Meeting Minute Summary January 2013

Advisory Commission on Special Education Meeting Webcast Archive

Standing Committees

In accordance with the Advisory Commision on Special Education (ACSE) bylaws, Chair Wright appointed Maureen Burness and Gina Plate as Co-chairs of the Policy Review and Development Standing Committee and Feda Almaliti and Barbara Schulman as Co-chairs of the Legislation Standing Committee.

• Policy Review and Development:

Report provided. February 15, 2013, is the deadline to submit comments on proposed amendments to California Code of Regulations, Title 5, to the committee co-chairs. Concurred a telephonic meeting be scheduled for the review of all comments with a final recommendation to the ACSE in March.

• Legislation Standing Committee:

Report provided. A motion was duly made and unanimously carried to approve the ACSE’s 2012–13 Legislative Platform as follows:

ACSE is committed to ensuring that students with disabilities will meet their highest level of academic achievement, social development, and positive post-secondary outcomes by supporting legislation and initiatives that promote inclusion, access to high quality education, educational services, and adequate funding.

To support students with disabilities and safeguard high quality educational programs and practices, the ACSE is committed to supporting and defending the following:

• Funding - equitable state and federal funding;
• Parent and Student Involvement and Engagement - parent education and training, support and outreach; and community support;
• Access and Technology - universal access and design (UDL) and assistive technology;
• Instruction, Assessment and Accountability - Common core standards, assessment, accountability (data collection and reporting of all students’ achievement), world knowledge, appropriate curriculum and accommodation, delivery and systems, and technology;
• Transition - positive post-secondary outcomes, within educational settings, birth to adult, career and technical education (CTE), and community/business partnerships;
• Students - instruction/best practices, safety/positive behavior supports, and support services.

Item 1, Response to Instruction and Intervention and Multi-Tiered Support(s) and Services

Doreen Lohnes and Dr. Hermine Bender, Assistant Superintendent and Program Specialist of the Santa Ana Unified School District, respectively, reported on improving student outcomes using a multi-tiered support(s) and services (MTSS) model in urban settings including lessons learned.

Item 2, Status of Existing and Proposed Special Education Credentials

Teri Clark and Roxann Purdue, California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) provided an update on the status of existing and proposed special education credentials. It was noted that the CTC meets regularly and the ACSE's input is welcome. Commissioner Fazzi volunteered to review the archived Web cast for the CTC’s December meeting and report back at the ACSE March meeting.

Item 3, Bullying and Hate-motivated Behavior Prevention

A presentation was provided by Stephanie Pappas, Education Programs Consultant, Coordinated School Health & Safety Unit, California Department of Education (CDE), that included resources for parents, administrators, and students on how bullying can be prevented and addressed.

Item 4, State Board of Education Report

Carl Cohn, Member, State Board of Education (SBE) and SBE liaison to the ACSE reported that the SBE, at its upcoming meeting on January 16, plans to announce appointments to four ACSE positions. A total of 14 applicants are going to be interviewed.

Item 5, Public comment

An overview of the California Association of Resource Specialists Plus (CARS+) annual convention in Oakland, February 15–16, 2013, was provided by Robert Hamilton, CARS+.

Item 6, Report from the Chair of the California Assembly Committee on Education, Joan Buchanan

Diana Glick, Consultant to Assemblymember Buchanan, provided brief comments.

Item 7, Statewide Assessment Reauthorization

Deborah Sigman, Deputy Superintendent; District, School, and Innovation Branch; CDE reported on the statewide pupil assessment program. Recommendations for Transitioning California to a Future Assessment System, a Report by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, January 2013, to the Governor and State Legislature.

Item 8, Grazer Outstanding Achievement in Learning (GOAL) Award and Annual Election of ACSE Officers

Commissioner Plate reported on the annual GOAL award process. The recipient(s) will be announced at the March ACSE meeting.

Chair Wright appointed Commissioners Peraic and Almaliti to the Election Committee for the annual election of the ACSE Chair and Vice Chair.

Item 9, Commissioner Reports

None.

Item 10, Transition Community of Practice

Information about the AB 790 Linked Learning Pilot Program was presented by Darrell Parsons and Carolyn Zachry, Career and College Transition Division, CDE.

Item 11, Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

The following presentations were provided on activities pertaining to the implementation of the CCSS in California:

• Report on evidence-based practices and designs for career and college readiness by Nancy S. Brownell, Senior Fellow, Office of the State Board of Education
• Update on National Center and State Collaborative and Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium specific to students with disabilities by Kristen Brown, Ph.D., Special Education Division, CDE
• Report on professional learning modules for educators that include instructional strategies to support the learning of all pupils, including English learners, pupils with disabilities, and underperforming pupils by Aileen Allison-Zarea, Professional Learning Support Division, CDE, on behalf of Carrie Roberts

• Criteria for adoption of textbooks and revisions to the framework for English Language Arts/English Language Development and Mathematics in California public schools (K – 12) by Tom Adams, Director, Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Division, CDE

Information on the upcoming adoption of K-8 mathematics instructional materials.

Information on the development of the English language arts/English language development curriculum framework.

Item 12, Organizational Input

Stakeholder organizations provided updates and input to the ACSE.

Item 13, Report on the State Special Schools

None

Item 14, Report from the State Director of Special Education

Fred Balcom, Director, Special Education Division (SED), provided a report to the ACSE. He noted that (1) students should be assessed the same way in which they are instructed, e.g. with the use of supports, accommodations, and technology; (2) the SED is analyzing the Governor’s budget which proposes to align and consolidate special education funding sources; (3) later this month, the SBE will consider the annual performance report (APR); (4) the SED is intensely analyzing the APR activities to ensure they can be demonstrably effective.

Item 15, Revisit of Unfinished Business

Chair Wright asked members to briefly report, individually, on their activities related to his/her stakeholder groups(s) and to identify the priority issues s/he is willing to commit to, in his/her role as member of the ACSE.