Webinar Series: Measurable Annual Goals and other Sections

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1 Webinar Series: Measurable Annual Goals and other Sections State Mandated IEP website (to access Guidance Document on Mandated IEP): Frequently Asked Questions Dec Q: Will this Webinar be available as a recorded version? A: Yes. The Part 2 Webinar has been recorded and was posted on 12/08/10 for all users. General Information: Q: Is NYS requiring the IEP to be more personal b y including the student's name in the PLEPs (SPAM or MAPS) and Measurable Annual Goals?? Should the student s s name be b used when developing the IEP (i.e.- Mike needs instead of the student needs? A: There is no indication from State Ed that they prefer one way or the other. Please contact your district s special education office for the preference for your district or more information/clarification. Q: Where is the progress notes/reporting schedule entered into a draft? A: This is completed automatically by the system when the draft is created based on the preferences the district has set in Maintenance. Please contact your district s special education office for the preference for your district or more information/clarification. Q: What is the difference between Curriculum Guide version 6 and Curriculum Guide version 7? A: Version 6 automatically contains objectives. Version 7 does not; it only contains goals from which benchmarks are created by the system. Version 6 may not contain measurable goals or objectives as written; they may need to be revised in order to be considered measureable. Q: If f an IEP has goals that are not appropriate (from the year prior), can we delete them and add new goals? A: This is a district decision. The system does allow this. Please contact your district s special education office for the preference for your district or more information/clarification. Q: We have been presented with a new "landscape" format IEP and told that it will be the new standard in NY. Is this how the IEPs will "publish" on IEP Direct? A: Yes. NYS has determined that ALL IEP s written for the school year and beyond will print out as a landscaped document. They have not allowed any deviation from this. Q: What should a district do when parents want to add more goals during the CSE meeting? A: This is a district decision. Please contact your district s special education office for more information/clarification. Q: How should summer goals (for ESY services) be represented on the IEP? Are goals for ESY services a carry over on an existing goal or a new Measurable Annual goal? A: Summer goals are not required by SED regulations. Summer services are not meant to begin teaching new information or skills; the summer is intended to maintain the student s skill levels and progress made throughout the school year while the summer break occurs. Please contact your district s special education office for more information/clarification.

2 Q: Does what the NY State Education Dept. require supersede what a district wants or vice versa? A: Yes, all districts and educational agencies in NYS are bound by the regulations. Districts may require more than the State but they cannot require less. Please contact your district s special education office for more information/clarification. Q: When do districts start using the new IEP and drafts for ? 12? A: Districts may begin creating and finalizing drafts now. The new form as prescribed by SED is not required to be implemented until July 1, Q: How do we print a copy of the current curriculum guide (i.e.-goal bank)? A: Special Education office personnel can access Maintenance and print all curriculum guides available in the IEP Direct system. Please contact your district s special education office for more information/clarification. Measurable Annual Goals: Q: How do users create your own goal or custom goal? A: Users click on the edit pencil to enter the Measurable Annual Goals edit screen within a draft document. Next, click on the curricular area you are writing the goal for. Then click on the box next to the entry on the top of the page that indicates Custom Goal and fill in the box to the right with how many custom goals you would like. The system will then create a blank goal page for each custom goal you indicated. Users can then type in the text box or copy/paste from another document. The remaining fields will then be filled in (criteria, criteria period, method and schedule). Q: Can we "get rid of" goals that seem obsolete? A: If the district chooses to create a draft that carries over the goals from the last document, users will be able to delete goals that are selected. Since the IEP should contain measurable annual goals, SED recommends that goals be newly developed for each school year; it would be a rare instance that a goal would continue to be on an IEP from one school year to the next. Goal choices within the Curriculum Guide (no matter what version) cannot be deleted from the system. Q: Our agency has been asked to enter baselines into each goal. Is this required by NYS? Where will users type them in? A: This is not necessarily required by SED. However, the State Mandated IEP guidance does recommend that the goal be based on the present level of performance of the student (i.e.-the baseline of the skill) and include the expected level of increased performance level. For example: Mary will increase her words read per minute from 50 to 85, when given a reading passage at her instructional level. Q: Please briefly explain the difference ence between Criteria eria,, Criteria Period and Schedule. A: According to State Mandated IEP Guidance document (p.35-36): Evaluative criteria identify how well and over what period of time the student must perform a behavior in order to consider it met. How well a student does could be measured in terms such as: frequency (e.g., 9 out of 10 trials) duration (e.g., for 20 minutes) distance (e.g., 20 feet) accuracy (90% accuracy) The period of time a skill or behavior must occur could be measured in terms such as: number of days (e.g., over three consecutive days) number of weeks (e.g., over a four week period) occasions (e.g., during Math and English classes, on six consecutive occasions) Examples: 85% accuracy over 5 consecutive trials OR 50 words/minute, with 3 or fewer errors, for 2 consecutive trials Evaluation schedules state the date or intervals of time by which evaluation procedures will be used to measure the student s progress toward the objective or benchmark. It is not a date by which the student must demonstrate mastery of the objective. Examples:

3 Each class period Daily Weekly Monthly On January 5, March 15 and June 3 Q: Where did the "responsibility" field for a goal go? A: This field has been removed but will be added back into the system within the near future(added back on 12/20/10). Please monitor the Messages Tab for the broadcast message that will alert you to when it will be available in the system again. This field will NOT print out on the document. It will be for internal district use within the system. Q: Do users need to have goals for IEPs recommending ng speech consultation services? A: Speech Consultation service, as SED defines it, is a service given to the staff on behalf of the student; it is similar to the Consultant Teacher Services Indirect. Since it is not a direct related service given to the student (and is not listed as such on the new IEP), measurable annual goals are not needed. Q: Should progress be monitored on the goal throughout the year?? Or O just at the end of the year? Or the objectives/benchmarks throughout the year only? A: Providers should be monitoring and assessing student progress continually on a goal and objectives/benchmarks when included. If the student achieves the goal or benchmark/objective before the end of the school year, providers should continue to monitor the progress to ensure the student can maintain the skill. The schedule for the goal will dictate to the provider how often progress should be assessed and how often data on progress will be collected. Districts may have procedures in place that outline to staff when an amendment to the IEP should be recommended when/if the goal is achieved prior to the end of the school year. Please check with your Special Education Office for further information or clarification on this. Q: Is there a maximum number of goals that should be written on each IEP?? What is the recommended number of goals users should enter for each section(heading)? Should S the total number of goals be reflective ective/encompass of all disciplines? A: The IEP should not include a goal for each and every skill deficit or be the lesson plan for the provider. Generally, it is recommended that the IEP contain 7-10 goals inclusive of all therapies or special education services that will be recommended. Please check with your Special Education SED offers this guidance: Goals should not be a restatement of the general education curriculum (i.e., the same curriculum as for students without disabilities), or a list of everything the student is expected to learn in every curricular content area during the course of the school year or other areas not affected by the student s disability. In developing the IEP goals, the Committee needs to select goals to answer the question: "What skills does the student require to master the content of the curriculum?" rather than "What curriculum content does the student need to master?" p.31 Q: Can users enter an a annual goal with criteria of 50% if the staff member believes that is what the student can achieve? And then the following year,, enter into the IEP, a criteria of 70% or 80%? A: The system does allow users to enter a goal with that criteria. Measurable annual goals should be indicative of the student s current level of performance and the level that can be expected by the end of the IEP/school year. Please check with your Special Education Q: If the goal is something that providers plan to work on for the entire school year, would the criteria period selected be over 10 months? Even if the goal criteria is quarterly quarterly,, can users collect data for the entire marking period (so that I know if that student is making progress)? A: No. The criteria period does not explain the length of time the providers will work on the skill or give instruction to the student. The criteria period explains The period of time a skill or behavior must occur could be measured, in terms such as number of days (e.g., over three consecutive days), number of weeks (e.g., over a four week period), or occasions (e.g., during Math and English classes, on six consecutive occasions). It is recommended that the criteria period not be longer than a quarter and should be a shorter length of time, according to the student s expected rate of learning.

4 Q: How can users select the schedule field to be weekly weekly, when the criteria period is selected as over two wee w eeks ks? A: The schedule explains the date or intervals of time by which evaluation procedures will be used to measure the student s progress toward the objective or benchmark. It is not a date by which the student must demonstrate mastery. The schedule indicates the frequency that the provider will collect the data on the goal in order to determine if the student has met the level of mastery expected within the time frame (criteria period) expected. The schedule and criteria period should be different. The criteria period then is the.. period of time a skill or behavior must occur could be measured, in terms such as number of days (e.g., over three consecutive days), number of weeks (e.g., over a four week period), or occasions (e.g., during Math and English classes, on six consecutive occasions). Q: If our o district does not require objectives, providers/teachers then only have to write goals to satisfy the state requirements? A: Yes. Short term objectives or benchmarks are only required for Preschoolers with a Disability and those school age students that are deemed eligible for the NYS Alternate Assessment. Q: Can a district customize and add to the criteria period field? Are we able to customize the schedule field? Why is there a field for criteria period, when the SED guidance does not list it? A: Yes, both the criteria period and schedule fields can be customized by each district. The Special Education office in each district would be able to customize each drop down menu. Please check with your Special Education Office for further information or clarification on this. SED does require criteria period; however, they do not separate it into two different fields. For further clarification and information, please review pages in the SED State Mandated IEP Guidance document that was published in February Q: Districts were previously advised that "quarterly" was the preferred choice under Schedule since that is when progress is tested and reported to the parent. Is this still correct? A: No. Schedule explains when the provider will collect the data on the goal. This should be done throughout the marking period/quarter in order to have sufficient information to consider before reporting the progress to the parent. Q: Could you please clarify, if the criteria period is 2 weeks, would providers only evaluate progress then?? What if the student is not doing well? A: The criteria period explains the period of time a skill or behavior must occur could be measured, in terms such as number of days (e.g., over three consecutive days), number of weeks (e.g., over a four week period), or occasions (e.g., during Math and English classes, on six consecutive occasions). The schedule determines how often the providers will collect data in order to determine progress or the lack thereof. If the student is not showing progress as you collect the data, then the instruction should change in order to meet the student s needs. Q: The webinar stated the goals should not be the same as the general education curriculum c urriculum. If a district or agency follows the NYS curriculum, but teaches es it over 2 periods with adapted vocabulary and other modifications, why wouldn t we want to match our goals to the curriculum? If f a user teaches es an Inclusion class, and has to cover the general education curriculum, how are goals developed? A: The webinar stated information that is contained in the State Mandated IEP Guidance document that NYS Education Department developed and posted in February In the guidance document, users should review the following pages to gain a better understanding of the purpose of a measurable annual goal and its relationship to the general education curriculum. SED offers this guidance: Goals should not be a restatement of the general education curriculum (i.e., the same curriculum as for students without disabilities), or a list of everything the student is expected to learn in every curricular content area during the course of the school year or other areas not affected by the student s disability. In developing the IEP goals, the Committee needs to select goals to answer the question: "What skills does the student require to master the content of the curriculum?" rather than "What curriculum content does the student need to master?" p.31

5 More information can be found on pages of the SED Guidance document. Q: Are the goals in the curriculum guide version 7, the same numbers from before? A: Yes. The numbers to indicate each goal and area have not changed. Q: Our district is under the impression that we would have to generate our own goals on the new IEP. Will there continue to be Curriculum Guides and dropdown menus? A: SED recommends that the new IEP be as individualized as possible. IEP Direct still has the curriculum guides and drop down menu choices available to districts, if they so choose to utilize those features. Q: If you have a student who receives ELL services and receives the general education spelling curriculum through this teacher, should spelling goals also to be reflected on the IEP? A: The goals for each student should reflect and be based on the present levels of ability/skill of the student, their areas of deficit and the level of performance you expect them to be at by the end of the school year/end of IEP. SED has stated that the Measurable Annual Goals should NOT be a restatement of the general education curriculum. Please check with your Special Education Q: Does "daily" in the schedule section refer to each day school is in session s or each school day that the student receives a service. For example, if a student receives a specific service only 3 days out of the 6 day cycle, can the schedule be "daily"? A: The schedule explains the date or intervals of time by which evaluation procedures will be used to measure the student s progress toward the objective or benchmark. It is not a date by which the student must demonstrate mastery. If the provider expects to collect data through the method/evaluation procedure on a daily basis, then this choice would be appropriate to enter. Please check with your Special Education Q: Does the criteria need to be referenced in the goal statement as well as in the criteria fields below it? A: This is a district decision. It is possible to do so within the IEP Direct system. Please check with your Special Education Q: If the schedule is weekly and the criteria period is over 3 weeks eks,, what do you do at the end of a 3 week period if the student achieves this goal? Our district believes that "Schedule" refers to how long a student had to complete a behavior/goal. Is this not correct? A: A provider would collect data/measure progress on a weekly basis. Based on 3 weeks of accumulated data, if the student can demonstrate the skill over a 3 week period at the level of mastery indicated by the criteria field, then the goal could be considered as achieved. Providers may continue to monitor the student to ensure mastery is maintained. The schedule explains the date or intervals of time by which evaluation procedures will be used to measure the student s progress toward the objective or benchmark. It is not a date by which the student must demonstrate mastery. The assumption for all goals is that they will be mastered by the end of the school year/end of IEP. Q: Will the IEP Direct system automatically enter the students name within each goal? A: Yes, if the district has selected that as a preference in Maintenance. In Maintenance, districts can set the preference in Goals to have the system automatically insert the student name into the goal. Please check with your Special Education Q: When looking at each student individually, can criteria level be individualized as to percentage ( i.e.-can we select under 75%, if student s ability level is lower, despite being enrolled in a Regents R level course)? A: The IEP should be developed and individualized to the specific student. No 2 IEP s within a district should like identical. The criteria selected for a student s measurable annual goal should be based on the specific student s present level of performance, their expected level of performance at the end of the school year and their rate of learning. Q: If we are using standardized tests as method to measure progress on a measurable annual goal, would it be appropriate riate to select yearly as the schedule? A: It is recommended that standardized tests be utilized during the reevaluation of a student, which occurs once every 3 years. The method used to determine/measure progress on an annual goal should be a tool that can be given frequently throughout the school year (i.e.- student work samples, checklists, running records, quizzes, teacher-made tests, recorded observations, etc.)

6 Q: In the drop down menu for Criteria Period, is there a choice for "by the end of the school ol year" or "every " 10 months"? A: No. SED states that criteria and criteria period are: Evaluative criteria identify how well and over what period of time the student must perform a behavior in order to consider it met. How well a student does could be measured in terms such as: frequency (e.g., 9 out of 10 trials) duration (e.g., for 20 minutes) distance (e.g., 20 feet) accuracy (90% accuracy) The period of time a skill or behavior must occur could be measured in terms such as: number of days (e.g., over three consecutive days) number of weeks (e.g., over a four week period) occasions (e.g., during Math and English classes, on six consecutive occasions) Examples: 85% accuracy over 5 consecutive trials OR 50 words/minute, with 3 or fewer errors, for 2 consecutive trials Please review which students should have objectives and benchmarks on their IEPs. SED requires that objectives or benchmarks be included for each goal on the IEP of either of the following: each Preschooler with a Disability each school age student with an IEP that is determined to be eligible for the NYS Alternate Assessment. Short term Objectives: Q: Is the Curriculum Guide version v 6 (goals and objectives) only for students with IEP diplomas or can we use them for any students? A: This is a district decision. Please check with your Special Education Office for further information or clarification on this. Q: As s central office staff person, do I need to give access for all users within my district to be able to select objectives or is it automatically given to all users? A: Each district can determine which curriculum guides they want to make available for users. Q: After an objective has been mastered, does the goal need updating (i.e.-amending the IEP to create a new goal with objectives)? A: This is a district decision. Please check with your Special Education Office for further information or clarification on this. Q: On an IEP, can one goal have objectives o and another goal have benchmarks? Does the district decide whether or not providers use objectives or benchmarks or can we choose depending on the goal? A: Yes, the system will allow that. However, a district may develop a specific procedure or protocol for this. Please check with your Special Education Q: Does there need to be a short term objective and a benchmark for each goal? A: For preschoolers and the students that take the NYS Alternate Assessment, each measurable annual goal must have either a short term objective OR a benchmark. This is a requirement in the NYS Special Education regulations. Q: Please clarify if this is correct: a benchmark would w state the level of independence a student can perform on a skill; an objective would state the smaller discrete steps(task analysis) needed to meet the annual goal. A: Yes. This is a correct understanding of the difference between a short term objective and a benchmark.

7 Benchmarks: Q: If a student does not achieve the goal by the first benchmark listed,, do you continue monitoring the goal throughout the year? A: Yes. Providers will need to continue to monitor and assess progress. Providers may also need to consider changing the instructional method/approaches being used to teach the student the skill. Q: Please explain how the criteria could be in 4 out of 5 trials but you are only collecting data weekly- how will you know if the student met the benchmark? A: Providers would collect data/measure progress weekly. Once data has been collected, the provider would review the data to determine if the student had met the criteria and criteria period. If the student, in the above example, had been able to demonstrate the skill in 4 out of 5 trials during a week, then the provider could consider the benchmark achieved. Q: How would a goal that includes 2 benchmarks look (according to t criteria period and schedule)? A: That would be individualized to the specific goal and student. This is based on the skill that is being addressed by the goal as well as the student s rate of learning, and expected level of performance by the end of the IEP/school year. Q: What is the difference between the goal and the benchmark if they are stated exactly the same? A: The benchmark is the major milestone that the student will demonstrate that will lead to the annual goal. Benchmarks usually designate a target time period for a behavior to occur (i.e., the amount of progress the student is expected to make within specified segments of the year). Generally, benchmarks establish expected performance levels that allow for regular checks of progress that coincide with the reporting periods for informing parents of their child s progress toward the annual goals. SED State Mandated IEP Guidance document, p.34 Q: On a CPSE IEP, when and how do we use benchmarks for annual goals? A: Benchmarks are required for each goal on an IEP for a Preschooler with a Disability. Users would select the curricular area, select the goal and then the number of benchmarks wanted. From there, users would select the criteria, criteria period, method and schedule for each goal. For each benchmark, the user would select the month for the By field and the criteria. Measurable Post Secondary Goals and Transition Needs: Q: If a student does not achieve his post secondary goal or picks a different path after graduation is the district responsible in i any way for the student achieving post secondary y goals? A: This is not a question that can be answered by using the IEP Direct program. Please check with your Special Education Q: Is entering the student name within in transition goals mandated by SED? A: SED recommends that the postsecondary goals be written using the student s own words. SED does not indicate whether the student name should be used exclusively or not. Please check with your Special Education Office for further information or clarification on this. Q: Do users have to fill out this section even if the student is in elementary entary school? Should users be checking the No radio button or can users leave it blank? A: Users cannot leave any portion or section of the IEP blank, according to SED. If Measurable Postsecondary Goals are not appropriate for a student at the time the IEP is written, users may indicate that by clicking on the appropriate radio button. However, each section of the IEP will print. Q: Why are postsecondary goals created at age 15 if students generally don't leave high school until age 17? A: NYS Special Education regulations require that the IEP contain the transition sections beginning when the student turns 15 or sooner if appropriate. The transition sections include Measurable Postsecondary Goals/Transition Needs and the Coordinated Set of Transition Activities.

8 Q: What is meant by the independent living section in the Measurable Postsecondary Goals section? A: Please review the following pages in the SED State Mandated IEP Guidance document to gain more information and clarification on this topic, pages The section refers to the student s goal for living after leaving the postsecondary school. Q: For students who require Measurable Post-Seconda Secondary goals, are transition related Measurable Annual Goals G also necessary in the IEP? A: This is determined by the CSE on a student-by-student basis. Please check with your Special Education Office for further information or clarification on this. Q: If a student's goal is to attend a 4 year college, do users also need to enter information in the employment section? A: This is determined by the CSE on a student-by-student basis. Please check with your Special Education Office for further information or clarification on this. Q: Are courses of study indicative of HS or college? A: This section pertains to the courses of study the student will take while enrolled in High School. Q: Do post secondary goals get updated yearly after the student turns 15 or does it stay the same? A: Yes. The CSE should update/revise the transition sections of each student s IEP after the age of 15 based on the student s preferences, interests, needs and aptitudes; along with the student s own desires for their postsecondary goal. Q: Will the "yes" radio button to indicate the need for post ost-secondary secondary measurable goals automatically carry over if a draft is created for the year, or on any subsequent IEP? A: Yes. Likewise, if a student currently has Measurable Postsecondary Goals on the finalized IEP, the radio button in the draft will automatically be pre-set to Yes. Q: If postsecondary goals s are based on the student attending college and other goals throughout the document are more pertinent, do you have to include a transitional goal within the Measurable Annual Goals section? A: This is determined by the CSE on a student-by-student basis. Please check with your Special Education Office for further information or clarification on this. Q: What if a provider asks a student about postsecondary goals but they do not know what they want to do? A: This is a district decision. Please check with your Special Education Office for further information or clarification on this. Progress Reporting: Q: Do users record progress on the goal only, or can users record progress on the benchmarks? When reporting progress on benchmarks, do we report the progress on each benchmark and then reflect that progress up in the main goal? A: The system does allow for this, however, it is a district decision/preference. Please check with your Special Education Q: Can users initial the progress report rt? A: The system does allow for this, however, it is a district decision/preference. Please check with your Special Education Q: At the end of the school year, should users either mark each goal as achieved or not achieved, even if the student is still making progress towards t this goal? What should users do if they notice that a student will not achieve a goal? What should users do if the student has not met the goal by the end of the year? A: Each goal, at the end of the school year (final marking period), should be marked to indicate whether the annual goal was achieved or not by the student. Each district should have a procedure/protocol for staff to follow if they begin to notice that a student will not achieve an annual goal by the conclusion of the school year. Please check with your Special Education

9 Q: If users choose one of the progress marks (i.e.- PI), can users still enter a comment or should users just choose (SC)? A: Users may choose to enter a progress mark as well as entering a comment; or users may just enter a comment if that provides the parent with more information regarding the student s progress toward meeting the goal. Q: Should the number of progress reports during the school year (i.e. e.-4 marking periods) correspond/ / be equal to the number of benchmarks entered for a goal? A: The system allows for users to enter up to 4 benchmarks for each goal. If your district has more marking periods than 4, there would not be a way to have the number of benchmarks equal the number of report cards/marking periods. It is recommended that the number of benchmarks be based on the goal the student is working on, the expected level of progress that can be expected and what intervals would be appropriate for that particular student. Please check with your Special Education Q: Can users enter SC without giving entering another code (e.g., PG)? A: Yes, the system does allow this. Your district may require more information be entered. Please check with your Special Education Q: Can users print out progress reports by a related ed service area (eg. OT, PT or Speech) S without printing out the other comments that have been entered? A: No, not at this time. Q: When reporting progress, do users have to write a comment on the goal AND each objective? Or O are users required to write a comment just on the goal? A: The system allows for either choice. This is a district preference. Please check with your Special Education Office for further information or clarification on this. Q: How would a provider enter progress marks for a goal with four benchmarks? Would a provider address the lowest benchmark first t and mark the others as not started? A: Providers should report progress on the benchmark according to the time period or interval indicated on the IEP. For example, if the benchmarks state that the student will read words per minute by November and the student will read words per minute by February, then the progress would be entered for the November benchmark first.