Part B State Performance Plan (SPP) for 2005-2010

Overview of the State Performance Plan Development

See Overview of the State Performance Plan Development preceding Indicator #1.

(20 U.S.C. 1416(a)(3)(B))

Overview of Issue/Description of System or Process

Section 4404-a of NYS Education Law and section 200.5 of the Commissioner’s Regulations establish the procedures for mediation as a means for parents and school districts to resolve disagreements regarding the education of a student with a disability. 

SED contracts with the New York State Dispute Resolution Association (NYSDRA) to oversee the special education mediation process. In NYS, independent mediators furnished by a Community Dispute Resolution Center through the Office of Court Administration conduct mediation sessions.  SED and NYSDRA jointly develop training programs, which NYSDRA provides to the mediators. 

Baseline Data for FFY 2004 (2004-05)

The percent of mediation sessions held in 2004-05 that resulted in mediation agreements to resolve the dispute was 95.50 percent. 

Discussion of Baseline Data 

The baseline data for 2004-05 that was submitted in the 2006 SPP has been revised. The original data submitted contained a double count of mediation cases which affected each of the categories. This double count adversely affected the percent of mediations resulting in agreement. In addition the calculation of percent of mediation agreements was calculated using the number of mediations requested not the number of mediations held.  The data does not distinguish between the number of agreements resulting from mediations initiated separate from due process requests and those mediations that result from due process requests.  NYS will begin to collect data that identifies whether the mediation request preceded a request for an impartial hearing in 2005-06. 

** 2004-05 data was not collected in the manner requested in SPP/APR attachment 1

As the table above indicates, there has been an increase in the number of mediation sessions requested in the last three years from 486 mediation sessions during the period 9/1/02–8/31/03 to 511 requested during 9/1/04–8/31/05 and the percent of mediation sessions resulting in agreement has decreased from 99.16 percent in 2002-03 to the current 95.50 percent in 2004-05. Other than an increase in the number of hearings not held or pending it is not clear what has contributed to the decease in the percent of mediations resulting in agreement.

Measurable and Rigorous Targets

The targets noted above were revised from the 2006 SPP submission to reflect corresponding increases based on the revised baseline data.

Improvement Activities/Timelines/Resources