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.  In addition, NYS consulted with the NYCDOE to identify NYC specific issues and needed improvement activities.

Indicator 12:  Percent of children referred by Part C prior to age 3, who are found eligible for Part B, and who have an IEP developed and implemented by their third birthdays.

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

Overview of Issue/Description of System or Process

The Department of Health (DOH) under the Early Intervention Program (Part C) provides services to children with disabilities, birth to two.  SED has responsibility for providing services to preschool children with disabilities, ages three to five (Part B).

SED and DOH have a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that focuses on activities that will result in a smooth transition from Part C to Part B services for children beginning at age three.  Early Intervention Officials (EIO) have responsibility under Public Health Law for notifying school districts (with parental consent) of an Early Intervention (EI) child’s potential eligibility for services under preschool special education and for arranging a transition conference at least 120 days before the child is first eligible for preschool programs and services. A parent may also refer the child directly to the CPSE. The transition conference is scheduled at least 90 days before the child is first eligible for preschool programs and services, and is attended by the EIO, the service coordinator, the parent(s) and the chairperson of the CPSE. The purpose of the transition conference is to decide whether the child should be referred to preschool special education for determination of eligibility, to review program options available to the child and family, and to develop a transition plan. This process ensures continuity of services for the child. The timely referral and evaluation of children to preschool special education and the provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the LRE by school districts are reviewed under the SEQA preschool focused monitoring review process.

The evaluation and eligibility determination of a preschool student must be made within 30 school days of receipt of the parent's consent to evaluation.   The CPSE provides the parent with a list of approved programs that have a multidisciplinary evaluation component.  The parent selects the approved evaluation program to conduct the individual evaluation of his or her child and the board of education arranges for the evaluation by the service provider selected by the parent. In addition, with the consent of the parents, approved evaluators and CPSEs must be provided with the most recent evaluation report for a child in transition from programs and services provided pursuant to title two-a of article 25 of the Public Health Law.

Upon receipt of the recommendation of the CPSE, the board of education must arrange for the preschool student with a disability to receive such programs and services commencing with the July, September or January starting date for the approved program, unless such services are recommended by the CPSE less than 30 school days prior to, or after, the appropriate starting date selected for such preschool student, in which case, the IEP must be implemented no later than 30 school days from the recommendation of the CPSE.

Baseline Data for FFY 2004 (2004-2005)
 

Plan to collect the data

SED has revised its PD data collection forms to collect data from a representative sample of school districts during the 2005-06 school year (July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006) on the percent of children referred by Early Intervention (IDEA, Part C) prior to age three, who are found eligible for preschool programs and/or services under IDEA, Part B, and who have an IEP developed and implemented by their third birthdays.  NYS will use these data to identify noncompliance and establish corrective actions for those school districts in which the data indicates less than 100% of children referred by Part C prior to age 3, who are found eligible for Part B, have an IEP developed and implemented by their third birthdays.

To collect baseline data on the transition of children from early intervention (Part C of IDEA) to preschool special education programs and/or services (Part B of IDEA), the PD form will direct the school districts to report the following information:

• The numbers of children referred from Part C (Early Intervention) to Part B for preschool special education programs and/or services prior to the age of 3 who were found eligible and not eligible on or before age three and after the age of 3.  Of this number, how many had their IEPs developed and implemented on or before the age of 3 and after the age of 3.

• The reasons for more referrals for evaluation than initial eligibility determinations (e.g., parents withdrew consent; student moved out of the district before the evaluation was completed; student awaiting an evaluation; other reasons).

• The reasons for delays in initial eligibility determinations (e.g., an approved evaluator was not available to provide the evaluation in a timely manner; the parents refused or repeatedly failed to make the child available for the evaluation; the parents canceled the scheduled evaluation and/or selected another approved evaluator; the child transferred to the district after the evaluation period began in a previous school district and the parents and district agreed to an extended time period to complete the evaluation; other reasons).

• The reasons for delays in developing and implementing children’s IEPs prior to the children’s third birthdays (e.g., parents chose to continue their child in the Early Intervention program after the child became age three; parents chose not to enroll their child in the recommended program; programs and/or services were not available; child moved out of the district prior to the child’s third birthday; other reason).

• The number of days of delay in developing and implementing IEPs by a preschool child’s third birthday (1-10 days; 11-20 days; 21-30 days; more than 30 days).

Sampling methodology

Sampling will be used to establish the 2005-06 baseline for this indicator.  One-sixth of the school districts in NYS will be randomly selected.  This represents approximately 120 school districts each year.  The NYC School District will be included in the sample each year.  It is the only school district in the State with a total enrollment of 50,000 or more students.

NYS has distributed all school districts among six statewide representative samples. These six groups of school districts were tested with Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and there was no statistical difference among the six groups of school districts on the population variables described in Attachment 2.  All school districts will have a choice of reporting data on all eligible students for this indicator or they may submit data on a randomly selected sample of minimum number of students using the sampling guidelines provided below. 

Measurable and rigorous targets

Improvement Activities/Timelines/Resources