From Laura.Allran at ode.state.or.us Mon May 4 10:10:07 2009 From: Laura.Allran at ode.state.or.us (ALLRAN Laura) Date: Mon, 4 May 2009 10:10:07 -0700 Subject: [SE-Dir] OSL&P: YTP grant Message-ID: TO: All District and ESD Special Education Directors The message below is being sent to you on behalf of: Nancy Latini, PhD Assistant Superintendent Student Learning & Partnerships ______________________________________________ May 4, 2009 RE: Youth Transition Program (YTP) grant The Oregon Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (OVRS) released the YTP Request for Grant Proposal (RFGP) for the 2009-2011 biennium on May 1, 2009. YTP is a comprehensive transition program for youth with disabilities operated collaboratively by OVRS, the Oregon Department of Education (ODE), the University of Oregon (U of O), and local school districts statewide in Oregon. Purpose: Prepare youth with disabilities for employment or career related post secondary education or training. Participants: Youth with disabilities who need additional support, beyond the services typically offered through the general or special education program, to achieve their secondary and post secondary employment and continuing education goals. YTP is currently operating in approximately 120 high schools in Oregon. OVRS contracts with a team from the U of O to provide training and technical assistance to school and rehabilitation personnel statewide. Specific RFGP information: http://www.ytporegon.org/ Date of Issuance: May 1, 2009 Proposals Due By: May 29, 2009, 2:00 PM, Local Time, at the issuing office. Funding: Available July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2011. Grants to be awarded through this RFGP essentially support district Transition Specialist staff salaries and associated program costs. In order for OVRS to draw available federal funds for the Youth Transition Program, OVRS must receive cash matching funds from participating school districts. District matching funds must: * Be from a non-federal source, and cannot be used as match for any other federal funds; * Must be cash. "In-kind" district resources may not be applied towards the required match. * Must equal one third (1/3) of the total grant budget. Stimulus Package Money: American Recovery & Reinvestment (ARRA) funds are federal funds and therefore may not be used as the district match for the YTP grant. Use of Grant Funds: Grant funded services may not supplant any learning experiences or decision making opportunities to which the student would otherwise be entitled under the district's responsibility to provide a "Free and Appropriate Public Education" as specified in the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). If you have any questions, please contact Jackie Burr at Jackie.Burr at state.or.us or 503-947-5639. If you have any difficulty opening the above link, please contact Laura Allran at laura.allran at state.or.us or 503-947-5674. Messages to and from this e-mail address may be made available to the public under Oregon law. ===========End of Message============ ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender immediately and delete the communication and any attachments. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. ********************************************************************** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Laura.Allran at ode.state.or.us Fri May 8 11:09:08 2009 From: Laura.Allran at ode.state.or.us (ALLRAN Laura) Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 11:09:08 -0700 Subject: [SE-Dir] OSL&P: Dangerous School Reporting Revision Message-ID: TO: All District and ESD Special Education Directors The message below is being forwarded to you on behalf of: Nancy Latini, PhD Assistant Superintendent Student Learning & Partnerships ______________________________________________ May 8, 2009 RE: Revision of Oregon's Persistently Dangerous School Definition The No Child Left Behind Act requires State Education agencies to establish a school choice policy for students attending a persistently dangerous school as defined by the state. "Each State receiving funds under this Act shall establish and implement a statewide policy requiring that a student attending a persistently dangerous public elementary school or secondary school, as determined by the State in consultation with a representative sample of local educational agencies or who becomes a victim of a violent criminal offense, as determined by State law, while in or on the grounds of a public elementary school or secondary school that the student attends, be allowed to attend a safe educational agency, including a public charter school." (Title IX, Part E, Subpart 2, Section 9532) No Child Left Behind provides the option for states to review and revise their definition for a Persistently Dangerous School. Oregon's current definition, adopted in 2005, has not been previously reviewed. In response to feedback from school districts, education stakeholders, and legislators, the Oregon Department of Education convened a workgroup in December 2008 to give consideration to updating Oregon's definition. Stakeholders were invited from DHS, the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, the Attorney General's office, the Oregon State Police, State Legislature, Governor's office, DA's office, U of O, ORI, OCCF, OSBA, OSEA, COSA, OEA, School Safety Officers Association, and representative school districts from around the state. Based on input and review by stakeholders, ODE has updated Oregon's definition. The new language is available at: http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=1319 The substantive changes to the previous definition are listed below: 1) Changed specific wording throughout the definition; schools previously described as "Unsafe" or being on the "Unsafe list", are now referred to as being on a "Watch list". 2) Category of "Violent behaviors" was removed. Only expulsions for weapons and expulsions based on arrests for violent criminal offenses will count towards a school's identification for the "Watch list" or as "Persistently Dangerous". 3A) Increased the n-size from 1% for schools over 500 students to 3% for schools over 300 students. For smaller schools, the limit of five expulsions for schools under 500 was changed to nine expulsions for schools under 300. 3B) Changed the definition so that expulsions are counted on a "per incident" basis, rather than on a "per student basis". The changes to this policy will be effective beginning in the 2009-2010 school year. For more information on these changes, please contact Scott Hall at 503-947-5628. For media inquiries regarding these changes, please contact Morgan Allen at 503-947-5920. If you have any difficulty viewing the above link, please contact Laura Allran at laura.allran at state.or.us or 503-947-5674. Messages to and from this e-mail address may be made available to the public under Oregon law. ===========End of Message============ ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender immediately and delete the communication and any attachments. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. ********************************************************************** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Laura.Allran at ode.state.or.us Fri May 15 14:55:21 2009 From: Laura.Allran at ode.state.or.us (ALLRAN Laura) Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 14:55:21 -0700 Subject: [SE-Dir] OSL&P: Oregonian Article Message-ID: TO: All District and ESD Special Education Directors The message below is being sent to you on behalf of: Nancy Latini, PhD Assistant Superintendent Student Learning & Partnerships ______________________________________________ May 15, 2009 RE: Oregonian Article The issue of the modified diploma has caused some concern after the article was published in the Oregonian last week. The letter below is being sent to the Oregonian to clarify the issue. It was written by Peter FitzGerald who served on the Modified Diploma Task Force and currently works for the University of Oregon as a Technical Assistance Specialist with the Youth Transition Program. I thought you would appreciate his comments. Thanks for all of the good work you are doing and have a great weekend. Nancy Latini To the editor: Betsy Hammond's May 10, 2009 article: "Schools Inflate Graduation Rates" did very little to paint a clear picture of a very complex issue largely due to the many inaccuracies in the article. Her first mistake was to write that "Modified Diplomas are intended for students with severe disabilities..." which could not be farther from the truth. Although it may be true that students with disabilities earn a Modified Diploma because they are unable to meet the academic and performance standards of the "Oregon Diploma" (aka the "regular diploma" or "standard diploma"), to target one group of students for the Modified Diploma would be discriminatory. The truth is that the Modified Diploma was intended for any and ALL students who, because of circumstances, could not meet the standards set by the State Board of Education for the Oregon Diploma. This could, and probably will, include any number of students. In fact, if the Modified Diploma was solely intended for disabled students and when awarded the Modified Diploma the result was the identification of that student as disabled or a special education student, the district awarding the diploma would be violating the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) which protects the confidentiality rights of that student. Ms. Hammond's next misdirection came when she states that students who earn Modified Diplomas take mainly non-academic classes, aren't eligible for Federal Financial Aid in College and are accepted into the Military. First, the Air Force is the only military institution that requires a standard high school diploma for acceptance into that branch of service. All other branches rely on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) to determine entry. Similarly, Federal Financial Aid applications simply ask if a student has a high school diploma. The Modified Diploma IS a diploma and Financial Aid awards are determined by the "ability to benefit" test usually determined by testing scores in the Scholastic Aptitude Testing process (SAT) or by Placement Testing at Community Colleges (e.g. the COMPASS or ASSET testing process). While it is true that classes that are in the Adult Basic Education or "Remedial" level are not eligible for Financial Aid, the determining factor is not whether or not the student received a Modified Diploma. The determining factor is whether or not the student can do entry level college coursework. In addition, there is nothing "non-academic" in the 24 credit expectation set forth by the Modified Diploma law. Only in the last couple of paragraphs (unfortunately, the "die of misdirection had already been cast") does Ms. Hammond more accurately describe who does and who does not get a Modified Diploma, as the law intended. The fact is that because there is now ONE Modified Diploma, a level of best practice expectation (i.e. high quality remediation, appropriately targeted supports, etc.) could be the result for the kind of instruction students who aren't meeting the standards might receive. The new Modified Diploma serves students all over the State of Oregon well and moves away from the past "gimmee diploma" handed out to students who received little remediation and simply occupied a high school seat until their "time was up" or they had exhausted all the P.E. classes the High School had to offer and had dropped out in frustration. No doubt school districts have a lot of work ahead to review and align instructional practices so that every opportunity is afforded ALL students to earn an Oregon Diploma. Once it is determined that this is not possible or appropriate though, high quality education should still be the goal, and as the student earns their 24 credits for their Modified Diploma, appropriate planning efforts made to match that preparation with the student's next environment of work, education/training, and independent living. Peter FitzGerald If you have any difficulty viewing this document, please contact Laura Allran at laura.allran at state.or.us or (503)947-5674. Messages to and from this e-mail address may be made available to the public under Oregon law. ===========End of Message============ ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender immediately and delete the communication and any attachments. 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URL: From Laura.Allran at ode.state.or.us Tue May 26 11:06:52 2009 From: Laura.Allran at ode.state.or.us (ALLRAN Laura) Date: Tue, 26 May 2009 11:06:52 -0700 Subject: [SE-Dir] OSL&P: Extended Assessment Qualified Trainer Message-ID: TO: All District and ESD Special Education Directors The message below is being forwarded to you on behalf of: Nancy Latini, PhD Assistant Superintendent Student Learning & Partnerships ______________________________________________ May 26, 2009 RE: Extended Assessment Qualified Trainer (QT) Training Query At a recent Special Education Director Advisory it was suggested that ODE consider hosting a QT training session in conjunction with this year's Fall Special Education Conference (as a preconference half day). We are now attempting to get an estimate of how many individuals might attend that session. As in previous years, the Extended Assessment QT trainings are provided for individuals, who are current Qualified Assessors (QAs), who are trained to administer the Extended Assessments, but who are assigned by their district or ESD to become trainers of the Extended Assessments to build capacity in the district/ESD. As in previous years, each district and ESD will be allocated funding from ODE to support statewide assessment activities. These allocations are based on district SECCs. Districts with small SECCs who need a Qualified Assessor or Qualified Trainer are supported by funds provided through their ESD. Our request: To assist us with securing an estimate of how many individuals would attend a QT session held as a preconference half day before the Fall Conference, please contact the relevant individuals in your regional/component districts and request their best estimate of: The number of teachers/TOSAs/administrators who will need to be trained as QTs to replace current QTs who will not be assuming this role in 09-10. Please send that number as soon as possible to Brad Lenhardt at brad.lenhardt at state.or.us Note 1: If a district has not lost any QTs this year and anticipates no change in their current QTs for 09-10, their number is likely zero. Note 2: Returning trainers (QTs) would not need to be retrained in this session, but would follow the requalification process via an online refresher session. For more information on training needs, please contact Brad Lenhardt at Brad.Lenhardt at state.or.us. If you have any difficulty opening the attached document, please contact Laura Allran at laura.allran at state.or.us or 503-947-5674. Messages to and from this e-mail address may be made available to the public under Oregon law. ===========End of Message============ ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender immediately and delete the communication and any attachments. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. ********************************************************************** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Laura.Allran at ode.state.or.us Thu May 28 10:14:27 2009 From: Laura.Allran at ode.state.or.us (ALLRAN Laura) Date: Thu, 28 May 2009 10:14:27 -0700 Subject: [SE-Dir] OSL&P: Response to Intervention (RTI) Survey Message-ID: TO: All District and ESD Special Education Directors The message below is being forwarded to you on behalf of: Nancy Latini, PhD Assistant Superintendent Student Learning & Partnerships ______________________________________________ May 28, 2009 RE: Response to Intervention (RTI) Survey We have created a brief (10 question) survey to provide us with a sense of where districts are in the process of utilizing Response to Intervention (RTI) as a decision making model for instruction and Learning Disability (LD) eligibility determinations. Please click on the attached link and take a few moments to complete the survey no later than June 20, 2009. We are hoping that all districts will complete this survey regardless of their current readiness in the RTI model. Please submit only one survey per district and ESD. Survey Link: http://www.ode.state.or.us/surveys/template.aspx?sid=317 For questions related to the survey and its submission, please contact Barbara Conreaux at Barbara.J.Conreaux at state.or.us or 503-947-5815. If you have any difficulty opening the attached link, please contact Laura Allran at laura.allran at state.or.us or 503-947-5674. Messages to and from this e-mail address may be made available to the public under Oregon law. ===========End of Message============ ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender immediately and delete the communication and any attachments. 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