1. SPECIAL EDUCATION DECEMBER COUNT

2. AGENDA OFFICE HOURS Purpose of Staff Data Required Staff
A little bit about the Staff Approval Matrix and Caseload Matches
Caseload Matches
Q&A
Slide:

3. PURPOSE OF STAFF DATA 3

4. Purpose of Staff Data
Staff data reported in the Special Education December Count allows CDE to verify personnel qualification requirements as defined in:
Federal Law - IDEA (The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), and
State law – ECEA (Exceptional Children’s Educational Act)
Staff data populates Federal data reporting: EDFacts (US Department of Education). This reporting provides a comprehensive view of special education staff employed in Colorado.
Federal level reporting is summarized by:
Job Classification category
Age level of assignment/students served
ages 3-5
ages 6-21
Qualified and non-qualified status 4

5. REQUIRED STAFF 5

6. Required Staff Director of Special Education
11/12/2018
Required Staff Director of Special Education
Each administrative unit is required to employ an appropriately licensed and endorsed special education director.
ECEA Rules 3.01(1)(c) Employment of a properly licensed and endorsed professional who will function at least half time as director of special education and who has the authority and responsibility to assure that all the duties and responsibilities of the AU as specified in these Rules are carried out.
Appropriate license type = ADM (administrator)
Appropriate endorsement = Director of Special Education
Job Classification Code = 102 Special Education Director
DC033 - No Special Education Director (Job Class Code 102) was reported. If accurate, please refer to the Exception Request Instructions 6

7. Required Staff Child Find Coordinator
Each administrative unit is required to employ an appropriately licensed and endorsed child find coordinator. ECEA Rules 4.02(2)(b) Each administrative unit and state-operated program shall have one person designated as the child find coordinator who shall be responsible for an ongoing child identification process. Appropriate license type = TCH (teacher) SSP (special service provider) ADM (administrator - Director of Special Education) Appropriate endorsement = any special education endorsement (teacher, special service provider or administrator) Job Classification Code = 330 Child Find Coordinator DC043 - No Child Find Coordinator (Job Class Code 330) was reported. If accurate, please refer to the Exception Request Instructions 7

8. Staff Report Job Class Codes 102 and 330
If no JCC 102 or 330 is reported:
You cannot pass all edit checks
You will receive an error in the Staff Error Report
Please:
Double check that your AU has staff employed in these categories
If no SPED Director or Child Find Coordinator is employed as of Dec 1st:
You must request an exception with CDE to allow you to pass edits and finalize your data 8

9. Charter School Staff
Charter school staff who provide services to students identified on an IEP are reported in the Special Education December Count. Even if the Charter school has obtained a waiver for licensing requirements, the waiver does not apply to staff who provide services in special education, per IDEA regulations. Charter school staff in special education are required to hold a CDE license with an appropriate endorsement for the assignment/student caseload. 9

10. Purchased Service Staff
Purchased Service staff are those staff employed on a contract basis.
Purchased Service staff:
Are reported in the Special Education December Count.
Are not exempt from licensing requirements.
Appropriate license and endorsement are required for the position/service, regardless of the amount of time, days or hours of the contract.
Staff is reported with Employment Status Code = 23 Purchased Services
If the “contract for services” is valid for the period covering December 1st, position is reported regardless of whether the staff is actually “working” on December 1st
Example: A School Psychologist is contracted at the beginning of the year to conduct assessments.
No assessments are required on the annual count date of December 1st.
Position is still reported with the contracted salary amount and hours per day. 10

11. Licensing Timeline
Special Education staff are qualified in the Special Education December Count by holding a valid and appropriate CDE license on the official count date of December 1st.
Licenses issued with an effective date of December 1st or prior are captured when you create a Snapshot.
If staff do not hold a valid license on December 1st:
The assignment record will fail SAM.
The position maintains non-qualified status. 11

12. STAFF APPROVAL MATRIX 12

13. Licensing Check
Verify that staff holds a valid and appropriate CDE license by:
Checking Human Resources records.
Using Educator Licensing’s online license status check.
Allow for license processing time!
Typically there is 4-6 week turnaround for the issuance of CDE licenses starting from the date an individual’s application is submitted and complete. 13

14. Qualified Status IDEA/ECEA
Qualified status for special education staff (teachers, special service providers and administrators) is defined by:
Federal Law - IDEA (The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act)
Requires special education staff to be appropriately licensed and endorsed.
Identifies highly qualified status for general special education teachers.
Intersects with ESSA for special education teachers teaching core academic subjects.
State law – ECEA (Exceptional Children’s Educational Act)
Section 3.04 Personnel Qualifications - All personnel providing special education services to children with disabilities shall be qualified.
ECEA dictates the staff to student caseload match – Each special education teacher will serve, at a minimum, a majority of special education students with the same identified area of need as that teacher’s special education license endorsement. The endorsement level must be appropriate for the age being taught. 14

15. Qualified Status Staff employed are qualified by:
Holding a valid CDE license with a special education endorsement appropriate for the assignment.
Serving a majority of special education students with the same identified area of need as the staff’s special education endorsement (per ECEA). This is the 50% caseload match that joins student data with staff reported as:
JCC 202 Teacher, Special Education
JCC 238 Speech-Language Pathologist
Holding an endorsement with a level appropriate for the age served. 15

16. Staff Qualifications Resource Document
To assist in determining license and endorsement requirements, refer to the “Special Education Endorsement Qualifications by Assignment, Disability and Age of Student” guide:
This document is grouped by:
Job Classification Code
Staff Assignment
Student Disability
Qualifying Endorsement by Student Age
This reference is especially helpful in the placement of special education teachers and Speech-Language Pathologists for appropriate endorsement for the 50% caseload match. 16

17. Staff Who Serve Both GenEd and SPED Students
Staff who provide services to both general and special education students are required to conduct and maintain a time study analysis. Staff data is reported in two collections.
December Count - only the hours per day attributed to servicing special education students are reported. Special Education Assignment Flag = 1
Human Resources - the remaining hours per day attributed to servicing general education students are reported. Special Education Assignment Flag = 0
Examples of these positions are: Counselors, Nurses, Psychologists, Social Workers 17

18. Critical Licensing Information
Make sure the correct SSN is reported for all staff, including:
Charter school employees
Contracted staff
The “official” SSN is the SSN recorded on the staff’s CDE license.
An incorrect SSN will result in the record failing SAM if what is reported is not consistent with the SSN on the staff’s CDE license.
For Additional Information on licenses including Non-Qualified Status see “Staff Approval Matrix” Training in the Data Pipeline Website under Snapshot Special Education December Count Training. 18

19. Grade Case Load Match
Providers serving multiple grade levels must report all grades served.
Separate assignment records are required for Pre-K and K-12 for all staff.
If Job Code is 202 or 238, K-12 must be broken down further:
Separate assignment records are required for elementary and secondary grades.
The grade caseload match edits will run for all staff reported as Job Code 202 or 238 whose EDID is reported on student records in the Primary Provider or any one of the Secondary Provider fields in the IEP Participation file. The corresponding Staff Assignment record must have the grades of those corresponding students marked “yes”. 19

20. Staff Caseloads
ALL staff reported as Teachers (Job Class Code 202) or Speech Language Pathologists (Job Class Code 238) MUST have a student caseload (EDID must be reported in either the primary provider/service coordinator or secondary provider field of at least one student record).
Two ways to report:
Method A – Exact Caseload Grade Match
Most accurate (preferred method)
Grades selected on staff record must exactly match the grades of the individual students on the caseload
Method B – By Elementary/Middle/High School Grade Range
Should be used for staff who serve a particular school building
Grades selected on staff record must cover the entire grade range and may not include any grades not specified in the range. 20

21. Reporting of Primary Provider for 50% Caseload Match (SAM)
Job Code 202 Teacher, Special Education and Job Code 238 Speech-Language Pathologist generate a student caseload.
Student caseload for SAM is generated based on the staff EDID in the Primary Provider field in the IEP Participation file.
Staff EDIDs reported in any one of the four Secondary Provider fields do not generate a student caseload.
ECEA Rules dictate the 50% caseload match.
The student’s Primary Provider must hold the appropriate license and endorsement for the majority of student disability categories served. 21

22. SAM Warnings
DC208 – WARNING – Staff reported in this Job Class Code do not hold a valid license as of the collection date of December 1st.
DC209 – WARNING – Staff reported in this Job Class Code do not hold an appropriate endorsement for the assignment.
DC210 – WARNING – Staff reported in this Job Class Code do not hold an appropriate endorsement for the majority (50% or more) of student disabilities in the caseload.
DC211 – WARNING – Staff reported in this Job Class Code do not hold a valid license. 22

23. SAM Example Special Education Teacher
Linda is a special education teacher who works three days per week as a preschool teacher, and two days per week with 3rd and 4th grade students.
Linda is endorsed in Early Childhood Special Education and Moderate Needs.
Two assignment records are included in Snapshot:
Job Code 202/AIA Code 0035 for students in PreK grade
PreK students are identified as disability 11-Developmental Delay
Job Code 202/AIA Code 0002 for students in 4th and 5th grade
Majority of these students are identified as disability 03-Emotional Disability
The license check through SAM verifies that Linda holds a valid CDE license with ECSE and Moderate Needs endorsements. 23

24. Pass/Fail SAM Staff assignment record with AIA Code 0035 will Pass SAM
Linda holds Early Childhood Special Education endorsement which is appropriate for students identified as disability 11-Developmental Delay.
Staff assignment record with AIA Code 0002 will Fail SAM
Linda holds Moderate Needs endorsement which is not appropriate for the majority of students in 4th and 5th grade who are identified as disability 03-Emotional Disability.
Record will appear in the Staff Error Report under the SAM Warning titled ‘Staff reported in this Job Class Code do not hold an appropriate endorsement for the majority (50% or more) of student disabilities in the caseload”. 24

25. How to Remedy
How can you remedy the SAM Warning for Linda’s 4th and 5th grade assignment?
There is nothing you can do for the current reporting cycle since Linda is not properly endorsed for her 4th and 5th grade assignment.
This assignment record will remain as a SAM Warning.
Position is non-qualified for December 2016.
Linda’s name will appear in the Personnel Status report for unapproved staff.
For the coming school year, the following are options for Linda to be qualified.
She needs to complete the requirements to add the Special Education Generalist endorsement to her current license, or
She is reassigned to a position serving a majority of students who are identified in a disability category that is appropriate for the Moderate Needs endorsement. 25

26. SAM Example Deaf/Hard of Hearing Teacher
Glenn is a Deaf/Hard of Hearing Specialist who provides services to three students who are identified as disability 05 Hearing Impairment. Glenn also provides services to 20 additional students in other disability categories who have IEPs requiring supplemental services addressing each student’s deafness.
Glenn is endorsed in Deaf/Hard of Hearing Specialist.
Two assignment records are included in Snapshot:
Job Code 202/AIA Code 0002 for students in elementary grades
Job Code 202/AIA Code 0002 for students in secondary grades
The license check through SAM verifies that Glenn holds a valid CDE license with endorsement in Deaf/Hard of Hearing Specialist. 26

27. Fail SAM Staff assignment records Fail SAM
Why did this record Fail Sam?
In the IEP Interchange Glenn’s EDID is reported in the Primary Provider field for all students served.
Glenn does not hold the appropriate endorsement for the majority (the 20 additional students) of student disability categories on his caseload.
Record will appear in the Staff Error Report under the SAM Warning titled “Staff reported in this Job Class Code do not hold an appropriate endorsement for the majority (50% or more) of student disabilities in the caseload”. 27

28. How to Remedy How can you remedy the SAM Warning for Glenn’s position?
Verify Glenn’s role as Primary Provider or Secondary Provider.
Glenn will be the Primary Provider to only the students identified as disability 05.
Glenn will be a Secondary Provider to the students who receive supplemental services addressing deafness (majority of his caseload).
For these additional 20 students, correct the placement of Glenn’s EDID in the IEP Participation file from the Primary Provider field to one of the Secondary Provider fields.
Create a new Snapshot.
Review the SAM Warning section in the Staff Error Report.
Glenn’s name will no longer appear as a SAM Warning since his record passed the SAM criteria. 28

29. SAM Example Speech-Language Pathologist
Jesse is a Speech-Language Pathologist who works in three elementary schools. The majority of students she serves are identified in various disability categories who have IEPs requiring supplemental speech-language services. In elementary school A she is the Primary Provider to two students who are identified as disability 08 Speech or Language Impairment.
Jesse is endorsed as a Speech-Language Pathologist.
Three assignment records are included in Snapshot:
Job Code 202/AIA Code 0002 for students in elementary school A.
Job Code 202/AIA Code 0002 for students in elementary school B.
Job Code 202/AIA Code 0002 for students in elementary school C.
The license check through SAM verifies that Jesse holds a valid CDE license with endorsement as a Speech-Language Pathologist. 29

30. Fail SAM Staff assignment records Fail SAM
Why did this record Fail Sam?
In the IEP Interchange Jesse’s EDID is reported in the Primary Provider field for the majority of students served.
Jesse is a Speech-Language Pathologist and does not hold the appropriate endorsement for the majority of student disability categories on her caseload.
Record will appear in the Staff Error Report under the SAM Warning titled “Staff reported in this Job Class Code do not hold an appropriate endorsement for the majority (50% or more) of student disabilities in the caseload”. 30

31. How to Remedy How can you remedy the SAM Warning for Jesse’s position?
Verify Jessie’s role as Primary Provider or Secondary Provider.
Jesse will be the Primary Provider for the two students at elementary school A who are identified as disability 08.
Jesse is a Secondary Provider to the remaining students who receive supplemental speech-language services (majority of her caseload).
For these additional students, correct the placement of Jesse’s EDID in the IEP Participation file from the Primary Provider field to one of the Secondary Provider fields.
Create a new Snapshot.
Review the SAM Warning section in the Staff Error Report.
Jesse’s name will no longer appear as a SAM Warning since her record passed the SAM criteria. 31

32. DATA PIPELINE CASELOAD MATCHES32

33. How is caseload being reported?
EXACT caseload grade match
Teacher/SLP reported with specific grade levels of individual students
Grades of EACH student on a teacher/SLP caseload must be marked as ‘1’ – yes on the staff detail record. ALL other grades must be marked ‘0’ – no. 33

34. Elementary School Middle School High School
Teacher/SLP reported by grade range
Elementary School
Middle School
High School
Grades K-5th must be marked ’1’ –yes OR Grades K-6th must be marked ‘1’ – yes.
All other grades MUST be marked ‘0’ - no
Grades 6th-8th must be marked ’1’ –yes OR Grades 7th-8th must be marked ‘1’ – yes.
All other grades MUST be marked ‘0’ - no
Grades 9th-12th must be marked ’1’ –yes. All other grades MUST be marked ‘0’ - no
NOTE: the grade range option may only be used if the grades within a range (elementary, middle, high school) fall within the low/high grades of the reported school building for that staff member. 34

35. Grades Reported School Code Low Grade High Grade 6286 K 6 4548 7 8
1864 9 12
All grades reported on either student or staff records must be within the grade range assigned to the reported school code.
Grades of the students come from the Student School Association File 35

36. District Wide Personnel
District wide personnel who are not assigned to a specific school.
Submit one assignment record with grades K-12 selected if Job Class Code is:
102, 104 (SPED Director/Assistant Director)
320, 322, 344 (Accountant, Admin/Executive Assistant, Personnel Officer)
380, 381, 382 (Computer Technology)
(Office/Administrative Support) 
Report school code as 9980 District Wide 36

37. Troubleshooting Grade Case Load Match Errors
If you receive grade caseload match errors such as:
Student errors: DC114, DC115, DC221
Staff errors: DC020, DC191-DC205
Did ALL Staff and Student records make it to Snapshot?
Check the Excluded Records Reports in Cognos and the Records not in Dec Pipeline reports to see if any records are not making it to Snapshot.
Often times caseload errors are caused because not all records have made it to Snapshot. 37

38. Troubleshooting Grade Case Load Match Errors
Once all records are included in the Snapshot its time to dig into the Staff to Student matchups:
Download to Excel the Included Records Reports for both Staff and Student.
In the Staff Included Records Report filter the edid column so you are looking at just the records for the edid you are researching.
In the Student Included Records Report you may need to filter multiple times to search for the provider edid in each of the provider edid fields.
Verify that every student grade where the edid appears is accounted for in the staff assignment record.
The process can be painstaking and take time to go through each edid with a caseload error. It may be helpful to just focus on one or two edids at a time and once fixed then upload fresh files and create a fresh snapshot to verify those errors resolved before going onto research the next edid. 38

39. Troubleshooting Grade Case Load Match Errors
Do you have Student errors on caseload matches: DC114, DC115 or DC221?
DC114 – At least one provider reported on a student record must have a JCC of 202 or 238?
Did all the edids appearing on this student’s record pull into Snapshot? Did all staff assignment records for these edids pull into Snapshot? If not, please correct the staff file interchange errors and resubmit interchange files, once processed run a new snapshot.
Is one of the providers on this student’s record a JCC 202 or 238? If not please add one.
DC115 – Grade levels reported on the 202 or 238 provider record should match the grade levels of the students?
Did all the edids appearing on this student’s record pull into Snapshot? Did all staff assignment records for these edids pull into Snapshot? If not, please correct the staff file interchange errors and resubmit interchange files, once processed run a new snapshot.
Please ensure the grade level of this student is checked yes on the staff assignment record for the edids associated with this student.
DC221– The provider edid reported on this student record does not appear in Snapshot.
Did all the edids appearing on this student’s record pull into Snapshot? Did all staff assignment records for these edids pull into Snapshot? If not, please correct the staff file interchange errors and resubmit interchange files, once processed run a new snapshot.
Also, be sure that these edids have both staff profile and staff assignment records with AU code populated and sped flag marked yes. 39

40. Troubleshooting Grade Case Load Match Errors
Do you have Student errors on caseload matches: DC114, DC115 or DC221?
Fixing DC221 fist may result in resolving DC114 and DC115 errors. 40

41. Troubleshooting Grade Case Load Match Errors
Do you have Staff errors on caseload matches: DC020 or DC191 thru DC205?
DC019 – this error looks at every staff record in the Snapshot with a 202 or 238 Job Class Code and makes sure that their edid appears on a student record in a provider field. If you have reported a 202 or 238 staff member and their edid does not appear on any student records in the Snapshot then this error will trigger. First make sure that all student records have made it to Snapshot
•       For all students an EDID of a Special Education Teacher (202) or a Speech-Language Pathologist (238) must be included in the Primary Provider field for the student in the IEP Participation file.
DC020 – Grade levels reported on the 202 or 238 provider record should match the grade levels of the students where the edid is reported?
Did this edid pull into Snapshot? Did all staff assignment records for this edid pull into Snapshot? If not, please correct the staff file interchange errors and resubmit interchange files, once processed run a new snapshot.
Please ensure the grade levels of the students where this edid is reported are accounted for on the staff assignment records for this edid. Download the student included records report and filter the provider edid columns to see all the students and grades where this edid appears. Then compare the grades to the grades marked yes on the staff assignment file records. If any grades are marked no that should be yes, change them to yes, resubmit interchange files and once processed run a new snapshot. 41

42. Troubleshooting Grade Case Load Match Errors
Do you have Staff errors on caseload matches: DC020 or DC191 thru DC205?
DC191 thru DC205 – these errors look at each grade level individually comparing student records to grades on the staff assignment records.
Did all staff assignment records for this edid pull into Snapshot? If not, please correct the staff file interchange errors and resubmit interchange files, once processed run a new snapshot.
If all the staff assignment records for this edid made it to snapshot, then check the grade levels marked yes and be sure the grade level referred to in the error is indeed marked yes. 42

43. Caseload Errors Steps for Resolving
Be sure ALL Staff and Students made it to snapshot.
Some Questions to Ask Yourself
Did the IEP Files and Staff Files successfully process? Check Batch Maintenance to be sure.
Did the Interchange files process successfully BEFORE a Snapshot was created? If not recreate a Snapshot to ensure the latest records are included.
If not all records made it to Snapshot check the following
Are there any Interchange errors?
If so, resolve them and create a snapshot 43

44. Caseload Errors Criteria Issues
Are you getting DC187 or DC188 WARNINGS?
DC187 – WARNING – LASID exists in Participation but is NOT in the SPE Child file. Please see Records Not In Dec Report under Pipeline Reports for more details.
DC188 – WARNING – LASID exists in Child but is NOT in the SPE Student Participation file. Please see Records Not In Dec Report under Pipeline Reports for more details.
Are there any records in the Pipeline Report Records Not In December Count report.
Determine what criteria is missing. Fix the records, reupload, create a snapshot. 44

45. Staff Caseload Match Errors
DC180 – If Grade Level is marked as Pre-K no other grade levels can be reported in the same record. A separate detail record must be used for any additional grade.
DC030 – District wide personnel who aren’t assigned to a specific elementary or secondary setting must be reported with grades K-12 marked yes (1) at school code 9980.
DC035 – WARNING – Teachers are to be assigned to schools and not to 9980.
If possible have a record for every school the staff serves at. 45

46. Special Education December Count Contact Information
Kristi Gleason – Special Education December Count Collection Lead Data Services Office Phone: Lindsey Heitman Data Services Phone: Orla Bolger Exceptional Student Services Unit Phone: 46