The Special Education Student Information System

Agenda What is SESIS? Roles & Responsibilities The New IEP Training Modules/Brown Bag Training Q & A

What is SESIS? The Special Education Student Information System, or SESIS, is a secure, web-based case management system that will manage the entire special education process including Referral, Evaluation, IEP, Placement and Related Services. Currently, we are implementing the Referral, Evaluation and IEP modules. Staff members will work in SESIS for these three processes and will temporarily continue to work in CAP and SEC for Placement and Related Services. Placement and Related Services will be supported in a future SESIS release. SESIS was developed referencing the guidelines outlined in the NYCDOE Standard Operating Procedures Manual (SOPM). As a result, while SESIS will change many of the ways in which work is performed, policies and procedures have not changed. To learn more about SESIS, please access the below links. Below you will find link to useful training materials, guides and log in information.

THE NEW IEP Section Responsible Party Notice of IEP Case Manager Cover Letter Student Information Populated via CAP Meeting Participants Case Manger Present Levels of Performance and Individual Need English and Math Teacher, Service Providers (if applicable) and Case Managers Measurable Post Secondary Goals Math Teacher Measurable Annual Goals English and Math Teachers Reporting Progress to Parents Recommended Special Education Programs and Services Testing Accommodations Coordinated Set of Transition Activities Participation in State and District-Wide Assessment Participation with Students Without Disabilities Case Manager/ General Education Teacher Special Transportation

The Annual Review All annual reviews for students must be completed in SESIS.  The “Status of Annual Review” report will be populated with key dates from CAP which will populate the report to prompt staff on upcoming annual reviews.   To develop an annual review, staff members would first create a Notice of IEP and then develop an IEP and complete all applicable and required information.   The lesson on creating an IEP can be found in the IEP Section within this module. The case manager will be responsible for organizing the time, date, location , participants of the meeting and sending the notice of IEP letter.

Present Level of Performance When creating the draft IEP, SESIS automatically opens to the “Present Levels of Performance and Individual Needs” section as it is important to state how the student is currently performing in school.   There must be a direct relationship between the Present Levels of Performance and other components of the IEP.  Dropdown menus and text boxes have been provided to aid in this process.  The need for testing modifications must be addressed in the Present Levels of Performance. Present Level of Performance will be completed by the parties involved in the conference. Evaluation Results – Teacher Estimates, Portfolio Assessments, Teacher observations, Ed Performance, Etc. Academic Achievement, Functional Performance and Learning Characteristics – to be completed by the Math Teacher, English Teacher and Speech Teacher ( if applicable) Social Development – to be completed by the Counselor (if applicable) or the case manager Physical Development – to be completed by the Physical /Occupational Therapist (if applicable) otherwise it will be completed by the case manager. Management Needs – All parties Effect of Student Needs on Involvement and Process in the General Education Curriculum – Will be completed by the General Education teacher the case manager has selected for the annual review. Student Needs Relating to Special Factors – To be completed by the case manager.

The Cover Sheet After completing the Present Levels of Performance section, a Work Flow Prompt at the top of the screen will automatically prompt you to complete the IEP Cover Page.   When printing the entire IEP, the Cover Page will come after the Present Levels of Performance section so it will need to be placed at the front of the IEP.   The Cover Page incorporates several “dynamic fields” phrased as questions.  This information will not appear on the IEP, but is intended to assist staff members in thinking through the process of the disability classification determinations.   Dynamic fields facilitate the process of only incorporating information that is relevant to the student.  The lesson on Dynamic Fields can be found in the Navigation Basics module. The cover sheet will be completed by the case manager.

Measurable Postsecondary Goals These are the long term goals for living, working and learning as an adult. They must be completed once a student has reached the age of 15. Education/Training: Student will attend a culinary arts school. Employment: Student will be competitively employed in the field of culinary arts. Independent Living: Student will live independently once they have completed culinary arts school The measurable postsecondary goals will be completed by the Math teachers based on the Level 1 Vocational Assessment.

Measurable Annual Goals The Measurable Annual Goals section has direct links to the New York State Standards and SMART Goals to assist staff members in crafting measurable goals.   Insert Statement banks can be created so that staff members can create and utilize a compilation of goals, known as a bank of statements that can be individualized for each student when developing IEP's.   If you are writing annual goals for a student who will participate in an alternate assessment, SESIS will automatically prompt you to include short term objectives. Measurable Annual Goals will be completed by English and Math Teachers, as well as all service providers servicing the student.

Reporting Progress To Parents In this section, you will indicate the number of times per year that progress will be reported and SESIS will automatically add the number of progress reports that staff has selected to the goals section. The Reporting Progress to Parents section is in addition to, not in replace of regular report cards to parents.  The number should coincide with the number of report card distribution during the time of the creation of the IEP and the next annual review.  This section must be completed by all that create goals for the student. Progress Reports must be completed, printed and mailed home to the parent each marking period. SESIS will track out competition of progress reports and we must log the communication with the parent.

Alternate Section For Students Whose IEPs Will Include Short Term Instructional Objectives and/or Benchmarks. Only to be completed by students who are classified as alternative assessment. If these goals are completed the progress report must also sent to the parents each marking period.

Recommended Special Education Programs and Services This section of the state IEP addresses three major issues focused on special education programs and services. Specifically:  the type of special education services recommended the intensity of the special education services required   the instructional environment (i.e. where services will be provided) Completing this data in SESIS is done in a variety of ways such as embedded tutorials and dynamic fields which are designed to save time for staff members and eliminate time spent completing information that is either not necessary or not applicable for the student. If a student has an ICT program, you must enter each class separately. Recommended Special Education Programs and Services will be completed by the case manager.

Coordinate Set of Transition Activities If the student is 14 years or older, staff members will automatically be prompted to complete the Coordinated set of Transition Activities section of the IEP.   The automatic prompt is triggered by the calculation of the student's age in the student's profile. These are the short term objectives to assist the student in completing their transitional activities Coordinate Set of Transition Activities will be completed by the Math teacher, based on the Level 1 Vocational Assessment completed by the English teacher.

Participation in State and District-Wide Assessments Students with disabilities are expected to meet the same standards set for all students and participate in state and district wide assessments.  Non-participation in state and District- Wide-wide assessments with participation in the State Alternate Assessment or another alternate assessment has significant consequences for a student with a disability.  Students who do not participate in the standardized tests will not participate in the promotional policy program and will not earn a high school diploma. The impact on the ability to earn a high school diploma must be discussed with the parent and student at the IEP meeting. This section of the IEP includes dynamic fields based on the information entered.  If an alternate assessment is selected, you will be required to identify the alternate assessment and provide a statement on why the student cannot participate in the regular assessment. This section must be completed by the Case Manager

Participation with Students Without Disabilities Explain the extent, if any, to which the student will not participate in appropriate activities with age appropriate nondisabled peers Participation with Student Without Disabilities will be completed by the general education teacher selected by the case manger to participate in the conference.

Special Transportation The Special Transportation section of the IEP contains various required dynamic fields that will lead staff members through a series of questions aimed at determining whether the student needs specialized transportation and/or accommodations. For certain accommodations (such as air conditioning or limited time travel) SESIS will require an approved OSH Physician Review Form.  If an approved form has not already been completed and faxed into the system using the appropriate fax coversheet, SESIS will provide a Work Flow Prompt that will direct you to the appropriate form to complete. Not all fields that you will view on the Special Transportation section will be viewed once the section is saved and printed.  To view a sample of the completed, printed Special Transportation page, click here. SESIS will produce a "Medical Accommodations Approved/Disapproved by Doctor" report, which will include the students whom a recommendation for transportation has been recommended and a doctor's note has been uploaded.  This section will be completed by the case manager.

Placement Recommendations The Placement Recommendation section of the IEP will provide a dropdown list for the placement recommendation (i.e. community school, specialized public school, specialized state approved, charter school, day treatment). When the IEP team recommends Day Treatment Center, the following notification will appear:  "The student must have a Department of Health and Mental Hygiene acceptance letter in order to receive a recommendation for Day Treatment Center." Please note:  The Placement Module of SESIS is scheduled for release in July of 2010.  It will improve the placement process by providing real-time information such as seat availability and class proximity to the student’s home. This enhanced visibility will improve the quality of student services provided and, consequently, improve student outcomes. This section will be completed by the case manager after conferencing with the General Education teacher.

Summary Page The Summary Page of the IEP in SESIS will be auto-populated with information that was completed during the IEP meeting, such as the summary of recommendations and promotion criteria. The only sections of the Summary Page that are editable are the "Parent Concerns" and "Other Programs Considered" sections This summary page will be complete by the case manager.

Attendance Page Names that were completed on the Notice of IEP will automatically populate the Attendance Page. Once the Attendance Page has been saved and printed, signature lines will appear for the participants to sign. The IEP cannot be finalized until the Attendance Page has been signed and faxed into SESIS using the appropriate fax coversheet in order for it to become part of the student's online record. If a member of the conference who was originally invited is not able to attend, you will be able to edit the page. The attendance page will be completed and faxed by the case manager.

Printing the IEP Printing an IEP follows a different process than printing other documents in SESIS due to the signed, faxed-in Attendance Page.  First you will print the entire IEP, which will contain a blank Attendance Page. Then, you will separately access and print the signed, faxed-in Attendance Page. Once the IEP has been finalize please submit a copy to Kathleen Mullen and she will mail it home.