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Ken Wagner, Data Director
Inni Barone, Special Education Data Manager

Revised Preschool and School-Age LRE Categories for Students with Disabilities Ages 3-5 on October 5, 2011

December 8, 2010

New York State will be collecting new least restrictive environment (LRE) settings in which students ages 3-5 are provided special education programs and services beginning in the 2011-12 school year. The age of students is as of October 5, 2011. This age range of students includes students (ages 3-4) receiving preschool special education programs and services and students (ages 4-5) receiving school-age special education programs and services.

We have developed new codes, definitions and directions for assigning new LRE codes to students ages 3-5 for the 2011-12 school year and they are included in the 2010-11 SIRS Manual in Appendix 21 (Anticipated Changes for the 2011-12 School Year). The manual is posted at https://www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/sirs/. The new LRE codes, definitions and directions are also attached for your information. When reporting these data through the Student Information Repository System (SIRS), these LRE codes are also called “Primary Setting Codes”. They are Field #44 in Special Education Snapshot Template.

The special education student management system vendors know about these changes and are working on modifying their software to accommodate the new codes. Information for vendors regarding this and all other known data collection changes is posted at  https://www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/vendors/home.html.

Please review these materials and plan to provide these data for the 2011-12 school year when the October 5, 2011 special education snapshot data are collected next school year.  You may want to begin collecting some information from parents this year at your annual IEP review meetings regarding their plans to enroll their children in regular early childhood programs and the number of hours of such participation. This information will need to be verified during the October 5, 2011 time period before reporting, but having the early information will assist school districts to complete their data reporting responsibilities. Please note that for the 2011-12 school year, you will need to have the following information available on each preschool and school-age student with a disability, ages 3-5:

Students receiving preschool special education programs and services on October 5, 2011:

• Is the student attending a regular early childhood program for 10 or more hours a week or less than 10 hours a week?
• Is the student receiving majority of hours of special education and related services in the regular early childhood program or in some other location?

Students receiving school-age special education programs and services on October 5, 2011:

• Is the student parentally placed in a nonpublic elementary school?
• Is the parentally placed student in a nonpublic elementary school receiving special education programs and services?
• Is the student attending a Kindergarten or other regular early childhood program 10 or more hours a week or less than 10 hours or a week?
• Is the student receiving majority of hours of special education and related services in the kindergarten or other regular early childhood program?

There are separate LRE codes for students who are of preschool-age and school-age as of October 5, 2011. The codes for preschool-age students are PS04 through PS12; The codes for school-age students are ESA01 through ESA12.

If you have any questions regarding the new LRE categories for students with disabilities, ages 3-5 for the 2011-12 school year, please call the SEDCAR unit at (518) 474-7965 or send your questions through e-mail to datasupport@nysed.gov.

Thank you,