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The Special Education Advisory Panel (SEAP) 
needs to hear your voice!


Greetings!

Meet us at SEAP on June 7th!
 
ALL LaTEACH members are encouraged to attend the Louisiana SEAP meeting on June 7th.
 
Attend this SEAP meeting to offer public comment or share written public comment by e-mail to Cindy L. Arceneaux, Co-Chair, SEAP at carceneaux@laptic.org.
 
SEAP will be considering:
Alternate Assessment
Diploma Pathways
State Level IDEA Budget Application
State Performance Plan

What:
Special Education Advisory Panel
 

When:

Friday, June 7, 2013
9:00 a.m.


Where:
Claiborne Building
Room 1-153, Iowa Room
1201 North 3rd St.
Baton Rouge, La

More Information

Alternate Assessment
LAA-2

Statewide almost one in four (24.6%) students with disabilities participated in the Alternate Assessment (LAA-2) in 2011.  LaTEACH was critical in advocating for performance on the LAA-2 to be accepted as part of graduation requirements.  The LAA-2 assessment is being phased out and many LaTEACH members have expressed a desire for the state to develop an alternate assessment that gives students a different way to demonstrate performance.  This could be allowed with an alternate assessment using Grade Level Academic Standards (GLAS-AA).

Click here for descriptions of Alternate Assessments and access to state policies for Alternate Assessments.


Click here
to see the Louisiana Department of Education's webpage on alternate assessments. 

Diploma Pathways

The Department of Education is proposing to change graduation requirements.  Graduating with a diploma increases the potential  to earn more money and many other quality of life indicators.  Comparisons have been made to  the cohort graduation rate of students with disabilities in Louisiana to their peers in other states.  A cohort rate shows the percentage of students who graduate within four years (or with the group of students who started high school at the same time).  

Many people have questioned the comparison made since states have different graduation requirements. Compared to other states, particularly states that report higher graduation cohort rates for students with disabilities, Louisiana has the most restrictive diploma options, does not have the same range of allowances for students with disabilities to receive diplomas, and requires students to pass high stakes tests.

 

 

Click here to see each state's graduation cohort rate. 

 

Click here to see a report from 2007 comparing graduation requirements and diploma options for students with disabilities.  The discussion section of this report provides pros and cons of various diploma options.

 

 

Click here to see the LDE announcement of plans to reduce the number of graduation tracks from three to two and a schedule of Superintendent White's listening tour on proposed changes to high school diplomas. 
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State Level IDEA Budget Application

Each year the Louisiana Department of Education must submit an application for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funds.

 

Click here to see Louisiana's application for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2014 IDEA funding for state level activities  The Federal Fiscal Year 2014 runs from October 1, 2013 through September 30, 2014.

Note: Clarification is being sought that the link on the Department of Education website is the FFY2014 IDEA application since the title page indicates it is for FFY2013 and the footer indicates it is for FFY2012.  

Trends and changes in annual funding levels by budget category from 2009 through 2013 are available by clicking graphs or the table.

 

State Level Budget Changes 

Increased funding for: 

  • Administration and coordination 
  • Alternate Assessments
  • High Cost Funds (additional funding for school districts serving students with needs that significantly exceed average costs).
  • School district support and direct services, technical assistance, personnel prep, professional development and training
  • School district capacity building

Reduced funding for:

  • Assistive technology
  • Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
  • Monitoring, complaint investigation and mediation (collectively)

Elimination of funding for:

  • Transition to post-secondary activities (employment, higher education)
  • Assisting school districts in meeting personnel shortages.
  • Paperwork reductions
State Performance Plan
Every five years Louisiana must submit a State Performance Plan with targets for specific indicators reflecting student participation and performance as well as state.  Prior to 2012 Louisiana had a stakeholder group to specifically review and make recommendations on the SPP indicators.  The SPP steering committee also selected targets for the state to use in selecting school districts for focused on-site monitoring.  A change will leave the Special Education Advisory Panel as the only committee providing recommendations and oversight over the State Performance Plan. 

Click here to see the most recent 2012 La. State Performance Plan submitted February 15, 2013.  

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