FAQ: Special Education

Do you recommend start and end dates for records such as Title1, Foster Care and Homeless for each school year or can they span multiple school years?

Programs are considered year to year and should have exit dates when students leave the school, are no longer in the program or end of the year (exception is Multilingual Learners and Special Education) program records will be required each year to identify the student is still participating in the program and if no exit date is provided IDOE considers the program closed with the reporting year's ODS.

For schools submitting data manually via templates, who are non-public and not accredited by the State Of Indiana, what items are NOT required to be submitted in DEX?

These schools do not provide the following data points: Student Additional Info, Special Education Termination, Title I, Alt-Ed, and Special Education Evaluation.

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'.

I'm confused about the set up of Transfer Out and Transfer In students. How should we be coding a student that lives in our district but has been placed at another school district?

If a student is enrolled at a school, but if a school determines that better accommodations can be met at another school district, the sending schools keeps the SSA (Student School Association) as the Primary "False", and will give the student Ed Org Association with the ADM Code #2. The receiving school will have the SSA as Primary "True" and there is no transfer-in, so they will reporting the student as attendance, without funding. So, no ADM code. More guidance can be found on the ADM - Transfer Out Membership Student Ed Org Guidance Documentation.

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 GR (academic record) in their cohort year and then the student is still enrolled and may continue their education until they either age out or decide to quit. The SE Termination data is provided when the student ends their special education services NOT when the certificate is reported during the cohort year.

I have a special education attending an outside learning center that is not connected to my public school. How should I mark this student in terms of enrollment and membership?

As a public school, you will report enrollment with the primary source as false, and the ed org record with primary responsibility being "funding", and use the ADM code "2". The outside learning center will report enrollment with the primary school as true and submit an ed org record with the primary responsibility being "attendance" with no ADM code. The outside learning center will report all other required student data. You, as the public school, will report membership and special education program association, so that you receive funding and accountability for that student.

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

Special Education Program Association is tied to a SchoolID.

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 are reporting SE data for the non-public students they are providing SE services for. If the non-public school is providing SE services to a choice voucher student, the non-public school reports SE program data for thoe students and will need to certify the data.

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

Please use this documentation found here.

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.

Should SpEd teachers be associated as co-teachers on every section they assisted with or just need to be associated at the school they work at?

Staff should be identified accurately for each section (class) they are associated with.

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?

In order to report students needing special education termination reported they will need a one day record to associate the student to the SE program and show the termination information.

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.

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 termination reason.

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. The data will land in the ODS but will not be validated immediately.

We have several students who earned a Certificate of Completion, but will be attending our Young Adult Program next year. How do we report these students this year on the Graduate Record and Termination Record reports? And will we be able to count them on next year's Membership and Special Education reports?

SE students receiving certificates are able to return until they age out (22); report the Certificate of Completion, but do not report a Termination Record until services are terminated - as long as enrolled, attending, being educated, receiving services students can be counted for all reports (Membership/Special Education included).

We're the primary school "false" as part of a Special Education Co-Cop, and we send students to other school corporations for services. Why can't we make changes to student data that's incorrect to ensure accurate membership reports?

If you're a primary school False, you are not allowed to make changes to student data. This is a constraint put in place to prevent possible data thrashing. It will be necessary to reach out to other corporations you work with to ensure that student data is accurate.

If we are not counting attendance for Students we Service for Special Ed only - can we exclude them from Attendance or do we have to show that no attendance is submitted on them?

Students who are only being reported for services will have an enrollment record and a Special Education program record and possibly a Title I record - no other data needs to be provided.

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.

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

This is the date that services begin. It may be after the case conference. It must be by the time the student reaches their 3rd birthday.