We are looking forward to improving outcomes for students with disabilities with you in the coming year. To this end, The Office of Special Education Services will be hosting a series of video calls with directors across the state to better communicate our activities and initiatives. Directors are invited to join calls on the second Monday of each month from 3:00-3:30 for an update from Program Director, Sherri Coats, and on the fourth Monday of each month from 3:00-4:00 for a deeper dive into specific initiatives and special education topics presented by SES staff.
For registering for these calls, please see the Video Call Agenda.
Over the past several years, the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Office of Special Education Services (OSDE-SES) has partnered with the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) to provide a system for School-Based Medicaid reimbursement that is compliant and user-friendly for schools. OHCA has identified the OSDE as the program administrator for the school-based Medicaid program. OSDE has contracted with the Public Consulting Group (PCG) to submit claims on behalf of districts. However, the “school-based Medicaid program” is inclusive of any school that bills Medicaid, even if it does not use PCG to submit its claims. Please see the Medicaid Memo for more information.
Questions and concerns can be directed to Kellie Carter.
SPARK, or Special Education Professional Advancement and Refinement of Knowledge, is an initiative of the Oklahoma State Personnel Development Grant (OK-SPDG). At the highest level of support, OK-SPDG provides in-person and virtual direct coaching support through the SPARK initiative. Interested special educators are selected for this support through an objective application process.
For the purposes of this initiative, OK-SPDG defines "early career special educator" as any individual who has worked as a PreK-12th grade special education teacher for 5 years or less, regardless of prior teaching experience. In order to qualify for this coaching support, the applicant must be employed for the 2023-24 school year in an Oklahoma public school as a special education teacher and providing specially designed instruction for students on an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for at least 50% of their contract time. If you have questions about whether your employment qualifies, please contact Alexa Hudak, SPDG Project Director 405-522-4513.
Participants who are selected for professional development and complete the 10 hours of provided coursework will receive a $500 stipend. Participants selected for professional development and coaching and complete the 10 hours of provided coursework and engage fully in coaching will receive a $2,000 stipend. More information regarding stipends will be provided at the time of selection.
 The application link can be found in the PDF application and must be completed by the educator seeking the professional development and coaching opportunity.
Personal Care Assistants are under the directions of certified special education and/or related services staff, a Personal Care Assistant (PCA) assists one or more students in accomplishing instrumental activities of daily living, health-related functions, redirection of behavior, and other tasks as identified in an Individualized Education Program (IEP), Section 504 Plan or health plan for assigned students. Personal Care Assistants may be assigned to work with students who have physical disabilities, healthcare/medical needs, or require other forms of specialized care.
OSDE-SES continues its partnership with PCG-Medicaid billing services and Presence this year. Presence is the leading provider of live, online therapy and evaluation services in pre–K–12 schools and has delivered over 6 million sessions to students around the country.
You 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.
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Jeni Robison for more information about Medicaid billing
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Kelly Wright for more information about services through Presence
You can find the most updated OAAP information for the 2023-2024 school year in the OAAP Memo. Find and access information regarding the Instructionally Embedded Assessment Window closing, how to pull the Training Status Report, Spring Testing Reminders, and more in the memo.
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.
The IDEA Part B Flowthrough Allocation Adjustment has now been uploaded in the Grant Management System (GMS). Districts must create a budget amendment for the IDEA Consolidated Application in order to view and budget those funds. To access the Grants Management System (GMS), go to the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) website and scroll down to the Oklahoma State Department of Education Single Sign-On and click to access the site.
- Login by using your username and password.
- Click the Grants Management and Expenditure Reporting button
- Scroll down to IDEA Consolidated Application
- Click the amend button.
For questions or additional information, please contact your Finance Specialist. The budget amendment should be completed by March 15, 2024.
New memorandum regarding changes and updates to the application for High Needs, Tier I and Tier II. Please contact your finance specialist for any assistance
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:
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:
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February 22, 2024 @ 3:00 p.m.
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OK's Got Talent with Moore Public Schools Whitney Green, Academic Resource Coordinator
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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
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.
Questions about Indicator 7 Results? Join us for an overview of this indicator including targets, calculations, and responding to results on February 22nd from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM during our Open Door Indicator 7 Data Session.
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.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education, Office of Special Education Services will be holding their 2nd Annual Paraprofessional Conference in 4 locations around the state. We have also created a Paraprofessional Website for the 2023-2024 Conference with all information regarding the conference.
Registration is now OPEN for districts to send their paraprofessionals or other support staff to attend the 2nd Annual Paraprofessional Conference for their yearly 6 hours of Professional Development. Make sure you register for the ONE location you would like to attend before all the spots are filled! Seats are limited!
REMEMBER TO PRINT YOUR TICKET.
Districts can use Project 613 funds to pay for substitutes, travel, and lodging. Lodging must be over 60 miles.
NOTE: The dates of the conferences in the Fall of 2023 and Spring of 2024 may interfere with some districts Fall and Spring breaks. The city, date and venues of the conferences were selected before the districts school calendars were made public. Thank you for understanding and we hope to see your support staff at one of the locations of the Paraprofessional Conferences.
If you have any questions/concerns please contact Megan Salisbury and/or Abby Johnson.
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 -
- February 8-9, 2024 - Lawton, Oklahoma - Bishop Public Schools, Gym
- February 22-23, 2024 - Tulsa, Oklahoma - Tulsa Tech, Riverside Campus
- 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.
The Secondary Transition for Students with Disabilities self-paced course has been released and is now open for enrollment in OSDE Connect. This course is recommended for teachers/providers who are new to secondary transition and as a refresher for experienced staff. There are great links and resources contained in the course. Participants will receive a certificate of completion. This is also a recommended pre-requisite for participants in enrolled in the upcoming Secondary Transition (Severe/Profound): Assessment Results to Develop Meaningful Transition Plans for Students who Participate in the OAAP on February 27th in Oklahoma City, as well as the sessions for Mild/Moderate and Severe/Profound in the Tulsa area in May.
The course can be accessed directly Secondary Transition for Students with Disabilities.
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.
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.
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.
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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