OSDE - SES - January 2, 2024 - Internal

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Announcement

**NEW** OSDE Partnerships!

OSDE-SES continues its partnership with PCG-Medicaid billing services and Presence this year.  Presence is an online company that provides evaluations and therapy.  Districts may contract directly with Presence to meet any of their evaluation and/or therapy needs. 

However, if your district signs up to bill Medicaid through PCG, your district may be eligible to access free evaluations through Presence. 

Contacts:

  • Jeni Robison for more information about Medicaid billing 
  • Kelly Wright for more information about services through Presence

**NEW** COVID-19 Resources for Schools, Students, and Families

Interested school districts can register for the COVID-19 Testing Supply Program. It takes approximately 7-10 business days for ED to process each district’s request to register for the program. Once approved, POCs will receive a confirmation email with information on next steps, which includes attending a 30-minute training on how to order test kits through HHS’s Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response’s Health Partner Ordering Portal (HPOP).


**NEW** Resource for Early Childhood Outcomes/Indicator 7

The Child Outcomes Summary Knowledge Check (COS-KC) is now available for all Oklahoma school districts. The COS-KC has a free, online, open-book assessment with 30 multiple-choice items. This validated tool will help districts examine staff knowledge about Early Childhood Outcomes completion (also known as Child Outcome Summaries), and can help guide teams in targeting where additional professional development is needed in  support indicator 7 data. Special education directors can expect an email with additional information about using the COS-KC as well as available resources later this week. For more information, please see Child Outcomes Summary Knowledge Check (COS-KC).


School-Based Health Clinic

Schools who are planning to implement a School-Based Health Center (SBHC), either via telehealth, or a mobile clinic or plan to add oral or mental health to an existing SBHC will have the opportunity to earn a stipend (about $5,000+) for their schools. The stipend can be used to buy supplies, extra duty pay for the school staff person assigned to assist with the clinic, or a start for an RN-School Nurse Salary.

Please email Gayle Black, Alicia Lincoln, or you may call 405-426-8082 for assistance.

Assessment

District Level OAAP Participation – Justification Survey

If your district is anticipating more than 1.0 percent of your testing population (Grades 3-8, and 11) will participate in the OAAP/DLM testing in the 2024 spring operational window, the survey: “2024 Justification for Exceeding 1.0 % in OAAP Participation” must be completed online by March 1, 2024.  

If your district is not expecting to exceed the cap, no action is required. The survey is designed to be completed by someone at the administrative level with special education and state testing knowledge. It may be completed by either the District Testing Coordinator, Special Education Director, or someone in a similar position.  

Finance

IDEA ARP Fund

All IDEA ARP fund expenditure reports must be submitted to OSDE-SES by January 28, 2024.

If assistance is needed, please contact your finance specialist.

Alt Diploma

Alternate Diploma Updates

Based on new legislation, Oklahoma has a new graduation pathway for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.  The new state-defined alternate diploma is available for the school year 2023-2034.  Following graduation, students who graduate with an alternate diploma must be afforded a Free Appropriate Public Education through the school year in which the student turns 22 years of age.  This change will require districts to provide additional services through the Extended Secondary Transition Program.  More information is available regarding the following:


Alternate Diploma Collaborative

The Oklahoma State Department of Education, Office of Special Education Services will continue to hold Secondary Transition/Alternate Diploma Collaborative meetings monthly beginning in August.

Zoom meetings will typically be held on the 4th Thursday of each month at 3:00 p.m., except for holidays/school vacation weeks.

The schedule of monthly sessions and known topics are listed below:

  • January 25, 2024 @ 3:00 p.m.
    • Inclusive Post Secondary Education (IPSE!): Preparation, Pathway and Potential!  Julie Lackey, Oklahoma IPSE Alliance
  • February 22, 2024 @ 3:00 p.m.  
    • OK's Got Talent with Moore Public Schools  Whitney Green, Academic Resource Coordinator 
  • March 28, 2024 @ 3:00 p.m.
    • Special Olympics Unified Sports – Meg Corn, Special Olympics Oklahoma & Mustang Public Schools

Join us via Zoom for all sessions scheduled. 

Meeting ID: 160 702 2023

Passcode: 393839


Secondary Technical Assistance

OSDE-SES is providing Transition Technical Assistance through a temporary, part-time Secondary Transition Program Specialist.  Assistance to schools/districts will be available through various formats to include e-mail, phone, virtual (via Microsoft Teams) and/or in-person.  Please use this link to complete a Transition Technical Assistance Request for your school/district regarding Secondary Transition topics, including the new Alternate Diploma and 18-22 Transition Programs.  For brief questions and/or more information about Transition Technical Assistance, please contact Claudia Beckner or Lori Chesnut

Trainings/Webinars

Intervener Training

We are pleased to announce an opportunity for intervener training in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Department of Education – Special Education Services and the Oklahoma Deaf Blind Technical Assistance Project are collaborating to support and train paraprofessionals to become interveners and professional teachers to learn about intervener services.

Please see the flyer for more information about this opportunity.

Deadline is January 3, 2024.


**NEW** OKMTSS Community of Practice

The State Personnel Development Grant presents the Oklahoma Multi-Tiered System of Supports Community of Practice. This monthly session follows the SPDG's asynchronous professional development sequence available on OSDEConnect.

This session will focus on the Dimensions of Intensification presented by Dr. Gary Duhon on Thursday, January 4th at 9:00AM.

We look forward to having you attend the event!


**NEW** The Writing Rope: Book Study Community of Practice Session 2

Please join us for an informal discussion of chapters 5-8 of The Writing Rope, by Joan Seditia on Wednesday, January 10, 2024.

This is the second session in the series; however, prior attendance is not required to attend subsequent sessions.

  • Registration is available
  • Previous Session Slide Deck with materials from the Unraveling the Rope: Intensive Literacy Practices Conference.

For more information, please contact Alexa Hudak


Oklahoma Special Education Law Conference

We hope you can join us for the 2024 Oklahoma Law Conference.  This conference is designed for general and special education administrators and teachers, service providers, lawyers and others involved in developing and supporting special education services for children with disabilities and their families.

Most sessions will require attendees to have a background in special education procedures and practice in order to apply the information to work or advocacy responsibilities.  Registration is complimentary.

January 23, 2024

9:00 AM to 4:00 PM (lunch included) 

1900 Springlake Dr., 

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 73111


**NEW** OKMTSS Winter Conference

The 2024 OKMTSS Winter Conference will be focusing on Evidence-Based Practices with sessions in a "workshop" format to teach practices for quality teaming, literacy and math instruction, and behavior intervention. 

For more information, please see the 2024 OKMTSS Flyer


2024 Oklahoma Deaf Education Conference

The Oklahoma School for the Deaf is pleased to present the 2024 statewide Deaf Education Conference.

Professionals in the field of deaf education will come together, engage in dynamic workshops, connect with colleagues, and identify pathways to empowering students through access, language, and literacy. Attendees will include early interventionists, early childhood specialists, teachers of the deaf, and educational interpreters.

The pre-conference will be held June 3-4, 2024.

The conference will be held June 5-6, 2024.

Registration is now open. 

Staffing

CPI Trainings for 2023-2024 SY

The Oklahoma State Department of Education, Office of Special Education Services will be holding their CPI 2-day Regional Trainings for you to send 4 employees to get blue card certified.

ONLY 40 people will be able to attend each session, so make sure you register ASAP! Waiting lists have been opened for spots that are sold out. 

NOTE: A waitlist has opened for the sessions, if the session is full follow the link to join the waitlist

2024 - Second Semester - 

  • January 11-12, 2024 - Tulsa, Oklahoma - Tulsa Tech, Riverside Campus
  • February 8-9, 2024 - Lawton, Oklahoma - Bishop Public Schools, Gym
  • March 14-15, 2024 - Afton, Oklahoma - Northeast Technology - Afton Campus
  • April 11-12, 2024 - Guymon, Oklahoma - Guymon Jr. High  

 

CPI is approved through Project 613 for substitutes, travel, and lodging. Keep in mind lodging must be at least 60 miles one way. Questions can be directed to Megan Salisbury.

Professional Development

**NEW** Secondary Transition (M/M): Using Assessment Results to Develop Meaningful Transition Goals & Services for Students with Mild/Moderate Disabilities

This training will focus on using assessment results to develop meaningful transition plans for students with mild/moderate disabilities.

Participants will:

  • Learn to incorporate transition assessment results into the IEP
  • Review case studies
  • Analyze transition assessment results
  • Use assessment results to identify specific transition strengths and needs and develop postsecondary goals, annual transition goals, services, coordinated activities, and courses of study.

**NEW** Secondary Transition (Severe/Profound): Using Assessment Results to Develop Meaningful Transition Plans for Students Participating in the OAAP

This training will focus on using assessment results to develop meaningful transition plans for students with severve/profound disabilities.

Participants will: 

  • Learn to incorporate transition assessment results into the IEP
  • Review case studies
  • Analyze transition assessment results
  • Use assessment results to identify specific transition strengths and needs and develop postsecondary goals, annual transition goals, services, coordinated activities, and courses of study.

Effective Instructional Practices for Teaching Transition Skills to Students Participating in the Oklahoma Alternate Assessment Program (OAAP) Regional Professional Development

The OSDE-SES is pleased to offer five regional trainings to empower educators to effectively teach transition skills and monitor student progress. This training will demonstrate how to implement effective instructional practices to teach transition skills to students with significant cognitive and adaptive disabilities who participate in the Oklahoma Alternate Assessment Program (OAAP). Special educators and paraprofessionals will learn to use data collection, task analysis (forward and backward chaining), and prompting (when and how to use prompts, how to fade prompts) to enable students to make progress toward their postsecondary and annual transition goals.

 
Other News

Educational Interpreter Registry

If your district employs educational interpreters, please verify that they are on the OSDE Educational Interpreter Registry.  All interpreters in an educational setting are required to be on the registry and are required to obtain yearly CEUs. 

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