SPP Indicator 8

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 requires all states to develop a State Performance Plan (SPP) that describes how the state will implement the requirements and purposes of the IDEA, and improve results for students with disabilities (20 U.S.C. 1416). Included among the requirements is the measurement and public reporting of Indicator 8: School Facilitated Parent Involvement. More specifically, Indicator 8 addresses the “percent of parents with a child receiving special education services who report that schools facilitated parent involvement as a means of improving services and results for children with disabilities.” Like many states, Pennsylvania collects this data through a large scale survey. The parent survey Pennsylvania is using was developed by the National Center for Special Education Accountability Monitoring under a grant awarded to that center by Office of Special Education Programs.

Survey of Parents of Students with Disabilities

Annually, one fifth of Pennsylvania Local Education Agencies (LEAs) are included in the survey. A stratified random sample of parents of school age students with disabilities receive the twenty five question survey directly from Leader Services. Parents are directed to address questions they may have about the survey to The Special Education Consultline. Individual responses to the survey are kept confidential. Reporting on an LEA’s performance in meeting SPP targets, including targets for Indicator 8, is done through the Special Education Data Reports on the PennData Website.