VDOE Required to Submit Plan to Improve Oversight of Special Education

Fast approaching: November 1, 2021, deadline for the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to submit its plan to improve oversight of special education to Virginia’s General Assembly and Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC).

December of 2020, JLARC released the report titled K-12 Special Education in Virginia.

In May of this year, JLARC released the report JLARC Impacts: Actions Taken on Report Recommendations. The report states that, “The General Assembly directed VDOE to develop a plan to improve its ongoing oversight of special education. The plan should explain how VDOE will ensure school divisions’ compliance with laws and regulations for special education identification processes, IEP development and implementation, postsecondary transition planning, inclusion in academic and extracurricular experiences, and special education staffing. The plan should also propose ways to increase monitoring capacity and on-site visits using existing resources and by leveraging federal funding. VDOE is to submit its plan to the General Assembly’s education committees and JLARC by November 1.

The May 2020 report includes the updates below, too:

Special Education
Report issued in 2020

Federal law requires public schools to provide students with disabilities specially designed instruction and services to ensure their education is appropriately ambitious for the student’s circumstances. In the 2018–19 school year, about 164,000 K–12 students were enrolled in special education, about 13 percent of Virginia’s total student population.

JLARC found
The proportion of K–12 students receiving special education in some school divisions is more than twice as high as others. In addition, students in some divisions are more likely to be enrolled in special education because of a certain disability than other divisions. Insufficient guidance and vague terms in the state’s eligibility criteria likely contribute to variation in eligibility determinations among school divisions.

Individualized education programs (IEPs), which are legal documents that outline the services children in special education will receive, are not consistently designed to be effective guides for special education services, and many lack key data. For example, a JLARC review of a sample of IEPs found that half lacked academic or functional goals.

Part of the variation in IEP quality is likely attributable to inconsistent knowledge about IEPs among staff who contribute to the development of IEPs, including special education and general education teachers and building-level administrators.

JLARC found many IEPs’ postsecondary transition plans were of poor quality, and about one-quarter of the reviewed IEPs lacked transition services for the students. The majority of transition plans reviewed also did not include measurable, specific, or useful goals. Several stakeholders interviewed shared concerns about the quality of postsecondary transition planning for students with disabilities.

About 20 percent of Virginia students with disabilities graduate with an applied studies diploma, which provides limited value for accessing future educational and career opportunities. To earn an applied studies diploma, students need only to meet requirements of their IEP. Community colleges and four-year higher education institutions do not recognize these diplomas as a high school diploma. In addition, families of students with
disabilities are not made aware of the applied studies diploma’s limitations, and educational decisions that can affect whether a student can qualify for a standard diploma are made as early as elementary school.

Most students with disabilities (71 percent) receive most of their educational instruction in the general education classroom, but many general education teachers do not have the skills necessary to teach students with disabilities effectively. Many general education teachers are likely not equipped to adapt instruction for students with disabilities because they are not required to have much special education-specific training.

VDOE has identified special education as one of the state’s most critical teacher shortage areas but does not collect the basic information necessary to understand the magnitude of shortages across the state and among school divisions. For example, VDOE does not collect the number of special education teachers in the state.

Because of special education teacher shortages, many school divisions fill these shortages with provisionally licensed teachers, who are required to have only one class on the foundations of special education. During the 2019–20 school year, an estimated 15 percent of special education teachers were provisionally licensed, compared with 5 percent in other subjects.

VDOE’s process to address complaints against school divisions does not ensure that identified problems are resolved. VDOE rarely ensures found non-compliance is corrected or that any negative effects of non-compliance are remedied through make up (compensatory) services. Instead, VDOE only requires
schools to hold an IEP meeting and to submit evidence that compensatory services were discussed.

While VDOE conducts useful on-site monitoring reviews of school divisions, too few divisions are subject to them

ACTION TAKEN BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Improving guidance for eligibility determinations
HB 2316 (2021) – Delegate King

The General Assembly enacted legislation requiring VDOE to update its special education eligibility worksheets, including clarifying ambiguity in the eligibility criteria, and provide guidance to local divisions on eligibility determinations for special education and related services.

Improving IEP development guidance and training
HB 2299/SB 1288 (2021) – Delegate Carr and Senator Dunnavant
Appropriation Act

The General Assembly passed legislation instructing VDOE to provide training and guidance documents to local school divisions on developing individualized education programs (IEPs) for children with disabilities and include examples of high quality present level of performance descriptions, annual goals, and postsecondary transition sections.

The legislation also instructs VDOE to create a required training model for participants in an IEP meeting (other than parents) that effectively describes each member’s role in the IEP meeting, the IEP development process, and effective IEPs.

Reviewing quality of IEPs
HB 2299/SB 1288 (2021) – Delegate Carr and Senator Dunnavant

VDOE will be required to review annually a sample of IEPs from school divisions to determine compliance with state and federal laws and regulations, under legislation enacted by the General Assembly. VDOE will provide school divisions (superintendents, special education directors, special education advisory committees, and school boards) with a summary of its findings and any necessary corrective actions needed. The legislation directs VDOE to determine whether the special education and related services, supplementary aids and services, and program modifications will allow students to participate in nonacademic and extracurricular activities.

Improving VDOE’s oversight of special education
Appropriation Act

Through budget language, the General Assembly directed VDOE to develop a plan to improve its ongoing oversight of special education. The plan should explain how VDOE will ensure school divisions’ compliance with laws and regulations for special education identification processes, IEP development and implementation, postsecondary transition planning, inclusion in academic and extracurricular experiences, and special education staffing. The plan should also propose ways to increase monitoring capacity and on-site visits using existing resources and by leveraging federal funding. VDOE is to submit its plan to the General Assembly’s education committees and JLARC by November 1.

Improving VDOE’s oversight of postsecondary transition plans for students with disabilities
HB 2299/SB 1288 (2021) – Delegate Carr and Senator Dunnavant

The General Assembly passed legislation that directs VDOE to develop a plan to improve its oversight and assistance to localities’ post-secondary transition planning and services for students with disabilities. The plan should lay out how the department will assess compliance and quality of transition plans for students with disabilities on an ongoing basis and communicate findings to local school division staff and local school boards.
Annual updates to these plans should be provided to the chairs of the General Assembly’s education committees.

Developing new requirements for applied studies diplomas
HB 2299/SB 1288 (2021) – Delegate Carr and Senator Dunnavant
Appropriation Act

The General Assembly enacted legislation directing the Board of Education to develop statewide requirements for students with disabilities to earn applied studies diplomas and instructing local school boards to provide guidance to parents about the limitations of the applied studies diploma. These limitations should be presented to parents annually at IEP meetings in grades three through 12 or when decisions are being made about the type of diploma the student can qualify for. Budget language also instructs VDOE to create guidance for families of students with disabilities that explains the limitations of the applied studies diploma and key curriculum and testing decisions that reduce a student’s likelihood of earning a standard diploma.

Training teachers and administrators on strategies for working with students with disabilities
HB 2299/SB 1288 (2021) – Delegate Carr and Senator Dunnavant
Appropriation Act

Legislation requires teachers renewing their teaching license to complete training on instructing students with disabilities, including differentiating instruction for students’ needs; understanding general education teachers’ roles on the IEP team; effective models of collaborative instruction; and understanding benefits of inclusive education for all students.

Recruiting special education teachers
HB 2299/SB 1288 (2021) – Delegate Carr and Senator Dunnavant
Appropriation Act

Legislation instructs VDOE to develop and implement a statewide strategic plan to recruit and retain special education teachers. The plan should use data analyses to determine staffing needs in each school division; evaluate the effectiveness of strategies to address recruitment and retention challenges; and estimate the costs of implementing the strategy.

Encouraging inclusion for students with disabilities
HB 2299/SB 1288 (2021) – Delegate Carr and Senator Dunnavant

Legislation requires each school division to complete a self-assessment and address inclusion practices for students with disabilities once every three years. These assessments must be submitted to VDOE, the division superintendent, special education director, and chairs of the local school board and local special education advisory committee.

Improving VDOE’s special education complaint process
Appropriation Act

Legislation requires VDOE to revise the state’s special education complaint process to ensure school divisions provide remedies for found non-compliance with special education laws and regulations. When VDOE determines school divisions did not provide legally obligated services to students with disabilities, the legislation directs VDOE to require school divisions to provide compensatory services to these students. The legislation also directs VDOE to ensure personnel understand how to avoid non-compliance in the future