NCLB Highly Qualified Review Underway!

 

 

 

As the Lead Speech Pathologist, Sarah is a resource for her peers and a liaison between Central Office and the speech pathologists in general. She also <xyz>. Some of Sarah's exciting plans for the position include building an intranet site especially for the speech pathologists and XYZ!

A graduate of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Sarah grew up in Indiana and moved out to the West Coast in 2004 (?) to pursue her master's in speech pathology at San Diego State University. Sarah has been a speech pathologist with SFUSD for five years, starting in 2006. She also spent time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Namibia from 2002-2004 (??).

Welcome to the team, Sarah! We're excited to have you on board!

Welcome to the "Articles For Reflection and Professional Development" section! This ongoing section will provide you with the latest research and theories about special education topics.

For this week, we have provided two articles on vastly different topics. The first has to do with incorporating choice and preferred activities into classwide instruction:

"It is often said that the best intervention strategies prevent problem behaviors from starting in the first place. Two preventative strategies that teachers can use are choice making and incorporating preferred activities into classwide instruction. Not only do these strategies avoid problem behaviors, but teachers also find them easy to use in their classrooms."

For the rest of the article, please click here.

The second article addresses alternatives to overreliance on paraprofessionals in inclusive schools:

"A key challenge facing both principals and special education administrators is designing and implementing special education service delivery models that meet the education needs of students with a full range of disabilities within the context of general education classrooms. Nationally, as more students with low incidence disabilities ... receive their education in general education classrooms, one of the most common service delivery responses has been to hire and assign more paraprofessionals."

For the rest of the article, please click here.

Marking progress toward goal mastery is mandatory. The frequency of progress reporting on individual goals must be as frequent as progress is monitored for general education - in SFUSD's case, that's every 6 to 9 weeks depending on grade level placement. Goalview can generate progress reports for you to submit with each child's report card. If you require assistance in generating progress reports, please contact your Special Education Coordinator.

Have you noticed some sections of the Handbook are "Under Construction"? After a thorough review of the handbook, we have identified all sections that still need to be written, and it is our intent to have all sections completed by November 10, 2011.

If you have questions related to these sections prior to November 10th, please contact your Special Education Coordinator and/or your Special Education Supervisor.

We are fast approaching our launch of Cornerstone on Demand (CSOD), an interactive site providing one site to manage all your learning opportunities.

 

With this system, you will have the capacity to register for upcoming professional development opportunities, view power point presentations from previous trainings and take online courses at your own pace.

 

Unlike any system currently in use, CSOD will provide you with a transcript of your completed sessions. This will assist teachers in documenting their professional development towards renewing credentials, bolster skills and allow for data analysis related to professional learning trends.

 

We anticipate access by the beginning of October -- cross your fingers and stay tuned!

Question: May a report card refer to an IEP or a plan providing for services under Section 504?

 

Answer: Yes. The Office of Civil Rights provides the following guidance:

 

Report cards are provided to parents to indicate their child's progress or level of achievement in specific classes, course content, or curriculum. Consistent with this purpose, it would be permissible under section 504 and Title II for a report card to indicate that a student is receiving special education or related services, as long as the report card informs parents about their child's progress or level of achievement in specific classes, course content, or curriculum. For instance, a report card for a student with a disability may refer to an IEP or a plan for providing services under Section 504 in order to report on the student's progress on the specific goals in the IEP or plan developed under Section 504.

 

However, the mere designation that a student has an IEP or is receiving a related service, without any meaningful explanation of the student's progress, such as a grade or other evaluative standard established by a Local Education Area, would be inconsistent with IDEA's periodic reporting requirements, as well as with Section 504 and Title II.

 

Under Section 504 and Title II, in general, the LEA must provide students with disabilities report cards that are as informative and effective as the report cards provided for students without disabilities. Without more meaningful information, a report card that indicates only special education status provides the student with a disability with a benefit or service that is different from and not as informative and effective as the benefit or service that is provided through the report card for students without disabilities.