The Office for Exceptional Children is issuing a Call for Presenters for the 2010 Special Education Leadership Conference that will be held at the Columbus Convention Center on September 20-21, 2010. The Conference has a specific focus on improving the efforts of Ohio educators to meet the individual needs of all children, including children with disabilities, while providing them with good instruction ... (more details)

The Office for Exceptional Children has provided a sample LRE Reporting Chart. To view the sample chart, click here.

The U.S. Office of Special Education Programs has provided a November 2009 document on Questions and Answers on Serving Children with Disabilities Eligible for Transportation. To view questions and answers, click here.

A listing of the changes in the ETR Annotations is available by clicking here. To download the revised ETR annotations, please go to "Required Forms" section or by clicking here.

The Ohio Operating Standards for Ohio Educational Agencies Serving Children with Disabilities ("Operating Standards") requires traditional public schools and chartered community schools to adopt written policies and procedures regarding the education of children with disabilities (For example, see 3301-51-02(A) of the Operating Standards). In addition, the Operating Standards allows districts to choose which method they will use to determine the existence of a specific learning disability and requires districts to develop written procedures for the implementation of their chosen method (3301-51-06(H)(3)(f) of the Operating Standards) ... (more details)

On November 16, 2009, the Ohio Department of Education, Office for Exceptional Children, will hold a public hearing on the revision of one of the rules that is part of the Operating Standards for Ohio Educational Agencies Serving Children with Disabilities, Ohio Administrative Code 3301-51-05. This change is being made to reflect changes made to a federal regulation ... (more details)

The Ohio Department of Education, Office for Exceptional Children (ODE/OEC), announces the availability of the following:

Updates to the Guidance Document
ODE/OEC has again reviewed and updated the Guidance Document to ensure that it reflects current policies. Updates appear in blue in the Guidance Document. A listing of the updates is available by clicking here and the listing is also available in the notice preceding the Table of Contents of the Guidance Document. The Guidance Document will continue to be reviewed on a regular basis.

Updated IEP & ETR Annotations
ODE/OEC has again reviewed and updated the annotations for the IEP and ETR forms. The latest updates are noted in bold and underlined in the annotations dated October 2009 and posted at www.edresourcesohio.org/ under Required Forms. A listing of the changes in the IEP Annotations is available by clicking here. A listing of the changes in the ETR Annotations is available by clicking here.

Medicaid School Program (MSP) Plan of Care (POC)
IEP/ETR Requirements
The IEP and ETR Requirements for the Medicaid School Program (MSP) Plan of Care (POC) are posted at www.edresourcesohio.org under Required Forms and are available by clicking here.

Handouts for sessions presented at the Leadership Conference are available by clicking here - Day 1 and Day 2.

The agenda for the conference is available here.

Please provide your feedback on the leadership conference. At your earliest convenience, copy the following link into your internet browser and follow the instructions to fill out the post conference survey. The link is http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Dn1QNABTTQyw37L0tYqxdA_3d_3d.

The Ohio Department of Education, Office for Exceptional Children, has created a new EMIS data collection form. The form contains the fields for data that will be required to be submitted in the Education Management Information System (EMIS) for the 2009-10 school year and may be useful in managing the collection of required EMIS data. It can be amended in any way a district finds useful. Use of this form is NOT required by ODE for any purpose.

Wakefield, Mass., October 13, 2009--CAST today announced the launch of the National Center on Universal Design for Learning to provide educators and stakeholders with resources, expertise, and analysis of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and its implementation in schools nationwide. UDL is a research-based set of principles for designing and developing curriculum and instructional practices that meets the educational needs of all learners. Based on research on the diverse ways people learn, UDL offers practical steps for giving everyone the chance to succeed ... (more details)