The Ohio Operating Standards for Ohio Educational Agencies Serving Children with Disabilities ("Operating Standards") requires traditional public schools and chartered community schools to adopt written policies and procedures regarding the education of children with disabilities (For example, see 3301-51-02(A) of the Operating Standards). In addition, the Operating Standards allows districts to choose which method they will use to determine the existence of a specific learning disability and requires districts to develop written procedures for the implementation of their chosen method (3301-51-06(H)(3)(f) of the Operating Standards) ... (more details)

In response to requests from the field, ODE/OEC announces the availability of Optional forms on the www.edresourcesohio.org Web site. The use of these forms is not required; districts and schools can continue to use the optional forms now being used. Those choosing to use any of the nine forms listed can use the forms as they are presented or the forms can be edited to include the name of the district or school or to make other changes by clicking where it says "Click here to view the tutorial for editing the content of the optional forms." Clicking on the forms listed will take users directly to the form chosen. All the forms can also be found on the left side of the home page of www.edresourcesohio.org by clicking on Optional Forms ... (more details)

The Ohio Department of Education, Office for Exceptional Children, (ODE/OEC), announces the availability of the following:

Updates to the Guidance Document
ODE/OEC has reviewed and updated the Guidance Document to ensure that it reflects current policies. Updates appear in blue in the Guidance Document. A listing of the updates is available by clicking here and the listing is also available in the notice preceding the Table of Contents of the Guidance Document. The Prior Written Notice Chart has been revised to reflect the updates in the Guidance Document. The Guidance Document will continue to be reviewed on a regular basis.

IEP, ETR & SP Annotations
ODE/OEC has reviewed and updated the annotations for the IEP, ETR and SP forms. Updates are noted in bold and underlined in the annotations dated June 2009, and posted at www.edresourcesohio.org. A description of some of the additions and deletions is available by clicking here.

Question & Answer Document
Questions received from the field as of June 2009 and answered by ODE/OEC are available by clicking here. The document is also available at the end of the Index for the Guidance Document at www.edresourcesohio.org and under Ohio Resources. Questions and answers are related to the ETR, IEP, SP, EMIS, Nonpublic and Other.

Kathe Shelby, Director of the Office for Exceptional Children, announces the updated Guidance Document, the standards-based IEP form, the revised ETR form, the new Services Plan form, and the annotations for each of the forms. (view video)

The district allocations for IDEA Part B ARRA Stimulus and IDEA Part B FY2010 allocations are now posted on the ODE Web site. The allocations are not loaded into the CCIP funding applications (this is expected to occur by June 1st) but for planning purposes the allocations can be viewed at links below.

IDEA Part-B ARRA Stimulus Use of Funds document and district IDEA Part-B IDEA Stimulus allocations may be viewed by clicking on the following link and selecting the appropriate link within the "New Items" box on the page: http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=520.

FY 2010 IDEA Part B district allocations may be viewed here: http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=3&TopicRelationID=973&ContentID=11621&Content=67710.

The Ohio Department of Education is the lead state in a multi-state consortium with Minnesota, Oregon and the American Institutes for Research (AIR) that received a federal grant to develop an Alternate Assessment based on Modified Achievement Standards (AA-MAS or 2% Modified Assessment). The Office of Assessment and Office for Exceptional Children is seeking input from Ohio educators during the development of this new assessment. General education teachers and intervention specialists are now being recruited to attend an Item Writing Meeting July 8-9, 2009 in Columbus, Ohio. The purpose of this meeting is to create and revise test questions for reading and mathematics in grades 5-8 and OGT. The test questions will be field tested in Ohio schools in March 2010. Please contact Wendy Stoica Office of Assessment at 614.466.0223 or wendy.stoica@ode.state.oh.us for more information or to indicate your interest to participate.

News from the ODE: The Ohio Department of Education has created a website called the "Stimulus Update" to provide information about the disbursement of federal education stimulus funds provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The web site will provide information about how to apply for the competitive grants; federal and state guidelines for using the funds; allocations for school districts and community schools; and accountability requirements for school districts and community schools. According to information released by the US Department of Education, accountability for the stimulus funds will be documented through the Comprehensive Continuous Improvement Plan (CCIP) for school districts and schools. ... (more details)

Ohio's Special Education Leadership Conference will be held Oct. 1 & 2, 2009 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center!