DEPARTMENT NEWS
On behalf of the Texas Education Agency, thank you for the time, expertise, and thoughtful input you have shared as a member of the SPED Director Panel stakeholder group. Your continued engagement has meaningfully informed TEA’s work and strengthened our understanding of the needs, challenges, and opportunities across special education in Texas.
Please know how grateful we are for your commitment to students with disabilities and for your partnership with TEA. Thank you again for your service and dedication.
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Spring STAAR assessment results will soon be available for families to view. Families can access their child’s results through the Texas Assessment Family Portal (or through their school district’s parent portal). In the Family Portal families will find score information, their child’s responses, and resources, such as the Find a Book Tool, to help support learning at home.
June 10: High School End-of-Course Assessments
June 16: STAAR Grades 3-8
TEA encourages families to review the results with their child and celebrate their growth and effort this school year. If families have questions about their child’s results or would like additional support, please contact your child’s campus.
New this year, families can now sign up for SMS text message alerts. Once logged into the Family Portal, families can click “Subscribe to Alerts” to be notified as soon as new state assessment results are available!
As the school year winds down and summer approaches, it is also time to look ahead to an important annual deadline. All local educational agencies (LEAs) are reminded that the SPEDS submission is due by July 30, 2026, at 11:59 p.m., the last Thursday in July. To support your preparation, a comprehensive guide is available that outlines each of the four State Performance Plan Indicators (SPPI), along with answers to frequently asked questions. Set yourself up for success by reviewing the guide and preparing ahead of the deadline.
You are invited to apply for consideration to serve on our District SPED Leadership Council, an influential group of district Special Education leaders who serve as TEA’s early advisory body on statewide special education initiatives. Council members will play a critical role in providing insight that helps shapes program design before initiatives reaches the field. All members will be selected through a review process to ensure balanced representation across the state.
Including leaders who are actively engaged in our schools is imperative to ensuring that future projects, policies, and supports truly meet the needs of students with disabilities. Selected members’ on‑the‑ground perspective help inform TEA’s work and strengthen statewide special education efforts.
If selected, participation in the District SPED Leadership Council is both a professional opportunity and an official service role. Selected members will receive a formal recognition letter signed by TEA leadership, which may be included in résumés, personnel files, or appraisal documentation. Council members may also participate in briefing sessions with TEA leaders, offering early access to emerging priorities and policy developments. Your contributions will be publicly acknowledged.
We encourage you to consider submitting an application for this impactful council and lending your expertise to help shape the future of special education in Texas.
The LEA State Performance Plan (SPP) Indicator Reports for Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2024 are now available on the SPP Public Report Generator webpage.
The LEA SPP Indicator Reports are published each spring and report LEA performance against targets for Indicators 1–14 established in the State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR). The SPP/APR is required under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and evaluates the State's efforts to implement the requirements of the Act and its efforts toward continuous improvement.
Users can view and download reports at the LEA, regional, and state levels. More information about the data included in these reports is available in the About the 2026 LEA State Performance Plan Indicator Report document.
Prevent the "summer slide" and keep literacy momentum strong with Learning Ally’s Summer Reading Together! This program helps students bridge the gap between school years with human-narrated audiobooks and engaging rewards.
What’s New for 2026?
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New Rewards: Students can win monthly prizes and digital gift cards for consistent reading.
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A Parent Checklist: Learning Ally has added a step-by-step checklist to help families easily establish a successful home reading routine.
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Ready-to-Use Resources: Access curated book lists and summer learning packets to share with parents as the summer begins.
Grab your map, pack your resources, and join us for the Great American Reading Road Trip, where students explore new stories while cruising toward reading success!. Visit our Summer Reading Together website for full details.
New to Learning Ally and need an account? Get started by enrolling for your free account through the Educator Access Form.
As we move into the final stretch of the school year, many LEAs are now within the “less than 35 school days before the last instructional day” window. This timeline resource provides clear guidance for navigating evaluation requirements, including how timelines extend due to absences and what to consider when students move during the summer. Stay informed and keep your evaluation process on track with this helpful reference.
Special education referrals can happen at any time - ensure your response is timely and compliant. Access this quick-reference timeline to stay on track with critical deadlines, required notifications, and key steps from referral through the initial admission, review, and dismissal (ARD) meeting.
The Understanding Accommodations and Modifications document provides a foundational overview of the differences between accommodations and modifications that may be included in some individualized education programs (IEPs). It also includes context for students with Section 504 Accommodation Plans and for linguistic accommodations for emergent bilingual (EB) students. Throughout the document, you will find linked resources that provide additional, more specific guidance. This resource is well suited for use in summer professional development and can support a variety of stakeholders in establishing a common understanding of accommodations and modifications.
Connecting behavior to the TEKS just got easier! Introducing the TEKS Behavior Alignment Tool. This comprehensive resource helps educators align student behavior expectations with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) across all grade levels. Spanning early childhood through high school, the tool includes multiple content areas, such as ELA, Health Education, Social Studies, Fine Arts, Physical Education, Science, and Technology Applications, to highlight how academic standards connect to observable social, emotional, and behavioral skills. Organized by developmental progression, the TEKS Behavior Alignment Tool supports instructional planning, classroom management, and systems-level behavior supports.
To further support implementation, the TEKS Behavior Alignment Tool includes three companion guides tailored for Educators, Campus Administrators, and ARD Committees, offering practical guidance for using the tool and developing effective, aligned behavior supports.
The 2024-2026 Innovative Services for Students with Autism Grants were awarded to 10 LEAs across Texas and have directly impacted 32 LEAs due to many grantees collaborating across multiple LEAs. The purpose of this grant is to increase LEA's capacity to implement innovative programs that effectively serve students with autism ages 3-21. This project will result in effective, scalable models that can be replicated in other areas of the state. Read about the impact this grant has had on Yantis ISD:
Virtual Reality Career Exploration in Rural Northeast Texas Districts
Through the 2024–2026 Innovative Services for Students with Autism grant, Yantis ISD and 12 other districts* have collaborated to transform career exploration for students with autism across our rural districts. Using virtual reality (VR) technology, students are exploring potential careers in a safe, structured, and engaging environment that reduces anxiety while building confidence.
For many of our students, traditional career exploration opportunities can be overwhelming due to transportation barriers, unfamiliar environments, or social demands. VR provides a non-threatening way to experience a wide range of career settings—from healthcare to skilled trades—while practicing communication, problem-solving, and workplace readiness skills. Students are not just learning about careers; they are actively engaging in simulated, real-world experiences.
The grant has also strengthened collaboration among our participating districts and increased educator capacity through shared training and implementation support. Most importantly, we are seeing increased student engagement, improved self-confidence, and meaningful conversations about postsecondary goals.
The Innovative Services grant has allowed our rural communities to provide opportunities that would otherwise be inaccessible, expanding possibilities and building brighter futures for students with autism.
*Participating Districts
- Alba-Golden ISD
- Bland ISD
- Boles ISD
- Campbell ISD
- Celeste ISD
- Commerce ISD
- Cooper ISD
- Cumby Collegiate IS
- Hawkins ISD
- Lone Oak ISD
- Mineola ISD
- Quitman ISD
Beating the Odds: Learning from K-8 Schools Outperforming Expectations for Students with Disabilities
The PROGRESS Center’s Beating the Odds report highlights schools across the country that are achieving strong outcomes for students with disabilities, demonstrating that success is possible in a variety of contexts. The report shares lessons from these schools to help educators and leaders strengthen systems and practices that support student achievement. Explore the report to learn more about how schools are improving results for students with disabilities and consider how these insights might inform your work.
Error Analysis in Math: Using Student Work to Intensify Intervention
Within the data-based individualization (DBI) framework, when a student shows limited response to a validated intervention implemented with fidelity, educators use diagnostic data to inform decisions about how to intensify instruction. Error analysis is one diagnostic process that involves examining student errors to identify patterns and better understand a student’s instructional needs.
In this National Center on Intensive Interventions (NCII) webinar on June 3rd at 2:00 PM CST, Dr. Sarah Powell and Dr. Alison Hardy will present a step-by-step process for analyzing errors in a student’s mathematics work. The presenters will demonstrate how educators can use information from error analysis to make data-informed decisions about how to intensify instruction and better align intervention supports with individual student needs. Register for this webinar now!
Error Analysis in Writing: Using Writing Errors to Intensify Intervention
Within the data-based individualization (DBI) framework, when a student shows limited response to a validated intervention implemented with fidelity, educators use diagnostic data to inform decisions about how to intensify instruction. Error analysis is one diagnostic process that involves examining student errors to identify patterns and better understand a student’s instructional needs.
In this NCII webinar on June 24th at 2:00 PM CST, Dr. Katie Valentine will present a step-by-step process for analyzing errors in a student’s writing. She will demonstrate how educators can use information from error analysis to make data-informed decisions about how to intensify instruction and better align intervention supports with individual student needs. Register for this webinar now!
SDI Adaptations Series: What Educators Need to Know
According to IDEA Sec. 300.39(b)(3), “[s]pecially designed instruction [SDI] means adapting, as appropriate to the needs of an eligible child under this part, the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction (i) to address the unique needs of the child that result from the child’s disability; and (ii) to ensure access of the child to the general curriculum, so that the child can meet the educational standards within the jurisdiction of the public agency that apply to all children [emphasis added].” This collection of tip sheets from the PROGRESS Center provides key considerations, guiding questions, and evidence-based examples of content adaptations, delivery adaptations, and methodology adaptations.
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