data (Wisconsin, Texas, Indiana) will inform/be working with Sayee on Ed-Fi comparative analysis to develop standardized approach and will keep Nebraska and other states informed.
• Question from Michigan: Is there alignment with CEDS for the SPED data tables? Several states are working together with CEDS for common approach. From Sayee: yes, we are working in collaboration with CEDS to ensure congruence. Sayee will reach out to update Dwayne at CEDS.
• WI - use cases on SPED and how the dates are used https://dpi.wi.gov/wisedata/help/portal/spedfaq
  • Doing survey for SPED IEP project -- anticipates extension of the Ed-Fi model
    • Survey sent to LEAs to provide feedback https://forms.gle/sfJXpZBTiiCnGHKK6
    • Data brought into domain is for accountability
  • See PPT for WI use case
    • Provided detailed documentation on how they are handling SPED data. Sayee shared and reviewed for the group.
    • This WI scenario is specific to an evaluated 2 year old who cannot be IDEA eligible until age 3.
      • IDEA work group from CEDS reporting review included MI, NC, VT, KS, and MT.
• SIG
  • John Raub - is there thought about forming a SIG to address this? Wisconsin is willing to help quite a bit on this. While some things are state specific there is a lot of commonality.
  • SPED work group spin off SIG with use case documentation

#2 Tickets from the field

 DATASTD-1127 – multiple Sped Ed Environments under same IEP

• More sense to change within an IEP record or better to create a new record, preference is to change within but the reality is that you may need to create a new record at times.

DATASTD-1513–

• Need clarification on exit date and service end date for additional Sped service attributes
• Is a single record similar to an IEP or around services being provided?
• Ed C -
  • IEPs related to services can change at different intervals without a new SPED determination--
  • an IEP entity makes sense
  • an entity to capture events is also needed
    • Events have appeared elsewhere in the model including for TPDM
    • Can associate dates with the event
    • Need “tiger team” for focused discussion
• For children turning three and currently Part C eligible but not yet determined Part B eligible we need to track services earlier than the record.
• In WI a single IEP may have multiple SEPA associated to it.

DATASTD-1560 – tracking Sped services for non-enrolled students

• Student might have IEP date earlier than begin date
• Marcos - IEP endpoint would give space for fields I've looked to track. Separate Class, Co-Taught, those types of settings and matching them to academic subjects and minutes.

• WI - use cases on SPED and the dates are used https://dpi.wi.gov/wisedata/help/portal/spedfaq

  • Conducting survey for SPED IEP project -- anticipates extension of the Ed-Fi model
    • Survey sent to LEAs to provide feedback https://forms.gle/sfJXpZBTiiCnGHKK6
    • Data brought into domain is for accountability
    • Survey is looking at a lot of data we are not collecting today and want to share results with Ed-Fi team++
  • See PPT for WI use case
    • Provided detailed documentation on how they are handling SPED data. Sayee shared and reviewed for the group.
    • This WI scenario is specific to an evaluated 2 year old who cannot be IDEA eligible until age 3.
      • IDEA work group from CEDS reporting review included MI, NC, VT, KS, and MT.
  • Sayee has Texas Child Find use case and she will reach out to Indiana for their use case. Request for Jill to share how they are using SPED domain. Max will forward what documentation they have. Sayee will do discovery with states on collecting documentation.

Action Items:

• Sayee to assist forming a SIG spin off from SPED Work Group
• Sayee will do discovery with states on collecting documentation.

Next meeting: 02 Sep 2021 

Last Update: 19 Aug 2021