Special Education Ministry Update: Funding, Evergreen Certificate, and Personalized Learning

1. BC CASE April 2011

2. Ministry Update • Special needs funding • Updates to Manual • Demographic trends • Evergreen Certificate • High Incidence File Review • Effective Practices Report – Students with Learning Disabilities • Early Learning and FDK

3. Special Education Funding • Unique student funding for special needs • Level 1 – $32,000 to $36,600 • Level 2 – $16,000 to $18,300 • Level 3 – $8,000 to $9,200 • Total unique student funding to boards in 2010/11 for 24,260 unique students (23,905 funded FTEs) • Increase of approximately $11 million

4. Updates to Manual • Updates to Manual • No changes to categories or guidelines • Language changed in several places to reflect current approach to letter grades and percentages for students with special needs • Definition of speech-language pathology now matches the Health Professions Act, Health Section (94/2010) • Appendices have been revised/brought into currency

5. Demographic trends – 1 year

6. Demographic Trends – Prov. Inc. Rates– 2010/11 Dependent/Deafblind 0.12% Mod to Profound Intellectual 0.35% Phys Dis/Chronic Health Imp 1.22% Visual Impairment 0.06% Deaf/Hard of Hearing 0.21% Autism Spectrum Disorder 0.95% IntenBeh Inter /Ser Mental Illness 1.28% Learning Disability 3.15% Mild Intellectual Disability 0.39% Mod Beh Support/Mental Illness 1.08% Gifted 1.27% All categories 10.07%

7. Ministry Update – Evergreen Certificate • In 2009/10, 1,065 BC School Completion (Evergreen) Certificates were issued to students who had successfully met the goals of their educational program other than graduation.

8. What’s Coming • Adjudication • Use of technology important for independence • Should begin early and be supported by IEP goals and strategies • Success should be monitored and assessed. • Decision not to use technology should be made only after significant effort and support • Made by educators in consultation with other support team members. • Information will be posted in the in the Handbook of Procedures for 2011-12, on the adjudications website and on the Just-in-CASE wiki.

9. Ministry Update – What’s Coming • Modules on using software for exams • Revised ESL standards • Modernized safe schools web pages • Guidelines for transitions from youth justice programs back into schools

10. Concerns we hear • Referring to “adapted” or “modified” students Our response... these terms are strategies, not students • Adaptations are a form of accommodation, and modifications are applied to learning outcomes, not to students • CASE can be leaders in terminology use • Assertions that students with special needs indentified in high incidence categories are “unfunded” Our response... Boards asked for a simpler funding formula with more autonomy – hence mixed funding model • These students ARE a priority • Levels of support should be based on student needs, not categories

11. Personalized Learning • Imagine an education system……. • Recognizes and responds to the uniqueness of every single learner • Flexibility in where, when, and how learning takes place • Parents are effectively engaged in their child’s learning • Teachers are facilitators of learning • Supported by technology

12. Personalized Learning • What the Ministry will be focusing on in the coming year re: personalized learning and special needs: • What does personalized learning mean in terms of fostering effective instructional practices for students with special needs? • What does this mean in terms of curriculum, large scale and classroom assessments, performance standards and reporting?

13. Personalized learning • Regarding students with special needs, things to consider... • What parts of their educational program need to be personalized to their learning needs? • In personalizing for all, what would the benefits be for students with special needs? • In personalizing for all, what challenges do you see, and how can they be best managed? • How should a personalized learning plan relate to an IEP?

14. Other questions for us? www.bced.gov.bc.ca/specialed/