Subject: State Performance Plan and OSEP’s Evaluation of Missouri’s Part C Program

Source: Heidi Atkins Lieberman, Assistant Commissioner

Intended Audience: First Steps System Points of Entry, Department of Mental Health, SICC and First Steps Providers  

Date: June 20, 2007

As you know, Missouri's State Performance Plan (SPP), required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), identified measurable and rigorous targets for Missouri in the area of fourteen required indicators identified by the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).  On February 1, 2007, Missouri filed our Annual Performance Report (APR) with OSEP; this reported the state's performance on the indicators and targets.  Both the SPP and APR are posted on our website at: http://www.dese.mo.gov/divspeced/SPPpage.html. I encourage you to be familiar with these documents as the SPP drives our monitoring focus and reflects the connection between compliance and performance. 

The APR of each state has been undergoing an evaluation process by OSEP these last few months.  This evaluation involves a review of Missouri's performance on all of the indicators, as well as, a review of the state's ability to provide valid, reliable, and timely data for each of the indicators.

As a result of this evaluation, Missouri received notification on June 18, 2007 that OSEP's determination for the state is in the “Needs Assistance” category.  The OSEP determination letter to Missouri can be viewed at:

http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/monitor/factsheet.doc

Missouri is one of 25 states receiving this specific determination.  Other determination options included “Meets the Requirements” (15 states received this determination), “Needs Intervention in Implementing the Requirements of Part C” (16 states received this determination), or “Needs Substantial Intervention” (no states in this category). 

We will be analyzing our report over the next few weeks to determine the necessary actions that the state will take to improve the data reported on our next APR due February 1. 2008.