CALPADS Update Flash #207

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

From:      California Department of Education (CDE) –
                California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) Team

Date:       June 3, 2021

Subject:  CALPADS Update FLASH #207

Guidance for Special Education Data Submission

Guidance When Changes Are Made to Special Education Plans During a Reevaluation of Eligibility (Triennial Meeting)

In Fall 2020, Reports 16.1 – Students with Disabilities Count by Primary Disability and 16.2 – Students with Disabilities Count by Federal Setting were changed to exclude Meeting Type 40 – Triennial records from being displayed in the two reports. The records being displayed in the 16.1 and 16.2 reports now reflect the most recent Special Education Meeting Types: 10 – Part B Initial Evaluation, 15 – Part C Initial Evaluation, or 20 – Annual, 30 - Pending record for the student on the report date. Note that if the most recent record is 30 – Pending, since a primary disability has not yet been identified, report 16.1 will show no data in the primary disability columns, and report 16.2, since it is aggregated by primary disability, the 30 – Pending records will not display.

Federal regulations (34 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 300.303) require students with disabilities (SWD) to be reevaluated for eligibility every three years during a reevaluation meeting, often referred to as a “triennial” or “triennial assessment.”  While the purpose of this meeting is not to make changes to the student’s special education plan, often times during the meeting, the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team also discusses and agrees on changes that need to be made to the plan (described in 34 CFR 300.324 (b)). Although these changes occur during the reevaluation (triennial) meeting, in order to accurately reflect the plan changes in CALPADS Reports 16.1 and 16.2, the LEA MUST reflect any plan changes that are made during the reevaluation meeting by doing one of the following:

• If a full plan review (annual IEP) was conducted on the same date as the reevaluation meeting, create a new 20 – Annual Meeting Type transaction with a Meeting Date that is equal to the date of the re-evaluation meeting; or
• If a full plan review (annual IEP) was not conducted but changes were made to the student’s plan, create an amendment transaction to the last Special Education Meeting type 20 – Annual transaction with an amendment date that is equal to the date of the re-evaluation meeting.

Guidance for Meetings Being Held with Plans and Services That Will Not Be in Effect Until the Subsequent Academic Year

Data certified in the following reports during the End-of-Year (EOY) 4 submission:

• 16.1 – Students with Disabilities Count by Primary Disability,
• 16.2 – Students with Disabilities Count by Federal Setting, and
• 16.5 – Students with Disabilities Services

The data should reflect the student’s special education plan and services that were in effect through June 30th. When LEAs are holding meetings at the end of the current academic year for plans and services that will not take effect until the beginning of the next academic year it is preferred, but not required that the LEA postpone sending the meeting transaction to CALPADS until after the close of the EOY amendment window (after August 27, 2021).Therefore, LEAs have two options:

Option 1:  If the LEA elects to postpone the submission of these transactions until after the EOY amendment closing, the type of transaction that is submitted to CALPADS depends on the type of plan change that occurred during the meeting:

• Change in Special Education Plan Type: Any transactions that reflect any of the following changes to the Special Education Plan Type should be sent up after August 27, 2021 with the Meeting Date from the prior academic year:
  • Pending initial evaluation to Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), IEP, or Individual Service Plan (ISP)
  • IFSP to IEP
  • IEP to ISP
  • ISP to IEP
• Change in Setting or Services: Any transactions where the Special Education Plan Type is not changing, however, the setting or services will be changing at the start of the new academic year, should be sent up after August 27, 2021 as an amendment transaction with the amendment date from the prior academic year.

Option 2:  If the LEA elects to submit these meeting records where the resulting plans and/or services will not take effect until the 2021−22 year within the EOY 4 reporting window, the LEA will have to take additional steps to address issues that arise, particularly if the student was not enrolled in the LEA for the 2020−21 academic year. Any transactions submitted with meeting dates within the EOY 4 Reporting window will be reflected in the EOY 4 reports. In general,

• For students not enrolled in the 2020−21 academic year, an enrollment record is required to be submitted, even though the student is not enrolled in 2020−21, for the purposes of submitting the Special Education (SPED) and SSRV records.
• Since creating enrollments within the EOY reporting window (July 1 – June 30) often requires the submission of other data required for the EOY submissions, such as the Student Absence Summary File (STAS), Student Course Section Completion (SCSC) file, and Student Program (SPRG) file, these enrollments will result in certification validation errors.
• In order to address this problem, these enrollments must be exited within the 2020−21 academic year with an Exit Reason Code of N470 – NoShow. It is necessary to “nullify” these 2020−21 enrollments by submitting an exit reason of N470 – NoShow to avoid triggering errors for the other 2020−21 EOY submissions.
• LEAs must then re-enroll these students in the 2021−22 academic year if the student is returning to the district. Since LEAs exited these students using N470 when the meeting was held in the 2020−21 academic year and these initial evaluations, plans, and services will take place or begin in the 2021−22 academic year, LEAs will need to re-enroll these students in the new academic year.

The specific steps LEAs must take for various scenarios are described below:

Students with Pending Initial Evaluation Record (Special Education Meeting Type = 30 – Pending)

A note about students pending initial evaluation:  All students with pending initial evaluations that the LEA has exited with an N470 - NoShow exit code MUST be reported in CALPADS for the new academic year after August 27, 2021 and the LEA must complete the required evaluation. The use of the N470 - NoShow exits as described above does not alleviate the legal responsibility of the LEA to attempt to hold the initial evaluation. In cases where the parent has revoked consent for evaluation, the “Pending” record must be removed from CALPADS.

Pending Initial Evaluation to Eligible but Not Receiving Services (Education Plan Types 700 or 800) or Ineligible (Plan Type 900)

• LEA should already have an existing enrollment record for the student.
• Submit the Special Education record (SPED) reflecting the transaction for the Initial Evaluation for Part C or Initial Evaluation for Part B with Education Plan Type 700, 800, or 900.
• Submit an Enrollment Exit Date one day PRIOR to the Enrollment Start Date with an Exit Reason Code of N470 – NoShow.
  

Pending Initial Evaluation to IFSP

• LEA should already have an existing enrollment record (Enrollment Status 50) for the student.
• Submit the SPED record reflecting the transaction for the Initial Evaluation for Part C with Education Plan Type – 150 – IFSP.
• Submit an Enrollment Exit Date one day PRIOR to the Enrollment Start Date with an Exit Reason Code of N470 – NoShow.

Pending Initial Evaluation to IEP

• LEA should already have an existing enrollment record (Enrollment Status 10) for the student.
• Submit the SPED record reflecting the transaction for the Initial Evaluation for Part B with Education Plan Type 100 – Individualized Education Program (IEP).
• Submit an Enrollment Exit Date one day PRIOR to the Enrollment Start Date with an Exit Reason Code of N470 – NoShow.

Pending Initial Evaluation to ISP

• LEA should already have an existing enrollment record (Enrollment Status 50) for the student.
• Submit the SPED record reflecting the transaction for the Initial Evaluation for Part B with Education Plan Type 200 – Individual Service Plan (ISP).
• Submit an Enrollment Exit Date one day PRIOR to the Enrollment Start Date with an Exit Reason Code of N470 – NoShow.

Students with No Prior Pending Initial Evaluation Record

For students with no prior pending initial evaluation record, an enrollment record must first be submitted in order to submit the special education meeting transaction. These enrollments must then be deleted.

Initial Evaluation for Part C (no prior Pending record)

1. Submit an enrollment with:
   1. Enrollment Status of 50 – Non-ADA Enrollment
   2. Grade level of IN – Infant
   3. Enrollment Start Date = Date of parental consent or the meeting date
2. Submit the SPED record reflecting the transaction for the Special Education Meeting Type – Part C Initial Evaluation
3. Submit an Enrollment Exit Date one day PRIOR to the Enrollment Start Date with an Exit Reason Code of N470 – NoShow

Initial Evaluation for Part B (no prior Pending record)

If the student has a current enrollment at the same LEA:

• Submit the SPED record reflecting the transaction for the Special Education Meeting Type – Part B Initial Evaluation.

If the student has no current enrollment with the LEA:

• Submit an enrollment with:
  • Enrollment Status of 10 – Primary, or 50 – Non-ADA (for students who will be attending private schools)
  • Grade levels of PS-12 – Prekindergarten – Grade 12
  • Enrollment Start Date = Date of parental consent or the meeting date.
• Submit the SPED record reflecting the transaction for the Special Education Meeting Type – Part B Initial Evaluation.
• Submit an Enrollment Exit Date one day PRIOR to the Enrollment Start Date with an Exit Reason Code of N470 – NoShow.

Students Transferring from a Public School to Private School Resulting in a Change in Plan Type (IEP to ISP, or ISP to IEP)

Plan Type Change from IEP to ISP

• Submit an enrollment with:
  • School of Attendance = 0000002 (private school group)
  • Enrollment Status of 50 – Non-ADA Enrollment
  • Grade Level of K−12 – Kindergarten – Grade 12
  • Enrollment Start Date = Meeting Date
• Submit the SPED record reflecting the transaction for the Annual (20) meeting.
• Submit an Enrollment Exit Date one day PRIOR to the Enrollment Start Date with an Exit Reason Code of N470 – NoShow
• Student will additionally have an Enrollment Status of 10 (primary) because the student was being served in 2020−21 on an IEP at a public school. That enrollment record should be exited with an T180 – TransPrivateSchl.

Plan Type Change from ISP to IEP

• Submit an enrollment with:
  • School of Attendance = the school or county-district (district-level entity) that the student will be attending
  • Enrollment Status of 10 – Primary
  • Grade Level of KN-12 – Kindergarten – Grade 12
  • Enrollment Start Date = Meeting Date
• Submit a SPED record reflecting the transaction for the Annual (20) meeting.
• Submit an Enrollment Exit Date one day PRIOR to the Enrollment Start Date with an Exit Reason Code of N470 – NoShow.
• Student will additionally have an Enrollment Status of 50 because the student was being served in 2020−21 on an ISP at a private school. That enrollment record should be exited with an E170 – Non-Primary Enrollment Exit with an exit date representing the end of the school year.

Use of Infant (IN) and Toddler (TD) Grade Levels for Students with Disabilities

CALPADS currently has two grade levels that can be used for SWD on Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSP) under the IDEA Part C Program:

• IN – Infants - A grade level for individuals, ages 0 through 18 months.
• TD – Toddlers - A grade level for individuals, ages 19 months through 35 months, not yet enrolled in a public educational institution or formal preschool program.

For purposes of reporting grade levels for SWD on IFSPs, it is not necessary for LEAs to modify the student’s grade level from IN to TD once the student reaches an age of 19 months. LEAs may assign a grade level of IN until the student reaches preschool age (36 months). At that time LEAs should modify the student’s grade level to PS – Prekindergarten.

The CDE is considering a change for the 2022−23 academic year that will consolidate these two grade levels into one:

• IN – Infants/Toddlers – A grade level for individuals 0 through 35 (inclusive) months.