School District Self-Review Monitoring Protocol
Disproportionate Identification of Racial and Ethnic Groups for Special Education and Related Services (Indicator 9)
(470 KB) 
(158 KB) Revised October 2012
New York State Education Department
Albany, NY 12234
Table of Contents
Overview of Self-Review Requirements
Directions for Conducting the Self-Review
Identification of Noncompliance
Report to the State Education Department (SED)
SED Review of Self-Review Monitoring Report
Technical Assistance Resources
Attachments
Attachment 1:Checklist to Complete the Disproportionality Self-Review Monitoring Protocol
Attachment 2: School District Self-Review Monitoring Protocol
Attachment 2A:Regulations of the Commissioner of Education
Section 200.1(zz) – Definitions of Disability Classifications
Attachment 3: Data Analysis of Students Referred to the Committee on Special Education (CSE)
Attachment 4: Individual Student Record Review Form
Attachment 5: Focused Rubric to Evaluate the CSE Process
Attachment 6: Interview Questions to Identify Improvement Activities
Attachment 7: Disproportionality Self-Review Monitoring Report
Self-Review Monitoring Protocol
For Districts Identified for Significant Disproportionality Under
Indicator 9 of the State Performance Plan
Overview of Self-Review Requirements
School districts that are identified under federal Indicator 9 of the State Performance Plan by the State Education Department (SED) as having significant disproportionality based on race and ethnicity in the identification of students with disabilities are required to complete this self-review monitoring protocol. School districts must determine if the disproportionate representation of racial and ethnic groups in special education and related services is the result of inappropriate identification through implementation of the district’s policies, procedures and practices used in the identification of students with disabilities.
Focus of the Self-Review
The self-review monitoring process is a focused review of a school district’s policies, procedures and practices (i.e., implementation of policies and procedures) that most closely relate to the identification of children as students with disabilities.
This review has four focus areas described below:
- School-wide Approaches and Pre-referral Interventions. The Board of Education must have written policy that articulates a school-wide approach to pre-referral interventions throughout the district. Both the policy and its implementation will be reviewed in order to determine if there are equitable opportunities for students to receive supportive interventions that enable them to be successful in the general education environment. Procedures and practices will also be analyzed to determine if the policy is implemented in a consistent manner for all students and that students of different racial or ethnic groups are not treated differently in any schools of the district.
- Referral of Students to the Committee on Special Education (CSE). The practices of the school district will be reviewed to determine if teachers and administrators make appropriate use of pre-referral interventions and if student referrals are handled consistently school-wide.
- Individual Evaluations of Students with Disabilities. The school district’s evaluation practices will be reviewed to determine if students of all racial and ethnic groups, and particularly students of the identified group, have received appropriate evaluations. The evaluations must include a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional, developmental and academic information about the student that may assist in determining whether the student is a student with a disability.
- Eligibility Determinations. The district’s CSE process will be examined to determine to what extent students of the identified racial and ethnic groups are provided appropriate instruction and resources to promote learning prior to referral and that the CSE recommendation is based on the students’ evaluations.
Directions for Completing the Self-Review
- Checklist to Complete the Disproportionality Self-Review Monitoring Protocol (Attachment 1) – This form provides a step-by-step process to complete the self-review. The district must maintain documentation for every step of the review process for later verification. There are six forms (Attachments 2-7) that must be completed as part of the self-review monitoring process.
- School District Self-Review Monitoring Protocol (Attachment 2) – This form establishes the protocol to conduct the self-review. The protocol:
- specifies the regulatory requirements relating to the four focus areas;
- identifies documentation (e.g., written policies, data charts, student record reviews, interview summaries, CSE meeting minutes) that must be reviewed; and
- identifies information to “look for” in reviewing documentation (e.g., consistent application of pre-referral interventions for students across all racial/ethnic groups within the district).
The school district must use this form to guide the self-review and to document its compliance findings in detail and identify, for self-correction purposes, any corrective action and improvement activities needed to address compliance issues. This form is not submitted to SED, but should be used to guide the district to self-correct compliance issues.
- Data Analysis of Students Referred to the CSE (Attachment 3) – This chart is used to assist the district in determining if students of the identified racial/ethnic groups in all buildings within the district have had equal access to pre-referral interventions and that all students have been treated equally in the referral process. This chart will help the team determine patterns of over- or underutilization of pre-referral interventions.
- Individual Student Record Review (Attachment 4) – This form is used to guide the collection of information from individual student records (i.e., evaluations, IEPs). The School District Self-Review Monitoring Protocol (Attachment 2) should be referenced in determining what documentation in a student’s record must be reviewed and what information to look for in the review of that documentation. Using this form, for each regulatory citation for each individual student in the sample, a determination must be made whether the requirement was met or was not met or was not applicable to the individual student. One form should be used for each student record reviewed. Information from these forms is used to determine compliance.
- Focused Rubric to Evaluate the CSE Process (Attachment 5) – This form is used to focus on key decision points during the CSE meeting that affect determination of eligibility. The rubric provides information about how the CSE addresses these key points and if the CSE makes decisions consistently across the district. It may also provide insight into how the CSE decision-making process may or may not contribute to an over- or under-identification of students by race/ethnicity. All instances of “minimally addressed or no evidence” must be reported as noncompliance.
- Interview Questions to Identify Improvement Activities (Attachment 6) – This form is used to interview staff to identify issues relating to school-wide approaches and pre-referral supports and services, referrals of students to the CSE and individual evaluations of students with disabilities. The information learned from staff interviews should assist the team to identify improvement activities. Documentation of improvement activities must be noted in Attachment 2 for any issues needing improvement.
- Disproportionality Self-Review Monitoring Report (Attachment 7) – This form is a sample of the electronic report the school district will complete to document the results of the district’s self-review to SED. For each regulatory requirement, the district must document its findings of compliance or noncompliance.
Identification of Noncompliance
The team must carefully review all findings from all the documentation and evidence to make its determination of compliance for each regulatory requirement. Any absent or inappropriate policy, procedure or practice must be reported as a noncompliance issue. Please refer to these criteria below when making determinations of compliance/noncompliance.
When other required documentation from Attachments 3 and 5 provide evidence of noncompliance, the issue must be reported as “noncompliant.”
Report to the State Education Department (SED)
The only documentation to be submitted to SED is the Disproportionality Self-Review Monitoring Report (Attachment 7). This report must be submitted electronically. To complete this form, go to http://pd.nysed.gov and follow the directions for completion and submission. The district should NOT submit the other forms completed or the documentation reviewed during the self-review unless requested by SED.
Pursuant to the New York State Archives and Records Administration Records Retention and Disposition Schedule ED-1, the school district must maintain documentation of its review for a period of seven years. This documentation is subject to review by SED and, therefore, should be maintained in an easily retrievable and organized manner.
SED Review of Self-Review Monitoring Report
SED will review the Self-Review Monitoring Report and respond as follows:
- If the school district reports to SED that, based on its self-review, the district has not identified any compliance issues relating to its policies, procedures and practices, SED will arrange for a review of that determination.
- If the school district reports to SED that, based on its self-review, the district has one or more compliance issues relating to its policies, procedures and practices, SED will notify the district that it must correct all instances of noncompliance immediately, but not later than the prescribed due date contained in the district’s notification. Failure to correct the identified area(s) of noncompliance by the due date will result in enforcement action(s) from SED’s Office of Special Education.
Technical Assistance Resources
The following sources may assist you in addressing issues of disproportionate representation by race and ethnicity of students with disabilities receiving special education and related services.
- Technical Assistance Center on Disproportionality (TAC-D) - The Metropolitan Center for Urban Education at New York University http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/metrocenter/tacd.html
- Regional Special Education Technical Assistance Support Centers (RSE-TASC) https://www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/techassist/rsetasc/
- National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems
http://www.nccrest.org/publications.html
Questions
Questions regarding the Disproportionality Self-Review Monitoring Protocol may be directed to the Policy Unit at (518) 473-2878 or to the Special Education Quality Assurance Regional Offices at https://www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/quality/qaoffices.htm.
Attachment 1
Checklist to Complete the Disproportionality
Self-Review Monitoring Protocol
| Activity | Components of the Review |
| 1. School superintendent or designee selects the team members to conduct the self-review. |
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| 2. Conduct an initial meeting of the review team to discuss timelines for the review and the process to review and collect the required information. |
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| 3. Identify other sources of data and information that must be reviewed. | The self-review protocol is designed to respond to district-wide data. Depending on the depth of the district’s needs, the review team may find it necessary to review its building data to identify which buildings of the district are disproportionately over or under identifying students. |
| 4. Select a sample of student records to be reviewed. | For use with Attachment 3 – Data Analysis.
For each race/ethnicity group where the data indicated overrepresentation in special education: Compile a list of all students with disabilities referred to the CSE between January 1 of the previous academic year and January 31 of the current academic year (a 13 month period). These dates may be expanded in order to get an adequate number of records needed for representation.
For each race/ethnicity group where the data indicated under representation in special education: Compile a list of all students from the under-represented group without individualized education programs (IEPs) who scored a 2 or lower on the grades 3-8 English language arts and/or math assessment in the previous academic school year.
For use with Attachment 4 – Student Record Review. You may use the same student list compiled for use with Attachment 3, but add to the number of records reviewed if additional students are needed to reach the suggested sample. |
| 5. Complete the Self-Review Monitoring Protocol | Complete the self-review monitoring protocol. In order to complete the School District Self–Review Monitoring Protocol (Attachment 2), the district team must complete the activities contained in Attachments 3, 4 and 5 to obtain the information necessary to make decisions about compliance/noncompliance. In addition, the completion of staff interviews (Attachment 6) will assist the district in determining improvement activities. |
| 6. Complete the Data Analysis on Students Referred to the CSE | Complete Attachment 3. The information from this chart will be important for analysis of focus areas: I. School-wide Approaches and Pre-referral Interventions II. Referral of Students to the CSE IV. Eligibility Determinations It will also assist the district team in understanding if its pre-referral procedures and practices are contributing to disproportionate identification of students of certain racial and ethnic groups. |
| 7. Complete the Individual Student Record Review form for each student | Document findings for each student on the student record review form (Attachment 4). To complete this review, you will need to review student evaluations. A summary of individual findings needs to be developed. |
| 8. Complete the “Focused Rubric to Evaluate the CSE Process” | This rubric (Attachment 5) is designed to be used as a tool by the district to assess how the CSE process may affect the disproportionate representation of students of certain racial and ethnic groups receiving special education and related services. The rubric lists five key regulatory requirements affecting eligibility determinations. This tool can be used as an observation or group debriefing form. |
| 9. Conduct Staff Interviews | Interview questions that focus on pre-referral, referral to the CSE and evaluation are provided in Attachment 6. Conduct these interviews individually or in groups. Information from these interviews will assist in identifying improvement activities to address findings of noncompliance. |
| 10. Convene a self-review team meeting to discuss the findings |
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| 11. Analyze the data to identify the specific nature and extent of the areas in need of improvement | The team will question and probe data to determine relevant factors relating to disproportionality (e.g., consistent application of pre-referral intervention for students across all racial/ethnic groups and in all buildings within the district). On the Self-Review Monitoring Protocol (Attachment 2):
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| 12. Submit the complete Self-Review Monitoring Report to the Superintendent or Chief School Officer for approval | The Superintendent of Schools or Chief School Officer must review the completed self-review protocol to accept responsibility for the accuracy of the compliance report. |
| 13. Submit the Self-Review Monitoring Report to SED | Manner of Submission: Web-based electronic submission To submit this form, go to http://pd.nysed.gov The Superintendent of Schools or Chief School Officer of the school district must verify that the report provides accurate data and information. Print the report after submitting to SED for record-keeping purposes. |
Maintain all documentation used to complete the self-review for seven years. Records should be retained in an organized and easily retrievable format. All documentation is subject to SED review.
Attachment 2
School District Self-Review Monitoring Protocol
Indicator 9 – Disproportionate Identification of Students in Need of Special Education and Related Services by Race and Ethnicity
School District: ____________________________________
Form Completed By: Name/Title Phone Number E-mail
Date Review Completed:
Team Members Participating in the Self-Review:
_________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
For reviews required for significant discrepancy by race/ethnicity, indicate the names of community representatives from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Directions
SCHOOL DISTRICT SELF-REVIEW MONITORING PROTOCOL
This form (Attachment 2) establishes the protocol to conduct the self-review. The district must conduct a review of each focus area as identified on this protocol. Each section of the protocol provides the following information:
Four focus areas that must be reviewed:
I. School-wide Approaches and Pre-referral Interventions
II. Referral of Students to the Committee on Special Education (CSE)
III. Individual Evaluations of Students with Disabilities
IV. Eligibility Determinations
Citation and Issue: Regulatory requirements are identified that have been determined by the State Education Department (SED) to be most closely related to having significant disproportionality based on race and ethnicity in the identification of students with disabilities.
Documentation and Evidence: For each focus area, the protocol provides a specific list of documentation (information to “look at”) and evidence (information to “look for”) that must be considered in the district’s review of its policies, procedures and practices in the identified focus area.
Determination of Compliance Y (Yes) or N (No): A notation of Y indicates that the district is in compliance with the specific regulatory requirement. A notation of N indicates that the district is not in compliance with the regulatory requirement. The determination of compliance for some issues may be able to be made based solely on the review of individual student records. For other issues, the school district may need to consider other sources of documentation as well, as indicated on the protocol.
As applicable to each regulatory citation:
- Determination of Y (compliance):
- 100 percent of the total number of individual student records reviewed (Attachment 4) show evidence that a particular regulatory requirement has been met (i.e., marked “Y” or “NA”); and
- Other required documentation from Attachments 3 and 5 provide evidence of compliance.
- Determination of “N” (noncompliance):
- Fewer than 100 percent of the total number of records reviewed (Attachment 4) show evidence that a particular regulatory requirement has been met; or
- Other required documentation from Attachments 3 and 5 provide evidence of noncompliance.
- In cases where 100 percent of the total student records reviewed show evidence that a particular requirement has been met, but other evidence from Attachments 3 and/or 5 show findings of noncompliance.
The team should carefully review all findings from all the documentation and evidence to make its determination of compliance for each regulatory requirement.
Findings: This section is to be used to document the specific details of its findings that would identify issues of inappropriate policies, procedures and or practices.
As examples:
- “70 percent of the records reviewed showed evidence that assessments were administered in the student’s native language.”
- A review of the CSE decision-making process in five out of seven instances showed the report of the student’s evaluation was not discussed in determining if the student had a disability.
In these examples, findings of noncompliance must be made.
Corrective Actions and Improvement Activities: The team must identify any corrective actions necessary to correct identified compliance issues. The district should also note any improvement activities necessary in the identified focus area, whether related to a compliance finding or not, to address the school district’s significant disproportionality based on race and ethnicity in the identification of students with disabilities.
This form (Attachment 2) must be kept on file by the school district and is not submitted to SED unless requested.
I. School-wide Approaches and Pre-referral Interventions
The Board of Education’s written policy for school-wide approaches and pre-referral interventions will be reviewed to determine if it:
- provides equitable opportunities to provide supportive interventions that allow a student to be successful in the general education environment, and
- is implemented in a consistent manner for all students in all schools of the district.
| Citation (8 NYCRR) |
Issue | Determination of Compliance |
|
| Yes | No | ||
| §200.2(b)(7) | Each Board of Education adopts written policy that establishes administrative practices and procedures for implementing school-wide approaches, which may include a response to intervention process, and pre-referral interventions in order to remediate a student’s performance prior to referral for special education. | ||
| Documentation | Evidence | ||
Look at:
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Look for evidence of:
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Please note: The Data Analysis of Students Referred to the CSE (Attachment 3) must be completed to determine compliance/noncompliance for this focus area.
| Findings | |
| Description of specific details of noncompliance in policy, procedures and practices: | Corrective Action required:
Improvement activities recommended: |
II. Referral of Students to the CSE
The practices of the school district will be reviewed to determine if pre-referral interventions are consistently available to all students prior to referral to the CSE.
| Citation (8 NYCRR) |
Issue | Determination of Compliance |
|
| Yes | No | ||
| §200.4(a)(2)(iii) | A written request for referral submitted by persons other than the student or a judicial officer: | ||
| §200.4(a)(2)(iii)(a) |
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| §200.4(a)(2)(iii)(b) |
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| §200.4(a)(9) | The building administrator, upon receipt of a referral, may request a meeting with the parent and the student, if appropriate, to determine whether the student would benefit from additional general education support services as an alternative to special education. | ||
| Documentation | Evidence | ||
Look at:
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Please note: Individual Student Record Review (Attachment 4) must be completed to determine compliance/noncompliance for this focus area.
| Findings | |
| Description of specific details of noncompliance in policy, procedures and practices: | Corrective Action required: Improvement activities recommended: |
The following chart may be used to calculate the percentage of student records with evidence of compliance. Compile the results based on the results of each record reviewed for each citation (Attachment 4). Consider these results along with other required documentation in making a final compliance determination for this focus area.
| Summary of Individual Student Record Review | |||
| Citation | Total Number of Records Reviewed | Total Number of Records with a finding of Y or NA | Percentage of Records in Compliance |
| §200.4(a)(2)(iii)(a) | |||
| §200.4(a)(2)(iii)(b) | |||
| §200.4(a)(9) | |||
III. Individual Evaluations of Students with Disabilities
The district’s evaluation procedures and practices will be reviewed to determine if students of all racial and ethnic groups have received appropriate evaluations that include a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional, development and academic information about the student that may assist in determining whether the student is a student with a disability.
| Citation (8 NYCRR) |
Issue | Determination of Compliance |
|
| Yes | No | ||
| §200.4(b)(6)(i) | Assessments and other evaluation materials used to assess a student: | ||
| §200.4(b)(6)(i)(a) |
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| §200.4(b)(6)(i)(c) |
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| §200.4(b)(6)(i)(d) |
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| §200.4(b)(6)(vii) | The student is assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability, including, where appropriate, health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general intelligence, academic performance, vocational skills, communicative status and motor abilities. | ||
| §200.4(b)(6)(xvi) | Materials and procedures used to assess a student with limited English proficiency are selected and administered to ensure that they measure the extent to which the student has a disability and needs special education, rather than measure the student's English language skills. | ||
Please note: Individual Student Record Review (Attachment 4) must be completed to determine compliance/noncompliance for this focus area.
| Documentation | Evidence |
Look at:
|
Look for evidence of:
|
| Findings | |
| Description of specific details of noncompliance in policy, procedures and practices: | Corrective Action required: |
| Improvement activities recommended: | |
The following chart may be used to calculate the percentage of student records with evidence of compliance. Compile the results based on the results of each record reviewed for each citation (Attachment 4). Consider these results along with other required documentation in making a final compliance determination for this focus area.
| Summary of Individual Student Record Review | |||
| Citation | Total Number of Records Reviewed | Total Number of Records with a finding of Y or NA | Percentage of Records in Compliance |
| §200.4(b)(6)(i)(a) | |||
| §200.4(b)(6)(i)(c) | |||
| §200.4(b)(6)(i)(d) | |||
| §200.4(b)(6)(vii) | |||
| §200.4(b)(6)(xvi) | |||
IV. Eligibility Determinations
The district’s CSE process to make eligibility determinations will be evaluated to determine to what extent the:
- CSE considers if appropriate instruction and resources to promote learning prior to referral are available to students of different racial and ethnic groups;
- CSE’s recommendation is based on the student’s evaluations.
| Citation (8 NYCRR) |
Issue | Determination of Compliance |
|
| Yes | No | ||
| §200.4(c)(1) | In interpreting evaluation data for the purpose of determining if a student is a student with a disability, as defined in section 200.1(zz) (See Attachment 2A), and determining the educational needs of the student, the CSE and other qualified individuals draw upon information from a variety of sources, including aptitude and achievement tests, parent input, and teacher recommendations, as well as information about the student’s physical condition, social or cultural background, and adaptive behavior; and ensure that information obtained from all these sources is documented and carefully considered. | ||
| §200.4(c)(2) | A student is not determined eligible for special education if the determinant factor is: | ||
| §200.4(c)(2)(i) |
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| §200.4(c)(2)(ii) |
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| §200.4(c)(2)(iii) |
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| §200.4(d) | Prior to the development of the recommendation, the Committee ensures that the appropriateness of reading and math instruction and other resources of the general education program, including support services and academic intervention services, has been considered. | ||
| Documentation | Evidence | ||
Look at:
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Look for evidence of:
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Please note: Individual Student Record Review (Attachment 4) and Focused Rubric to Evaluate the CSE Process (Attachment 5) must be completed to determine compliance/noncompliance for this focus area.
| Findings | |
| Description of specific details of noncompliance in policy, procedures and practices: | Corrective Action required: Improvement activities recommended: |
The following chart may be used to calculate the percentage of student records with evidence of compliance. Compile the results based on the results of each record reviewed for each citation (Attachment 4). Consider these results along with other required documentation in making a final compliance determination for this focus area.
| Summary of Individual Student Record Review | |||
| Citation | Total Number of Records Reviewed | Total Number of Records with a finding of Y or NA | Percentage of Records in Compliance |
| §200.4(c)(1) | |||
| §200.4(c)(2)(i) | |||
| §200.4(c)(2)(ii) | |||
| §200.4(c)(2)(iii) | |||
| §200.4(d) | |||
Attachment 2A
Regulations of the Commissioner of Education
Section 200.1(zz) – Definitions of Disability Classifications
(zz) Student with a disability means a student with a disability as defined in section 4401(1) of the Education Law, who has not attained the age of 21 prior to September 1st and who is entitled to attend public schools pursuant to section 3202 of the Education Law and who, because of mental, physical or emotional reasons, has been identified as having a disability and who requires special services and programs approved by the department. The terms used in this definition are defined as follows:
- Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age 3, that adversely affects a student’s educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term does not apply if a student's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the student has an emotional disturbance as defined in paragraph (4) of this subdivision. A student who manifests the characteristics of autism after age 3 could be diagnosed as having autism if the criteria in this paragraph are otherwise satisfied.
- Deafness means a hearing impairment that is so severe that the student is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a student’s educational performance.
- Deaf-blindness means concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for students with deafness or students with blindness.
- Emotional disturbance means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a student’s educational performance:
- an inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors.
- an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers;
- inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances;
- a generally pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or
- a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to students who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance.
- Hearing impairment means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects the child's educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness in this section.
- Learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which manifests itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, as determined in accordance with section 200.4(j) of this Part. The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia and developmental aphasia. The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing or motor disabilities, of an intellectual disability, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage.
- Intellectual disability means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a student’s educational performance.
- Multiple disabilities means concomitant impairments (such as intellectual disability-blindness, intellectual disability-orthopedic impairment, etc.), the combination of which cause such severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in a special education program solely for one of the impairments. The term does not include deaf-blindness.
- Orthopedic impairment means a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a student's educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by congenital anomaly (e.g., clubfoot, absence of some member, etc.), impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc.), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputation, and fractures or burns which cause contractures).
- Other health-impairment means having limited strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment, that is due to chronic or acute health problems, including but not limited to a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, diabetes, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or Tourette syndrome, which adversely affects a student's educational performance.
- Speech or language impairment means a communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment or a voice impairment, that adversely affects a student's educational performance.
- Traumatic brain injury means an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force or by certain medical conditions such as stroke, encephalitis, aneurysm, anoxia or brain tumors with resulting impairments that adversely affect educational performance. The term includes open or closed head injuries or brain injuries from certain medical conditions resulting in mild, moderate or severe impairments in one or more areas, including cognition, language, memory, attention, reasoning, abstract thinking, judgment, problem solving, sensory, perceptual and motor abilities, psychosocial behavior, physical functions, information processing, and speech. The term does not include injuries that are congenital or caused by birth trauma.
- Visual impairment including blindness means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a student's educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.
Attachment 3
Data Analysis of Students Referred to the Committee on Special Education (CSE)(Pre-referral Interventions)
District:
School Year:
Person Completing Form:
Date Completed:
Purpose: Pre-referral interventions, when implemented in a consistent manner school-wide, have shown to reduce the number of students who may need special education and related services in order to progress within the general education curriculum. This chart is intended to assist the district in determining if students across all racial and ethnic groups exhibiting academic or behavioral needs have equal access to pre-referral interventions or if the district’s practices may be contributing to over-identification of students by race and ethnicity.
The information gathered and analyzed will assist the district team to determine compliance of the items identified in the focus area I. School-wide Approaches and Pre-referral Intervention.
Directions:
- Review student record information to complete the form.
- Analyze results to identify if pre-referral interventions are provided equitably by type, degree and frequency across all racial/ethnic groups, document the findings below and transfer the compliance findings to Attachment 2.
Summary of Findings
| Citation (8NYCRR) |
Issue | |
| §200.2(b)(7) | Each Board of Education adopts written policy that establishes administrative practices and procedures for implementing school-wide approaches, which may include a response to intervention process, and pre-referral interventions in order to remediate a student’s performance prior to referral for special education. | |
What to Look For Patterns of data show pre-referral interventions are provided equitably by type, degree and frequency across all racial/ethnic groups. |
Finding
__ Yes |
|
| Student | Building | Grade | Racial/Ethnic Group | Name and Title of Person Making Referral | Type(s)and Name(s) of Pre-referral Interventions (AIS, Counseling, Tutoring, Behavioral Management, Instructional Modification, Other) or Rationale for Direct Referral to CSE |
Duration (Number of Weeks) | Frequency Number of times per week) | Reason for CSE Referral (Behavior, Academic, Both, Other) | Found Eligible by CSE (Y/N) |
Developed by the Office for Civil Rights, modified with permission. Revised sections include: modified title and terminology and deletion of data on preschool and free or reduced price lunch.
Attachment 4
Individual Student Record Review Form
Directions:
This form is designed to assist the team in compiling documentation of compliance findings based on reviews of individual student records. It must be kept on file by the school district and is not submitted to the State Education Department (SED) unless requested.
A separate form must be used for each student record reviewed.
Each compliance issue must have a notation for each student record reviewed.
- Put “Y” (yes) in the column if the student’s record review shows evidence that the requirement has been met for this student.
- Put “N” (no) in the column if the student’s record review lacks evidence that this requirement has been met.
- Put “NA” (not applicable) in the column if the item is not applicable to this student. An item should be noted as NA if it clearly does not pertain to the individual student.
For example:
Documentation for the individual evaluation procedure that “materials and procedures used to assess a student with limited English proficiency are selected and administered to ensure they measure the extent to which the student has a disability and needs special education, rather than measure the student’s English language skills” (§200.4(b)(6)(xvi)) would be “NA” if the student does not fit into the category of limited English proficient. - In the “Source of Data/Comments” column, indicate the specific record information used to make a determination. Provide comments such as “the evaluation should have been in the native language, other than English, but was not.”
| School District: | Building: |
| Person Completing Form: | Date of Record Review: |
| Student Name/ID: | DOB: |
| School: | Race/Ethnicity: |
| Grade/Program: | Disability: |
Referral of Students to the Committee on Special Education (CSE)
| Citation (8 NYCRR) |
Y/ N/ NA |
Source of Data/Comments | |
| §200.4(a)(2)(iii) | A written request for a referral submitted by persons other than the student or a judicial officer: | ||
| §200.4(a)(2)(iii)(a) |
|
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| §200.4(a)(2)(iii)(b) |
|
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| §200.4(a)(9) | The building administrator, upon receipt of a referral, may request a meeting with the parent and the student, if appropriate, to determine whether the student would benefit from additional general education support services as an alternative to special education. |
Individual Evaluation
| Citation (8 NYCRR) |
Y/ N/ NA |
Source of Data/Comments | |
| §200.4(b)(6)(i) | Assessments and other evaluation materials used to assess a student under this section: | ||
| §200.4(b)(6)(i)(a) |
|
||
| §200.4(b)(6)(i)(c) |
|
||
| §200.4(b)(6)(i)(d) |
|
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| §200.4(b)(6)(vii) | The student is assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability, including, where appropriate, health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general intelligence, academic performance, vocational skills, communicative status and motor abilities. | ||
| §200.4(b)(6)(xvi) | Materials and procedures used to assess a student with limited English proficiency are selected and administered to ensure that they measure the extent to which the student has a disability and needs special education, rather than measure the student's English language skills. |
Eligibility Determinations
| Citation (8 NYCRR) |
Y/ N/ NA |
Source of Data/Comments | |
| §200.4(c)(1) | In interpreting evaluation data for the purpose of determining if a student is a student with a disability, as defined in section 200.1(zz) of the Regulations (See Attachment 2A), and determining the educational needs of the student, the CSE and other qualified individuals draw upon information from a variety of sources, including aptitude and achievement tests, parent input, and teacher recommendations, as well as information about the student’s physical condition, social or cultural background, and adaptive behavior; and ensure that information obtained from all these sources is documented and carefully considered. | ||
| §200.4(c)(2) | A student shall not determined eligible for special education if the determinant factor is: | ||
| §200.4(c)(2)(i) |
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| §200.4(c)(2)(ii) |
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| §200.4(c)(2)(iii) |
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| §200.4(d) | Prior to the development of the recommendation, the Committee shall ensure that the appropriateness of reading and math instruction and other resources of the general education program, including support services and academic intervention services, has been considered. |
Attachment 5
Focused Rubric to Evaluate the Committee on Special Education (CSE) Process
This rubric is designed to be used as a tool by the district to assess how the district’s CSE process may affect disproportionate representation of students of the identified racial and ethnic groups in special education. The rubric lists five key regulatory requirements affecting eligibility determinations. This rubric focuses on the district team’s attention to aspects of the CSE decision-making process that may affect the over representation of students when inappropriately or inadequately applied during the identification of students as students with disabilities.
The five key aspects of the CSE process include:
- For the purpose of determining if a student is a student with a disability and determining the educational needs of the student, the CSE and other qualified individuals draw upon information from a variety of sources and ensure that information obtained from all these sources is documented and carefully considered. [§200.4(c)(1)]
- A student is not determined eligible for special education if the determinant factor is lack of appropriate instruction in reading, including explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency (including oral reading skills) and reading comprehension strategies. [§200.4(c)(2)(i)]
- A student is not determined eligible for special education if the determinant factor is lack of appropriate instruction in math. [§200.4(c)(2)(ii)]
- A student is not determined eligible for special education if the determinant factor is limited English proficiency. [200.4(c)(2)(iii)]
- Prior to the development of the recommendation, the Committee ensures that the appropriateness of the resources of the general education program, including educationally related support services and academic intervention services, has been considered. [§200.4(d)]
Directions on how to use the Rubric
The rubric should be used as a debriefing form. The district team should identify the number of CSE meetings to evaluate and meet with CSE members outside of a CSE meeting to ask them to respond to each item and to rate to what extent the CSE addressed each area. All instances of “minimally addressed or no evidence” for each regulatory citation must be documented on the Self-Review Monitoring Protocol (Attachment 2) and the report to the State Education Department (SED) (Attachment 7) as noncompliance.
This activity will be addressed by the CSE members as a group, not as individuals. Consensus should be the goal, but if the CSE is not able to achieve consensus, that should be noted and the minority opinion should also be considered by the review team.
In addition to identifying compliance issues, this process should allow the district to make an overall quality assessment of each of the key areas that relate to eligibility determinations and will assist the team to identify improvement activities.
Focused Rubric to Evaluate the Committee on Special Education (CSE) Process
| Name of District: ________________________ ____ CSE ____ Subcommittee |
Location: ______________________ |
| Observers: | Date of Observation |
| Type of Meeting: __Initial __ Annual __ Reevaluation __ Other | |
| Student’s Preferred Language: | Parent’s Preferred Language: |
| Citation(8 NYCRR) | Not Applicable | Strong Focus | Generally Addressed | Minimally addressed or No Evidence | |
| §200.4(c)(1) | 1. In interpreting evaluation data for the purpose of determining if a student is a student with a disability, as defined in section 200.1(zz) of the Regulations (See Attachment 2A), and determining the educational needs of the student, the CSE and other qualified individuals draw upon information from a variety of sources, including aptitude and achievement tests, parent input, and teacher recommendations, as well as information about the student’s physical condition, social or cultural background, and adaptive behavior; and ensure that information obtained from all these sources is documented and carefully considered. | ||||
| §200.4(c)(2)(i) | 2. A student is not be determined eligible for special education if the determinant factor is lack of appropriate instruction in reading, including explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency (including oral reading skills) and reading comprehension strategies. | ||||
| §200.4(c)(2)(ii) | 3. A student is not determined eligible for special education if the determinant factor is lack of instruction in math. | ||||
| §200.4(c)(2)(iii) | 4. A student is not determined eligible for special education if the determinant factor is limited English proficiency. | ||||
| §200.4(d) | 5. Prior to the development of the recommendation, the Committee ensures that the appropriateness of the resources of the general education program, including educationally related support services and academic intervention services, has been considered. | ||||
Indicate what took place at the meeting and which of the five areas need improvement:
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Attachment 6
Staff Interviews to Identify Improvement Activities
The district will conduct interviews with administrators, general education teachers and evaluators of students with disabilities. How the interviews are conducted will be at the discretion of the district. For example, the:
- self-review team leader may choose to conduct all interviews; or
- self-review team members may also be involved in the interview process;
- interviews may be conducted individually or in small groups; or
- interviews may be conducted in various formats, including discussions at staff meetings;
- interview questions could be converted into a survey for a broader distribution; or
- team may develop additional interview questions.
The self-review team will determine who must be interviewed, but it is recommended that at least a representative sample of instructional staff and administrators from across the district be interviewed.
The information collected should be recorded and analyzed to provide information regarding the quality of the district’s pre-referral, referral and evaluation procedures as they relate to disproportionality of students with disabilities in special education. This information will assist the district in determining improvement strategies to address areas of noncompliance with State and federal laws and regulations identified through the self-review process.
The interview questions provide information to identify improvement activities for the following focus areas of the self-review protocol (Attachment 2):
I. School-wide Approaches to Pre-referral Interventions
II. Referral of Students to the CSE
III. Individual Evaluations of Students with Disabilities
| Staff Interview Questions | |||||||
| General Education Teacher | Administrator | Evaluator | School District:
Interviewer: Date(s): |
Interviewee(s): Title(s): | |||
| Disproportionality Focus Area: School-wide Approaches and Pre-referral Interventions | |||||||
| · | · | Describe the pre-referral system in your building. Describe your role in the process. | |||||
| · | Have you ever referred a student for pre-referral interventions? What were your criteria in doing so? | ||||||
| · | Did the pre-referral interventions provided address your concerns for the student you referred? If no, why not? | ||||||
| · | Do you feel you have sufficient support to implement the recommended pre-referral interventions for the student you referred? | ||||||
| · | · | Describe the effectiveness of the pre-referral intervention system in your building and the impact on referrals to CSE. | |||||
| · | · | Do you feel that all students have access to the pre-referral intervention system? | |||||
| · | Has information been provided to all instructional and administrative personnel on the range of general education support services available in the district? | ||||||
| Disproportionality Focus Area: Referral of Students to the CSE | |||||||
| · | · | Describe the process for how CSE referrals are handled in your building. Describe your role in the process. | |||||
| · | Have you ever referred a student to the CSE? What were your criteria in doing so? | ||||||
| · | Describe the information you are required to provide in making a CSE referral. | ||||||
| · | When do you consider requesting a meeting with the student’s parent to determine if general education supports and services could be implemented as an alternative to special education? | ||||||
| · | Describe what you do when you receive a CSE referral. | ||||||
| · | Describe the process to analyze and monitor CSE referrals school-wide. | ||||||
| · | Describe the process the school district uses to review data related to referrals to special education to detect any pattern that might indicate a problem with disproportionate referrals of students of a particular race or native language. | ||||||
| Disproportionality Focus Area: Individual Evaluation of Students with Disabilities | |||||||
| · | Describe the school district’s criteria for selecting and administering nondiscriminatory evaluation and assessment instruments (e.g., using trained personnel and using properly normed assessments). | ||||||
| · | Are assessments and other evaluation materials provided and administered in the student’s native language or other mode of communication in the form most likely to yield accurate information? If no, explain why. | ||||||
| · | Describe your level of involvement at the CSE meeting. | ||||||
Attachment 7
Disproportionality Self-Review Monitoring Report to the New York State Education Department
Directions:
- Go to http://pd.nysed.gov.
- Log on using the same user id and password as assigned for PD data submissions.
- Look under the school year in which you received the notification of significant disproportionality. Click on “Self-Review Checklists” and then click on: SR-9- Indicator 9, Disproportionality in Special Education.
- Follow the online directions to complete the form.
- Using documentation from the Monitoring Protocol (Attachment 2), click the box under the “Yes” or “No” column as appropriate for each regulatory requirement. All citations must have a compliance indication.
- Click on the Statement of Verification of Accuracy to complete your data submission. The statement is displayed below.
- Print a copy for your records.
Statement of Verification of Accuracy
I have reviewed the requirements for conducting the School District- Self Review Monitoring Protocol on Disproportionate Identification of Racial and Ethnic Groups for Special Education and Related Services (State Performance Plan Indicator 9) and I certify that the data submitted electronically to the State Education Department is accurate and complete and is based upon the findings from the monitoring protocol conducted by the school district. I further certify that any subsequent revisions to the data to indicate compliance are based on correction of those policies, practices and procedures and if appropriate, are based upon review of a sample of student records to verify compliance. In addition, I certify that I have publicly reported on the revisions to the policies, procedures and practices.
Directions: Transfer findings for each regulatory citation from the last column of Attachment 2, “Determination of Compliance.”
| Citation (8 NYCRR) |
Issue | Are the district’s policies, procedures and practices in compliance with federal and State laws and regulations? | |
| Yes | No | ||
| I. School-wide Approaches and Pre-referral Interventions | |||
| §200.2(b)(7) | Each Board of Education or Board of Trustees adopts written policy that establishes administrative practices and procedures for implementing school-wide approaches, which may include a response to intervention process, and pre-referral interventions in order to remediate a student’s performance prior to referral for special education. | | |
| II. Referral of Students to the CSE | |||
| §200.4(a)(2)(iii) | A written request for a referral submitted by persons other than the student or a judicial officer: | | |
| §200.4(a)(2)(iii)(a) |
|
| |
| §200.4(a)(2)(iii)(b) |
|
| |
| §200.4(a)(9) | The building administrator, upon receipt of a referral, may request a meeting with the parent and the student, if appropriate, to determine whether the student would benefit from additional general education support services as an alternative to special education. | | |
| III. Individual Evaluations of Students with Disabilities | |||
| §200.4(b)(6)(i) | Assessments and other evaluation materials used to assess a student under this section: | | |
| §200.4(b)(6)(i)(a) |
|
| |
| §200.4(b)(6)(i)(c) |
|
| |
| §200.4(b)(6)(i)(d) |
|
| |
| §200.4(b)(6)(vii) | The student is assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability, including, where appropriate, health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general intelligence, academic performance, vocational skills, communicative status and motor abilities. | | |
| §200.4(b)(6)(xvi) | Materials and procedures used to assess a student with limited English proficiency are selected and administered to ensure that they measure the extent to which the student has a disability and needs special education, rather than measure the student's English language skills. | | |
| IV. Eligibility Determinations | |||
| §200.4(c)(1) | In interpreting evaluation data for the purpose of determining if a student is a student with a disability, as defined in section 200.1(zz) of the Regulations (See Attachment 2A), and determining the educational needs of the student, the CSE and other qualified individuals draw upon information from a variety of sources, including aptitude and achievement tests, parent input, and teacher recommendations, as well as information about the student’s physical condition, social or cultural background, and adaptive behavior; and ensure that information obtained from all these sources is documented and carefully considered. | | |
| §200.4(c)(2) | A student is not determined eligible for special education if the determinant factor is: | | |
| §200.4(c)(2)(i) |
|
| |
| §200.4(c)(2)(ii) |
|
| |
| §200.4(c)(2)(iii) |
|
| |
| §200.4(d) | Prior to the development of the recommendation, the Committee ensures that the appropriateness of reading and math instruction and other resources of the general education program, including support services and academic intervention services, has been considered. | | |