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INDICATOR 8 SURVEY REVISIONS – STAKEHOLDER FEEDBACK

ÌýÌýVideo Script:

Hi there! ÌýMy name is Mrs. Johnson. Did you know that New York State is revising its Special Education Parent Survey? No??Ìý Well, let me tell you a little about it!

The Â鶹ÊÓƵ uses an anonymous Parent Survey to provide parents of students with disabilities the opportunity to share if they think that their school district involves parents in their child’s education. Each year, a different group of school districts across the state send the survey out to some of their families of students with individualized education programs or IEPs. The survey does not collect individual student or family data and it is not used for tracking purposes. The overall results of the anonymous survey are used to help schools improve parent engagement in their child’s education.Ìý

The Parent Survey that the Â鶹ÊÓƵ has been using over the years consists of 25 questions.Ìý The questions focus on four key areas:

1. Your school’s efforts to partner with parents;
2. Actions and decisions of your school’s teachers and administrators;
3. Your school’s practices, for example, asking families for their input and including them in school activities; and
4. Lastly, the impact of special education services on your family.

Groups and individuals, including parents, were asked their opinions on the Parent Survey currently being used.Ìý The information they provided was reviewed by the Â鶹ÊÓƵ and used to revise the Parent Survey. The two changes that were made to the survey include:

• Shortening the length of the survey from 25 to 13 questions; and
• Revising some of the questions to make the survey easier to read.

Now we need your help to let us know how we did with our changes to the Parent Survey!Ìý

Please read over the revised Parent Survey and fill out the stakeholder input form, posted on this website, to let us know what you think of the proposed changes.

Your anonymous feedback is very important to the Â鶹ÊÓƵ and will be used to finalize the revised Parent Survey.

ÌýThank you!!Ìý

The Â鶹ÊÓƵ (Â鶹ÊÓƵ) uses a modified version of a parent survey developed by the National Center for Special Education Accountability Measures (NCSEAM) to collect data for Indicator 8.Ìý Twenty-five (25) items from NCSEAM’s Parent Survey – Part B have been selected based on the rules established for item selection to ensure reliability and validity of the use of the survey.Ìý

Each year, one-sixth of the school districts in New York State plus the New York City Public Schools are selected to report data on Indicator 8. School districts are responsible to provide the parent survey to a sample of parents of students for whom their school district has IEP responsibility (i.e., parents of students who are provided special education services in district-operated programs or under contract with other service providers). Parents of both preschool and school age students must be surveyed.Ìý ÌýAll school districts have a choice of reporting data on all eligible students for this indicator or they may submit data on a randomly selected sample of minimum number of students using the sampling guidelines provided by Â鶹ÊÓƵ.ÌýSchools are encouraged to over sample to ensure statistically sound response rates.

Â鶹ÊÓƵ has a contract with theÌý(PIAR) at SUNY Potsdam to administer the Parent Survey.Ìý Surveys are collected only for school districts scheduled to report on Indicator 8 in a given year. The school district must provide the parents of students with disabilities with an authorized copy of the survey along with directions on how to complete and submit the survey. School districts are directed to employ a variety of methods to encourage parents to complete the survey. The surveys may be distributed between September 1 and August 31 of the year in which a school district is required to report on Indicator 8. Surveys must be postmarked by August 31 of the reporting year. Authorized copies of the Parent Survey are available only through PIAR. The surveys are printed in a scannable format in English and Spanish, and by request in eight other languages. The school district may also instruct the parent to complete the survey online, providing the identifying code of the school building and school district codes. A parent’s individual responses are confidential. Whether submitted electronically or in hard copy, the surveys are forwarded directly to PIAR, not to the school district, for processing to ensure confidentiality.ÌýSchool districts should not photocopy the surveys for dissemination and should only use the official scannable parent surveys provided by PIAR.

TheÌýprovides information for school districts, includingÌý Frequently Asked Questions, the link to order survey forms and check submission status; and the link to the online survey form or parents.ÌýIf you experience technical difficulties with the PIAR web site or with any of the online surveys, please contact PIAR at SUNY Potsdam directly at 888-419-2698 (toll free) or 315-267-3466 or send an e-mail toÌýparentsurvey@potsdam.edu.

Tools for Data Collection and Submission

Sample LetterÌýto Parents from District