Message from OSEP Director,
Ms. Valerie C. Williams

Dear Friends!

May was an incredibly eventful month at OSEP. First and foremost, Glenna Wright-Gallo was confirmed by the Senate as the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services on May 10. Her knowledge and leadership in the field of special education is substantial, and OSEP is excited that she is here.  Assistant Secretary Glenna Wright-Gallo will be at our Leadership/Project Directors’ Conference and has shared that she is looking forward to seeing everyone. Her confirmation came on the same day that we launched our new initiative: Expect, Engage, and Empower: Successful transitions for all!  If you haven’t already, please watch our kickoff webinar, it will give you a great sense of where we plan on taking our initiative in the months and years ahead. 

One of the topics which we’ll be briefing Assistant Secretary Wright-Gallo, is our continued efforts to implement the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and the need to improve mental health services for our nation’s children. As part of Mental Health Action Day activities on May 18, the White House highlighted initiatives across the Federal Government designed to increase mental health services. I wanted to share some additional information about two of the items identified by the White House that involve the intersection of Medicaid and special education. As background, based on the 2021 expenditure reports compiled by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), nearly $6 billion was expended through Medicaid for school-based health services—with a large portion of those funds being used for children with disabilities. Medicaid is a vital funding source for schools, especially since 40 percent of childbirths in America are paid for by Medicaid and we know that the health impacts of living in poverty increase the likelihood of a child being identified as having a disability and requiring special education. 

To support the use of Medicaid in schools, we have proposed a rule change to the IDEA regulations. If finalized, our proposed rule would simplify the process for schools to bill Medicaid while also retaining IDEA’s parental notification provisions and FERPA’s consent provisions. The proposed regulation is open for public comment through August 1. We invite your comments, and yes, we read all of them!

Second is our collaboration with CMS on revising their guidance: Delivering Services in School Based Settings: A Comprehensive Guide to Medicaid Services and Administrative Claiming. This was a giant undertaking by CMS, and we’re so appreciative of the new school-based billing approaches contained in the guidance. We’re looking forward to the new technical assistance center that will support States and local educational agencies in providing services funded through Medicaid. 

As the 2022–2023 school year winds down, I want to wish you a safe and enjoyable summer. Thank you for all you do in improving outcomes for our infants, toddlers, children, and young adults with disabilities. 

In solidarity,

Valerie­­­­

Expect, Engage, and Empower: Successful Transitions for All!

May 10, served as the official kickoff of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) initiative to improve postsecondary outcomes for students with disabilities: Expect, Engage, and Empower: Successful Transitions for All!

OSERS wants to thank all who participated in this important event and look forward to future events that will continue to focus on challenging the field to join OSEP to raise expectations, engage families earlier, and empower all who support transition services to measurably and significantly improve postsecondary outcomes for children and youth with disabilities and their families.

If you were unable to attend the kickoff event or would simply like to view it again, please watch OSEP 2023 Expect, Engage, Empower: Successful Transitions for All! (YouTube).

For additional information about this initiative, please visit OSEP’s Expect, Engage, Empower: Successful Transition for All webpage.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact the planning team at OSEP-EEE@air.org. 

The U.S. Department of Education welcomed Glenna Wright-Gallo as the assistant secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) on May 15.

Wright-Gallo, confirmed by the U.S. Senate as OSERS assistant secretary on May 10, has spent more than 25 years supporting students and adults with disabilities.

Her experience includes working in a school district as a special education teacher and an administrator before she served in leadership positions at state education agencies in Utah and Washington state.

Read more on OSERS Blog.

OSEP monitors all IDEA Part C and B programs through its Differentiated Monitoring and Support 2.0 system (DMS.2.0). OSEP differentiates its approach for each state based on the state's unique strengths, progress, challenges, and needs. DMS 2.0 is a cyclical monitoring process that focuses on states’ general supervision systems. OSEP will continue to provide support and technical assistance that is differentiated based on each state’s needs. 

OSEP has posted the first three monitoring reports. Those reports and others can be found on the OSEP's DMS DMS webpage.

• Arkansas Part C
• Michigan Part C
• Montana Part C

To review other resources and documents related to our monitoring activities (e.g., DMS 2.0, DMS Reports, and older monitoring reports), please refer to the DMS section on our IDEA website.

Research Highlights from the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER)

The Institute for Education Science’s NCSER funds research designed to expand knowledge and understanding of learners with and at risk for disabilities, from infancy through postsecondary settings. We share reports below on issues, findings, and events related to special education.

Special Educator Shortage: Examining Teacher Burnout and Mental Health recognizes Mental Health Awareness Month by highlighting NCSER-funded research examining special education teacher working conditions and ways to reduce teacher burnout, a leading cause of the current shortage of special educators.

Integrating Intervention Systems to Address Student Mental Health and Social-Emotional-Behavioral Functioning also acknowledges Mental Health Awareness Month through an interview with Dr. Brandon Schultz, who discusses his research on the integration of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and mental health services to better support students’ overall functioning.

Exploring the Intersection of Special Education, Learning Analytics, and Psychometrics: A Journey in Education Research recognizes Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month through an interview with Dr. Xin Wei, whose NCSER-funded grant uses statistical and machine learning to understand National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test-taking behavior for learners with and without disabilities, on her career journey.

The Center for IDEA Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy) and the OSEP-funded Early Childhood Technical Assistance (TA) Centers (ECTA) are pleased to announce a variety of new and ongoing opportunities to build individual and state capacity around implementation of IDEA 0–5 in 2023. We hope this information will assist you as you consider which TA opportunities best fit your needs and priorities.

Two recordings from the four-part series, Leadership with an Equity Mindset:Using Preschool Special Education Data, are available fromECTA. The recordings, Using an Equity Mindset in the Data Life Cycle and Critical Questions to Improve Equitable Access, Experiences, and Outcomes are one-hour sessions in the call series that focus on the collaboration between Part B, Section 619 Coordinators and Part B Data Managers or data staff responsible for preschool special education data. The recordings include learning strategies necessary for using an equity mindset within the full data life cycle and analyzing data to identify and remove barriers to equitable access, experiences, and outcomes.

The National Center on Accessible Educational Materials (AEM Center) made exciting upgrades to the AEM Pilot, our free online self-assessment and progress monitoring tool for the Quality Indicators for Providing Accessible Educational Materials and Accessible Technologies in K–12 environments. States and districts have been using this free tool since 2019 to improve methods for ensuring that learners with disabilities can access the materials and technologies used in general education curricula. Upgrades to the AEM Pilot were in response to the feedback of these early adopters. Contact the AEM Center team at aem@cast.org with any questions on how to get started!

Join the PROGRESS Center and the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII) for Prepping for PROGRESS 2023! This free three-day virtual learning event August 2-4,  is designed for general and special educators, local leaders, professional development providers, faculty, and other stakeholders who support students with disabilities. Across the three days, participants will network with colleagues, learn about resources and tools, and join sessions that cover a range of topics related to developing and implementing high-quality educational programming including how to individualize and intensify interventions through the data-based individualization (DBI) process. To learn more about the event and to register, visit the PROGRESS Center website. 

In partnership with Bridge Multimedia and FableVision, ED-funded STEMIE is proud to bring to you a newborn accessible mobile app, My STEM Adventure! The app provides the opportunity for young children and their families, or other caregivers, to explore the world of STEM both indoors and outdoors and create a storybook that details their investigation. As part of each of the 10 adventures, families and other caregivers can learn about why STEM concepts are important, what the children are learning, and receive tips on how to guide children as they embark on the STEM adventure together. Find My STEM Adventure on the App Store or Google Play now.

Office of Educational Technology (OET) is partnering with OSEP  to host a series of webinars for educators and families/caregivers to highlight free/low-cost, evidence-based accessible edtech tools. CORGI is a FREE digital graphic organizer that is grant-funded by OSEP. Use on your own or contact them to get additional support.

The recording of the webinar is available on OET's YouTube and OET’s Website.

The Center for Innovation Design and Digital Learning (CIDDL) serves as the national center to improve faculty capacity to use educational technology in special education, early intervention, related services preparation, and leadership personnel preparation programs.

CIDDL is conducting its annual needs assessment to help identify topics and needs within the field of special education, early childhood, and related services. The survey should only take 10 minutes (or less). We urge you to participate in the survey as well as share with your higher education colleagues.

You can access the survey at this link. 

If you have questions about CIDDL or the survey please contact Dr. James Basham, University of Kansas, and CIDDL project director.  

There are many online opportunities for teachers, related-service providers, and families to learn about deaf-blindness and instructional practices for children and youth who are deaf-blind. The National Center on Deaf-Blindness has organized information about many of these on one convenient webpage, Professional Development Opportunities. Available opportunities come in a variety of forms—online courses, webinars, and self-study modules—that are organized topically (e.g., assessment and planning, communication, teaching strategies).

The NCSI’s General Supervision Toolkit includes tools and resources to help strengthen state systems of general supervision and ensure alignment with IDEA requirements. The toolkit features resources from NCSI and other federally funded technical assistance centers as well as OSEP.