School Year Timeline

During the spring of the prior school year, info. on August course registration is emailed to case managers along with recommendations regarding what training sessions to register for. All case managers attend the Unique Learners Conference (ULC), an event where major due process updates for the upcoming school year are presented.

During the Unique Learners Conference (ULC), SpEd departments work together to coordinate tasks and due dates heading into the school year. These work sessions typically consist of whole-group discussion and planning followed by independent work time and consultation.

When a student enrolls or the school proposes an initial evaluation, in most buildings, school psychologists are responsible for designating a case manager. When identifying a case manager, school psychologists typically consider, in addition to any other factors identified as relevant: 

• Existing caseload numbers

• The student's disability category (relative to case manager licenses)

• Which special education teacher is likely to also be one of the student's service providers

• For transfer students, whether or not the student has an evaluation due during the current school year

Schedule Coordination

When a new grading period begins, schools have to be ready with:

• Student schedules that provide each student with the special education services documented in their IEPs.

• A paraprofessional schedule that provides students with the support documented in their IEPs.

Roles surrounding this scheduling process vary across buildings. Typically, school counselors, building administrators, and/or office staff communicate with case managers to obtain needed information as student schedules are developed. School psychologists often oversee the process of building a paraprofessional schedule, but building administrators/deans of special education may also be involved. 

Depending on the size of the school building, the number of classes in students' schedules, etc., scheduling can be a very complex process. Staff who are responsible for building these schedules rely on assistance from case managers and often need organizational aids like spreadsheets to complete these complex tasks.

Sharing IEP/BSPs with Students' New Staff

Teachers, paraprofessionals, and any other school staff working with a student must have the information they need to implement the student's IEP and (if applicable) Behavior Support Plan. Case managers must distribute this documentation to students' new staff prior to a new grading period, provide them with time to review the documentation, and answer any questions they may have. 

To provide teachers with a condensed summary of need-to-know IEP data, most case manager provide them with the "IEP Snapshot" (it includes the BSP as well). This document automatically appears on the History page of SpEd Forms each time an IEP is finalized.

Progress Monitoring Coordination

If new staff will be responsible for collecting a student's progress monitoring data, they need to be informed and trained if necessary. For example:

• Progress monitoring Google Forms that are scheduled using the Boomerang Gmail extension may need to be rescheduled to be sent to new teachers.

• A data collection sheet may need to be shared with a student's new teachers.

• A paraprofessional may need to be trained to complete direct observations of a student's behavior.

Progress Reports

Updates regarding students' progress toward their IEP goals must be shared with parents/guardians as often as progress updates (i.e., grades) are shared with parents/guardians of general education peers. When grades are being finalized, case managers also prepare progress reports following the procedure and requirements described on the Progress Reporting page.

Student Support Team (SST) Meetings

These meetings are typically facilitated by each building's school psychologist. Common agenda items include review of due process topics, reminders regarding upcoming tasks, and planning building-level coordination of due process. In addition, these meetings are often used to visually analyze progress monitoring data and make data-based decisions regarding intervention changes.

Department Meetings

These meetings are facilitated by a district's Special Services Supervisor and include review of due process topics, reminders regarding upcoming tasks, and updates regarding due process guidance.

More information regarding specific assessments is available on the Assessments page. As testing windows approach, you will be contacted by district testing staff (with a school psychologist sometimes being used as an intermediary) with requests for information regarding students' assessment accommodations. 

Case managers have a more proactive role when students intend to participate in college entrance exams, such as the ACT. Requests for accommodations on these exams must be submitted well in advance of the testing date, and case managers, sometimes assisted by school counselors, work with families to ensure these requests are submitted in a timely manner.

Obviously, all of the due process topics relevant to case managers cannot be adequately covered on this page, which is why the rest of Case Manager Resources and the main SCRED website exist. Below, you will find useful information regarding a select sample of procedures and supports.

CIMP

"CIMP" refers to our Continuous Improvement Monitoring Process, an annual self-monitoring of due process paperwork. A single IEP from the current school year is selected for review for each case manager. Refer to the CIMP & Compliance Monitoring page for more details.

At random moments, you will receive an email from the MN Dept. of Human Services that inquires about what you are doing and who you are with. LCTS is a federal requirement that allows MN to obtain federal funding. Our LCTS program is facilitated by the Chisago and Pine co. Collaboratives, and LCTS training is available via the SCRED website.

With regard to demands on case managers' time, responding to emerging problems is certainly the "wild card." Many other tasks are somewhat predictable, but as you review students' attendance/grades/discipline/progress monitoring data, check your email inbox or voicemail, sit in your classroom during parent-teacher conferences, etc., concerns will inevitably arise that demand your urgent attention. 

Depending on the nature of the problem, you may need to, for example: amend an IEP, hold an additional IEP meeting, hold a manifestation determination meeting, participate in a conciliation conference, move up a re-evaluation, propose a standalone FBA evaluation, develop a Behavior Support Plan, etc. Specific guidance regarding these activities is provided elsewhere on Case Manager Resources, but here are a few broadly applicable pieces of advice:

Be Proactive

In order to keep problems as small as possible, it's crucial to respond as soon as a problem is identified. Connect with your school psychologist, a Services Coordinator, a Special Services Supervisor, your building administrator, etc. to obtain guidance. Communicate with parents regularly and while problems are still small. When action steps are identified, execute them quickly and and continue to ask for input and feedback from your colleagues.

Foster a Groove

"Be proactive" may not sound like useful advice if you're feeling stretched thin, too desperate for time to spare any for a problem until it blows up. The keys to avoiding this issue are (#1) acknowledging that time for problem solving will inevitably be needed and (#2) fostering a groove with routine paperwork such that you have the time to spare when you need it. 

To accomplish this, engage in effective time-management strategies, such as spreading your IEP meetings and evaluations evenly across the school year and taking advantage of any "lulls" in your due process workload to work on getting ahead. 

In addition, use your resources, which include both your colleagues and the tools offered to you via Case Manager Resources and the main SCRED website. Tools like the PLAAFP, Goal, & LRE Examples documents that are linked on the PLAAFP, Goals, and LRE pages were developed specifically to save case managers time with routine due process tasks.

Engage in Rational Detachment

Among the strategies in your self-care toolbox is rational detachment: logically separating what you can control from what you can't control and protecting yourself from harmful negative emotions prompted by aspects of a situation that are out of your control. 

You can influence many aspects of the problems you face at work, but in most cases you can't fully control them. The attitudes and behaviors of your colleagues, parents, students, etc. are never fully in your control. It's important to give a problem your best effort, but if you're doing so and not seeing the results you'd hope for, rational detachment will allow you to reflect in a healthy way and avoid the urge to give up.

An ESY coordinator in each district typically begins to reach out to case managers in March for assistance with ESY preparation. In order to prepare for ESY:

• Case managers must ensure that students who have "More data needed" recorded in the ESY eligibility section of their IEPs have amendments completed to indicate "Yes" or "No."

• Due process support staff and case managers obtain RSVPs from parents/guardians of students who are eligible to attend ESY. Technically, there is no cutoff point, and if a parent of an eligible student changed their mind on June 5th and decided that their student would attend, the district would still be responsible for offering programming to that student. Because student attendance has staffing implications, the earlier districts can firm up RSVPs, the better.

• Case managers are asked to provide the ESY coordinator with copies of students' IEPs and BSPs.

• District staff post for and hire sufficient staff to offer ESY programming for the students who are eligible and plan to attend.

Transition Meetings

Districts organize special transition meetings for students who are about to transition from one building to another (e.g., from elementary to middle school). Typically, school psychologists reserve blocks of time on 1-3 days, divide each block into 30-45 minute meeting slots, and work with due process support staff to invite parents/guardians and students. Additional attendees include students' current case manager, their projected case manager (new building), school psychologists from both buildings, and a building administrator from the new building (if available).

During these meetings, the current case manager reviews the student's IEP while members of the receiving school team communicate recommended changes to service minutes, descriptions of accommodations or modifications, etc. Members of the receiving school team typically describe unique features of their school and address questions or concerns brought by the parent/guardian or student. Information about the student's strengths, interests, and preferences is also often communicated.

Following the transition meeting, the student's current case manager uses notes from the meeting to amend the student's IEP before the end of the current school year. Transition meetings are considered to be informal discussions rather than formal IEP meetings. As such, Notice of Team Meeting/Record of Team Meeting forms are not used, and any IEP changes resulting from the discussion follow amendment procedure A. However, if the student already has an annual IEP meeting scheduled in the late spring, the transition meeting is often rolled into this formal IEP meeting.

Graduations

As students prepare to graduate (or age out of special education services), case managers working in high schools or transition programs follow the procedures described on the Exit or Dismissal page and outlined in the relevant DPAL.