Background on the Part B Indicators

In 1993, the One Hundred Third Congress of the United States of America passed the Government Performance and Results Act (GRPA). Designed to be “An Act to provide for the establishment of strategic planning and performance measurement in the Federal Government,”  GRPA required every federal agency to develop annual Performance plans and Program performance reports starting in the year 2000.  When the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) was reauthorized in December of 2004 and its regulations were issued in August of 2006, similar performance plan requirements were included for State Education Agencies. The following section of the IDEA regulations is the basis for the 20 indicators focused on special education (i.e. Part B) that the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) requires states to address in their performance plans and reports:

Subpart F—Monitoring, Enforcement, Confidentiality, and Program Information Monitoring, Technical Assistance, and Enforcement

§ 300.600 State monitoring and enforcement.

(a) The State must monitor the implementation of this part, enforce this part in accordance with § 300.604(a)(1) and (a)(3), (b)(2)(i) and (b)(2)(v), and (c)(2), and annually report on performance under this part.

(b) The primary focus of the State’s monitoring activities must be on— (1) Improving educational results and functional outcomes for all children with disabilities; and (2) Ensuring that public agencies meet the program requirements under Part B of the Act, with a particular emphasis on those requirements that are most closely related to improving educational results for children with disabilities.

(c) As a part of its responsibilities under paragraph (a) of this section, the State must use quantifiable indicators and such qualitative indicators as are needed to adequately measure performance in the priority areas identified in paragraph (d) of this section, and the indicators established by the Secretary for the State performance plans.

(d) The State must monitor the LEAs located in the State, using quantifiable indicators in each of the following priority areas, and using such qualitative indicators as are needed to adequately measure performance in those areas:

(1) Provision of FAPE in the least restrictive environment.

(2) State exercise of general supervision, including child find, effective monitoring, the use of resolution meetings, mediation, and a system of transition services as defined in § 300.43 and in 20 U.S.C. 1437(a)(9).

(3) Disproportionate representation of racial and ethnic groups in special education and related services, to the extent the representation is the result of inappropriate identification.

 Part B Indicator Links and Resources

FAQs, Forms, and More: Everything a State Education Agency Needs to Complete SPPs and APRs
http://spp-apr-calendar.rrfcnetwork.org/
This is a great page for anyone interested in learning more about a particular indicator, read answers to the most frequently asked questions on that topic, or download forms and templates to help you with your SPP or APR.

Looking for in-depth analysis of each indicator? Look no further.
http://www.rrfcnetwork.org/images/stories/FRC/spp_mat/2007_Aug/part%20b%20spp-apr%20indicator%20analyses%2008-02-07.doc
A summary and analysis of data relating to each indicator was performed by the centers that make up the Office of Special Education Program’s (OSEP) Technical Assistance and Dissemination Network and was compiled in this report.

Interested in both the Part B indicators and the related requirements in the IDEA statute and regulations?  Check out this helpful chart produced by the Department of Education.
http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/bapr/brelreqdoc.doc
One side of this chart lists monitoring priorities and indicators, and the other half lists related requirements found in the IDEA which will be of interest to those who are working on state performance plans (SPPs) and annual perform+ance reports (APRs).

SPP/APR Calendar
http://spp-apr-calendar.rrfcnetwork.org/timeline.html
Find out what your state should be doing during each season of the year to prepare and complete its State Performance Plan (SPP) and Annual Performance Report (APR).