Special Education: Improving Learning for Children with Disabilities (ILCD)
ILCD District Plans
ILCD Growth Action Plan, which is either an Improvement Plan, or part of a School Improvement Action Plan/Goal, will be developed to address those improvement strategies identified by the district’s ILCD Steering Committee. Once the district has addressed any compliance issues, they will then set upon the task of developing Action Plan(s) for the improvement needs identified as part of their self-assessment. These improvement needs are not related to the School Improvement activities for that year, but they may be an improvement that will affect school improvement over the upcoming years.
ILCD Improvement Plans will also be submitted to the district’s NDE Regional Program Specialist for review of content and impact on any compliance issues. An improvement plan will be reported on at the completion of the 4 phases and 5 year cycle. A progress report will submitted to the district’s ILCD Steering Committee.
Continuous Improvement
The Continuous Improvement will be something that supports the activities of the overall school improvement/growth plan for the district. This is an internal activity that will demonstrate the linkage between ILCD and School Improvement, and will document interaction of staff and administration to promote improvement.
NDE Review of District ILCD Process
It is the responsibility of the NDE Regional Representative to complete a review of the ILCD process with each of the school districts within their assigned ESUs, following the completion of the rating of the Inquiries and the development of improvement/growth plans.
District Responsibilities
Preparation for Review Process
The district will contact their NDE Regional Representative to indicate that they have completed the rating of their Inquiries, and are preparing their improvement/growth plans for review. This information may come directly from the district, or it may come from the ILCD Facilitator working with the district.
Materials
The district personnel will determine the materials they will be sharing with the NDE Regional Representative. Materials should not be sent to the NDE office, since these are materials developed and maintained in the district, and will not be maintained by NDE.
NDE Staff Responsibilities
Preparation for Review Process
The review of each of the school districts will be completed with some district specific features, but must include all the components outlined in this protocol to insure consistency and rater reliability among the Regional Representatives from NDE. The following are the steps to be completed by the NDE Regional Representative assigned to your area.
Step 1: Contact from the District or the ILCD Facilitator:
This will establish the role the facilitator has taken with the school district. In some cases the ILCD Facilitator is the Special Education Administrator for the district, and is very actively involved in the ILCD process, and in other cases the ILCD Facilitator may have shared information on the ILCD process with the school district, done some training, but other than that has not been involved in the implementation of the ILCD process in that district. It will be important to note the involvement of the ILCD Facilitator. The contact should indicate that the district/cooperative is ready to enter Phase 3, and review of the ILCD self-assessment.
Step 2: Contact the District/Cooperative or the ILCD Facilitator:
The NDE Regional Representative will contact the appropriate person, and set up the time for the visit, and review the intent of the Phase 3 review.
Structure of the Review
There is no set format to how the review is to be conducted. The NDE person may come to the district, the district people may come to the NDE person. The information sharing is the most important and the ability to discuss the self assessment process and the ratings of the inquiries with someone outside of the district. Data/findings may be challenged but this is an opportunity for districts to assess their findings, and validate that the findings are supported by clear and concise data. It would be important to include as many of your ILCD committee members as possible in the review. It is an opportunity for them to participate in the discussion and plan for the future.
Review the General Information:
County/District #
School District Name
Date of the Review
NDE Reviewer(s)
Participants on the Review Team from the School District
Members of the ILCD Steering Committee
Review of Data and Ratings:
Information on the membership, the meetings and the training activities carried out by the ILCD Steering Committee: This information will help the reviewer(s) understand the extent of the alignment between the ILCD and SIP Processes. It also indicates the level of training given to the ILCD Committee members and any difficulties the team may have experienced in completing the ILCD self assessment. Additionally, any of the activities the ILCD Committee has conducted that were considered exemplary should be discussed and acknowledged during this process.
Review the ratings on the Inquiries and correlation to data collected: The NDE Review will include a review of all data to determine if the baseline data supports the performance rating for each of the Inquiries, with an opportunity for the district to discuss each of the inquiries, and the impact of the process in identifying strengths and weaknesses across the district. Performance rating correlates to the baseline data presented by the district.
Review the district’s plan for the development and implementation of the improvement strategies: A district plan for developing and implementing improvement or growth strategies for those issues and concerns identified by the ILCD Committee. The plan should outline the district’s timelines for implementing improvement and growth strategies and activities. It should provide general information on the content of the strategies and activities, the hoped for improvement to be achieved, the intended impact on student/child outcomes and its relationship to school improvement.
Follow up contact with the District:
The Regional Contact from NDE will provide a report to the district stating that the NDE Review was completed, the findings from that review, and any further activities identified during the meeting, in many cases, the further activities will be minimal, or not required.