Using a Random Number Table to Select Students to Include in the Sample of Students for Indicators 7, 8, 11, 12, 13 and 14
New York State will collect data for Federal Indicators 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, and 14 from a different group of one sixth (1/6) of the school districts on each indicator each year, except that New York City will submit data on all indicators annually. See the State Performance Plan for a description of these indicators and the State's plan for data collecting data for these indicators at: https://www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/spp/plan/home.html. Also see additional information regarding these indicators at: IDEA Part B State Performance Plan 2005-2010 - December 2005 .
Over a
six year period all school districts that provide educational services
to students with disabilities in grades K-12 will report data to the
State on all of these indicators. See https://www.p12.nysed.gov/sedcar/data.htm for
a schedule, which identifies the year in which each school district
will submit data on each of these six indicators.
School districts are allowed to submit data on the indicators listed
above on a minimum number of eligible students with disabilities, which
will be the school district's sample of eligible students. The minimum
number required for the sample will be determined based on a 95 percent
confidence level and a varying percentage for the Margin of Error.
Once the sample size is determined, in order to ensure that every
eligible student has an equal chance of being selected for the sample,
school districts are required to use a random number table to assist
them with selecting students for the sample.
The following website contains some random number tables:
www.random.org 
(Under
the "Numbers" row, click on "Sequences", enter the number of random numbers needed in the cell labeled "Largest value" and click on "Get sequence". Print the resulting set of numbers for use and for documentation.
Method of selecting students for the sample:
- Assign all students who meet the criteria described
in the eligible population for each indicator a sequential number
or use a number that already exists in your database. These numbers
may be student identification numbers, social security numbers, or
other randomly or sequentially assigned numbers. Sort all eligible
students in numerical order.
- Select a random number table and select a beginning point on the random number table. Use the first three or four digits of the first random number and find the student with the corresponding matching number on your list of eligible students. After picking the first student to be included in the sample proceed in order on the random number table from top to bottom and left to right and select the next student to be included in the sample by matching the first three or four digits of the number from the random number table with the student number. If the first three or four digits of the random number do not match any student number, skip to the next random number. Repeat this process until the required numbers of students have been selected for the sample.
Maintain documentation of how the sample was selected:
- Maintain documentation for a period of seven years, counting
the reporting year as the first of the seven years.
- Documentation must include the list of all student names and numbers who were included in the eligible population, copy of the Random Number Table, the beginning number for selecting students, and a list of all students and their numbers who were selected for the sample.