SPECIAL EDUCATION ADVISORY COUNCIL

SPECIAL EDUCATION ADVISORY COUNCIL

Minutes - September 10, 2004

9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

PRESENT: Paul Ban, Debbie Cheeseman, Pat Chu, Casey Fish, Ray Hart, Henry Hashimoto, Tami Ho, Barbara Ioli, Suzanne Kashiwaeda, Steve Laracuente, Ray Makkonen, Rachel Matsunobu, Claire Nakamura, Barbara Pretty, Susan Rocco, Patricia Sheehey, Jill Shinno, Ivalee Sinclair, Norma Jean Stodden (for Jean Johnson), August Suehiro, Mike Tamanaha, Jan Tateishi, Jasmine Williams

EXCUSED: Dr. Alfred Arensdorf, Mary Ellis, Debra Farmer, Alex Lewis, Sissy Sosner

ABSENT: Sue Brown

GUESTS: Jimmy Deere, Aimee Ka'alakea, Dennis Kajikawa, Pattie Nichols

TOPIC
DISCUSSION
ACTION

Call to Order Chair Ivalee Sinclair called the meeting to order at 9:10 a.m.

Introductions Ivalee Sinclair introduced Dennis Kajikawa from the Student Support Section and Patricia Sheehey, who is replacing Dennis McDougall as the representative from the UH College of Education. She asked guest Aimee Ka'alakea to introduce herself. Aimee is the Supervisor of Autism Services for Parents and Children Together (PACT).

Announcements Paul Ban announced that the Annual Performance Report Planning meeting scheduled for Friday, September 17th will be held at Tokai University. Barbara Ioli announced that the Hawaii Association of Parents of the Visually Impaired will be holding a conference in October. Speakers will include Paul Ban and Sydney Freitas. Jan Tateishi announced that Lea Matsunobu's graduation picture was included in the September SPIN Newsletter. Clare Nakamura announced that Variety School is aligning with VSA arts to sponsor the November 7th Hawaii Stars performance for exceptional individuals. Mike Tamanaha announced that the Developmental Disabilites Division was helping to co-sponsor a Caregiver Conference September 22nd for families of aging individuals with developmental disabilities. Paul Ban distributed a notebook containing the latest AP report to OSEP to the five Council members scheduled to attend the September 17th meeting. A flyer on the HAPVI Conference was circulated. Clare Nakamura instructed members to call her, if they would like free tickets to the Hawaii Stars performance.

Approval of 8/13/04 Minutes No changes were made to the minutes. The minutes were approved as circulated.

School Social Worker Classification
Dennis Kajikawa from the Student Support Section updated members on current negotiations with the Department of Human Resource Development (DHRD) regarding the recruitment of school social workers. DHRD has subsumed social workers under a Human Services Professional position series. The expressed concern of the Council and schools is that new hires may not be required to have the same level of training as those currently in DOE positions. Dennis explained that the majority of the 81 school social workers have their Masters in Social Work, but job descriptions vary from island to island. Other challenges include:

the reluctance of school social workers to convert from 10 month to 12 month employees;
a judge on the Big Island dictating job duties to DOE social workers; and
a computer change at DHRD that has delayed an active hiring list until October.

Dennis explained that DOE and DHRD are considering a future delinking of school social worker functions and making them DOE employees. DOE is also budgeting for a Social Worker V position to act in a supervisory position. In the meantime, members expressed concern that training and consultation resources be made available to bolster the skills of any new hire without an MSW. Other suggestions included limiting hires of non-MSWs to emergency hire and selective certification requirements.

A draft of a Social Worker IV position description was disseminated.

Ivalee Sinclair requested that Paul Ban keep the Council informed of any new developments.

Reading Initiatives for Students with IEPs
Pattie Nichols, Educational Specialist for Literacy, and her resource teacher, Jimmy Deere, updated the Council on current initiatives to improve literacy skills of students with disabilities. Support for literacy in special education is provided by Pattie and ten resource teachers statewide. Two mandates from the Felix Sustainability Plan are to train new teachers in literacy strategies, and to help ensure that teachers know how to administer an annual reading comprehension tool for each special education student (SDRT) and write applicable goals in the IEP. Pattie described two diagnostic Tools--the entire SDRT and the Informal Reading Inventory--that can help teachers determine a student's skill levels. The SDRT has an interpretation guide that identifies student strengths and makes suggestions for interventions. Other initiatives underway this school year include:

A Multisensory Phonics Workshop,
An online web course for teachers who take multisensory phonics,
A teaching strategies web CT for all teachers,
An SDRT On-line Pilot (intermediate and high schools),
UH Action Research Tutoring,
Teleschool Scholastic Book Project, and
Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) Project (Kahuku and Campbell High Schools).

Questions from members

Q. Will there be any training for regular education teachers? A. Some of the initiatives (i.e. the Multisensory Phonics Workshop) will include them. Q. Can the SDRT replace the NCLB reading assessment? A. No, but teachers can opt to go one color level below on the NCLB assessment, if they think a student cannot manage the grade level assessment. Q. Can your resource teachers offer assistance for an individual student via the IEP? A. Their job is to help the school to help the teacher; requests generate at the district, and they can look specifically at a student's needs, if requested.
A booklet, Put Reading First, The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read (K-3), was distributed. Pattie also shared copies of the SDRT for different grade levels.

Alternate Assessments
Paul Ban described the challenge Hawaii is facing in developing and administering an NCLB Alternate Assessment for up to 1% of the general school population performing well below grade level due to the severity of their disability. Hawaii has been using the IEP with work samples as the alternate assessment but the USDOE has said that it is not a valid measure. The state is seeking to develop a more common measure to be administered in Spring '06.

Members expressed the following frustrations with the NCLB alternate assessment process:

It confuses parents because it measures the school's overall performance and not the child's;
Using the alternate assessment for students with significant disabilities takes a lot of time and is not very meaningful;
Labeling students "well below" and developing further levels within that category contributes to low self-esteem and parental concern; and
Students with significant disabilities may eventually be scapegoated for lowering the overall score of their school.

Committee on Weights Ivalee Sinclair reported on the first meeting of the Committee on Weights (COW). Its members reviewed the entire DOE budget and got a sense of what might be included in "at risk" weights. There is no clear decision as yet on whether to include special education weighting in the budget formula for schools. Hawaii's staffing model for special education is based on student need and not just on disability category. It will be difficult to give specific weights to special education given the diverse needs. Ivalee asked for a small committee to assist her in forming a recommendation before the next COW meeting on September 30th. Casey Fish, and Susan Rocco volunteered to review the COW materials and assist Ivalee. Susan will contact Toy Yonemoto to ascertain her interest in participating.

TOPIC	DISCUSSION	ACTION
Call to Order	Chair Ivalee Sinclair called the meeting to order at 9:10 a.m.
Introductions	Ivalee Sinclair introduced Dennis Kajikawa from the Student Support Section and Patricia Sheehey, who is replacing Dennis McDougall as the representative from the UH College of Education. She asked guest Aimee Ka'alakea to introduce herself. Aimee is the Supervisor of Autism Services for Parents and Children Together (PACT).
Announcements	Paul Ban announced that the Annual Performance Report Planning meeting scheduled for Friday, September 17th will be held at Tokai University. Barbara Ioli announced that the Hawaii Association of Parents of the Visually Impaired will be holding a conference in October. Speakers will include Paul Ban and Sydney Freitas. Jan Tateishi announced that Lea Matsunobu's graduation picture was included in the September SPIN Newsletter. Clare Nakamura announced that Variety School is aligning with VSA arts to sponsor the November 7th Hawaii Stars performance for exceptional individuals. Mike Tamanaha announced that the Developmental Disabilites Division was helping to co-sponsor a Caregiver Conference September 22nd for families of aging individuals with developmental disabilities.	Paul Ban distributed a notebook containing the latest AP report to OSEP to the five Council members scheduled to attend the September 17th meeting. A flyer on the HAPVI Conference was circulated. Clare Nakamura instructed members to call her, if they would like free tickets to the Hawaii Stars performance.
Approval of 8/13/04 Minutes	No changes were made to the minutes.	The minutes were approved as circulated.
School Social Worker Classification	Dennis Kajikawa from the Student Support Section updated members on current negotiations with the Department of Human Resource Development (DHRD) regarding the recruitment of school social workers. DHRD has subsumed social workers under a Human Services Professional position series. The expressed concern of the Council and schools is that new hires may not be required to have the same level of training as those currently in DOE positions. Dennis explained that the majority of the 81 school social workers have their Masters in Social Work, but job descriptions vary from island to island. Other challenges include: the reluctance of school social workers to convert from 10 month to 12 month employees; a judge on the Big Island dictating job duties to DOE social workers; and a computer change at DHRD that has delayed an active hiring list until October. Dennis explained that DOE and DHRD are considering a future delinking of school social worker functions and making them DOE employees. DOE is also budgeting for a Social Worker V position to act in a supervisory position. In the meantime, members expressed concern that training and consultation resources be made available to bolster the skills of any new hire without an MSW. Other suggestions included limiting hires of non-MSWs to emergency hire and selective certification requirements.	A draft of a Social Worker IV position description was disseminated. Ivalee Sinclair requested that Paul Ban keep the Council informed of any new developments.
Reading Initiatives for Students with IEPs	Pattie Nichols, Educational Specialist for Literacy, and her resource teacher, Jimmy Deere, updated the Council on current initiatives to improve literacy skills of students with disabilities. Support for literacy in special education is provided by Pattie and ten resource teachers statewide. Two mandates from the Felix Sustainability Plan are to train new teachers in literacy strategies, and to help ensure that teachers know how to administer an annual reading comprehension tool for each special education student (SDRT) and write applicable goals in the IEP. Pattie described two diagnostic Tools--the entire SDRT and the Informal Reading Inventory--that can help teachers determine a student's skill levels. The SDRT has an interpretation guide that identifies student strengths and makes suggestions for interventions. Other initiatives underway this school year include: A Multisensory Phonics Workshop, An online web course for teachers who take multisensory phonics, A teaching strategies web CT for all teachers, An SDRT On-line Pilot (intermediate and high schools), UH Action Research Tutoring, Teleschool Scholastic Book Project, and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) Project (Kahuku and Campbell High Schools). Questions from members Q. Will there be any training for regular education teachers? A. Some of the initiatives (i.e. the Multisensory Phonics Workshop) will include them. Q. Can the SDRT replace the NCLB reading assessment? A. No, but teachers can opt to go one color level below on the NCLB assessment, if they think a student cannot manage the grade level assessment. Q. Can your resource teachers offer assistance for an individual student via the IEP? A. Their job is to help the school to help the teacher; requests generate at the district, and they can look specifically at a student's needs, if requested.	A booklet, Put Reading First, The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read (K-3), was distributed. Pattie also shared copies of the SDRT for different grade levels.
Alternate Assessments	Paul Ban described the challenge Hawaii is facing in developing and administering an NCLB Alternate Assessment for up to 1% of the general school population performing well below grade level due to the severity of their disability. Hawaii has been using the IEP with work samples as the alternate assessment but the USDOE has said that it is not a valid measure. The state is seeking to develop a more common measure to be administered in Spring '06. Members expressed the following frustrations with the NCLB alternate assessment process: It confuses parents because it measures the school's overall performance and not the child's; Using the alternate assessment for students with significant disabilities takes a lot of time and is not very meaningful; Labeling students "well below" and developing further levels within that category contributes to low self-esteem and parental concern; and Students with significant disabilities may eventually be scapegoated for lowering the overall score of their school.
Committee on Weights	Ivalee Sinclair reported on the first meeting of the Committee on Weights (COW). Its members reviewed the entire DOE budget and got a sense of what might be included in "at risk" weights. There is no clear decision as yet on whether to include special education weighting in the budget formula for schools. Hawaii's staffing model for special education is based on student need and not just on disability category. It will be difficult to give specific weights to special education given the diverse needs. Ivalee asked for a small committee to assist her in forming a recommendation before the next COW meeting on September 30th.	Casey Fish, and Susan Rocco volunteered to review the COW materials and assist Ivalee. Susan will contact Toy Yonemoto to ascertain her interest in participating.