Special Education Training Outline

• Introduction to SameGoal
• Logging In
• Screen Overview

• Search for Students
• Create a Document

• Document Overview
• Rich Text Editing
• Autosave
• Attachments
• Printing a Document

• Sharing a Document
• Collaborative Editing
• Chat
• Version History

• User Banks
• District Banks

• Validations
• Holding Meetings
• Signatures
• Translation

• Completing a Document
• Participation
• Deadlines

• Clerical Errors
• Amendments and Revisions
• Copy from an Existing Document

• Progress Reports
• Contact Log
• Accommodations Log
• Instructional Log

• Support
• Questions
• Explore Your Environment

Time: 20 minutes

Skip:

• Skip Discussion 1 in the Screen Overview topic if real data has not yet been loaded into the environment. This discussion calls out that we will be focusing solely on test data during the training.
• Skip the Deadlines paragraph of Discussion 2 in the Screen Overview topic if the district is on the Standard edition of SameGoal. This discussion covers the Deadlines page, which is only available with higher editions.
• Skip Activity 1 in the Screen Overview topic if students have not yet been loaded into the environment. This activity prompts attendees to search for students in their buildings.

Discussion 1: SameGoal is a documentation management and compliance platform for special programs with over a 99% annual retention rate. SameGoal has been serving districts since 2008 and supports several special programs.

Discussion 2: Discuss the reasons why the district decided to switch to SameGoal as well as which problems SameGoal will help to solve.

Discussion 3: During this training we will cover topics such as:

• Creating documents
• Working within documents
• Tools for collaboration, saving time, and compliance
• Holding meetings
• Completing documents
• More

I will be logged into the environment demonstrating the functionality as we work through the different topics and you will also be able to complete several activities where you can try completing different workflows in the application yourself.

Discussion 1: Discuss how login works for the district (SSO, ClassLink, OIDC, etc.).

Activity 1: Log into SameGoal.

1. Find your district login page:
• The first time you log in, you should have received an email from SameGoal containing a link to sign in that will direct you to your district login page.
• Otherwise, if your district has specific directions for users to access SameGoal, find your login page that way.
• If not, navigate to the SameGoal homepage (samegoal.com), click on the Sign In button in the top right, search for your district by entering the name or city, and select your district.
2. Enter your login information:
• If your district uses single sign-on, use your district credentials to log in. If there are issues with single sign-on, reach out to your district’s tech department.
• If this is your first time logging in and you do not use single sign-on, create a password and log in using your email and new password.

Important: Logging in can take a while. Make sure everyone is able to log in, and help those who are having difficulties.

Discussion 1: During this training, you’ll come across real students and real documents, but for the purpose of training, we will be working with test data. For the time being, please ignore the real data. If we have time at the end, you will get the chance to explore the environment, the students, and the documents a bit more.

Discussion 2: There are several different features and pages you can access from the left menu:

Dashboard: This page gives users a quick and easy way to see important information in SameGoal and will reduce the number of clicks needed to get to commonly used information.

Recent: This is the landing page when you log into SameGoal and it shows your 50 most recent documents. If you leave a document to work on other students, you can easily come back to what you were working on. Additionally, all documents you’ve been working on are all in one place.

Caseload: Shows the documents you are actively working on. You can control which documents appear here by adding and removing documents throughout the year as what you’re working on changes. We will discuss how to manage your Caseload later.

My Students: All students who have at least one document on your Caseload. This list is dynamic and will change as you work on documents year to year. If you add a student’s document to your Caseload, if they are not already on your My Students list, they will be added. Once a student no longer has any documents on your Caseload, they will be removed from My Students.

Chat: You can switch from the My Students tab to the Chat tab by clicking on the chat box icon. This allows you to securely message other online colleagues. To switch back to My Students, you can click back to the student icon.

All: Lists all of the documents you have access to, given your permissions; whether it was explicitly shared with you or because your administration gave you default access to the form type.

Deadlines: A calendar of any deadlines that have been assigned to you. You can also display deadlines for students who you have an educational interest in, even if the deadlines are not assigned to you. Deadlines are calculated by SameGoal automatically when documents are completed and are assigned to whoever the owner of the previous document was.

Students / create new: This is a list of all students you have access to based on your building permissions, which are controlled by your administration. Students are automatically added and updated each night based on a SIS demographics integration. All students are added, regardless of program participation status. This means if a student needs to be evaluated, they don't need to be added to the system first.

Reports: This page will list all reports you have access to run given your report permissions set by your admin users. When you run a report, you are able to see information from documents you have access to.

Activity 1: Make sure you have the correct building permissions by searching for students.

1. Navigate to the Students / create new page.
2. Search for one student in each of the buildings you work in.
• If you have access to one student in the building, you should have access to all students in the building, so you only need to check one student per building.
3. To search for a student, at the top of the page, enter their name in the First name and Last name fields or enter their student ID in the Student ID(s) field.
4. Click Search.
5. If you are not able to find a student you would expect to see, make note of it so you can work with your administration to update your building permissions.

Time: 10 minutes

Preparation: Assign everyone in training a number associated with a test student. Test005 through Test250 are available.

Discussion 1: In order to create a document for a student, you will first need to find that student and navigate to their Documents tab. You can do this by clicking on their name in your My Students list if they are listed there, or by searching for them on the Students / create new page.

Activity 1: Search for your test student.

1. While on the Students / create new page, in the Last name field, enter your test student’s name in the format “Test###”.

priority_high

Important: As the trainer, use Test001.

2. Click Search.
3. Click on your test student’s name to be brought to their Documents tab.

Discussion 2: There are several tabs on a student's page:

• Documents: Lists all of a student’s documents you have access to and is also where you can create new documents for the student.
• Deadlines: Lists upcoming and past due deadlines which are automatically calculated by SameGoal.
• Programs: Displays a timeline of programs the student has participated in, which is automatically calculated by SameGoal.
• Details: Contains student and parent demographic information, which is updated nightly based on a demographics integration with your SIS. You are only able to see this tab if you have an educational interest in the student.
• Basics: Contains basic enrollment information and is also updated nightly based on the SIS integration. This tab is only available to administrative users.

Discussion 1: When you click into the Create new dropdown at the top of a student’s Documents tab, you can see all of the forms you have permission to create. Again, this access is set by your administration.

Activity 1: Make sure you have the correct form permissions.

1. While on your test student’s Documents tab, click into the Create new dropdown at the top.
2. Scroll through the list of forms and make sure you are able to see all form types you would expect to be able to create.
• Forms are listed alphabetically by program.
3. If you don’t see a form you would expect to see, make note of it so you can work with your administration to update your form permissions.

Activity 2: Create a document for your test student.

1. While on your test student’s Documents tab, click into the Create new dropdown at the top.
2. Search for an Individualized Education Program by scrolling through the list or by typing the name of the form.
3. Click on the form type.
4. Click Create.

Discussion 2: When you create the document:

• The new document will open for you.
• The student will be added to your My Students list.
• The document will be added to your Caseload.
• The document will appear at the top of your Recent page.

Time: 15 minutes

Discussion 1: When a new document is first created, demographics information on the cover page is automatically pulled in from the student's Details tab (which is updated nightly based on an active demographics integration). If information has been updated on the Details tab since the document was first created, you can click Update Student/Parent Info at the top of the document to re-pull the data.

There are a couple of ways to move throughout a document. You can scroll through or you can click on the section tabs to be brought directly to the section.

Discussion 2: Let's walk through some of the IEP sections to get more familiarized with it.

Determination of Eligibility: The eligibility decision is documented in Section 2. In order to document that a student is eligible, you must:

• Answer No for all of the Analysis of Determinant Factors questions.
• Select Yes for "The child has a disability".
• Document at least a primary disability.
• Select Yes for "By reason of the disability, the child needs special education and related services".

Present Levels: Present levels are documented in Section 3. This section is broken down into each of the components that the TEA requires. In this section, if you indicate the student requires things such as nursing services, a BIP, or assistive technology, you will be required to document those items later in the IEP.

Measurable Annual Goals: Goals are documented in Section 6. A new goal section will need to be added for each measurable goal and you'll need to number each goal added. When the IEP is completed, goals can automatically populate in other documents such as progress reports.

Individualized Services and Supports: Services and supports can be added in Sections 7a, 7b, and 7c. Additionally, accommodations can be logged in Section 7a. If a student receives multiple accommodations, a new section should be added for each subject. Information from this section will also automatically pull into other documents, such as service logs or accommodation logs.

Behavior Intervention Plan: If a Behavior Intervention Plan is needed, it can be documented in Section 12 of the IEP. There is also a standalone BIP document that can be created if needed.

Deliberations: You may choose to document all deliberations in Section 14, or you can document deliberations separately for each section at the end of the sections.

Discussion 1: Now let's learn about some tools that can help make document authoring easier. Authoring documents in SameGoal is very simple and works similarly to any other word processing application, including keyboard shortcuts, copying and pasting, and more.

When you click into a field, the rich text editing toolbar at the top of the screen becomes available. This allows you to format your text as you wish as well as insert tables and lists.

Activity 1: Add text to a document and format it.

1. In your document, click into a text field so that the formatting toolbar at the top becomes available.
2. Experiment with the formatting tools.
• Select different formatting options and begin typing.
• Highlight what you’ve already typed and change the formatting again.
• Add a table by clicking on the table dropdown in the toolbar and selecting Insert table.

Discussion 1: Once you start working in a document, you probably want to make sure that your work is saved, but you might have noticed that there is no save button. Rather all document edits are autosaved, and you can see the save status in the top right of the document. Changes are saved every time you click out of a field or every few seconds while working within a field, so there is never a risk of losing more than a few seconds worth of work.

Activity 1: Explore autosave.

1. Click into a text field.
2. Begin typing and notice how the save status changes to Unsaved changes.
3. Click out of the field and notice how the save status now changes back to All changes saved.

Discussion 1: You can add information to documents by typing it or copying and pasting it in, but another way to include information in a document is by adding attachments.

Several different file types are supported. It can be helpful to attach examples of student work, submitted documentation from third parties, or even audio recordings from meetings.

Activity 1: Add an attachment.

1. In your document, click on the Attach tab in the top right corner of the document.
2. On the Attach tab, give the file a name.
3. Click Choose File to select a file from your computer.
4. If you would like to, select a file from your computer to attach. Otherwise you may just watch and follow along for the rest of the activity.

campaign

Callout: Do not attach a file that contains sensitive information about a real student since this is a test student that many people have access to.

5. Once you’ve selected your file, click Attach file. All attachments will be listed on the Attach tab.
6. If the file is a PDF, document, image, or video, click on it to view the attachment in a new tab.
7. Close the viewing tab and return to the document by clicking on one of the section headers.

Discussion 1: Documents can be previewed in-screen at any point, with or without PDF attachments. From a document preview, you can print (or download the document). Additionally, when a document is printed, it looks the same as when you’re editing it. SameGoal’s document layout is “what you see is what you get”.

Activity 1: Print a document with attachments.

1. While in your document, click on the Printer icon in the top right of the document.
2. In the dropdown, you will have the option to print just the full document, or the document with any PDF attachments.
3. Click Full Document + PDF Attachments.
4. In the print preview, scroll down to the bottom to see the attachment appended to the end.
5. Click Print to open a print dialogue.
6. You may close the print dialogue page and click Exit Preview to return to the document.

Discussion 2: Before a document is completed, you will be able to see a DRAFT watermark across each page when printing or downloading. Displaying a draft watermark on documents until they are marked complete helps districts better communicate to parents and other team members when a given document contains all required information and signatures, especially when meetings are held remotely. This will go away when the document is marked complete.

Time: 15 minutes

Preparation: Organize attendees into groups of 2 or 3. You can either place attendees in groups yourself or allow them to find their own partners. It will be easiest if partners are seated next to each other. As the trainer, it will be helpful if you also have a partner to demonstrate with.

Discussion 1: Once you’ve created a document and added some of your own contributions to it, the next thing you’ll want to do is add additional collaborators to it so they may also contribute.

Activity 1: Share a document with another user.

1. In your document, navigate to the Share tab in the top right corner of your screen.
2. Once in the Share tab, there will be two sides: Collaborative Team and Add Collaborator.
• The Collaborative Team lists all of the current collaborators for a document and what their permissions are.
• The Add Collaborator side allows you to share the document with others to add them to the Collaborative Team.
3. On the Add Collaborator side, search for your partner or partners by entering their name in the First and Last fields, or by entering their username or email in the Emails field.
4. After clicking Search, locate your partner’s name in the results list and click on their name to add them to the Collaborative Team on the left.
5. If you have two partners, repeat the process to share the document with your other partner.
6. You can leave permissions as Can Edit. Once you are finished, click Save.

Discussion 2: You may have noticed that by default, other staff are added to the Collaborative Team with Can Edit permission. When sharing a document you can determine which level of access other collaborators will have. The document access granted through explicitly sharing a document with a user might be different from the default access granted to them by administration.

• Is Owner: If you create a document, you are automatically assigned as the Owner. Owner permissions allow a user to add and remove collaborators, as well as complete, amend, delete, and undelete the document.
• Can Edit: Allows a user to edit the document and add/remove attachments.
• Can View: The document will be ready-only to the user.
• Remove: No access/removes the user from the document.

Discussion 3: When a document is shared with you:

• The document will be automatically starred and will appear on your Caseload.
• The student will appear on your My Students list since they have at least one document on your Caseload.
• The document will appear at the top of your Recents tab.
• You will receive a Document Share Event notification to the bell icon in the top right of your screen.

Callout: You can try finding the student on your My Students list and locating the document on your Caseload and Recent page.

Discussion 1: There is no limit to how many users a document can be shared with and multiple collaborators may work in one document simultaneously without the risk of overwriting each other’s work. When another user is working in the same document as you, a concurrent user icon will pop up in the top right and you’ll be able to see their edits in real time.

Activity 1: Work in a document with another collaborator.

1. Discuss with your partner(s) and decide on whose document you will collaborate on. Only select one of your documents.
2. Navigate to the document you will be working in by finding it on your Caseload or Recents tab and clicking on it or by clicking on the notification in your notifications tray (bell icon).
3. When you enter the same document as your partner, you will see their name card in the top right corner. Hover over the name card in order to see their full name.
4. Next, take turns clicking into different fields.
• When your partner clicks into a field, you will see their name covering the field.
5. Try to click into a field while your partner is in it.
• You will not be able to enter a field while another user is clicked into it. However, if they are inactive for 5 minutes, they will be removed from the field so other users can enter it.
6. Make edits to the document and type something into a text field.
• You’ll notice when your partner makes edits to the document, you can see all of their edits in real time.

Discussion 1: If you see another team member in the document at the same time, you can easily start a chat with them by clicking their card in the top right. In-application chat is a way to speed up communication between staff members and foster professional collaboration.

Activity 1: Send a message using the Chat feature.

1. While still in the same document as your partner(s), click on their name card in the top right in order to open a chat box with them.
2. Send a message to your partner using the chat box.
3. Once you receive a message back from your partner, you can close the chat box by clicking the X in the top right corner.

Discussion 2: It’s important to note that chat is not attached to the educational record for a given student and is not stored with the document in any way. You can start or continue a chat with another online team member by navigating to the Chat tab in the left menu.

Discussion 1: Even with potentially several users all collaborating on one document, there is never a risk of losing your work due to another staff member entering the document and making unwanted changes or removing your work. SameGoal has a Version History panel in every document that is available to any user with access to the document.

Activity 1: View events in the Version History panel.

1. Click on the clock icon on the right side of the toolbar to open the Version History panel.
2. Scroll to an event and click on it.
• Notice that you can see all of the changes you and your partner(s) made and when you click on an event, the page will scroll to the field that was changed.
3. Exit out of Version History by clicking on the icon in the toolbar again.

Discussion 2: Version History is helpful in several ways:

• For every change made to a field, you can see an Event that lists the date and time that the change was made, as well as the user who made the change. This helps to answer any questions about edits that were made to a document.
• When viewing a historical Event, the document will appear exactly as it was when that change was made and you can even print the historical version of the document.
• If information was accidentally removed or changed, you can bring up the document in the Version History panel from before the change was made and copy and paste the information from the historical version into the current version.

Callout: You may return to your own documents now.

Time: 10 minutes

Skip:

• Skip Activity 1 of the District Banks topic if you did not prep a district bank.

Discussion 1: We’ve covered how to author documents and how to author them collaboratively. Now let’s discuss how to speed the process up.

SameGoal offers functionality to store frequently used text in text fields in any form. This tool is referred to as Bank Values. By storing text in banks, users can avoid needing to rewrite common content for each document.

Bank values support name and pronoun substitution. By typing “[Name]”, the student’s name will be substituted when adding the text to the document. Any gendered pronouns (he/she, his/hers, etc.) will also be automatically substituted to match the student’s gender.

User Bank Values can be made by any user and are only accessible to the user who created it.

Activity 1: Create and use a user bank value.

1. Navigate to Section 6 of the IEP.
2. Click on the add Goal button to add a new section.
3. Click into the Measurable annual goal field.
4. In the green box that appears below the field, click edit bank.
5. Next, click add to begin creating a new bank value.
6. In the bank field, enter “[Name] will be able to write his name by the end of the year”
7. Click done.

campaign

Callout: Notice that your student’s name will appear in place of “[Name]” and if you have a female student, the male pronouns will be replaced by female pronouns.

8. Click on the bank value to add it to the field.

Discussion 2: Saved banked values are available in every document of the same form type. If you were to work in a different IEP, you would be able to use this stored value in the same field.

Discussion 3: Both district banks and user banks may utilize Topics and Keywords. Topics help to group like values together, similar to putting the values in a folder together. Keywords basically give a bank value a title. This is useful when a bank value is very long and can help you identify the bank value quicker.

Discussion 1: District banks are made by an administrative user and are accessible to all users in the district. District banks are denoted with a small building icon so you can tell them apart from your own user banks. District banks cannot be edited or deleted by non-administrative users.

District bank values can provide users with compliant text and suggestions and reduce the amount of bank value creation and management required at the user level. For example, when documenting instructional services and supports, districts will often add district banks for Provider Title. That way, in reporting, a single provider title won't be written several different ways.

Activity 1: View a district bank.

1. Navigate to Section 7a.
2. Click add Special Education.
3. Click into the Provider Title field.
4. Notice the district banks that have been added and the icon next to them.

Discussion 2: Administrative users can also add district banks as default values. Default district bank values will automatically pre-populate fields when a new document is created. These values are often meant to act as a template for staff to follow to ensure they include all required information.

Time: 15 minutes

Skip:

• Skip Discussion 2 and Activity 2 in the Holding Meetings topic if the district is on the Standard edition of SameGoal. These cover sharing documents with parents, which is only available with higher editions.
• Skip Discussion 2 and Activity 2 in the Signatures section if the district is on the Standard or Plus edition of SameGoal or if the district has disabled stored signatures. This feature is only available with the Pro edition.
• Skip the Translation topic if the district is on the Standard or Plus edition of SameGoal. Translation is only available with the Pro edition.
• Skip Demonstration 1 in the Translation topic if you did not download the translated document.

Discussion 1: Documents in SameGoal run validation checks, which ensure all required fields are filled out and check for data errors. All required fields are denoted with a red asterisk and any data issues will cause a big red dot to appear. Validation checks are dynamic and update in real-time as you work within a document.

Activity 1: Explore validation checks.

1. On the cover page of your document, enter today’s date in the Start Date field. When you do this, the red asterisk for the field will disappear.
2. Enter yesterday’s date in the End Date field. When you do this, there will be a large red dot next to the date field indicating there is an issue with the data entered.
3. Hover over the red dot to see more information. The plan end date cannot be before the start date.
4. Change the year in the end date to be next year (the end date should be 1 year - 1 day after the start date). The issue will be resolved and the red dot will go away.

Discussion 2: As you’re finishing a document and getting ready for a meeting, you’ll want to make sure you haven’t missed anything important. To save time, you can enter into Validation Mode, which allows you to quickly go through all remaining unsatisfied validation checks.

Activity 2: Enter into validation mode.

1. Click on the check mark icon in the top right to enter into validation mode.
2. Use the arrows to the left of the check mark icon to move between errors.
3. Resolve an error (fill out the required item/resolve the data issue), and then move to the next item.
4. Click on the info icon next to the arrows to see a list of all remaining errors.
5. Select an error on the list. You will be brought directly to the associated field.
6. Click the check mark again to exit validation mode.

Discussion 3: Documents cannot be completed until all validation checks pass (except when bypassed by administrative users). If you try to complete a document before all validation checks pass, you will receive a popup warning with the remaining errors and will not be able to complete the document. When all errors have been satisfied, the validation icon in the toolbar will appear as a green check mark. Once this happens, the document may be completed.

Discussion 1: Meetings can be held in-person or remotely. When meetings are in person, many districts present the document in SameGoal on a smartboard or using a projector for the group.

When doing this, it’s recommended that you enter into Meeting Mode. This minimizes incoming chat messages so no unexpected messages pop up, hides other students on the left, and gives you more screen room by hiding the editing toolbar.

Meeting Mode can also group multiple documents together and can be shared with other users.

Activity 1: Share a meeting and enter into Meeting Mode.

1. While in your document, click on the screen icon in the toolbar and select Share Meeting Mode.
2. Give the meeting a name.
3. Enter in the username or email of your partner(s) from before and select them from the list to add them to the meeting.
4. Click Send notifications & enter meeting mode.

campaign

Callout: When you do this, a notification will be sent to you and the users who you added to the invite. This notification will act like a link into the Meeting Mode view.

5. You are now in Meeting Mode. When you are finished, click on the screen icon again to exit Meeting Mode.

Discussion 2: If a meeting is being held remotely, the document can be shared with the parents. When you share a document with a parent, they will receive an email containing a link to the document. Then the parents may follow along in the document during the meeting. While a parent is viewing a document, if a staff member clicks into a field in the document, the parent’s screen will automatically scroll to that field, making it easy for the parent to follow along.

Parents see a read-only version of the document and are not able to make edits, except to parent signature-related fields if you grant them Can View & Sign permission rather than just Can View permission. This allows them to fill out consent fields and add their signature. When a parent makes an edit to a document, the document owner will receive a notification in SameGoal.

Activity 2: Share your document with a parent.

1. Navigate to the Share tab in your document.
2. Click on Share with Parent/Guardian.
3. Provide a fake first and last name.
4. In the Email field, you would typically enter the parent’s email address, but for now, you can enter in your own personal email (for training purposes).
• You may also choose to leave the field blank if you do not want to provide your own, but you will get an error when you try to send.

campaign

Callout: Do not use a fake email because you could accidentally send it to someone’s real email. For real students and documents, if the parent’s email has come over from the SIS, it will be listed in a dropdown rather than having to type it manually.

5. Optionally, change the permission.
6. Optionally, include a note.
7. Hit Send.

Discussion 1: Document authors, collaborators, and meeting participants can easily sign documents electronically. Any place where a signature is required, you’ll see a little pen icon and when you click the signature field, you’ll get a popup that allows you to sign electronically.

Signatures can be drawn on a computer using a mouse or trackpad, or on a smartphone or tablet using a finger.

Activity 1: Electronically sign your document.

1. Navigate to the Signatures section of your document.
• If you need to add an additional section, click the add button to do so.
2. Locate a signature field (denoted with a pen icon) and click on it to open the Adopt and Sign popup.
3. Type your name into the Full Name field.
4. In the Draw Signature box, use your finger, mouse, or trackpad to draw your signature.
5. Check the box to certify your signature.
6. Click Adopt and Sign to apply your signature to the document.
• At any time, you can click on an existing signature to remove it or redo it.

Discussion 2: Additionally, rather than writing your signature each time, you can store your signature and "stamp" it into signature fields with one click.

Activity 2: Store your signature.

1. Click on your Account Menu in the top right of your screen and select Store signature.
2. Click into the signature field, add your signature, and fill out the rest of the Store Signature box.
3. Click on Store Signature and then OK to save your signature.

campaign

Callout: Now in non-guardian signature fields, you will see a stamp icon and by clicking on the stamp, your stored signature will be applied automatically.

Discussion 1: If you’re meeting with parents who do not speak English as their first language, before the meeting takes place, you may request a document translation directly within SameGoal. When a document is translated into another language, its contents will be displayed in both English and the second language.

Activity 1: Request a document translation.

1. In your document, click on the translation icon in the toolbar.

priority_high

Important: Some districts enable automatic translation approval. If this is enabled for the district, you will see a field for Translator Email. In this case, have the attendees provide a personal email (not a fake email).

2. Select a language to request a translation for.
3. Select Modified fields as the content to be translated.
4. Click Request Translation.
5. Navigate to the Version History panel to check the status of the translation.

Demonstration 1: Show a translated document.

1. Locate the document you downloaded before training.
2. Open the document and scroll through it to show how the document fields and content appear once they are translated.

Discussion 2: If a translator participates in a meeting and the meeting is recorded, the recording may be uploaded as an .mp3 attachment directly to the document.

Time: 10 minutes

Skip:

• Skip Discussion 3 and Demonstration 2 in the Deadlines topic if the district is on the Standard edition of SameGoal. These cover the Deadlines Calendar which is only available with higher editions.

Discussion 1: Once all information has been entered into a document and all necessary meetings have been completed, the document should be marked complete in the program.

Demonstration 1: Complete a document.

1. Navigate to your document for Test002.
2. Click the lock icon in the toolbar.
3. Select Complete.
4. Show that the icon now appears as locked, fields are no longer editable, and the student now has a program participation badge next to their name.

Discussion 2: When a document is completed:

• It is no longer editable.
• Program participation is updated automatically.
• Future deadlines are calculated automatically.
• Services become reportable.
• Information is sent back to your SIS via integration.

Discussion 3: With the Alerts and Document Viewer integration, visual indicator alerts are generated for each special program a student currently participates in. When an alert is clicked, the document is displayed in a document viewer web page that staff can easily access.

When staff view documents, they can view Additional Views. SameGoal generates these views and pulls in a subset of information from the document to present it in a more understandable format for a given use case. These print views can also be viewed, printed, or downloaded from within SameGoal.

Demonstration 2: View an additional view.

1. In your IEP, click the printer icon.
2. Show the different additional views available.
3. Select one of the additional views.
4. Show that the view displays only a subset of the IEP information. This page can be printed or downloaded. And the DRAFT watermark has gone away.
5. Exit out of the preview.

Discussion 1: SameGoal automatically tracks special program participation. In order to see more information about program participation, you can view the participation timeline on the student’s Programs tab. This page displays participation information for all programs.

Demonstration 1: View a student’s Programs tab.

1. Click on your student’s name to be brought to their Documents tab.
2. Switch to their Programs tab.
3. Show that the timeline has an entry noting that the student is now participating in Special Education.

Discussion 2: When a student is participating in a program, a participation badge will appear next to their name in the system. Hovering over this badge shows more information about program participation, but it also displays deadline information.

Discussion 1: Future deadlines are also calculated when a document is completed, and an overview of upcoming deadlines is displayed when hovering over the badge.

Discussion 2: You can also see more deadline information on a student’s Deadlines tab. This page lists all past due and upcoming deadlines for each special program. Each deadline includes information about what is due, when it’s due, who the deadline is assigned to, and what document the deadline was determined from. Deadlines are assigned to whoever was listed as the owner of the document that the deadline was determined from. You’re able to click on deadlines on this page to show more details.

Demonstration 1: View a student’s Deadlines tab.

1. Navigate to the student’s Deadlines tab.
2. Click on one of the deadlines to display more information about it.
3. Show that the timeline shows specific fields in the previous document that helped calculate the deadline.
4. Click on one of the fields to be directed to the field in the document automatically.

Discussion 3: The Deadlines page in the left menu will show you a calendar of all deadlines that have been assigned to you. You can switch the calendar to a month view, week view, day view, or to a list view.

Demonstration 2: View the Deadlines calendar.

1. Click on the Deadlines page in the left menu.
2. Change to the Month view.
3. Click on a deadline to view more information about it.

priority_high

Important: If you do not have any deadlines this month, you can use the arrows in the top left to navigate to the next month. You will at least have one deadline for an annual plan due 1 year after the document you just completed.

Time: 10 minutes

Skip:

• Skip the Copy from an Existing Document topic if the district will not allow users to copy from an existing document.

Discussion 1: If a document needs to be edited to correct a clerical error (i.e. change an incorrect date), it may be marked Incomplete by an administrative user. If you need to make a small edit to a document, reach out to an administrative user and ask them to incomplete the document for you. When the document is re-marked incomplete, you can go in and make changes, then complete the document again once you are finished.

Discussion 1: While clerical errors can be fixed by incompleting a document, larger changes to the plan require a formal amendment or revision. For example, if after reviewing a student's progress it's clear that they are not on track, if their instructional services need to be adjusted, the plan will need to be amended or revised.

Amendments and revisions are very similar but we often use the term "Revision" to refer to an amendment that requires another meeting. A meeting is required if the change affects the student's eligibility status, changes their educational placement, or is related to a manifestation determination review. If a meeting is held, a new signatures section should be added. Both amendments and revisions are tracked directly within the document in order to keep all information in the same place.

Demonstration 1: Create a formal amendment.

1. Navigate to your completed IEP document for Test002.
2. Click on the lock icon in the toolbar and select Amend.
3. At the bottom of the Cover Page, locate the Amendments table and click add Amendment.
4. Fill out the amendment table. Specify Section 7a: Services and Supports is being updated and indicate that the instructional services will be updated.

Discussion 2: If a student's instructional services need to be updated, if they've already begun receiving services, you shouldn't delete the original service. Rather, change the end date of the service and add a new service that starts when services were updated.

Demonstration 2: Amend a student's instructional services.

1. Navigate to Section 7a in the IEP.
2. Change the original End Date for the service to indicate that services began but are no longer continuing.
3. Click add Special Education to add a new section.
4. Document a new service similar to the original service but modified in some way.
5. Set the Begin Date to the new End Date entered for the original service.
6. Once you are finished documenting the new service, click on the lock icon and select Complete.

Callout: Staff can see each historical version of a document in Version History. These historical versions can also be printed or downloaded.

Discussion 1: For each student participating in a special program, you’ll need to conduct a plan review each year to ensure the student’s needs are still being met. With this review, a new plan document will need to be created. To help save you time, you are able to copy from existing, completed documents to create new documents.

Demonstration 1: Create a new document by copying from a completed document.

1. Navigate to your Test002 student’s Documents tab and locate their completed plan.
2. Select the plan by clicking the checkbox on the left, and go to Actions > Copy to new document.
3. When you get the popup warning, click Copy document >>.

campaign

Callout: When copying from an existing document, you will have the option to share the new document with all of the same collaborators upon creation.

4. Click Copy document.
5. Enter into the new document.
6. Scroll through to show that some fields (such as dates and demographics) did not copy over, but many of the other fields did.

Discussion 2: The new document that is created will automatically pull information from the previous document. Exactly which fields will copy over varies by form type, but dates, signatures, and demographics information will not pull over. So when it comes time to review a student’s plan, you can copy last year’s plan and just review and update the information as necessary.

Time: 15 minutes

Discussion 1: After a plan is completed, it can be helpful to track a student’s progress toward their goals during the duration of the plan. SameGoal has progress reports that pull goals directly from the most recent, completed plan document.

In these progress reports, you can track progress narratively or with a progress monitoring chart. These charts provide a visual representation of the student’s progress over time and can be very helpful, especially when working with parents.

Demonstration 1: Create a progress report and chart progress.

1. Navigate to your Test002 student’s Documents tab.
2. Use the Create new dropdown to create a Progress Report.

campaign

Callout: The goals from your completed document will be pulled into the progress report automatically. You can also manually add goals if you’d like by clicking add Goal to add a new section.

3. Click add Chart to create a progress monitoring chart.
4. Provide baseline/target dates as well as baseline/target scores. A target trendline will appear.
5. Click the add Data button twice.
6. Enter in dates and scores in the Data fields. A new trendline will appear between the two data points.

Discussion 1: When you need to contact a student's parents, you can document each attempt at contact in an ARD/IEP Contact Log or in a General Contact Log.

Activity 1: Document an attempt to contact parents.

1. Navigate back to your student's Documents tab.
2. Using the Create new dropdown at the top, create either an ARD/IEP Contact Log or a General Contact Log.
3. In the document, click add Contact.
4. Enter a date, method of communication, notes, and person responsible.

Discussion 1: There's also a document you can use to document whether or not accommodations were provided and if they were effective called an IEP Accommodations Log.

There should be one Accommodation Log per person (teacher) per IEP. All accommodations from Section 7 of the IEP will populate the document automatically, but you can delete any accommodations not relevant to you.

Demonstration 1: Document provided accommodations.

1. Navigate back to your Test002 student's Documents tab.
2. Using the Create new dropdown at the top, create an IEP Accommodations Log.
3. Show that accommodations have been added automatically from the completed IEP, but accommodations can also be added manually using the add Accommodations button.
4. Fill out the log for a couple of different weeks.

Discussion 1: Similarly, instructional services can be documented in an IEP Instructional Service Log. When this document is created, all instructional service and goals will pull in from the completed IEP.

A separate log should be created for each instructional service and each time a service is provided, it should be documented. Additionally, progress can be charted directly within the service log.

Demonstration 1: Document provided instructional services.

1. Navigate back to your Test002 student's Documents tab.
2. Using the Create new dropdown at the top, create an IEP Instructional Service Log.
3. Show that all goals and instructional services have been added automatically from the completed IEP.

campaign

Callout: You can either check the box next to any relevant goals/services or you can deleted any goals/services that are not relevant.

4. Remove all goals and services except for one of each.
5. Click add Log-Basic.
6. Fill out the log

Discussion 2: These documents should be left open the entire time the service/accommodation is being provided. Only complete the document once the service/accommodation has ended.

Time: 5 - 30 minutes

Discussion 1: SameGoal publishes robust online help guides covering a range of topics from general system functionality to specific program documentation workflows. These support guides contain step-by-step instructions on how to complete different tasks in SameGoal as well as videos that demonstrate the workflows.

Users can also contact and receive support from SameGoal’s daily helpdesk via phone or email.

Activity 1: Access SameGoal’s support resources.

1. Open the support menu by clicking on the question mark icon in the top right of the screen.

campaign

Callout: Notice the helpdesk contact information listed in the support menu. If you call into the helpdesk, you will need to give them a Call-In Code which you can generate by clicking on the Show Call-In Code button.

2. Click on Help in the support menu. You will be brought to the online guides.
3. Click on User Guide. These pages provide information about general application functionality.
4. Navigate back to the online guides landing page.
5. Click on one of the state program support links. These pages offer program guidance for various topics such as participation, deadlines, and common workflows.

Discussion 1: If time, allow users to ask any questions they might have.

Activity 1: If time, explore your environment and the real data already in it (optional).

• Begin creating bank values for yourself.
• Star any documents that should be on your Caseload.
• Review any PDFs or skeleton documents that have been added. Copy and paste information from PDFs to populate the next IEP.
• Use your test student to play around with different forms/features to familiarize yourself with the program.