Dear County and District Superintendents, Charter School Administrators, Special Education Local Plan Area Directors, Administrators of County Offices of Education, Nonpublic School Administrators, State Diagnostic Center Directors, and Local Educational Agency Special Education Directors:

Collection of Data on the Use of Restraint and Seclusion for All Students in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System

The purpose of this letter is to follow up on the letter dated December 24, 2018, regarding Assembly Bill (AB) 2657 (Chapter 998, Statutes of 2018), which became effective January 1, 2019. The bill added sections 49005–49006.4 to California’s Education Code regarding the use of restraint and seclusion with students receiving both general education and special education.

Collection of Restraint and Seclusion Data in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS)

The new law requires local educational agencies (LEAs) to collect and report annually to the California Department of Education (CDE) data on the number of times and the number of students on which mechanical restraints, physical restraints, and seclusion are used. The data must be disaggregated for students who have Section 504 plans, students who have individualized education programs, and students who do not have either plan. The CDE is mandated to post these data on its Internet website annually (Education Code Section 49006).

To meet this reporting requirement, the CDE will collect these data from LEAs through CALPADS beginning in 2019–20, as part of its End-of-Year (EOY) 3 submission. The 2019–20 EOY submission, which will open in May 2020 and close at the end of August 2020, is a cumulative collection that includes all incidents of restraint and seclusion that occurred throughout the school year. Therefore, LEAs should begin collecting these data in their local systems when school begins this fall. It should be noted that all incidents of the use of restraints and seclusion must be reported for all students.

The CDE has finalized how the current CALPADS EOY 3 submission will be changed to accommodate the new collection of incidents of restraint and seclusion, and has reviewed those changes with the student information system (SIS) vendors. LEAs should consult with their SIS vendors on how to submit these data to their local systems. More detailed information about the changes to the EOY 3 submission has also been provided to LEA CALPADS Administrators.

Many LEAs currently have policies and procedures in place to identify, document, and report incidents involving restraint and seclusion for students with disabilities; however, because these data will be collected for all students, it is imperative that LEAs ensure that all staff are appropriately trained to identify, document, and report these incidents. It is also important for site administrators to be actively involved in ensuring that policies and procedures are followed and that CALPADS Administrators are not having to determine what constitutes incidents of restraint and seclusion that must be reported as described in AB 2657.

If you have any questions, please contact the CALPADS Service Desk by phone at 916‑325‑9210 or by email at calpads-support@cde.ca.gov. All questions will be routed to the appropriate CALPADS or special education staff.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Jerry Winkler, Director
Educational Data Management Division

JW:pm

cc: CALPADS Administrators