1. Improving Outcomes for Students with Disabilities Office of Exceptional Children Cathy Boshamer, Director John Payne, Team Lead November 7, 2013

2. Steven Lee Davis – A Child’s Story

3. Steven Lee Davis (SLD) is really…

4. Critical Findings for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD)  Students with SLD make up about 50% of the SWD population  Significant risk of not graduating with a regular diploma  Decisions in elementary school can take students off path for a regular diploma  17 states fall below the nationwide rate of 68 percent; SC is one of these states

5. Findings for SC Students with SLD  Graduation rate with a regular diploma is 48 percent  Graduation gap is 35 percentage points between all students and students with disabilities  Drop-out rate for students with SLD is high  Generally, more students with SLD drop-out than leave with a regular diploma (National Center for Learning Disabilities, 2013)

6. Early Interventions Early Interventions  About 45% of children receiving Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS) go on to receive special education  Monitoring Observations: Many RtI programs with varied success; some do not follow tiered approach nor are they being implemented with fidelity

7. Initial Evaluations Initial Evaluations  Increased compliance to timely evaluations  Some evaluations focus ONLY on the disability category (e.g., speech eval)  Instances of “re-evals” within a few months following  Some lack of evaluation planning OVER 18,000 Initial Evaluations in 2012

8. Individualized Education Programs  Karvonen, et al (2011) found that SC IEPs were often vague; were not linked to standards; did not vary accommodations; and did not link present levels to IEP goals  IEP goals and present levels are the #1 area of noncompliance from onsite monitoring for multiple years  IEP implementation is the #1 finding from formal IDEA dispute resolution complaints

9. Accommodations Usage – All SWD

10. SWD Receiving Oral Admin of ELA by Grade

11. Least Restrictive Environment Inside Regular Class 80% or more of the day Inside Regular Class 79-40% of the day Inside Regular Class For Less Than 40% Of Day Autism29.77%17.34%49.77% Deaf and Hard of Hearing51.91%22.47%12.81% Deaf-blindness0.00% 40.00% Developmental Delay45.23%25.60%28.70% Emotional Disability32.62%24.37%33.57% Intellectual Disability6.94%16.48%71.36% Multiple Disabilities18.92%10.96%56.14% Orthopedic Impairment36.78%20.32%38.00% Other Health Impairment54.56%27.72%15.45% Specific Learning Disability 59.88%28.85%10.55% Speech or Language Impairment96.72%0.99%0.56% Traumatic Brain Injury37.23%18.62%37.77% Visual Impairment54.35%11.59%8.45% Grand Total57.31%21.80%18.62%

12. Least Restrictive Environment

13. LRE – “Self Contained” 2012 Specific Learning Disability Inside Regular Class For Less Than 40% Of Day (6-21)

14. SLD Exit Reasons (2012)

15. SLD Exit Reasons by Age (2012) SLD Age and Exit Reason

16. Post-secondary Transition – ALL SWD  For 2011 – 2012, 90% compliance for post- secondary transition IEPs and services  A leading issue of noncompliance from onsite monitoring

17. Now Back to Steven Lee Davis (SLD)

18. What should we ask ourselves?  Are our Response-to-Intervention programs being implemented with fidelity?  Did he get specific interventions early on to help him with his academic struggles?  Are we using evidence-based practices?  Did he get interventions long enough? Did they work? Did we have a tiered approach?

19. What should we ask ourselves?  Are we completing comprehensive evaluations of EACH child that identifies ALL their special education and related service needs (whether or not commonly linked to the child’s category of disability)?  How might a different IEP and services affect his current/future performance?

20. What should we ask ourselves?  Are we making individualized determinations about LRE placements; IEP goals; related services; and supplementary aids and supports?  Did we think about looking at math? Behavior? BIPs? FBAs? Did we attempt supplemental aids?

21. What should we ask ourselves?  Are we making individualized decisions, based on information and data, about specific accommodations that will enable the child to access and progress in the general education curriculum?  If he had problems with sounds/stories being read aloud (aka as SLD with listening comprehension), how appropriate was oral administration? What else could we have tried?

22. What should we ask ourselves?  Are we, through innovative approaches, preparing children for life after they leave school?  How could we have better prepared S.L.D. for high school? For NOT dropping out? For adult ed? For college? For life?

23. The OEC is here to help!!  Training on Common Core for SWD  Training on UDL with State Personnel Development Grant  Free week-long Research to Practice Institute  Manuals and Other Supporting Documentation  Monitoring Schools/Districts for Compliance  Providing ongoing technical assistance  Reviewing eligibility guidelines and processes  Data mining to understand how improvements can be made  Developing a 6-year State Systemic Plan to improve outcomes for children with disabilities  Collaborating, collaborating, collaborating

24. THANK YOU! For more information about initiatives; to obtain technical assistance or professional development; or for questions, please contact: THE OFFICE OF EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 1429 SENATE STREET, STE 808 COLUMBIA, SC 29201 803-734-8224 HTTP://ED.SC.GOV/AGENCY/AC/EXCEPTIONAL-CHILDREN/