State Special Education Advisory Panel — Interagency Coordinating Council Parent Involvement in the State Performance Plan — Parts B & C By: Catherine Benitz, Program Specialist, MPRRCThe Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004) is the latest revision to federal special education. There were several exciting new additions to the law that should enhance meaningful Special Education Advisory Panel and Interagency Coordinating Council involvement improving special education and early intervention. The purpose for this article is to provide panel members, council members and educators general information about the State Performance Plan (SPP) and Annual Performance Report (APR) and possible involvement strategies that States may choose to implement.
There is an important new requirement for State Education Agencies called the State Performance Plan (SPP). Each State (SEA and LA) was required to develop and submit a SPP by December 2005. The SPP provides a strategic framework with targets over a six-year period for the State to improve certain areas of special education and early intervention that should improve services to infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities.
The SPP is made up of performance indicators or areas in which States need to collect data, set targets for improvement, and develop improvement strategies to improve State performance for students with disabilities. Data is collected from school districts and programs, and each year, the State submits an Annual Performance Report (APR) that reports progress to the U.S. Department of Education on each of the indicators. We can think of the SPP as the State’s IEP and the APR as the annual review of the SPP. The SPP is to be developed as a six-year IEP for the State that improves accountability in special education and improves outcomes for students with disabilities. The U.S. Department of Education requests States get broad public input on the development and implementation of the SPP.
It is critical to have perspectives, experiences and input from of the Special Education Advisory Panel (Part B) and the Interagency Coordinating Council (Part C) reflected in the SPP. State Education Agencies and school districts as well as Lead Agencies and programs have responsibilities to support and encourage involvement through many of the examples provided here:
Suggestions For Panel/ICC Input - Have the State director and Lead Agency director report on the SPP/APR at each special education advisory panel or ICC meeting.
- Use data from the SPP/APR to help establish Panel/ICC annual priorities.
- If you are a parent of a child with a disability, complete and send in the parent survey that address the indicators on parent involvement.
- Provide school district and early intervention program information about their efforts around the SPP indicators.
- Serve on school and State-level committees or task forces that are addressing certain SPP indicators.
- Provide opportunities for public comment at the State Special Education Advisory Panel or Interagency Coordinating council meetings.
- Promote the State websites as a tool to see how the State is doing on relevant indicators.
- Suggest the Special Education Advisory Panel and Interagency Coordinating Council meet once a year to discuss indicators that cross over Part C and Part B.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 01 October 2006 )
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