FAQ: Special Education

Dates

What is the "Begin Date" for a student in Special Education? Is it the IEP Review Date (the Initial Case Conference Date), the Last Evaluation Date (the date of the most recent case conference), or the Service Begin Date?

The begin date is either the first date of the student’s enrollment in the school and program, the first date the student is identified as eligible and starts in a program, the date of services beginning in the specific program OR the same date as the parent referral/consent if the student is being evaluated for services. The begin date doesn't have to match the conference date and will not match if a student’s program or disabilities change and cause a new program record to be provided.

An IEP Review date and Service begin date should match, correct?

Not always; the service begin date may not match if there is a program change or disabilities change causing the need for a new program record (service begin date). The IEP review date is the original Case Conference Date. Annual case conference review dates are not to be provided.

When a TOR indicates that a student's primary exceptionality has changed due to a case conference re-evaluation, do I delete the current code and enter in the new code, or do I put an end date for the current special ed placement and start a new placement record?

Best practice is to add an end date to the current record and create a new program record for the updated exceptionality.

If a placement or exceptionality code changes and we create a new program record and update the begin date for a student who has already been receiving services for several years will they be flagged for the EV report?

No, as long as the old dates are kept in the record on the on the Evaluation portion of the Special Education program record it will not be flagged for Evaluation. The parent referral/consent date is what triggers the record for EV certification.

What date is expected to report with "First Steps"?

For a First Steps transition conference, student service dates must be the day services begin whether it is the day of the case conference or later date. Services must be started by the date student turns 3 yrs old to be compliant unless a valid reason is given. The Initial Case Conference Date is what is used to monitor the timeliness of the initial evaluation process. It must be by the time the student reaches their 3rd birthday.

Evaluation

A parent just requested a special education evaluation at the end of the school year. The current year is over. How do we create the entry recorded needed to get the student to show up?

Entry record data can begin coming through DEX for following school year if marked after 7/1.

I have a parent that revoked consent last week. Do we terminate the record as going back to Regular Education? We still feel they are still Eligible.

If consent is revoked, eligibility is still True but you should Terminate the Special Education record with code 1 - Transferred to Regular Education when consent is revoked.

If a student is evaluated and does not qualify, does that student also need a Special EducationTermination record?

Yes, Provide an exit date when the student is determined ineligible and code 99. Leave the program as undefined.

For evaluation data, what should be entered for students who have transferred to us from another district? Do we leave that blank?

If evaluation was completed elsewhere it may be left blank. IF your SIS vendor requires the date be provided you will need to request the date from the previously enrolled school.

How should we properly document a special ed record for a student that is tested and qualifies, but the parents reject services?

As long as compliance timeline was met, the record is compliant no matter if services are ever provided (except for First Steps student). If parent refuses services just provide exit date and reason code 16.

How do we conduct an Initial Evaluation for a student in relation to RTI?

Students participating in an RTI process should only be entered into the system if the initial educational evaluation is conducted in order to determine the student’s eligibility for special education. This may occur before, during or after the participation in RTI.

Which Special Education Termination code should be reported for students that attended a nonpublic school or homeschool?

Use code 16-Moved, but continuing in a General Education program ONLY or moved out of state. May also be used when student has attended a nonpublic school or homeschool that does not submit data. ex: student graduated from nonpublic HS that does not submit data - submit code 16 rather than 11.

If a student is a move in and we don't know the initial date or referral date, are those dates needed to make the record go through to DEX or what dates should we use.

If vendor requires a date use 6/30/22. If vendor has no requirement then it may be left blank.

Enrollment / Transfers

Do I tie a Special Education Program Association to a school or a corporation?

Special Education Program Association is tied to a SchoolID.

Who reports PreK students for SpED: the Servicing school or the Responsible School?

The school that is managing or responsible for the Indiana IEP will report the SE program record.

I have a student who qualifies for Special Education and left the district for a time. Now they are coming back. How do I show that in Data Exchange?

When a student that has withdrawn from a corporation and returns, a second Special Education program record would need to be created showing the break in services.

We have a special education student who is not in IIEP, but has an active school association with our school. The previous school has not withdrawn the student yet. Why will this students' record not update?

If there is an SSA conflict then the record will not update. The system looks for a Special Education Program record first and if no program record is found then the system looks at SSA records. In the instance of two active SSA records, both with primary school true, the system will provide access to the most recently submitted SSA record.

Non-Public Schools

Are we required to report a student in a private school who is on a CSEP, other than the initial evaluation?

Public schools not providing the special education services will only provide the SE program record for evaluation purposes (as needed). The private school student with CSEP will provide the Special Education program record for SE certification.

We are a private school. Do we have to report Special Education records?

Only report if providing CSEP under the voucher program.

Does the State School ID need to be reported for those students that attend non-public schools?

It has to be your SchoolId that is managing the IEP.

Do non-public schools report special ed students if the public school provides services?

No, The public school will report the SE program record for certification.

Do Non-Public Schools need to Certify Special Education, or is that done by the Public School in our District that provides services?

Public schools will report SE program data for certification on the non-public students they ‘own’ or are responsible for managing the Indiana IEP. Non-public schools identified as providing all SE services to a choice voucher student reports SE program data for SE certification.

Other

How do I determine if a student is eligible for a "Good Cause Exemption"?

Please use this documentation found here.

Does the disability service programs being submitted to DEX need to match the same order that they are listed in the student's IIEP? We have found a few students the the order doesn't match with our SIS and IIEP.

Legal framework indicates placing exceptionality most adversely affecting the student's education to progress in the primary location in the IEP as well as any secondary exceptionalities in the proper order. Exceptionality placement in IEP must be documented via evaluation and services described in IEP.

For students for whom we have a signed rejection of services for both the IEP and Service Plan, should we remove them from SIS or make them "undefined" for special education program name?

Leave program Undefined, change IDEA Eligibility to True; this will identify the student as eligible for initial evaluation but will not count for December 1 count. You may add an end date to the program or leave blank.

I am a template user. What templates do I need to submit for a Special Education record to show up in IIEP?

You must have an student enrollment present, as well as the dependencies for that enrollment record.

I have numerous PK speech students whose Primary Funding Level is PK not 3. Please advise.

PK students will be funded at the PK level no matter the primary exceptionality reported.

Since accommodations will be sent to DOE from both IIEP and ILP, we only need to report (by SIS or template) our accommodations for our 504 students. Is this correct?

Any accommodations needed and are not provided from IEP or ILP should be submitted from the SIS or template - IEP and ILP accommodations will override anything provided.

We are discussing what placement location we should use for Walk-in speech students. Last year in the recording it said to use 36. Our SE directors are asking if they should use 29 instead after looking at the new flow chart from the presentation. Is it based on what services are listed in the IEP? For example, if a student attends a local PreK program and only has a speech service with use would we use 36? We aren't paying for the local PreK program and it's not listed in the student's IEP as a service. When would we actually use 29?

Since PK student is in PK (Regular Early Childhood) program (no matter how much time during the day) report 27 or 29. Code 36 would be reported for students only receiving SE services and no educational services anywhere. See this resource guidance: https://inlearninglab.com/resources/preschool-special-education-data-collection-practical-tools-to-improve-data-reliability

I have four students that are not showing up on our Special Education report. I have confirmed that their data has been published in our SIS and am able to view their SE info in the ODS. They all have active SE records for the 23-24 school year.

Please check that the EdOrdID on the SE record is the same as the school ID on the SSA. If you still cannot solve the issue, submit a ticket to the Support Team.

A students' name is incorrect in IIEP. Who should I reach out to?

Please reach out to PCG at indianaiep@pcgus.com.

Reporting in Combination with Other Programs

I have students that are Homebound per IEP and meet with teachers in person. Do I report them as in attendance for all days that they are not reported as being absent due to illness, etc. even though they are not physically attending in the building?

You would report this students' attendance as 'in attendance'.

We have several First Steps students that are not starting school right away when the IEP is signed. When indicating Timeline Compliance do we code those as a 1 (parent refuses services) or 99 (other)? Some are waiting for openings with Headstart and some are simply waiting until next year.

If parent decision - Timeline compliance is 01.

We have a kindergarten student who is attending school in our corporation, but is being transported by our school to ABA Therapy for services. Would we need to create an SE Program Record in our SIS for this student? If so, how would we create this program record?

If a Case Conference decision, then student would have IEP and would report the Special Education program record. Location would be separate school (legacy code 53). If attendance at ABA is parent decision (not a Case Conference decision) would not report.

We conferenced a first steps transfer and were in compliance, mom signed consent but then declined services and the student was never serviced. How do we code that? Is compliance 00-Timeline was met or 01-Parents refused services for student transitioning from FS? Also, do we use the conference date for the service termination date and code 16 for the TR reason?

Report code 01-Parent Refused. Keep program as Undefined although eligibiity is now TRUE. Close record with 99. Student not reported for TR since services were delivered.

Templates

I have special education data to report, but our SIS vendor is not ready to do so. How do I get this data to Data Exchange?

If your SIS does not currently support sending SE data then you must submit via template. Please see the Template Hub for more details.

Our SIS vendor is not properly sending across Special Education records. Should we send this to Data Exchange via template?

No, do not submit this data via template. Doing so would like cause duplication of SE data when the vendor issue is resolved. Continue reaching out to your vendor support for assistance. If no resolution is found, please create an IDOE Support Team Ticket here.

Termination

For Special Education students who are being awarded a certificate at the end of this year, however, they plan to return again next school year. Are we to report their graduate data this year for the certificate? Will we be able to report them as students next year with the graduate record?

Schools should report the graduate (academic record) in their cohort year. The student is still able to be enrolled and may continue their education until they either age out or decide to quit. The Special Education Termination data is provided when the student ends their special education services NOT when the certificate is reported during the cohort year.

Last year a student receiving special education services moved to another state. While in another state, he was dismissed from Special Education services. The student has returned to our corporation this year. Is there anything we need to do regarding termination of the Special Education services now that the student is back in Indiana?

As long as you gave an exit code (moved out of state 16) there should not be anything is needed.

I'm trying to provide a termination record for a Special Education student who has been a "no show" all year. However, I'm not seeing this student inside my enrollment records. How do I make this work?

Students must have a relationship existing with the school. This may require a one day enrollment (mobility) record prior to the first day of the school calendar. This one day record should already exist if you have provided a reason the student has not returned or is considered a ‘no show’. This will allow the special education program record to have a termination date matching the one day enrollment record providing the accurate reason for termination of SE services.

While publishing the SPED data for summer withdrawn students and no show students. Should we be publishing SEORA as well?

SPED record will have an end date to the program and reason; SSA will be one day mobility - no SEORA record is required

If a student is in the process of meeting grad requirements and the Special Education termination reason provided by our Special Education Co-Op as "Graduated with HS diploma", what is the expectation to get these students across the line? Should we reflect a different termination code or not terminate the Special Education record until student fulfills the diploma requirements?

If the student is terminated from services prior to meeting their grad requirements (prior to July 1) then schools should select the appropriate termination reason; if the services continue after July 1 while the student is working to meeting the graduation requirements then graduate termination reason will be reported and certified in the following school year.

Do we need to report our Special Education students on the termination record that were no shows for the school year? We exited them with the entry/exit date of 7/1. If we do need to report them on the termination record, how would we go about doing that?

Schools should be reporting all termination reasons for any student they were servicing and are no longer servicing including 'no shows'. To submit the data a one day school association prior to the calendar should have been provided to show the mobility; if not then this will need to be done, then a SE program record needs to be provided with the end date and accurate termination reason.

When should an SE record be ended?

IDOE recommends ending the SE program record with a code “99” anytime the program and or student exceptionality changes.

If a Special Ed student has a change in their SpEd program name or Primary or Secondary disabilities, can the exit date(Termination date) of the old program and entry date(program start date) of the new program be the same? Example 8-9-23 for exit date of old and 8-9-23 for entry date of new program.

You will need to end the program record on one date and then begin the new program the following day. You will also need to end the program record and begin a new one the following day if the school ID changes since EdOrgID is unique to the record

When does a Termination Record (TR) code and date get entered for a student that receives a Certificate of Completion, but keeps attending a Young Adult Program?

For termination record, end the record at the time when you think they were completely done; when you know they are coming back, keep it open.

Why are Special Education Termination records for 2022 SY showing on my current Special Education validations as exclusions?

Schools providing records in the current school year ODS will be included in the roster and certification. Schools providing records with a school year other than the current school year ODS will not be included in the roster and certification.