Special Education Action Page 9 of 42

What Are U.S. Dept. of Education Determinations and Why Do You Need To Know About Them?

Want to know how your state or “entity” did with its implementation of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act?

Look to U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Program’s annual “determinations” for answers.

Every year, states and “entities” are required to evaluate their implementation of IDEA and submit their State Performance Plan and Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR) to USDOE, which subsequently releases determination letters based on SPP/APR in response. There’s a two year lag, so the 2023 determination letters, as an example, reflect the 2021 SPPs/APRs submitted by the states and entities, and provide the determination and basis for determination based on the 2021 period.

U.S. Dept. of Education Releases 2023 Determination Letters; Virginia Failed to Meet Requirements, While States Like Alabama Climbed Out of Years of “Needs Assistance” Determinations

June 26, 2023, U.S. Department of Education released its annual determination letters.

While a few states improved their performance, others continued to fail.

In 2023, 23 states or entities met requirements, as compared to 22 in 2022; six states need assistance (one year) in 2023, compared to 3 in 2022; 29 need assistance (two or more consecutive years) in 2023, compared to 35 in 2022; and two states need intervention in 2023, compared to zero in 2022.

Fairfax County Public Schools Provided False Information to Office for Civil Rights

Fairfax County Public Schools provided Office for Civil Rights false information in response to an OCR investigation.

Dawn Schaefer, director of FCPS’s office of special education procedural support admitted FCPS’s action this past month in a letter to Virginia Department of Education.

Accommodation Breakdown: Reduced Load

3.3.21: Article first published. 6.22.23: Article updated.

“Reduced Load” is an accommodation that is wordsmithed like a politician’s speech. It doesn’t matter if your gut reaction to it is good or bad. Either way, you’re left wondering what it really means.

A reduced load is exactly what it sounds like: it is a reduction of the load the student must address.

What’s confusing about that?

Systemic Noncompliance: VA Dept. of Education finds Fairfax County at Fault for Refusing to Provide Related Service of Vision Therapy

6.20.22: Article published. 6.22.22: Article updated to include information provided 6.16.23 by FCPS’s ESY coordinator and by OSEP Director Valerie Williams in the June edition of OSEPS Monthly Update email.

Fairfax County Public Schools is in hot water again for another count of refusing to provide services to students. About six months after Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found FCPS at fault for systemic noncompliance between April 2020 and June 2022, and required FCPS to meet with the families of 28,000+ current and graduated students to determine compensatory services for students enrolled during the time period investigated by OCR, Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) found FCPS at fault for more systemic noncompliance. Like OCR, VDOE is requiring FCPS to meet with the families of students impacted and address compensatory education owed to the students.

U.S. Dept. of Education Releases Monitoring Close-Out Letters for Bureau of Indian Affairs, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas

U.S. Department of Education (U Office of Special Education Programs released Differentiated Monitoring and Support close-out letters under IDEA Part B for Bureau of Indian Education, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Texas, and under IDEA Part C for New Jersey, South Carolina, and Texas.

The letters were issued between 2021 and May 2023, however OSEP waited until the past two months to publicly release them on USDOE’s website.

They detail years of monitoring, corrective actions required by OSEP, continued noncompliance, and the states eventually satisfying the action required by OSEP. However, in states like North Carolina and Texas there are a few caveats. caveats.

Seven Years and Millions of Children Later, U.S. Dept. of Education Announces Continued Monitoring of Texas

6.9.23: Article first published. 6.21.23: Article updated to include IDEA Part C October 5, 2020, DMS Monitoring Report; September 20, 2021, DMS status letter and response chart; and May 2, 2023, DMS closeout letter.

U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs announced it will continue its years-long monitoring of Texas Education Agency.

May 4, 2023, OSEP Director Valerie Williams issued a letter to TEA Commissioner Mike Morath, stating OSEP discovered TEA has been investigating Austin Independent School District for more than a year, “due to the district’s years-long backlog of special education evaluations, as required by the child find and evaluations requirements (34 C.F.R. §§ 300.301-306).”

The content of OSEP’s May 4, 2023, letter isn’t a surprise, although the letter being listed as a “DMS Close-out Letter” is an eyebrow raiser. TEA has a long history of failing to address the unique needs of children and providing them a free appropriate public education.

“Science of Reading” Is Important, But Can We Please Talk About Occupational Therapy’s Role in Reading Interventions?

The “science of reading” is a trending topic nationwide, as school divisions reevaluate what they thought they knew about reading and how they’ve instructed students.

However, being taught the necessary skills to read and write involves more than teaching children encoding and decoding. It involves learning how to hold a book and a pencil, tracking words on a page or screen, learning what strategies to use when fatigue or frustration overcome them, learning how to best advocate when they are struggling, identifying assistive technology to help them and teaching them how to use the assistive technology, and identifying and providing the specially-designed instruction needed to teach students this other side of reading and writing, and how to practice and perfect it.

Author: Callie Oettinger (page 9)