ODE published updated Special Education Forms, revised December 2017 and February 2018. Districts are required to use these updated forms beginning Fall 2018 for the 2018-19 school year. Districts were given an "early bird" (April 2, 2018) and "standard" (July 1, 2018) option to update the Special Education forms in SameGoal. The guidance below specifically addresses how to find updated forms, how they function, and suggestions for their use post-update April 2 or July 1.
Post Form Update Guidance
1. How can I find updated forms? Updated versions of the forms published by ODE are found throughout the program, including:
Specifically, the following forms were updated:
Parent Invitation. The 12/01/2017 updates to this form were minimal. Therefore, the updated form continues to be named "Parent Invitation". However, "PR-02 PARENT INVITATION FORM REVISED BY ODE: DECEMBER 1, 2017" appears in the footer of all documents using this form.
Parent Consent for Evaluation. The 12/01/2017 updates to this form were minimal. Therefore, the updated form continues to be named "Parent Consent for Evaluation". However, "PR-05 PARENT CONSENT FOR EVALUATION FORM REVISED BY ODE: DECEMBER 1, 2017" appears in the footer of all documents using this form.
Evaluation Team Report (rev 2/2018). The 02/06/2018 updates to this form were significant and warranted an updated form name of "Evaluation Team Report (rev 2/2018)". Notable updates to this form include:
Individualized Education Program (rev 2/2018). The 02/06/2018 updates to this form were signficant and warranted an updated form name of "Individualized Education Program (rev 2/2018)". Notable updates to this form include:
Services Plan (rev 12/2017). The 12/01/2017 updates to this form were significant and warranted an updated form name of "Services Plan (rev 12/2017)". Notable updates to this form include:
Progress Report (OP-6A) (rev 2/2018). The 02/06/2018 updates to this form were significant and warranted an updated form name of "Progress Report (OP-6A) (rev 2/2018)", replacing form "Progress Report (OP-06)". Most noticably, updates to this form center on providing more quantative versus qualitative data. The Services Plan variant of this form is similarly updated and named "Services Plan Progress Report (OP-6A) (rev 2/2018)".
Transition Progress Report (OP-6B) (rev 2/2018). This is a new, optional progress reporting form published by ODE that centers around providing quantative progress data for a student's transition goals. Because tracking of transition goals is not required per the "Services Plan (rev 12/2017)" form, a Services Plan variant of this form is not included.
Progress Report (rev 2/2018). The grid-based "Progress Report" form has historically been the most popularly used progress reporting form across our districts, primarily because it displays student progress in each reporting period side-by-side for each goal or objective. The 02/06/2018 updates to OP-6A and OP-6B by ODE were significant and warranted an updated form name of "Progress Report (rev 2/2018)". The Services Plan variant of this form is similarly updated and named "Services Plan Progress Report (rev 12/2017)". Updates include consideration of capturing more quantative data, specifically:
2. Can I still see and complete documents started in the older versions of these forms? Yes. Any existing document already created is unaffected, and remain in its original format. All NEW documents created in the system use the updated forms after the form update. This is done so that existing information is not disrupted, and because in numerous places there is not a one-to-one mapping between forms.
3. Have my banks transferred? Yes. Existing district and user-level bank values have automatically copied into updated form fields where appropriate.
4. Can we see ODE's per-field guidance? ODE's per-field guidance has been added to the updated forms as "field-level tips". Each field that contains a tip has a circle icon with an "i" (denoting info) next to it. When you hover over the icon when working on a desktop/laptop, or click the icon when on a mobile device, a question mark will appear and display a gray tip bubble containing guidance for that field from the state.
5. What if we have questions about how to fill out certain fields or sections? If a question is not answered in a field tip, ODE has published extensive universal support materials for IDEA guidance. For quick access, these materials are linked to from the updated IEP, SP and ETR in the top right of each section when you click the "Tips: form" link.
6. How do the per-section "check when complete" checkboxes work? The updated IEP, SP and ETR forms contain a checkbox at the end of each main section. This checkbox allows document writers to denote when they are finished authoring a given section. These checkboxes auto populate to the cover page of the document under FORM STATUS (rather than the other way around) so that each section must be viewed/checked individually before appearing complete on the cover.
7. My district uses user groups. Have these been updated? Yes. All user groups have been updated so that if the group had access to the older version of the form, they similarly have access to the newer version of the form as well.
8. What progress report option should my district use? That decision is up to your district.
Administrators may remove progress reporting options they anticipate their district will not use by deleting/deactivating each form.
9. I wrote an IEP or SP in an older form, but didn't create a matching progress report when the older progress report forms were available. What do I do? Users may proceed with creating a progress report in an updated progress report form. Updated progress report forms only pre-populate information from the most recent, completed document in the updated IEP/SP format, meaning the updated progress report will initially be blank. Click the "Update Goals/Objectives from IEP (old format)" button at the top to automatically copy goals/objectives from the most recent, completed IEP/SP written in the older form format.
10. What's left for me to do? While no followup actions are strictly required, we suggest administrative users:
11. What if I have questions? We are happy to help. Please contact the helpdesk.