In This Issue:
 |
Message from OSEP Director,
Ms. Valerie C. Williams
Dear Friends!
As you may know, I‘m a data enthusiast and believe it’s important to use data to help drive decisions—it’s why the “Dose of Data” section of the OSEP Update is a must read for me. This month our dose of data examines our post-secondary education data for youths with disabilities taken from Indicator 14A of the Annual Performance Report. This indicator measures the number of youth who are no longer in secondary school, had IEPs in effect at the time they left school, and were enrolled in higher education within one year of leaving high school. While there are some bright spots, the analysis completed by the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition shows that only 21.5% percent of youth with disabilities nationally are enrolled in higher education within one year of leaving high school—and this figure has consistently been decreasing over the past five years (a 20% reduction). For all youth, our colleagues in the National Center for Education Statistics, report that 63% of all high school students who graduated in the 2019-2020 were enrolled in post-secondary education by October 2020. This gap and the gap of adults with disabilities who are in the United States labor workforce compared to their nondisabled coworkers need to be addressed.
With this data in mind OSERS will be launching a new transition initiative in May. We’re calling it Expect, Engage and Empower: Successful Transitions for All. The initiative will be jointly supported by OSEP and RSA and will consist of the following tenets:
Expect
Educating teachers, service providers, and families on secondary transition requirements and high-quality implementation of special education, related services and supplementary aids and services, starting upon the child’s identification with disability and intensifying as the child gets older.
Engage
Families acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively engage in planning that leads to the development of realistic, yet high expectations for their children. We also want to engage teachers and service providers and offer support as they deliver meaningful transition services for children and youth.
Empower
Children, youth, and their families feel empowered as they navigate school and community services and successfully transition to postsecondary education, independent living, and competitive integrated employment opportunities.
I hope you’ll join OSERS in this incredibly important work and join us for our kickoff on May 10th at 1:00pm EDT. We have created an Expect, Engage and Empower website that will be updated regularly. I hope you’ll register for the kickoff event.
In solidarity,
Valerie
|
|
Expect, Engage, and Empower: Successful Transitions for All!
The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Service (OSERS) is excited to announce an upcoming kickoff event for the transition initiative, Expect, Engage, Empower: Successful Transitions for All!, virtually on May 10, 2023, from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. EDT! The event is open to the public and your support in sharing this information is greatly appreciated.
About the Event
Improving how we address transition services for youth with disabilities and their families is a critical need that will only be improved through prioritized and collaborative efforts. The 3E initiative will provide an opportunity for the field to join OSERS in the challenge to raise expectations, engage families earlier, and fully empower all who support transition services to improve postschool outcomes for children and youth with disabilities and their families.
OSERS believes that every part of education, from instructional practices to related services to curricular standards and beyond, is critical to the seamless delivery of high-quality IDEA transition programming that leads, connects, and builds toward the purpose of readying youth with disabilities for lifelong success. Such seamless delivery relies on the collaboration between educators, vocational rehabilitation, and other service providers with authentic engagement of youth and families. The Expect, Engage, Empower initiative is an opportunity to bring together various stakeholders to explore potential strategies and innovative approaches to address transition for children and youth with disabilities.
REGISTER HERE
Additional updates on important resources, event, and information will continue to be posted on OSERS Expect, Engage, Empower: Successful Transition for All homepage. We thank you in advance for your efforts toward this endeavor and look forward to you joining us on May 10!
Questions?
If you have any questions, please contact the planning team at OSEP-EEE@air.org.
|
|
Did you know?
In SY 2019–20, 13 states and entities reported 30% or more of their youth who had IEPs were enrolled in higher education within one year of leaving high school, as reported under Indicator 14A of the IDEA Part B State Performance Plans/Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR).
|
Indicator Analysis https://sites.ed.gov/idea/files/PartB-IndicatorAnalysis-FFY2020.pdf
Calculation: Percent enrolled in higher education = [(# of youth who are no longer in secondary school, had IEPs in effect at the time they left school and were enrolled in higher education within one year of leaving high school) divided by the (# of respondent youth who are no longer in secondary school and had IEPs in effect at the time they left school)] times 100.
NOTE: Sampling of youth who had IEPs and are no longer in secondary school was allowed.
NOTE: States were instructed to collect data by September 2021 on students who left school during 2019–2020, timing the data collection so that at least one year has passed since the students left school. Include students who dropped out during 2019–2020 or who were expected to return but did not return for the current school year. This includes all youth who had an IEP in effect at the time they left school, including those who graduated with a regular diploma or some other credential, dropped out, or aged out.
To explore this visualization further, please go to: May Dose of Data — Infogram
OSEP Releases New Fast Fact on Students with Traumatic Brain Injury Served Under IDEA, Part B
OSEP's latest OSEP Fast Facts: Students Identified With Traumatic Brain Injury takes a closer look at data from the data collections authorized under IDEA Section 618 including those collected through child count, educational environments, discipline and exiting data collections with a lens on students identified with traumatic brain injury.
Highlights from OSEP Fast Facts: Students Identified with Traumatic Brain Injury
- Students with traumatic brain injury are less likely to be identified for special education and related services in the age range 5–11 and more likely to be identified for special education and related services in the age range 12–17 than all students with disabilities.
- In school year 2021–22, White students are more likely to be identified with traumatic brain injury and Hispanic/Latino students were less likely to be identified with traumatic brain injury than all students with disabilities.
- In SY 2020–21, children with traumatic brain injury, ages 14–21, exiting school were more likely to graduate and less likely to drop out than all students with disabilities.
- In SY 2021–22, students with traumatic brain injury were less likely to be served inside a regular class 80% or more of the day than all students with disabilities.
|
 |
 |
Described and Captioned Media Program
The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) provides a streaming library of accessible education videos, teaching tools, and professional development opportunities. We partner with educational content creators to provide high-quality captioning, audio description, and American Sign Language (ASL) translation.
DCMP was recently nominated for a Webby Award in the category of “Websites and Mobile Sites — Accessible Technology.” The nomination means DCMP was signaled out as ‘one of the five best in the world in its category, meaning it’s among the top 12% of the nearly 14,000 projects entered.’ Two of the top competitors in this category were Google (Google Creative Lab) and Mozilla. While the award ultimately went to another nominee, we want to congratulate DCMP on this significant accomplishment as being regarded as a top product in this extremely competitive category.
|
|
Take a Seat at the Table: The Role of Educator Preparation Programs in Teacher Registered Apprenticeship Programs
Take a Seat at the Table (authored by AIR’s Center on Great Teachers and Leaders, CEEDAR Center, and the American Association of College for Teacher Education), looks at the potential of including educator preparation programs when designing teacher registered apprenticeship programs (RAPs) to increase the pipeline of teachers and make becoming a teacher more accessible, affordable, and effective. The brief includes resources for those looking to design teacher RAPs and helpful examples of current teacher apprenticeship programs.
  |
|
Implementing Accessibility: Learning from the South Carolina Department of Education
The U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology (OET) and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) invite you to a webinar in honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) on May 18, 2023.
Join the webinar to learn how the South Carolina (SC) Department of Education created and implemented accessibility initiatives for their staff, educators, and families. They will share how they enacted changes to support the department’s workplace culture and policies, the district administrators, the educators in the classroom, and the school communities as a whole.
When is the webinar?
Thursday, May 18, 2023, 2 – 3 p.m. EDT / 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. PDT
How can I join the webinar?
Complete this registration form to join the live webinar. If you cannot join live, the recording will be posted on the Office of Educational Technology’s YouTube Channel.
Who should join this webinar?
State and local educational agencies:
Leaders, technology specialists, website developers and designers and professional development leaders
Education and accessibility organizations
Focused on school leadership and policies, digital accessibility, accessible educational materials, and educator professional development
Will there be accommodations during the webinar?
Yes, Auto-closed captioning and ASL interpreters will be available. For any other needs, share in the “comments” section in the registration form.
The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service or enterprise mentioned here is intended or should be inferred.
|
 |
|
New Webinar Recording: Evaluating Implementation of Evidence-based Practices
Do you need practical strategies for evaluating how practitioners are doing with implementing evidence-based practices? Not sure what to do with all the data you’ve already collected? Not sure where to start? The DaSy Center’s latest webinar can help. Presenters discuss and share tips on high quality evaluation practices and analysis. Discussion includes what to measure, how to measure it, and what to do with all your data.
Intended Audience: State and local early intervention (IDEA Part C) and preschool programs for children with disabilities (IDEA Part B 619).
|
|
Response Rate and Representativeness Calculator
States can now compute response rates for their state's family survey data and determine if the surveys they received are representative of the target population. Originally developed for IDEA Part C state systems, the Response Rate and Representativeness Calculator uses a statistical formula to determine if two percentages (percentage of surveys received versus percentage of families in target population) should be considered different from each other. Enter the values by subgroup and the calculator will compute the statistical significance of the difference between the two percentages and highlight significant differences. Instructions about how to enter data into the calculator appear at the top of each tab.
|
|
Research Highlights from the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER)
The Institute for Education Science’s NCSER funds research designed to expand knowledge and understanding of learners with and at risk for disabilities, from infancy through postsecondary settings. We share reports below on issues, findings, and events related to special education.
Smooth Sailing Using the Neurodiversity Paradigm: Developing Positive Classroom Experiences for Autistic Students celebrates Autism Awareness Month through an interview with Drs. Blacher and Eisenhower on how the neurodiversity perspective informed their research on making school a positive experience for students with autism through strong, supportive teacher-student relationships.
Types of Communication for Persons with Autism recognizes Autism Awareness Month through an interview with Drs. Ganz, Reichle, and Pustejovsky about their research on how treatment intensity of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interventions may impact outcomes for students with autism who have complex communication needs.
Paving Better Paths to the Future through Gender-Specific Curricula Interventions features an interview with Drs. Lindstrom and Lind on their development and testing of interventions aimed at providing career guidance to high school students, including gender-specific interventions to meet the needs of girls and boys with high-incidence disabilities as well as a non-gender-specific intervention for underserved youth who face barriers to educational attainment.
Investing in Math Learners and Achievement for All Learners honors Mathematics and Statistical Awareness Month by highlighting IES research aimed at improving math achievement and access to educational opportunities, including projects aimed at supporting students identified with or at risk for disability at various grade levels.
|
New IEP Tip Sheet Focused on Transition Services
The PROGRESS Center has added a new tip sheet to their IEP Tip Sheet series. This tip sheet focuses on transition services, a key component of the individualized education program (IEP) once the child reaches 16 (or earlier in some states). The transition services tip sheet includes a brief summary of federal regulations, tips for implementation, and additional resources.
|
 |
National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: The Collaborative (NTACT:C) — Technical Assistance Activities and Events
On June 8th, 2023, 2:00 pm EDT / 1:00 p.m. CST / 12:00 p.m. MDT / 11:00 a.m. PDT, the NTACT:C will host the second of a 2-part webinar series, Transition Services & Contemporary Mental Health Related Issues & Approaches — Part 2, sharing resources and best practices regarding contemporary mental health-related issues, risk factors for transition professionals’ awareness, and how transition professionals may support students and youth to thrive in the face of challenges.
REGISTER HERE
|
|
New IRIS Modules for Secondary Classrooms
The IRIS Center has just posted secondary versions for two of our most popular IRIS Modules. These self-paced, online modules can be embedded in educator preparation courses and school or district PD activities:
Addressing Challenging Behaviors (Part 1, Secondary): Understanding the Acting-Out Cycle discusses challenging behavior in terms of the seven phases of the acting-out cycle and offers strategies and tips for responding to students in each phase.
Addressing Challenging Behaviors (Part 2, Secondary): Behavioral Strategies describes six low-intensity strategies that can increase initial compliance to teacher requests and prevent or decrease challenging behaviors. The low-intensity strategies include: behavior-specific praise, pre-correction, active supervision, high-probability requests, and opportunities to respond. The module also explores differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) for situations when low-intensity strategies are not sufficient to prevent or de-escalate a student’s challenging behavior.
Both modules include classroom video examples, free PD Certificates of Completion, Kahoot games, and more.
|
 |
|
EdTech for All Webinar Series
The U.S. Department of Education invites you to a new webinar series on educational technology (edtech)
In this webinar, attendees will learn from:
- Two CORGI developers
- Two students who use CORGI
- One educator who uses CORGI
What is CORGI?
CORGI is a cloud-based graphic organizer to support higher-order reasoning and student collaboration while improving STEM content knowledge for 6-12th graders. CORGI provides educators with trainings, adaptable STEM lessons and data feedback.
When is the webinar?
Tuesday, May 23, 2023, at 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. EDT / 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. PDT
How can I join the webinar?
Complete this registration form to join the live webinar. If you cannot join live, the recording will be posted on the Office of Educational Technology’s YouTube and Office of Special Education Programs IDEAsthatWork website.
Who should join this webinar?
Educators (STEM educators, history educators, general educators, special educators, technology specialists), curriculum and literacy leaders and families/caregivers
Accommodations: Auto-closed captioning and ASL interpreters will be available. For any other needs, email ED.Tech@ed.gov with subject: “Edtech for all webinar series”
CORGI was developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, # H327S190008. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service, or enterprise mentioned here is intended or should be inferred.
|
Using Technology to Guide Data-Driven Instructional Coaching
The Data-Driven Instructional Coaching Model (DDICM), a framework for supporting interventionists in implementing early reading interventions, makes use of implementation protocols and an online platform, ReadyCoach, to facilitate support for students with or at risk of reading disabilities.
Using coaching protocols and the ReadyCoach platform, instructional coaches and reading interventionists collaboratively
- utilize screening and diagnostic data to set goals and group students,
- select evidence-based interventions,
- monitor intervention implementation and student progress, and
- make data-based adjustments to intervention plans.
The protocols are used to engage coaches in key coaching actions found through empirical research to impact teacher practices and student performance (i.e., modeling, facilitating guided practice, and offering specific feedback).
|
 |
ReadyCoach’s automated intervention recommendations and alerts, along with online notetaking and the provision of feedback, is used to guide instructional coaching and interventionists’ selection and implementation of appropriate interventions that are responsive to students’ needs. Intervention planning and progress monitoring are facilitated within ReadyCoach as shown in the figure below. Learn more about ReadyCoach here.
Through an OSEP model demonstration project, a research team at Rutgers University is iteratively making adjustments and refinements to guidance documents and resources for the DDICM based on user feedback and student outcomes.
Mental Health Webinar Series
On January 19, 2023, the NTACT:C hosted the first of a 2-part webinar series, Transition Services & Contemporary Mental Health Related Issues & Approaches — Part 1, sharing suggested practices and resources for transition professionals regarding contemporary mental health-related issues for individuals who have reached the developmental period associated with transition services. Tips and strategies for partnering with families, assisting students/ clients to provide support for friends, and to care for themselves, were also highlighted. Access the recording.
|
|
Ed Tech for All: Video Series — First Webinar! WEGO-RIITE
Office of Educational Technology is partnering with the Office of Special Education Programs to host a series of webinars for educators and families/caregivers to highlight free/low-cost, evidence-based accessible edtech tools. The recording of the first webinar with WEGO-RIITE is available on OET's YouTube, and the save the date for our next tech tool discussion on May 23, 2023, at 3:00 p.m. EDT.
|
Department of Education
Check the Department's COVID-19 Information and Resources for Schools and School Personnel web page for information and resources, including information and resources from other federal agencies.
OSEP’s IDEA Covid-19 Questions and Answers and Resources
The National Center for Systemic Improvement is the primary source for TA resources during the COVID-19 national emergency for IDEA Part B programs. The Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center is the primary source for IDEA Part C programs.
Connect with OSEP Online
Want to connect with OSEP? We have many opportunities for you!
Newsletters: Subscribe to the OSEP Update, OSERS Newsletters, Early learning Newsletter and other ED newsletters, journals and updates
Social Media: Find information on the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services’ social media accounts, including Twitter, the OSERS Blog, and YouTube
Learn More about OSEP
The mission of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is to lead the nation's efforts to improve outcomes for children with disabilities, birth through 21, and their families, ensuring access to fair, equitable, and high-quality education and services. Our vision is for a world in which individuals with disabilities have unlimited opportunities to learn and to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives.
Visit these sites to learn more about OSEP, State Educational Agencies, and OSEP funded Technical Assistance Centers.
OSEP Home Page: Find the OSEP landing page on the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) website
Federal and State Contacts: Find general overview information about federal and state contacts, including links to state special education departments and state early intervention and early childhood special education programs
IDEA by State: Find your state education agency’s contact information that’s on file with ED and OSEP’s contacts for your state
Resource Centers: Learn about the types of centers funded by ED and OSEP that are relevant to the IDEA
OSEP IDEAs That Work: Find federal resources for stakeholders and grantees
If you have questions or comments, please send them to Dr. Josiah Willey at josiah.willey@ed.gov.
This newsletter may reference and contain links to external sources. The opinions expressed in these sources do not reflect the views, positions, or policies of the Department Education, nor should their inclusion be considered an endorsement of any private organization.
|
