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Subject: Local Determinations/Notification to
Districts Expected Week of August 20, 2007
Source: Heidi Atkins Lieberman, Assistant Commissioner
Intended Audience: Directors of Special Education, Special Education
Contacts
Date: August 14, 2007
In the next week, a letter will be sent to the superintendent of each
responsible public agency with a copy to the special education contact.
This letter will include a determination category for each district,
evaluating the agency's progress on some of the State Performance Plan
(SPP) targets. The categories are the same as those used by the U. S.
Department of Education in identifying states' progress on the State
Performance Plan (SPP) targets. For more information on the SPP and the 20
indicators and targets:
http://dese.mo.gov/divspeced/DataCoord/PDF/MOPrtBSPP2107.pdf
The categories used for these determinations are the same categories used by
the U. S. Department of Education's identification of states.
See the SELS messages of June 22, 2007, and June 20, 2007, for an
explanation of Missouri's determination category of "Needs Assistance."
States are given discretion to develop the criteria used to identify local
responsible public agencies; for this first year, that criteria had to be
applied at a minimum to the required areas of: Audit Findings; SPP Indicator
#12 (Transition from First Steps to ECSE); SPP Indicator
#15 (Uncorrected Noncompliance); Timely Data; and, Accuracy of Data.
It is important to remember that none of these required areas involve
quality performance issues. They are, instead, compliance type items.
Additionally, it is important to remember that the determination is based on
old data from the 2004-2005 period. Therefore, the identification may not
accurately reflect where your agency is currently. We have attempted, in
development of the criteria, to allow credit for the hard work and efforts
to correct non-compliance.
States were given discretion to include SPP Indicators that addressed
performance issues. In Missouri, to be consistent with our focus on the
areas of transition and elementary achievement, we have included the
performance indicators on graduation, drop-out rates, and assessments in
elementary education in the Communication Arts area.
Overrall, we anticipate that most local agencies will be identified in the
top two categories of "Meets the Requirements" of IDEA or "Needs
Assistance." We encourage you to discuss this with your superintendent, your
parent advisory groups, and other community stakeholders as soon as
possible, as media attention is possible once the letters are sent out, and
the media did not accurately report on this process in June when the state
determination labels were made public. The letters will include an
explanation of the criteria used.
Please keep in mind that the criteria used is subject to change next year
and that additional performance areas will likely be required by the U. S.
Department of Education next year.
Thank you for your continued hard work on behalf of students with
disabilities.
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