• Accountability
• Achievement Gaps
• Distance Learning
• Diverse Learners
• ESEA/NCLB
• IDEA
• IEP Tool
• Kansas Education Resource Center
• KEYS
• Priority Schools
• QPA Regulations
• Quality Public School Standards
• Safe Schools
• School, Family and Community Partnerships
• School Funding
• State Board News
• Special Education
• Student Assessment
• Test Preparation

The following is a description of SPED resources now available on NEA's website at

Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd)

The Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd) helps state and local education leaders to integrate instructional technology for all students to achieve high educational standards by providing resources on evidence-based practices, innovative online technical assistance tools, professional development, communities of practice and evidence-based, promising, and emerging practices based on the latest research.

The Center is funded by a federal grant.

The Center's free resources offer help in providing high-quality instruction for all students and are especially important for serving students with disabilities. Resources include professional development and research on implementing technology to improve student achievement.

Find resources in the Learn Center especially identified for teachers, administrators, technology coordinators, and professional development coordinators. Use My Center to collect, save, and share resources and toolkits with colleagues. Join their free webinar series, Moving Forward with Technology, and access free technical assistance.

Guide to Special Education and new Special Education Materials from KSDE

The “Guide to Special Education” has been revised and is now available on the Student Support Services website under http://www.kansped.org/ksde/resources/spedguide.doc   “The Guide” has been developed primarily for parents and self-advocates.  It is used by Families Together, Inc. for education advocate training.  It is intended to be easy to read and understand.  You may access the “Guide” directly at the following web addresses:

http://www.kansped.org/ksde/resources/spedguide.doc

http://www.kansped.org/ksde/new/newitems.html

IDEA Regulations

The Revised Kansas IDEA Regulations can be found by clicking on this link;  http://www.kansped.org/ksde/laws/Rev_SPED_REG_All.pdf

There will be Public Comment meetings to be held in November in Colby and Girard. The state board will hear comments in December. The time and specific meeting locations will be posted on this site as they become available.

These are the IDEA regulations.

http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/idea2004.html

The document as posted is double-spaced and is 652 pages long, so don't automatically click the print button! Try re-formatting the document in Word so it's single-spaced and a smaller font. It comes out to be a little over 200 pages. You can do this for yourself by using the "select All" function under the "Edit" key on the screen, hitting "copy" and then pasting it into a blank Word document on your computer.

The following links are excellent resources for teachers working with Special Education students. Wrights Law provides an excellent review of IDEA and the companion Regulations. The Council for Exceptional Children link will provide another resource about IDEA and other areas of the field of Special Education. The Special Ed Resources on the Internet is a series of links that will provide information for all areas of educating exceptional children.

http://www.wrightslaw.com/
Wrights Law

http://www.cec.sped.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home
Council for Exceptional Children

http://seriweb.com/
Special Ed Resources on the Internet

Highly Qualified and Special Education

The most frequently asked question by Special Education teachers this week is "Do I have to fill out the new KSDE Special Education HOUSSE rubric checklist in order to be Highly Qualified?" The answer for the majority of Special Education teachers is "no."

If one of the following descriptions fits you and your teaching position, you do not need to use the SPE Rubric to be Special Education Highly Qualified:

1. You teach only elementary special education students and have an elementary endorsement.
2. You teach middle school special education students and you are not the teacher of record in a content area. This means that you do not provide direct instruction in a content area.
3. You teach high school special education students and you are not the teacher of record in a content area. This means that you do not provide direct instruction in a content area.
4. You are a special education teacher who assists students with study skills, organizational skills or reinforce instruction that the student has already received from a highly qualified content area teacher and you do not directly instruct students in core academic activities.
5. You teach high school or middle school special education students who work at the functional level.

You need to complete the HOUSSE Rubric to be Highly Qualified if:

1. You teach middle school special education students and provide direct instruction in a content area and you do not have an endorsement in that content area.
2. You teach high school special education students and provide direct instruction in a content area and you do not have an endorsement in that content area.
3. You teach elementary special education students and provide direct instruction in a content area and you do not have an elementary endorsement.

The link to the KSDE website area explaining the SPED/ESOL Rubric is: http://www.ksde.org/cert/hq.htm

IDEA Reauthorization

Congress has reauthorized the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The IDEA was reauthorization on Friday, November 19, 2004 by a vote of 397 for and 2 against. IDEA was last reauthorized in 1997.

NEA gave qualified support to the reauthorization (H.R. 1350). Given its overall positive impact for students with disabilities and special education professionals, the bill's passage ensures no further delay in addressing member needs in serving exceptional children. Concerns, however, remain.

NEA was an insistent voice throughout the debate and negotiations and won key changes for an IDEA focused on improved services and learning, rather than paperwork and process. The resulting bill:

• Significantly increases support for professional development
• Launches the reduction of burdensome paperwork
• Provides new flexibility in meeting the "highly qualified teacher" requirements legislated in the ESEA/"No Child Left Behind Act"
• Protects educators' rights to participate in individual education plan (IEP) meetings
• Simplifies and better balances discipline procedures while continuing to protect fundamental civil rights of students with disabilities
• Enhances educators' ability to provide early intervention for struggling students
• Provides fair ways to reduce litigation between parents and schools

Challenges Remain

There is no extension on the timeline for meeting the federal "highly qualified" teacher provisions. For more information regarding the IDEA definition of "highly qualified" please see http://www.nea.org/lac/idea/highlyqualified.html

The legislation provides a six-year timetable and a formula for achieving full funding of the federal share of special education, but without a guarantee to appropriate the funds. The funding issue remains on the table.