Results from Profiled Data under IDEA State Performance Plan (SPP) Determinations

INFORMATIONAL LETTER: 51
POLICY CODE: IHBA

TO: Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents, Principals, Special Education Directors, and School Board Chairs, CDS Board Chairs, CDS Site Directors
FROM: Susan A. Gendron, Commissioner of Education
DATE: January 2, 2009
RE: School Administrative Unit (SAU), including CDS sites: Results from Profiled Data under IDEA State Performance Plan (SPP) Determinations

Under the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) amendments, Section 616, each State has a State Performance Plan (SPP) that evaluates the State’s efforts to implement the requirements and purposes of IDEA and describes how the State will implement the requirements of IDEA and the performance of students with disabilities on the IDEA, SPP indicators.

Based on an analysis of each State’s data, the federal Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) classifies each State’s performance into one of four incremental levels of determination: 1) meets the requirements of IDEA; 2) needs technical assistance to meet the requirements of IDEA; 3) needs intervention to meet the requirements of IDEA; or 4) needs substantial intervention to meet the requirements of IDEA. Maine’s status for 2008-09 was determined to be Level 2 (“needs technical assistance”); this is Maine’s second year at that level.

To determine the State’s status in meeting the requirements, OSEP uses: information provided in the State’s Annual Performance Report (APR) and SPP; other State-reported data, information obtained through monitoring visits, and other public information relative to each local educational agency (SAU).

As part of its IDEA obligations, the Department must assess the compliance of all SAUs using the same four levels used by OSEP (listed above) when making State determinations of SAUs. This process requires that Maine’s Office of Special Services review SAU performance against targets in the SPP, determine if each SAU meets the requirements of IDEA, inform each SAU of its determination, and identify resources for technical assistance to the SAUs that have not met the targets.

The SAU performance profiles (without determinations) are now on the website at http://www.maine.gov/education/speced/spp/profiles.html . Congratulations to the SAUs that have met the requirements based on data from 2006-07; they will be noted on the website.

The performance profiles for the CDS Sites will be made public by early January 2009.

The Department’s Office of Special Services has established the State Performance Plan Indicator Response and Improvement Team (SPPIRIT) to engage SAUs in dialogue regarding their SPP Performance Profile indicator levels. This includes providing information that further explains the target to be achieved and methods for achieving that target, some of which are:

Conduct a self-assessment with a team chosen by the SAU;
Determine the needs for professional development or technical assistance based on the performance profile indicators that have not met the target;
Identify and categorize available professional development and technical assistance resources to use for an improvement plan; and
Finalize an improvement plan that will be in place until receipt of the new SAU performance profile.

If you need assistance to begin this process, please contact Debrajean Scheibel by email: debrajean.scheibel@maine.gov.