New Jersey State Department of Education
Office of Special Education Programs
Special Education End of the Year
Report
For the 2003-2004 School Year
This
year, there are no substantive changes in the instructions and forms. The
federal disability categories definitions are in the glossary along with a
crosswalk to state eligibility criteria.
Although minor changes may be required in the future, every effort will
be used to minimize those changes.
The data must be reported electronically by
Each
public school district and charter school must submit the End of the Year
Report for their resident students with disabilities. Districts must include their resident
students who were counted by the Commission for the Blind and Visually
Impaired,
Verify or update the district/charter school special education contact person, title, address, phone number, fax and email address. These data are used for mailings to special education coordinators during the year.
TABLE
1 NUMBER OF STUDENTS REFERRED,
INITIAL CLASSIFICATIONS, REEVALUATIONS,
DECLASSIFICATIONS AND HOME INSTRUCTION BY AGE GROUP AND FEDERAL DISABILITY
CATEGORY
A.
Referrals. Report the number of public resident students
by age group (3-5; 6-21) who were referred to the child study team for
evaluation. Do not include students who
were referred, but for whom an evaluation was not proposed. Do not include students who transferred into
the district and who were already classified in another district. Do not include students who were referred only
for speech-language services or those who attend nonpublic schools.
B.
Initial Classifications. Report the number of resident students by age
group (3-5; 6-21) who were found eligible for special education and related
services for the first time according to the federal disability
category. This number should not be
larger than the number of referrals unless some were carryover referrals from
the previous year.
C. Reevaluations. Report the number of
resident students by age group (3-5; 6-21) who were reevaluated. If a student’s eligibility category was
changed, report that student by the new federal disability category. If a student was declassified, report that
student using the previous eligibility category. If a reevaluation was started, but not
completed before the end of the school year, count that student the following
year. Students who were eligible for
speech-language services and were subsequently referred to a child study team
for evaluation to determine their eligibility for special education and related
services, should be reported as “Referred” and, if eligible, they should be
reported under “Initial Classification,” instead of “Reevaluated.”
D. Declassified. Report the number of
resident students by age group (3-5; 6-21) who were declassified according to
the federal disability category from which they were most recently classified.
E.
Home Instruction. Report the unduplicated number of resident
students by age group (3-5; 6-21) by
federal disability category who received home instruction for a portion of the
school year according to an individualized education program (IEP).
TABLES
2A - 2N NUMBER OF STUDENTS WITH
DISABILITIES, AGES 14-21, EXITING FROM SPECIAL EDUCATION
A.
Report by
federal disability category and age as of the previous December 1st, the number of resident public students with
disabilities who left special education between
1.
Returned to regular education - The number of students with disabilities who were served
in special education during the previous reporting year, but at some point
during that 12 month period, returned to regular education as a result of
having met the objectives of their individualized education program (IEP). These are students who no longer have an IEP
and are receiving all of their educational services in a general education
program.
2.
Graduated from High School
- The number of students with disabilities who received a high school diploma.
3.
Reached Maximum Age - The
number of students with disabilities who exited special education because they
reached age 21 during the school year and did not receive a high school
diploma.
4.
Deceased - The number
of students with disabilities who died.
5.
Moved, known to be continuing - The number of students with disabilities who moved their
residence and are known to be continuing in another educational program,
regular or special. This includes
transfers to other districts and students who moved into residential
drug/alcohol rehabilitation centers or correctional facilities. Do not report students who did not change
their residence, but just moved to another grade level (e.g., grade 8 in an
elementary school to grade 9 in a regional high school). These students are not considered to have
exited.
6.
Moved, not known to be continuing - The number of students with disabilities who moved their
residence and are not known to be continuing in another educational
program, regular or special.
7.
Dropped Out
- The number of students with disabilities who were enrolled at some point in
the reporting year, were not enrolled at the end of the reporting year and did
not exit through any of the other reasons described above. Include
students who were enrolled the previous year, but did not report to their
school in the fall and did not exit by any other above reasons. This row includes
dropouts, runaways, GED recipients, expulsions, or other exiters for whom
the reason for exit is unknown.
B. Report the row and column totals. The total number of students on this table
must equal the total number of students on Table 3 for each reason for
exiting. The EOY application will
automatically calculate these totals.
TABLE 3 NUMBER OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES AGES
14-21 EXITING SPECIAL EDUCATION BY RACIAL-ETHNIC-GENDER GROUP
A.
Report the
number of students with disabilities ages 14-21 who left special education
between
B.
Report the row
and column totals. The number of students on this table must
equal the total number of students on Table 2 for each reason for exiting. The
EOY application will automatically calculate these totals.
Based on N.J.A.C. 6A:14, Effective
AUTISM
(AUT) -
"Autistic" means a pervasive developmental disability which
significantly impacts verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction
that adversely affects a student's educational performance. Onset is generally
evident before age three. Other characteristics often associated with autism
are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance
to environmental change or change in daily routine, unusual responses to
sensory experiences and lack of responsiveness to others. The term does not
apply if the student's adverse educational performance is due to emotional
disturbance as defined below. A child who manifests the characteristics of
autism after age three may be classified as autistic if the criteria in this
paragraph are met. An assessment by a certified speech-language specialist and
an assessment by a physician trained in neurodevelopmental assessment are
required.
DEAF-BLINDNESS
(DB) - "Multiple
disabilities: Deaf/blindness" means concomitant hearing and visual
impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and
other developmental and educational problems that they cannot be accommodated
in special education programs solely for students with deafness or students
with blindness.
EMOTIONAL
DISTURBANCE (ED) - "Emotionally disturbed" means a
condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long
period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a student’s
educational performance due to:
An inability to learn that cannot
be explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors;
i. An
inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with
peers and teachers;
ii.
Inappropriate types of behaviors or feelings under normal circumstances;
iii. A general
pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or a tendency to develop physical
symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
HEARING IMPAIRMENTS (HI) - "Auditorily impaired" corresponds to
"auditorily handicapped" and further corresponds to the Federal
eligibility categories of deafness or hearing impairment. "Auditorily
impaired" means an inability to hear within normal limits due to physical
impairment or dysfunction of auditory mechanisms characterized by (c)1i or ii
below. An audiological evaluation by a specialist qualified in the field of
audiology and a speech and language evaluation by a certified speech-language
specialist are required.
i. "Deafness" - The auditory
impairment is so severe that the student is impaired in processing linguistic
information through hearing, with or without amplification and the student's
educational performance is adversely affected.
ii.
"Hearing impairment" - An impairment in hearing, whether
permanent or fluctuating which adversely affects the student's educational
performance.
MULTIPLE
DISABILITIES (MD) - "Multiply disabled" corresponds to
"multiply handicapped" and means the presence of two or more
disabling conditions. Eligibility for speech-language services as defined in
this section shall not be one of the disabling conditions for classification
based on the definition of "multiply disabled." "Multiply
disabled" is characterized as follows:
i.
"Multiple disabilities" means concomitant impairments, the
combination of which causes such severe educational problems that programs
designed for the separate disabling conditions will not meet the student’s
educational needs.
MENTAL
RETARDATION (MR) -
"Cognitively impaired" corresponds to "mentally
retarded" and means a disability that is characterized by significantly
below average general cognitive functioning existing concurrently with deficits
in adaptive behavior; manifested during the developmental period that adversely
affects a student’s educational performance and is characterized by one of the
following:
i. "Mild cognitive impairment"
corresponds to "educable" and means a level of cognitive development
and adaptive behavior in home, school and community settings that are mildly
below age expectations with respect to all of the following:
(1) The quality
and rate of learning;
(2) The use of
symbols for the interpretation of information and the solution of problems; and
(3) Performance
on an individually administered test of intelligence that falls within a range
of two to three standard deviations below the mean.
ii. "Moderate cognitive impairment"
corresponds to "trainable" and means a level of cognitive development
and adaptive behavior that is moderately below age expectations with respect to
the following:
(1) The ability
to use symbols in the solution of problems of low complexity;
(2) The ability
to function socially without direct and close supervision in home, school and
community settings; and
(3) Performance
on an individually administered test of intelligence that falls three standard
deviations or more below the mean.
iii. "Severe cognitive
impairment" corresponds to "eligible for day training" and means
a level of functioning severely below age expectations whereby in a consistent
basis the student is incapable of giving evidence of understanding and
responding in a positive manner to simple directions expressed in the child’s
primary mode of communication and cannot in some manner express basic wants and
needs.
OTHER HEALTH IMPAIRMENTS (OHI) -
"Other health impaired" corresponds to "chronically
ill" and means a disability characterized by having limited strength,
vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness with respect to the
educational environment, due to chronic or acute health problems, such as
attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a heart
condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell
anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, diabetes or any other
medical condition, such as Tourette Syndrome, that adversely affects a
student’s educational performance. A medical assessment documenting the health
problem is required.
ORTHOPEDIC IMPAIRMENTS (OI) - "Orthopedically
impaired" corresponds to "orthopedically handicapped" and means
a disability characterized by a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely
affects a student’s educational performance. The term includes malformation,
malfunction or loss of bones, muscle or tissue. A medical assessment
documenting the orthopedic condition is required.
PRESCHOOL DISABLED (PRE) - "Preschool disabled"
corresponds to preschool handicapped and means an identified disabling
condition and/or a measurable developmental impairment which occurs in children
between the ages of three and five years and requires special education and
related services.
SOCIAL MALADJUSTMENT (SM) - "Social
maladjustment" means a consistent inability to conform to the standards
for behavior established by the school. Such behavior is seriously disruptive
to the education of the student or other students and is not due to emotional
disturbance as defined in emotional disturbance above. SM is
not a reportable federal category.
SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITIES (SLD) – “Specific learning
disability" corresponds to "perceptually impaired" and means a
disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in
understanding or using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in
an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do
mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual
disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and
developmental aphasia. It is
characterized by a severe discrepancy between the student's current achievement
and intellectual ability in one or more of the following areas:
(1) Basic reading skills;
(2) Reading comprehension;
(3) Oral expression;
(4) Listening comprehension;
(5) Mathematical computation;
(6) Mathematical reasoning; and
(7) Written expression.
i. The term
does not apply to students who have learning problems that are primarily the
result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, general cognitive deficits,
emotional disturbance or environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage.
ii. The district shall adopt procedures that utilize
a statistical formula and criteria for determining severe discrepancy. Evaluation
shall include assessment of current academic achievement and intellectual
ability.
SPEECH-LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENTS - Divided into two categories as
follows:
"Language
Impaired" (LI) - "Communication impaired" corresponds to
"communication handicapped" and means a language disorder in the
areas of morphology, syntax, semantics and/or pragmatics/discourse which
adversely affects a student’s educational performance and is not due primarily
to an auditory impairment. The problem shall be demonstrated through functional
assessment of language in other than a testing situation and performance below
1.5 standard deviations, or the 10th percentile on at least two standardized
oral language tests, where such tests are appropriate. When the area of
suspected disability is language, assessment by a certified speech-language
specialist and assessment to establish the educational impact are required. The
speech-language specialist shall be considered a child study team member.
i. When it is determined that the student meets
the eligibility criteria according to the definition for language impaired
above, but requires instruction by a speech-language specialist only, the
student shall be classified as eligible for speech-language services.
ii. When the area of suspected disability is a
disorder of articulation, voice or fluency, the student shall be evaluated
according to N.J.A.C. 6A:14-3.4(e) and if eligible, classified as eligible for
speech-language services according to N.J.A.C. 6A:14-3.6(a).
SPEECH ONLY (SP) - "Eligible for
speech-language services" means a speech and/or language disorder as
follows: A speech disorder in articulation, phonology, fluency, voice, or any
combination, unrelated to dialect, cultural differences or the influence of a
foreign language, which adversely affects a student’s educational performance;
and/or a language disorder which meets the criteria for language impaired and
the student requires speech-language services only.
TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY (TBI) -
"Traumatic brain injury" corresponds to "neurologically
impaired" and means an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external
physical force or insult to the brain, resulting in total or partial functional
disability or psychosocial impairment, or both. The term applies to open or
closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as
cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment;
problem-solving; sensory, perceptual and motor abilities; psychosocial
behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech.
VISUAL
IMPAIRMENTS (VI) - "Visually impaired" corresponds to
"visually handicapped" and means an impairment in vision that, even
with correction, adversely affects a student’s educational performance. The
term includes both partial sight and blindness. An assessment by a specialist
qualified to determine visual disability is required. Students with visual
impairments shall be reported to the Commission for the Blind and Visually
Impaired.
Technical Manual for Accessing
Web-based Applications
1.
Introduction
This document describes how users
can gain access to web-based applications hosted by the New Jersey Department
of Education. Primarily, these users are staff members in school districts,
Charter Schools, and
2.
Overview
The New Jersey
Department of Education plans to build internet-based applications to replace
existing DOS-based (EDCPC) data collection software and to meet new
requirements as they arise.
Each of these
internet-based applications will be accessible through a password-protected
login page. To successfully login, a user must provide their district code,
userid and password. The login requirement prevents unauthorized persons from
gaining access to or modifying data for a particular district or charter
school.
Each
individual who uses an internet-based application must have their own personal
account, consisting of their
district code (9999 for county office staff), name, and an individual password.
Each user may be authorized to access several data collections.
The creation,
authorization and modification of these individual user IDs is managed within
each district or charter school by a single individual. This individual is
referred to as the Web Administrator of a district or
Once an account
for the Web Administrator has been established, the Web Administrator can
create and maintain individual User accounts using an online application.
Maintaining a User’s account includes authorizing them to use individual data
collection applications.
It is
extremely important that Administrator and User account passwords not be shared
with any other staff. Accounts are
established for the use of a specific individual; the individual’s identity
will be associated with all data created or modified during a session initiated
by their login.
It is important
to keep your list of accounts current. To do this:
·
Each Web
Administrator can delete or add User accounts as staff members are hired,
leave, or change roles. This person has access to User account passwords and
the ability to modify them.
·
Web
Administrator accounts should be modified appropriately whenever the person
responsible for this role changes.
3. The Web Administrator Role
To access the User Admin application, choose the
"Web Administration" link on the data collections home page (http://homeroom.state.nj.us).
To login as the Web Administrator for your district
or
Once you have logged in to the application, you have
access to the following two parts of the application:
·
User
Administration- this section lets you Update or Delete existing User accounts,
Add or Delete authority for each account to use "Projects" (data
collection applications), and Add New User accounts;
·
Change
Administrator Information- this section lets you transfer the Web Administrator
role to another individual, if necessary, or update phone number and email
information.
4. Establishing User Accounts
Within the Web Administration application, you may
create new User accounts with the following information: User Name, Password,
First Name, Last Name, Phone Number, Fax Number, Email Address. A second,
Alternative Email Address can be provided.
To create a User account, choose the "User
Administration" button and locate and click the "Add New User"
Button at the bottom of the User table (scroll down, if necessary). You must
enter the appropriate information into the "Add User" form and click
the "Add" button when finished.
Please note that each account can be authorized as
either a District-level or a School-level user. In some cases, data entry may
be done by personnel who are authorized only for data related to a certain
school. If you want to make certain that a User account will have access to all
of your district’s data, accept the default and create the user as a District
Level user. This particular decision cannot be modified later, so choose
carefully.
When you create a User account, you must select a
single data collection application that this user will be authorized to access.
Others may be added later. We have included the first authorization in the
process for creating accounts for your convenience. Please note which
application is selected by default as you create a new account. You may wish to
select a different application instead.
5. Authorizing Users For an Application
Each user is authorized for a single application
during the process of creating the User account, as described above. Additional
applications can be added later, as needed. Each user must be explicitly authorized
for each application to which they should have access.
To add authorization for additional applications,
find the account you wish to modify under User Administration (User ID is shown
in the 2nd column of the User Administration table). Click on the
"+" sign in the "Add Project" column of the row
corresponding to this User ID.
This will bring up a new page. Unauthorized
applications are shown on the left; applications for which this User account
has already been authorized are shown on the right. Select a
"Project" (application) you would like to add from the list on the
left and click "Add Project." Do this once for each
"Project" you want to authorize. When you are finished, click
"Back to Previous Page."
6. Changing or Deleting User Accounts
To change or delete a User account, find that User in
the User ID column of the User Administration table. Click on the User ID. This brings up a Modify User form where user
information can be modified. Password, Last Name, First Name, Phone Number, Fax
Number, Email Address and Alternative Email Address can all be modified on this
page. Click into each field to modify the information, then click the
"Update" button at the bottom of this page (the changes will not be
implemented until after this button is clicked). To delete an account, click on
the User ID to bring up the same Modify User form. Click the "Delete"
button at the bottom of this page. Warning: pressing the Delete button will
permanently delete the User account currently selected. This action cannot be
undone.
7. Establishing Administrator Accounts
Each School District or Charter School must have only
one Administrator account. Until this account has been established, none of the
functions described here can be carried out. To create an initial Web
Administrator account, the Create Administrator form should be filled out,
signed by the School Business Administrator or Charter School Lead Person, and
faxed to the Office of Information Technology at (609) 633-9865. A PDF version
of this form is available on the department’s website at
http://state.nj.us/education/data_collect. An email will be sent to the address given on
this form to notify you that the Administrator account has been created.
8. Changing Administrator Accounts
Transfers of responsibility for the Web Administrator
role from one individual to another can be accomplished online. Please note
that this should be done while the outgoing administrator is still available.
Login to the User Administration application using
the Web Administrator’s User ID and Password and select "Change
Administrator Information". In much the same way as User account
information can be modified (see above), this function can be used to change
the Administrator’s Password, Last Name, First Name, Phone Number, Fax Number,
Email Address and Alternative Email Address.
Select the appropriate fields, change the information and click "Update" (the changes will not be implemented until after this button is clicked).