Archived Resources

IDEA requires that states publicly report Section 618 data. To assist SEA special education directors and data managers in meeting these requirements, IDC is developing a TA tool to simplify regulatory language and requirements into one document that includes process tips and pitfalls. The presentation highlighted existing practice across the country and provided opportunity for attendees to review the current draft of the proposed TA tool.

IDC's Communication and Dissemination team presented an interactive overview of strategies IDC uses to engage stakeholders in learning about issues related to high-quality IDEA data. The team discussed IDC's website for public access to information about tools and products and TA resources, access to IDC's learning communities for registered users, communicating through IDC's Part B and Part C listserves, and networking through social media.

This webinar highlighted the IDEA state reporting requirements for early childhood transitions for both Part C and Part B, found in the SPP/APR Part C Indicator 8 and Part B Indicators 11 and 12. Participants shared resources related to transition, data collection, and reporting, as well as the use of both Part C and Part B data to facilitate high quality transitions. North Dakota's Part C coordinator and data manager and Montana's 619 coordinator and data manager described how their states collect and use transition data to ensure smooth transitions for all young children as they turn three and move from early intervention services to preschool 619 services.

This matrix is both a standalone product and the fourth section of the IDEA Data Center Part C Exiting Data Toolkit. It contains scenarios for each of the 10 exiting categories. The Part C Exiting Data Toolkit is designed to assist states in reporting high-quality Part C exiting data, required under Section 618 of IDEA. The remaining three sections in the Part C Exiting Data Toolkit are: Part C Exiting Reasons and Categories (Section 1); General Challenges and Potential Solutions (Section 2, Part 1); Specific Challenges, Potential Solutions, and Variation (Section 2, Part 2); and Data Check Patterns and Additional Data Check Patterns to Ensure Non-Duplicated Counts of All Eligible Exiting Children (Section 3).

The webinar featured the purpose and history of the Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, its current organization and content, links to the report and its data sources, and suggestions for how participants can use the report. The webinar was designed so that participants would have a greater understanding of why it is important to work to improve the quality of IDEA-related data by seeing how the U.S. Department of Education uses IDEA data to meet an annual statutory requirement to report to Congress;. In addition, it was designed to help participants become familiar with a key resource on state and national IDEA data and related information and prompt them to think about how they might use the resource.

During this interactive workshop, the IDC Evaluation Team helped participants find new ways to measure infrastructure changes and build on what is already being done in the state with data and evaluation. Participants also learned about new resources for evaluating infrastructure changes. For the 2016 Conference on Improving Data, Improving Outcomes held August 15-17, the content of this workshop was updated as Evaluating Infrastructure Changes: Tracking Improvement Strategies and Identifying Outcomes, along with an updated handout and resource guide.

Presenters and participants discussed strategies that SEAs can use to help LEAs in collecting section 618 and other state-required data that is of high-quality. They explored IDC’s Knowledge Lab that lists various resources around different data collections. The Knowledge Lab contains many resources designed to help SEAs and LEAs gather, collect, validate, and report high-quality data. The discussion allowed for state input on how the state uses or can use these resources.