The SOPM and the New IDEIA Mandate for Writing Annual IEP Goals

1. The SOPM and the New IDEIA Mandate for Writing Annual IEP Goals • Presentation by: • Charles McEvoy / Special Service Manager • ESO 2 Y. Chu Network • Empowerment Schools / NYC

2. Table of Contents • SOPM changes • 2. Annual Goals

3. New SOPM Terminology • The Committee on Special Education Office (the CSE Office) • Formerly the “CSE” • Chairperson oversees IEP Teams in this office • Responsible for NPS, parochial, charter and non-attending students • Office of Student Enrollment (OSE) • Formerly OSEPO • Integrated Co-Teaching Services • Formerly Collaborative Team Teaching (CTT)

4. The Initial Referral Process • The New SOPM reflects significant changes in IDEIA (2004) and NYS Regulations in respect to: • The initial referral process and • The initial referral source

5. Initial Request for Referral • Only the following individuals may make a written request for an initial evaluation to the school principal: • A professional staff member of the school district in which the student resides, or the public or private school the student legally attends or is eligible to attend. • A licensed physician • A judicial officer • A professional staff member of a public agency with responsibility for welfare, health or education of children • A student who is 18 years of age or older, an emancipated minor, who is eligible to attend the public schools of the district

7. Initial Referral Sources • An initial referral for evaluation may be made by: • A student’s parent • A designee of the school district (i.e., the principal or the Chairperson of the CSE Office) • The commissioner or designee of a public agency with responsibility for the education of the child • A designee of an education program affiliated with a child care institution with Committee on Special Education responsibility

9. Reevaluation • Mandated Three-year Reevaluation: • A reevaluation must be conducted once every three years except when the district* and the parent agree in writing that such a reevaluation is unnecessary. • Parent must agree and return a signed Waiver of Mandated Three Year Reevaluation • ________________________________________ • *the district=the school psychologist, in consultation with the student’s primary or designated teacher

11. Reevaluation (cont’d.) • Reevaluations will not occur more than once a year unless the district and the parent agree otherwise. • If the student had a reevaluation during the same school year, the principal--in consultation with the student’s primary teacher and/or school psychologist--must be contacted to determine whether an additional reevaluation will provide new or meaningful information and is therefore appropriate at that time.

13. IEP Team Mandated Member¹ Excusal • Member’s area will not be discussed at IEP meeting²: • Principal must notify parent in writing of request for excusal 5 days prior to meeting • Parent must sign in agreement • Parent may also request excusal of a member • Not to be used routinely or unilaterally • __________________________________ • ¹Members include: Special Ed. Teacher, Gen. Ed. Teacher, District Rep., School Psychologist, Parent Member • ²not for Initial IEP meetings

14. IEP Team Mandated Member Excusal • Member’s area will be discussed at IEP meeting*: • Principal must notify parent in writing of request for excusal 5 days prior to meeting • Excused member must provide written input 5 days prior • Parent must provide written consent • Not to be used routinely or unilaterally • _________________________________ • *not for Initial IEP meetings

16. Completing the IEP Meeting • If a Special Class or Integrated Co-Teaching (formerly CTT) is not available at the student’s school: • The District Representative must discuss with parent availability of any seats at schools in the district • The District Representative must complete and forward the SC/CTT Placement Preference Form to OSE

18. Amending the IEP After anAnnual Review: Part One • The IEP may be amended after the annual review at an IEP meeting. • The Parent must be invited to this meeting and should participate. • Amending the IEP refers to minor changes to the IEP; not requiring the rewriting of the IEP. • Example: A reconvened meeting to specify NPS recommendations after deferral to CBST

19. Amending the IEP After anAnnual Review: Part Two • The IEP may also be amended without an IEP Team meeting. • Parent must sign Waiver of IEP Meeting to Amend IEP form • Parent is presented proposal of all changes in writing and by discussion • Parent must agree to any and all changes being considered. • If the parent does not fully agree to all changes, an IEP meeting must be held.

21. Timelines • All necessary assessments and an IEP Meeting must be held within: • 60 calendar days from the receipt of parental consent to evaluate the student • All services must be arranged within: • 60 school days from the receipt of initial consent to evaluate, or within 60 school days from receipt of referral for reevaluations

22. Students Awaiting ICT

24. Exit Summary • The Student Exit Summary must be completed for: • All public school students and students attending NPS who are “aging out”; and • For whom special education services will terminate in the current year because of graduation or reaching age 21

26. LTA Related Services Policy • A student should be placed on a Related Service LTA Register after being absent from the Related Service for 6 consecutive weeks (student may be attending school) • A provider must conduct outreach during the 3rd-5th weeks • Parent is notified by certified mail of Related Service LTA registration • If the student is Related Services only, and the service is only that Related Service, a reevaluation must be conducted to terminate the service.

27. Annual GoalsNo more short term objectives for school age children except for New York State Alternate Assessment students

28. Annual Goals • SMART • S – Specific: What is the observable behavior that the student will do in a year that the student is not able to do now? • M – Measurable: How do you know when the student has accomplished the goal? What criteria will you use • A – Achievable: What can the student reasonably be expected to be able to do in one year? What will you see happening a year from now that you don’t see happening now? • R – Relevant: Does the goal reflect individual needs identified in the PLOPs? • T – Time Related

29. Annual Goals • Specific • What will the student do? What is the behavior you wish to observe or see evidence of (both academic or social emotional)? • What will help the student do what s/he has not been able to do previously? Will this skill be built upon something previously learned and mastered? • What conditions will enable the student to do the task? Conditions include learned strategies, prompts and/or environments specific to the behavior.

30. Specific • Goals should not be a re-statement of the general education curriculum. • Focus on pivotal skills: • Reading • Math • Listening • Organization • Study skills • Memory • Social skills • Attention

31. Annual Goals • Measurable • Criteria for success • Should be characterized as observable • Percentages don’t always infer what is observed. • To what extent? • How many times done correctly? / How many allowable errors? / Done correctly out of how many trials? • Over what period of time (or by when)? • Schedule of evaluation • Over five consecutive days • In ten consecutive quizzes given daily

32. Myths of Measurability • Including a percentage makes a goal measurable. • Jason will control his behavior 80% of the time. • Percentages, used sparingly, are best used with spelling or calculation tests as evidence of achievement. • Technical language makes a goal measurable. • Kendra will improve central auditory processing. • Central auditory processing sounds clinical, but how helpful is this in terms of measurement? • An action verb makes a goal measurable. • Linda will ask questions to clarify issues. • Although an action verb best makes a goal observable, to what level does asking questions show an adequate level of measurability? In one occasion substantive?

33. Annual Goals • Achievable/Attainable • Based on what the student has already achieved in moving towards the desired goal. Goals must be based upon pre requisite skills already learned, in moving toward higher functioning skills. • What student can reasonably achieve within one school year?

34. Annual Goals • Relevant • Based on PLOPs • The student should be able to apply the skill in the classroom?

35. Annual Goals • Time Related • Schedule for evaluation is built in. • Progress reporting periods

36. Sample Annual Goal – Decoding • Sam will increase his word recognition skills on the 6th grade level by 80% accuracy on a reading passage. • Given multi-sensory reading instruction, Sam will demonstrate mastery of the six syllable types by fluently decoding selected passages incorporating all six syllable types. In 5 consecutive daily trials he will decode timed passages with no more than one error per passage.

37. Sample Annual Goal – Math Strategies • Susan will improve her ability to complete multi step multiplication and division problems by 70 %. • Given math strategies (such as commutative property and paired association techniques) with frequent repetition and practice to facilitate automatic memory and recall of facts, Susan will apply strategies to solve multi-step multiplication and division equations. She will demonstrate mastery by achieving 100% accuracy on 5 consecutive quizzes over a period of 2 weeks.

38. Sample Annual Goal – Writing (Grammar) • Susan will improve her ability to compose a 5 paragraph essay by 70% this school year. • Given a structured writing program with scaffolded lessons Susan will write a 5 paragraph essay with paragraphs containing sentences with conjunctions, prepositions and subject-verb agreement sentences as measured by 5 consecutive trials over a four week period, with no more than 2 errors per trial. Using an editing checklist she will correct the errors.

39. Sample Annual Goal – Social Emotional • Brian will diminish inappropriate classroom behaviors by 80% over the school year. • Given the use of a token reinforcement behavior modification system, with frequent praise and consistent reinforcement, Brian will, by the end of the spring semester, display each of the following behaviors no more frequently than his non-disabled peers: grabbing or pushing others, verbally interrupting others who are speaking, having inappropriate verbal/physical outbursts or making threats. This will be measured by recording inappropriate behaviors on a behavior chart which demonstrates behaviors commensurate with those of his peers for four consecutive weeks.

40. Annual Goal: What’s Missing? • Activity • Johnny will improve his oral reading fluency by 80% over the next six months. • Johnny will read a selected fiction passage, at a sixth grade level, with a fluency of 120 words per minute and no less than three errors in 5 consecutive trials over a period of five days.

41. Activity: Improve the Goal: • Richmond will recall a list of 10 endangered species with 90 % accuracy this year. • Richmond will improve his memory skills, by using mnemonic devices, acronyms and rehearsal to recall (list) a set of 10 important events or items in five trials over a period of two weeks with no less than one error each trial

42. What’s wrong with this one? • Adriana will increase her understanding of a structured home/school day, by participating in routines and activities from a verbally and physically assisted level to an imitative or verbally prompted level by April, 2009. • Given four daily classroom routines (e.g. lining up for recess, putting away materials at the end of the day), Adriana will correctly perform them, in ten trials over a period of two weeks, by imitating classmates or with no more than one verbal prompt by an adult by the end of the school year.

43. For More Information • Contact your SSM / Chuck McEvoy / ESO 2 CMcEvoy2@schools.nyc.gov • Contact your ISC support staff Wendy Driesman / IEP Specialist / WDriesm@schools.nyc.gov • Link to downloadable SOPM: • http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/F1AD5E08-62A0-408A-9187-BB757C9556BA/0/SOPM.pdf • Link to all special education documents: • http://schools.nyc.gov/Academics/SpecialEducation/ EducatorResources/default.htm • From Gobbledygook to Clearly Written Annula IEP Goals / Barbara D. Bateman Ph.D., J.D. / IEP Resources / Attainment Company, Inc.