2024-10-11 DSWG Meeting #3

Participants

Number of Attendees: 27

The meeting was held 2024-10-11  12:00Pm -1:15pm CT via WebEx

Meeting Agenda

1. Section 504 related Ed-Fi UDM update needs

2. Need to track Shorten School Days for IEP Students

Meeting Materials

• Presentation Deck:

• Webex meeting recording: Data Standard Work Group-20241011 1819-1
  Recording link: https://edfi.webex.com/edfi/ldr.php?RCID=e6f806b7ae19ecf2ff82f0f9229bbc27

Meeting Notes

Section 504

• Discussion Points:

  • The proposal to remove the Section 504 reference from the DisabilityDesignationDescriptor and include it in a new association specific to Section 504 within the Alternative and Supplemental Services domain.

  • Various regions shared their use cases and current practices:

    • Some regions have separated disability from Section 504, using a similar structure with more data elements.

    • Other regions do not use Section 504 in their data collection.

    • One region uses Section 504 for registering segments and accommodations for assessments but does not detail out the accommodation plan.

    • Another region collects data at the operational level, finding it helpful for program association rather than accommodation.

  • The importance of keeping Section 504 data separate from Special Education IEP data was emphasized.

  • The discussion included the need for a new association to track Section 504 data, including start and end dates, evaluation status, and other relevant details.

  • The proposal to present Section 504 as a program was debated, with considerations for the evaluation process and the timing of Section 504 occurrences during the school year.

  • The key descriptor values for Section 504 plans were discussed, with a focus on ensuring accurate and comprehensive data collection.

  • It was noted that Section 504 is handled mostly at the local level, whereas Special Education is federally funded.

  • The data collected from Ed-Fi is used for LEA CRDC reporting.

  • The discussion also touched on the need for a case manager, evaluation status, eligibility, consent for evaluation and services, and referral status.

Need to Track Shortened School Days for IEP Students

• Discussion Points:

  • The goal is to gather data on students with IEPs who have shortened school days, including the hours/minutes attended per day and the hours/minutes attended by their peers.

  • Various solutions were proposed:

    • Using an alternate calendar with extensions applied to calendar dates for StudentSchoolAssociation.

    • The challenges of changing the calendar and the cascading effects of vendor updates were discussed.

    • The proposal to have one record for shortened school days, specifically for students with IEPs, was considered.

    • The importance of tracking the relative reduction in school days for compliance monitoring was emphasized.

  • The discussion included the need for aggregate data on shortened school days and the comparison of minutes per week for students with IEPs versus their peers.

  • The possibility of collecting this data in the StudentSpecialEducationProgramAssociation was debated, with considerations for the complexity of using calendar dates.

  • Feedback from vendors on the proposed solution was sought, with concerns about the specificity of the data collection and the potential for overcomplication.

  • The discussion also included the need to identify students not in their IDA to track their actual minutes attended.

  • The concern was raised that some districts might shorten school days for all students with disabilities, which would require compliance monitoring to ensure students receive the full services they are legally due.

  • The proposal to track minutes per week and compare them to peers for relative reduction was discussed.

  • The need for an alternative calendar was debated, with some suggesting it was an overkill and others emphasizing the need for aggregate data.

  • The discussion also included the possibility of specifying how much the school day is shortened as a percentage rather than in minutes.

  • The importance of having clear business logic for when to count a student as enrolled was emphasized.

Next Meeting Nov 1, 2024