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2009/2010
Special Education Program
School Allocation
Workplan & Reporting Handbook
for First Nation Schools
Special Education Program (SEP)
#113 – 100 Park Royal South
West Vancouver, BC V7T 1A2
Tel: (604)925-6087
Toll Free 1-877-422-3672
Fax: (604) 925-6097
The First Nations Schools Association (FNSA) and the First Nations
Education Steering Committee (FNESC) will be responsible for
allocating the Special Education Funding from the Department of
Indian Affairs for First Nations Schools.
This handbook outlines the information for First Nations schools to
access the Special Education Program Funding (SEP) allocated to
them.
The amount of funding allocated to each First Nations school is
described in a letter sent directly to each school.
Further information about the Special Education Program Funding is
available by contacting the FNSA/FNESC office at (604) 925-6087 or
1-877-422-3672.
Program Summary
Funding available for school allocations: $7,427,290
Funding accessed through: Workplan
Deadline for Workplan: October 9, 2009
Special Education Interim Report February 19, 2010
Deadline for Final Report: June 18, 2010
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Application Changes
The student/services data collection component of the SEP workplan now
includes student identifiers (IR number). At the 2009 FNSA AGM, the FNSA
membership passed a motion supporting the collection of SEP data through a
modified workplan process that is consistent with new INAC SEP reporting
requirements. In addition, the data collected are intended to match the students
reported in the special education column on the nominal roll.
The application now serves two purposes: an application process to access SEP
funding and the collection of SEP incidence rates of special needs. Each section
will be described separately.
Workplan Section A: SEP Data Collection
To complete this task you need:
1. The Nominal Roll form to obtain student identifier numbers
2. Access to your teaching staff who can assist in identifying special
education needs and services.
3. A list of the special needs students attending your school that have
been assessed/identified by specialists and their assessment reports.
4. A list of the other students in your school who have significant special
education needs but who have not been identified as special needs
students by a specialist. Rather, these students have been identified
using classroom-based assessments by school staff.
5. IEPs that have been developed for students with special needs.
6. The Special Needs Screening Template (included with the workplan).
7. Sections B and C of your Special Education Workplan.
Instructions
Part I
Step 1: For each student identified as having one of the special needs listed
in Part I, indicate their student identifier number in the left column.
Step 2: Using the screening template on pages 4 and 5 as a guide,
indicate which special need applies to each student by checking (√) the
box(es) indicating whether the student was assessed by a specialist,
assessed by school staff, or referred for assessment. This will indicate
the applicable special needs as well as the method of identification. If a
special need is not applicable to the student, do not check any of
the boxes. (the assessment report, IEP, and teacher advice should assist in
completing Step 2).
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Student Identifier Number
(from nominal roll form)
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff Persistent Learning Disability
□ referred □ referred □ referred
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist
Communication
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff
Disorders
□ referred □ referred □ referred
Part II
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist
Fetal Alcohol
year.
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff
Spectrum Disorder
□ referred □ referred □ referred
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff Mod F for female.
□ referred □ referred □ referred Intellectual
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist Disability
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff Sev
□ referred □ referred □ referred
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff Mod
□ referred □ referred □ referred
Acting Out
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff Sev
□ referred □ referred □ referred
students for both Parts I and II.
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist
developed, check (√) In Progress.
additional forms from www.fnsa.ca
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff Mod
□ referred □ referred □ referred
Behaviour Disorders
Internalizing
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff Sev
□ referred □ referred □ referred
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff Mod
□ referred □ referred □ referred Autism
Spectrum Disorder
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff Sev
□ referred □ referred □ referred
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff Mod
□ referred □ referred □ referred Physical
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist Disability
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff Sev
□ referred □ referred □ referred
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff
Student identifier number in the left column. There should be the same
Mod
□ referred □ referred □ referred
Step 5: For each student, indicate the grade they are enrolled in (not the
Hearing
grade level they are working at). If they are an adult student, check (√) Y.
(√) Y. If they do not have an IEP in place, check (√) N. If the IEP is being
were provided last year, if they were adequate, and if they are required this
Step 3: For each student identified in Part I, complete Part II. Once again,
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist Impairment
Step 7: For each of the eight services listed, check (√) Y or N if the services
Step 4: For each student, indicate their gender by indicating M for male and
Step 6: If the student has an Individual Education Plan (IEP) in place, check
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff Sev
If you require more space, please make photocopies of the form, or download
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□ referred □ referred □ referred
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff Mod
□ referred □ referred □ referred Vision
□ id by specialist □ id by specialist □ id by specialist Impairment
□ id by staff □ id by staff □ id by staff Sev
□ referred □ referred □ referred
Link to Nominal Roll
At the 2008 FNSA AGM, the FNSA membership passed a motion supporting that
schools link the special education data collected by FNESC/FNSA described in
the above section to the INAC nominal roll.
INAC Nominal Roll
For each student listed on the Special Education Data Collection Form (section A
of the workplan), ensure that a 1 is put in the special education column on the
nominal roll form shown above.
All other students listed on the nominal roll that do not have special needs are
listed as a 4 in the special education column of the nominal roll.
On the bottom of the first page of the workplan, you are asked to sign that you
have ensured that the students listed on the data collection form match what is
reported on the nominal roll form.
Workplan Sections B and C: Accessing SEP Funding
Accessing Funding
Since this funding allocation is based on a predetermined formula, formal
proposals are not required to access funds. However, the FNSA requires that
requests for funding be submitted in the form of a workplan. The format for
the workplan can be downloaded from the FNSA website (www.fnsa.ca) or filled
out manually on the workplan provided. Workplans can be mailed or faxed (fax:
604-925-6097) or emailed (curtism@fnesc.ca).
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Description
The Special Education Program Funding is intended to support activities related
to High Cost special education in First Nations schools. Activities for this
initiative will fit into the following categories:
1. Student Assessment
2. Early Intervention Programs/Activities
3. Individual Student or Small Group Programs/Services
4. School Wide or Large Group Programs/Services
5. Professional Development
Funding available to First Nations schools for special education initiatives is
being distributed directly to schools using a formula that provides a “base plus
per capita” amount. The funding available to your school is outlined in the
allocation letter.
A description of the five categories and sample activities are provided in this
handbook. Please feel free to adapt or modify the suggestions to meet your
needs, or to combine several ideas, depending on the level of funding available.
We also encourage you to combine funding from other sources and/or form
partnerships with other communities, if appropriate, to increase the amount of
money available for your initiative.
Please feel free to combine funding available in order to meet the needs of your
school. For example, New Paths for Communities funding can be used in
conjunction with the Special Education funding.
Workplan Instructions
Sections B: SEP Activity Descriptions. Number each activity; place a check
mark on the category (please check only one); and fill in the number of students,
outcomes, performance indicators and data source columns. Descriptions and
definitions of some of the terms in these sections are explained in the following
section of the handbook. Photocopy additional pages if needed. Please make
sure to provide a description of your initiatives in the space provided.
Section C: SEP Program Budget A budget must be completed for each
activity. Please also complete the summary budget table at the bottom of this
section.
Funding Process
First Nations schools will be provided with 75% of their allotted funds upon
receipt and approval of their workplan. The final 25% will be forwarded to
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schools upon submission of the Special Education Program Interim
Reporting Form.
Workplan Deadline
October 9, 2009 by 4:30 pm
Any schools that do not submit a workplan will forfeit this year‟s funding. Any
forfeited funds will be reallocated to schools that submitted workplans. Schools
are welcome to apply for their allocations prior to this date. The October
deadline is given for schools that require some additional time at the beginning of
the school year.
Reporting Requirements
The Special Education Interim report is due February 19, 2010
Final reports on the SEP Workplan activities are due by June 18, 2010.
The timely submission of final reports is crucial to the continued success
of FNSA/FNESC activities. Information provided through these reports is used
to support submissions for future funding. Without evidence of program success,
the FNSA and FNESC are extremely limited in our ability to access additional
funding for First Nations.
Please ensure that reports are submitted by the deadline shown above.
Schools that do not submit final reports will have their 2010/2011
allocations reduced by 25%.
At the 2006 SEP regional sessions, the concept of using the Individual Education
Plan (IEP) as way to document student growth was presented to participants.
Feedback from the sessions indicated that the following charts were a logical
way to collect the needed data and that this process would not create a heavy
reporting burden for school staff. Although there is no collection of specific goals
and achievements, the process of setting goals, the tools for measuring their
progress and the documentation of their completion will provide evidence that
progress is being made. FNESC/FNSA will then further aggregate all the school
data and include the summary in the final report to INAC in July.
Student IEP Summary Chart
Although this is not part of the SEP workplan, information pertaining to student
IEPs will be requested as part of the final report. The first chart is intended to be
a summary sheet that will be part of each IEP. It is a way to collect the
information so that it can be easily aggregated for each school in June. It is
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intended to summarize the IEP to make the year end school summary easier to
complete.
Some examples of goal areas:
Academic – Literacy Academic – Numeracy
Behaviour Social Emotional
Physical Language/Communication
Life Skills
If a student does not achieve a goal/goals on their IEP, then the date of goal
completion column would be shown as “did not complete” for that particular goal.
Student IEP Summary Chart
Goal Area Tool for Measuring Progress Date of Goal Completion
Student IEP Summary Chart Example
Goal Area Tool for Measuring Progress Date of Goal Completion
Academic (Reading) PM Benchmarks February 2008
Behaviour Attendance chart/graph April 2008
School Aggregate IEP Chart
The second chart is the school aggregate chart and will now be part of the SEP
final report that is submitted in June. Data from IEP summary chart (above) will
be summarized in the table below. Each broad goal area will be listed along with
the number of goals set, number of goals achieved and the measurement tools
used for each goal area.
School Aggregate IEP Chart
Goal Area Number of Goals Number of Goals Measurement Tools Used
Set Achieved
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Descriptions of Categories
&
Program/Service Examples
This section is intended to explain the categories provided for Special Education
Program funding and give some examples of activities and services that would
fall within each category.
Student Assessment
Student assessments in this category are meant to include individual
assessments to determine student difficulties and school wide assessments
which are meant to provide data for longitudinal studies and give feedback to
schools on program implementation.
o Psychoeducational assessment costs: assessor fees, travel, meals
and accommodation costs
o Travel, meals and accommodation costs to take a student to a location
for a specialized test/assessment
o Purchase of testing materials to be administered by school staff e.g.
Gates MacGinitie, Canadian test of Basic Skills, Canadian
Achievement Test, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test
o The costs associated with providing in-school assessments e.g.
teacher on call costs if a staff member is assessing students
o Purchase of screening tools e.g. FAS/E screening tool, phonological
awareness screen
o Other costs associated with assessments/screening
Early Intervention Programs/Activities
Early intervention programs or activities are meant to address social and
educational issues before the difficulties are manifested in the school
environment. The integration of services is beneficial to the students and the
schools. We encourage schools to explore other funding avenues such as Head
Start, Brighter Futures and childcare dollars from Human Resources
Development Canada (HRDC).
o Community awareness and prevention programs/events e.g.
symposium on FASD
o Early reading intervention programs
o Oral language development programs/services
o Parent engagement in school activities
o Drug and alcohol awareness programs for youth
o Early numeracy activities/programs
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o Early intervention and support for potential behaviour disorder students
o Programs that promote emotional literacy
Individual Student or Small Group Programs/Services
This category is intended to address the needs of individual students requiring
specialized services, or small groups of fewer than 10 students for whom
specialized instruction or programs may be provided.
o Hiring of staff to work with high needs students: e.g. attendants,
teacher assistants
o Hiring of a special education teacher or learning assistance teacher to
work with individual or small groups of students.
o Purchasing of materials/programs to address the individual needs of
students or small groups e.g. reading materials, social skills
curriculum, behaviour support programs
o Purchase of augmentative devices, FM system and/or closed
captioned materials for hearing impaired student (theoretically covered
by Health)
o Purchase of specialized equipment not funded by health
o Speech and language pathology services
o Occupational therapy
o Counseling
o Art therapy
School Wide or Large Group Programs/Services
This category is intended to include those programs/services provided to the
school as a whole or to group of 10 or more students. The reason for this
approach is to encourage the establishment of „best practices‟ that address the
high occurring special needs (e.g. learning disabilities and behaviour disorders)
as well as the general school population.
o Implementation of school-wide research-based reading program (this
type of approach, although targeting all students, specifically benefits
certain special needs students by enabling them to function
appropriately in a classroom environment – i.e. reduction of behaviour
issues)
o Implementation of a school wide behaviour support
program/philosophy e.g. Effective Behaviour Support
o School bully proofing or violence reduction activities
o Purchase of curriculum/materials for large groups of students e.g. high
interest, low vocabulary books
o Hiring of special education teacher or learning assistance teacher to
work with large groups of students with special needs
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Professional Development
This category includes professional development activities for school staff i.e.
teachers, teacher assistants, volunteers, as well in-services and support activities
for parents.
o Attendance at conferences related to special education
o Post-secondary courses related to special education (university or
college) tuition, travel and accommodation costs if applicable
o Consultant fees for the provision of community-based workshops or
training: fees, travel, accommodation
o Purchase of training materials
o Parent and/or community education events or training
o Honorariums for the inclusion of elders in community events
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Data Collection and Reporting Procedures
In order to show accountability and justify ongoing funding, it is imperative that
schools use methods of measuring outcomes and are diligent in the collection,
recording and reporting of data. Some of the headings on the workplan and
reporting form charts may be confusing, so definitions and examples are being
provided in order to clarify the terms. This list is by no means complete, so feel
free to add to it or change it to meet the needs of your school.
Output:
An output is essentially the activity, program or service that is provided or
implemented. In other words, what the funding was used for.
Examples
Program materials purchased
Training costs (professional development)
Assessment materials
Assessment costs
Community events
Professional services i.e. speech and language
Outcomes:
Outcomes are the consequences or results of the activity, program or service
provided. They can be immediate (short term), intermediate, or long term. Early
intervention activities, for example, will most likely have long-term outcomes
expected.
Examples
Improved reading levels
Improved social interaction with peers
Increased awareness of a certain topic due to training
Increased knowledge of Individual Education Plans
Increase in the number of books available to students
Improved math scores
Improved classroom management
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Sample Outcomes from School SEP final reports:
Community support for FASD programs
Coordinated plan for service delivery
Decrease in behaviour problems
Fine/Gross motor skill development
Identify best teaching practices
Improved academic performance
Improved anger management
Improved attendance
Improved classroom management
Improved communication
Improved emotional literacy
Improved language skills
Improved life skills
Improved listening skills
Improved literacy skills
Improved social interaction with peers
Improved social skills
Improved student access
Improved word recognition
Increased comprehension
Increase support for staff/students
Increased awareness of topic area
Increased independence
Increased motivation
Increased opportunities for communication
Increased opportunities for inclusion
Increased participation
Increased readiness to learn
Increased reading levels
Increased resources
Staff more knowledgeable of IEP's
Staff more knowledgeable of subject area
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Performance Indicators
A performance indicator is basically „the proof‟ that shows you achieved the
results. These usually take the form of something measurable such as test
scores (quantitative), but can also be anecdotal (qualitative) in some cases.
Examples
Number of assessments done
Improved attendance (provide percentage/number)
Decrease in office referrals (provide
percentage/number)
Improved behaviour reports from parents/staff
Informal or standardized test scores
Improvements in report cards
Number of Individual Education Plans
Attendance of staff/community members at training
event
Number/amount of materials purchased
Decrease in referrals to other agencies i.e.
counseling, treatment programs
Increase in the number of grade 12 graduates
Sample Performance Indicators from School SEP Final reports:
Attainment of goals
Decreased bullying
Decrease in office referrals
Decrease in referrals to outside agencies
Improved writing levels
Improved attendance
Improved concentration
Improved language skills
Improved reading
Improved self-esteem
Improved speech
Improved standardized test scores
Improved team building
Improvement in attitude
Improvement in behaviour
Improvements in all academic areas
Improvements in reports from parents
Increase in the # of IEP's
Increase in the number of assessments
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Increase literacy skills
Increased parental involvement
Increased participation
More intrinsic motivation
More involvement in class discussions
More teaching strategies for classroom teachers
Student engages in play with peers
Students attain goals set by SLP
Students involved in regular classroom activities
Students reading more
Successful suicide interventions
Successful completion of courses
Tests show improvements in reading levels
Workshop attendance
Data Source/Collection Method
This section refers to how and from where the data was obtained. Good record
keeping is essential in order to have useable data. Refer to the FNESC/FNSA
Record Keeping Handbook for help in this area, or contact Lisa Ellis at the toll
free line for support (1-877-547-1919).
Examples
Workshop registration sign in numbers
School attendance records
CTBS test scores
Parent surveys
Report cards
School office referral database
School records: number of psychological
assessments done
Sample Data Source/Collection Methods from School SEP Final Reports:
Alberta Reading Diagnostic
Anecdotal Records
Art Therapist Report
ASSET
Attendance Records
BC Performance Standards
Behavioural Checklist
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Better Home\School Relationship
Bracken
Brigance
Canada Quick
Canada Test of Basic Skills test scores
CAT-3 test scores
Celf
Connecting Math Concepts test
Counsellor Report
Curriculum based assessment
DIBELS
Early Language Assessment
Entry to Regular Classroom
Foundation Skills Assessment
Gates MacGinitie
Ginn 720 reading test
IEP assessment
Johns Reading Inventory
Key Math
Language for Learning Assessment test
Lindamood Phonemic Sequencing Program
Number of books signed out
Observation lists
Parent survey
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test
Phonological Awareness
Portage assessment
Pre/post Tests
Program evaluation
Read Well unit tests
Reading Mastery checkout
Report cards show improvements
School records
SLP Assessment
SLP assessment scores
Structure of Intellect
Student feedback
Student files
Student IEP's
Student Information Record System
Student portfolios
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