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Individualized Education Programs
During the 2010-11 school year, the NYC DOE will be implementing the Special Education Student Information System (SESIS), a new special education data management system. SESIS includes an electronic version of the State IEP. The information in this overview presumes full implementation of the new State IEP. A link to the January 2005 version of Creating a Quality IEP, the current IEP manual, is provided under "Resources."
IEP Overview
The Individualized Education Program (IEP) is the cornerstone of the special education process for each individual student. As described in the State Education Department's Guide to Quality Individualized Education Program (IEP) Development and Implementation, the IEP is a strategic planning document that should be far-reaching in its impact.
What IEPs do:
Identify the students' unique needs and how the school will strategically address those needs;
Identify how specially designed instruction will be provided in the context of supporting the students in the general education curriculum and in reaching the same learning standards as nondisabled students;
Guide how the special education resources of the school need to be configured to meet the needs of students with disabilities in that school;
Identify how students with disabilities will be prepared for adult living;
Measure students' progress toward goals and objectives, providing schools with information to determine if they have appropriately configured and used their resources to reach the desired outcomes for students with disabilities.
To assist students in becoming involved and progressing in the general education curriculum, the IEP team must consider both the state's learning standards and the school-based instructional curriculum which should be aligned to the state's learning standards. In developing IEPs that are linked to standards, the State Education Department recommends that IEPs should:
Review the content as well as the expectations for how the student will learn or demonstrate knowledge and skill in the content areas.
Identify the strengths and challenges for the student in relation to those expectations in the present levels of performance section of the IEP.
Identify how a student's needs are linked to the general curriculum (e.g., a student's difficulty with visual processing may affect graphing skills required to achieve the math standards).
Identify the goals that the student will be expected to achieve in one year. The development of annual goals should be guided by the following question: What knowledge, skills, behaviors and strategies does the student need to master the content of the curriculum?
Identify the special education services, including the adaptations, accommodations or modifications to the general curriculum, and/or instructional environment and materials, as needed by the student to reach those standards.
Every student with a disability must have an IEP in effect by the beginning of each school year. Federal and state laws and regulations specify the information that must be documented in each student's IEP. In addition, IEPs developed for the 2011 school year and thereafter must be on a form prescribed by the Commissioner of Education. The electronic IEP in the NYC DOE's Special Education Student Information System (SESIS) is designed to meet the state requirements.
Source: State Guide to Quality Individualized Education Program (IEP) Development and Implementation, pp. 1-4
IEP Resources
SESIS IEP Crosswalk
A comparison of the current NYCDOE IEP to the new New York State IEP in SESIS
Learn DOE webcast recordings of SESIS "Brown Bag" sessions
Recordings cover a wide range of topics including Creating an IEP in SESIS.
Guide to Quality Individualized Education Program (IEP) Development and Implementation
This is the guide for the new state IEP.
State Regulations: 8 NYCRR §200.4(d)
Creating a Quality IEP: Individualized Education Program Manual, January 2005
Alternate Assessment Standards for Students with Severe Disabilities in New York State Learning Standards
Payroll Administration Memorandum #20, 2000-2001: IEP Arbitration Decision
This document states that when a teacher loses his/her preparation period due to attendance at an IEP conference, this conference shall not be considered as an "emergency." Consequently, the teacher must be compensated.
UFT Special Education Complaint Form
Some guidance on SESIS
by Carmen Alvarez, UFT VP for Special Education | published October 14, 2011
The Oct. 15 deadline for inputting encounter attendance information in the Special Education Student Information System (SESIS) is looming for those of you who teach students with special needs and, in many cases, your supervisors and principals are telling you to just get it done. From your phone calls and emails, we know you are working during your lunch, preparation periods, after school and at home and are still finding the task impossible to complete. We know that you are laboring with inadequate and often antiquated equipment, painfully slow internet speeds, and limited or no training on the system.
"The problems related to SESIS are not your fault, but are a result of the DOE's total incompetence in managing the school system as a whole and this initiative in particular," said UFT Secretary Michael Mendel. "We recognize your hard work and dedication. Unfortunately, the people in charge of the school system, your employer, do not. They do not value your dedication and commitment to your students."
We believe what your employer is asking you to do is unconscionable. We have been trying for months to get the Department of Education to acknowledge the problems with its implementation of SESIS. Every single issue that you have brought to our attention has been shared with the DOE (without identifying you or your school, of course). In a recent email message, UFT Secretary Michael Mendel demanded that the DOE send a letter to you, your principals and your supervisors saying that it understands the difficulties you are facing and doesn't expect you to sacrifice every waking moment in front of a computer performing tasks that are completely unrelated to the important work you do with kids with special needs. But they just don't — or won't — get it.
We wish we could tell you to do only what you can during the work day and ignore this stressful activity outside work hours. Unfortunately, we can't. Refusing to do work that you have been instructed to do would put you at serious risk of being insubordinate and we would never advise you to do anything that puts your job in danger. But there are some things you can do to try to get some relief.
First, make the people who are imposing this burden on you understand your pain. Write an email or a note to your principal or supervisor explaining the barriers you are facing in trying to complete the encounter attendance records for all of your students. Be specific: Is it lack of time during the school day, lack of computer access, an outdated/inadequate computer or lack of internet speed/bandwidth? Some administrators and supervisors may not be fully aware of the things you do during the work day to support students and provide quality instruction and therapy. If that is the case, use your email as an opportunity to educate them. For example, if you are a speech provider who uses your preparation period to observe students in class, interview parents and teachers and perform other student-support activities, put that in your letter. If you are working on annual reviews for some of your students, explain what that entails, too. Be sure to be clear that you are not refusing to do work that you have been instructed to complete. Ask your principal or supervisor to tell you (preferably in writing) how you should perform these tasks given the obstacles.
Second, keep track of your time. We have filed a union-initiated grievance claiming that the DOE has improperly extended your workday by failing to provide time and equipment for you to do SESIS-related activities. We are asking that employees who have had to work beyond their normal workday be paid for their time. If we succeed, members may need to provide proof of the additional time they worked in order to get paid. You can help us gather facts to support the union-initiated grievance by using our online SESIS issues form to tell us about your particular situation. We have also filed state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) charges — and laid the foundation to file additional charges — alleging that the DOE has improperly increased members' hours of work. We will need your help — particularly documentation of the additional time you are spending on your work — in proving those charges as well.
Third, file a grievance if you have received a directive from an administrator or supervisor to perform SESIS-related work during your lunch hour, before or after school or at home. If you received the directive in writing, be sure to keep a copy and forward it to me. If you have been told to do SESIS work outside of your regular workday, but your principal or supervisor did not put the directive in writing, make a personal record of what was said, the date, time and location, and the names of anyone else who was present when the directive was given. Individual grievances must be filed within 30 school days of the day that you were instructed to perform this SESIS-related activity. Read these instructions on filing an individual SESIS grievance.
Lastly, contact your chapter leader immediately if you have received a letter in your file or your principal or supervisor is threatening disciplinary action related to SESIS. If the situation persists, ask your chapter leader to contact your district representative. Please keep my office informed as well.
We are here to help. Be sure to let your chapter leader know what you are experiencing. If your principal or supervisor is ignoring your pleas, ask your chapter leader to intervene. If the chapter leader is unsuccessful, ask the chapter leader to seek assistance from the UFT district representative. Please keep us informed by using our online SESIS issues form. We can't help if we don't know what is going on in your school. (You can send us good news, too, although there hasn't been much of that lately!)
Carmen Alvarez,
Vice President for Special Education
Office: 212-598-9546
Fax: 212-254-5578
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