IMS Data Entry Personnel Notes – 11/6/07 10:00 A.M. – 10:42 A.M.

 

 

Agenda

 

1.        Introductions

2.        Networking and Sharing

 

Preview of Future Business

1.        Next meeting:  December 4, 2007; 10:00 – 11:00

The topics to be determined.

 

Announcements

1.         Goal Codes

2.         DE’s Mailing Address

3.         Nightly

4.         Special Considerations and Health

5.         2008 In-Person Meeting

 

 

Introductions

 

The sites checked in.

 

 

Networking and Sharing / Announcements

 

Description: 

1.       The Special Education Enrollment Count checklist includes data verification reports.  The Required data report is one of these.

  • Run the report daily (preferred) or a minimum of 2-3 times a week.
  • Research any records that appear on the report.
  • If the record is in error, correct it.
  • If a record is not an error and the data will remain unchanged, enter the following information in the Count Comments field on the child’s demographic record:

Ø        Date research occurred.

Ø        Initials of data entry person completing the research.

Ø        Brief statement.

  • Enter the most recent comments at the top of the count field.
  • If there already is a date and comments in this field, determine if it needs to be researched again.  If the existing date in the comments is prior September 1, 2007, it will need researching again for the 2007 certification.
  • When an AEA certifies the count, if any records appear on your required data report, they need to:

Ø        Have been researched and found to be correct.

Ø        Contain count comments in child demographic dated 9/1/07 or after.

In short, there should be no records on the Required Data Report in which the Count Comments field is blank.

 

Additional comments:

·          Please error on the side of over-communication with each other, especially during count time. 

·          If you have questions that are specific to your AEA or if there is a problem that can’t be resolved between two AEAs, request assistance from your special education director.  The directors are willing to assist with the resolution of issues, particularly those that involve data entry personnel across AEA boundaries.

 

 

2.       “Open-mic” time to ask questions.

 

Question:  If an IEP meeting date is 10/26/07 and the service start date is 10/29/07, can this student be included on the count?

Answer:  Yes, this student can be included in the count, because the child was determined to be eligible for special education on or before 10/26/07.

 

Question:  The weighted enrollment report asks the count date.  Will this report include the student with the 10/26 meeting date and the service start date of 10/29?

Answer:  This issue is being researched by the IMS staff.

 

Question:  Is the entry of the count date when running the weighted enrollment report just a waste, if this report does not look at the date?

Answer:  This issue is being researched by the IMS staff.

 

Question:  If the IEP meeting date is 10/26 and the student is being exited effective 10/29, will the student be excluded on the count?

Answer:  Yes, because the IEP team decided on 10/26 that the student is no longer eligible for special education.

 

Question:  Can data be entered into the Intervention screen without impacting the Count?

Answer:  John and Michelle will discuss this question and provide an answer later.

 

Post Meeting Note:

Data entry personnel can continue to enter children who are not receiving any type of special education instructional and/or support students without impacting the Child Count.  More specifically:

    • Regardless of Placement Status, data on the following screens should not be entered, unless it reflects the child’s status as of 10.26.07:

·          Demographic

·          Disability

·          Services

·          Planning

·        Regardless of Placement Status, data on the following screens can be entered without affecting the Child Count:

·          Associated Adults

·          Intervention

·          Activities

·          Review

·          (IEP) Results

·          Hearing

·          Assistive Technology

·          Severity Rating

·          Extended School Year Services

 

If you have any additional questions about what data will and will not impact the Child Count, please contact Michelle.

 

Question:  If a child is transitioned from C to B and is weighted on IEP as a 2 year old, do they need an IT code?

Answer:  The age of the child on count day is the determining factor. So, if the child was under 3 on 10/26/07, that child will need an IT code.

 

Post Meeting Note:

The following information, although posted in the August 28, 2007 agenda, expands the answer given during the meeting:

 

Use of EC Setting Codes, IT Codes and LRE

For federal reporting purposes, as of the count date:

·       Infants and toddlers who are 0 – and not yet 3 need an IT code for their setting.

·       Children who are 3 and not yet 6 need an Early Childhood setting code.

·       Children and youth who are 6 or older as of count date need an LRE percentage.

If a child who is 6 has both an Early Childhood setting code and an

LRE, this will not cause any problems in IMS.

  

Comment:  A question was asked about how old children have to be in order to have an IEP rather than IFSP written.  The Bureau will respond to this question at a later time.

 

Question:  Will the system tell you to change the code after count to and EC code?

Answer:  No, the system will not trigger you to make this change.  Keep track of this manually.

 

Question:  Does web IEP allow an IT code?

Answer:  No, web IEP does not allow an IT code.

 

Question:  When Using the Ask the Bureau function, could there be an email to the requestor when the answer is posted?

Answer:  Auto e-mails are to be generated.  The CPC will test this to see if an auto email is being generated.  The DE does not know who the requester is when they are answering the question.

 

Post Meeting Note:

  • It appears that questions posted and answered through “Ask the Bureau” are generating e-mails to the original requester.
  • The name of the person who submitted the question as well as the name of the person who answered the question may be viewed at: http://www.aeaims.k12.ia.us/askball.cfm.

 

Question:  Which AEAs claim Quakerdale?

Answer:  There are multiple locations.  AEAs 11 and 267 claim them.

 

Announcements

 

1.       Goal Codes

Earlier this year, there was a question about whether or not goal codes need to be entered into IMS any longer, since data for IEP Results is no longer collected.  The directors have discussed this issue and this is their decision:

·          Goal codes are not required to be entered into IMS from this point forward.

·          However, the practice may vary from AEA to AEA for the 2007-2008 school year.  Some AEAs may choose to enter the goal codes and others may not.

·          Goal codes will remain in web IEP for Version 4.  Goal codes will not be included in Version 5 of the web IEP which is scheduled to be released in summer 2008.

 

Please discuss with your special education director whether or not your AEA will enter goal codes for the 2007-2008 school year.

 

2.       DE’s Mailing Address

When sending Count documents to the Bureau, the post office will not deliver mail with an incorrect street address, due to new postal regulations.  The post office will no longer recognize the DE’s address as East 14th and Grand Avenue.

 

The DE’s address should appear exactly as below (no punctuation):

Department of Education
Grimes State Office Building
400 E 14th St
Des Moines IA 50319-0146

 

3.       Nightly

The OGC requested that the CPC share with the data entry personnel the frequency at which the nightly is running.  Here are the figures for the past few months on how the nightly ran without being restarted:

·          August:  Ran 26 out of 31 nights or 83.87%.

·          September: Ran 28 out of 31 nights or 90.32%.  Note: Two of the nights were weekend nights.

·          October 1 – 24: Ran 23 out of 24 nights or 95.83%

 

4.       Special Considerations and Health

Before reading the information that is below, please recall that data entry of special considerations in IMS is optional.

 

Within the web IEP, the Special Considerations on Page B (Behavior, Communication, Braille, Assistive Technology, Limited English) will print on the IMS data summary page.  Health is not part of the Special Considerations section on Page B and will therefore not print on the IMS data summary page.

 

Health was added as a Special Considerations on the IMS Plan screen in the summer of 2007.  Michelle now realizes that Health should not have been added to the Plan screen.

 

Therefore, please disregard Health on the IMS Plan screen.  There are no plans in the immediate future to remove the Health field on the Plan screen.

 

Michelle apologizes for any confusion this may have caused.

 

5.       2008 In-Person Meeting

It appears that the 2008 In-Person meeting will be configured a bit differently than it has been in recent years.  Since the new version of the web IEP is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2008, the In-Person meeting is an opportune time to deliver a thorough review of the product to the data entry personnel.  In fact, at this point in time, the web IEP will be the only topic on the agenda.  The web IEP administrators will also be invited to attend the In-Person meeting.

 

As you know, over the past several years, over 90 people have registered for the In-Person meeting.  When the number of participants is so large, the opportunity for participants to ask questions is reduced.  It is important to optimize the time spent on the product review.  Therefore, it has been decided that the 2008 In-Person meeting will be a one-day event held regionally.

 

Once the meeting schedule is set, the entire schedule will be published and IMS data entry personnel and web IEP administrators will be able to register for any session. It is likely that the meetings will be held in mid to late May.  This will allow the IMS/IEP programmers as much time as possible to develop the web IEP application before it is shown.

 

I realize the configuration for the 2008 In-Person meeting (regional vs. large group; one day vs. two days; dates in May vs. dates in April) is not preferred by many data entry personnel.  However, I believe this arrangement will support the goal of providing detailed information about Version 5 of the web IEP to data entry personnel and web IEP administrators.