Special Education Listserv
Subject: Improvement Planning Training
Source: Heike Imler, Interim Assistant Director, Effective Practices
Intended Audience: Superintendents, Special Education Administrators
Date: August 15, 2008
In collaboration with Regional Professional Development Centers (RPDCs), the Division of Special Education will be conducting regional trainings on Improvement Planning (IP) this fall. These trainings are designed to assist public agencies in developing a plan to improve outcomes for students with disabilities and meet the targets of our State Performance Plan (SPP) http://dese.mo.gov/divspeced/SPPpage.html.
Use of the IP process and development of an appropriate improvement plan is required by the Division of Special Education for (1) districts who are in their pre-Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) year as part of a self-assessment and (2) districts who wish to apply for grants from the Division of Special Education. These districts are required to attend this training if they did not attend the IP training during the
2007-2008 school year. However, agencies who attended the training in
2007-2008 are highly encouraged to send a team to this training as the presentation has been enhanced to include detailed improvement planning information, an updated scoring guide, and entering the improvement plan into ePeGS.
Improvement planning (IP) is a process that will allow you to evaluate the strengths and needs of your special education program to meet the learning and behavioral goals of students. IP emphasizes the use of a stakeholder group to evaluate information, data-based decision making, and implementation of evidence-based programs to improve student outcomes. It is useful as part of a continual process to assess the district's ability to meet the SPP targets.
Districts are encouraged to send teams of up to five (5) members to the training. We request that each district send their special education director as one of the participants. At least one of the attendees should be the person who will be responsible for completing the district's special education improvement plan.
***Registration is required. Please register through My Learning Plan by accessing the following link and clicking on Compliance Catalog:
http://dese.mo.gov/divspeced/Compliance/training.html. Continental breakfast and lunch will be served.
For further information, please contact Heike Imler at heike.imler@dese.mo.gov