The Massachusetts
Department
of
Education (DOE )
Has
many
helpful publications
regarding special education:
Page Index: Process,
Transition, Eligibility,
State SPED
Regulations, IDEA, Curriculum Frameworks,
IEP, tutoring, Transportation, Independent Educational
Evaluations (IEE), MCAS, Placement, Advisories,
and Problem reporting (PQA).
(Memo's and advisories offer
information and guidance to supplement the Special Educaiton law and
regulations.)
Process:
A Parent's Guide
to Special Education Manual (manual)
Question and
Answer Guide, Fall 2002 PQA Area Meetings of Administrators of Special
Education (memo)
Parent's
Rights Brochure (April 2008) 
(the previous verison was known as the Interim Notice of Procedural Safeguards, this
is the
document you
receive from your school at your annual Team
meeting.)
Technical
Assistance Advisory SPED 2007-1: Autism Spectrum Disorder (memo)
Issued by Marcia Mittnacht, State Director of Special Education, dated
August 23, 2006.
Autism
Spectrum Disorder guidelines for the Team meeting to
comprehensively discuss students' needs.
The purpose of this advisory is to provide guidance on the ways that
the Individual Education Program (IEP) Team may effectively frame
complete and thorough discussions of the strengths and needs of a
student with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
While Chapter 57 does not
increase documentation requirements,
it describes specific areas of
review and requires the Team to comprehensively discuss students' needs
that are consistent with best practices for addressing the needs of
students diagnosed with ASD.
Transition:
Technical Assistance Advisory SPED 2009-1:
Transition Planning to Begin at Age 14 (memo)
Issued by Marcia Mittnacht, State
Director of Special Education, dated September 3, 2008.
Beginning age 14 or sooner if determined appropriate by an
individualized education program team, school age children with
disabilities shall be entitled to transition services and measurable
postsecondary goals, as provided under the federal Individual with
Disabilities Education Act
Memorandum
on the Implementation
of the Transition Planning Form (TPF) -- 28M/9 
Effective Feburary 2007, a newly developed Transition Planning Form
(numbered 28M/9) for all students with disabilities who are
over 15 years of age.
This
form has been developed for transition planning that occurs either
prior to or at the time of the annual development of the IEP. The TPF
(28M/9) is a
mandated form that
is maintained with the IEP. As a
mandated form, districts must use this format to document that
transition planning has occurred.
Only those
aspects of this planning that translate to elements of the IEP are
"mandated" to occur. We have deliberately designed the planning process
to be more than what is required by special education in order to have
a coherent and inclusive plan of action to help to prepare youth for
adult life.
This form will help
districts meet the requirements of transition
planning in IDEA 2004 and
will be the required document for districts to demonstrate compliance
with the transition requirements associated with Indicator 13 of the
State Performance Plan for Special Education. The Department will begin
monitoring use of the TPF (28M/9) during its Coordinated Program
Reviews in the 2007–2008 school year.
The two-page TPF (28M/9) guides and documents the transition
planning discussion. Page one features two sections:
- The post-secondary vision, which should correspond with the
vision statement on IEP 1; and
- Disability related needs. The disability related needs section
documents skills that require IEP goals and/or related services.
Special Education
Eligibility Determination:
Special
Education
Eligibility Determination (form - ED 1)
A flowchart
to be used in the Team meeting as an aide for determining if your child
meets the criteria for special education.
Is
Special Education the Right Service, A Technical Assistive Guide (manual)
State
Regulations:
SPED
regulations (manual)
Federal Law - IDEA 2004:
Administrative
Advisory SPED 2007--1: IDEA-2004 Implementing Regulations (memo)
Has a chart of the key changes in
regulations and descripts the impact of these chznges on school
district.
Goals
for learning - progress:
IEP:
IEP Process
Guides (manual)
Time line for Issuing IEP's, the lastest memorandum issued from the
Massachusetts Department of
Education (DOE), by Marcia Mittnacht, State Director of Special
Education, dated December 1, 2006, the memo defines receiving the IEP
immediately after Team meeting and what documentatio is recommended, if
the IEP is not fully developed in one Team meeting:
Tutoring:
Transportation:
Change in Mileage Reimbursement for Parents
under 603 CMR 28.07(6) (memo)
- For parents who are providing transportation for their child and
the
transported child is eligible for special education and requires
special transportation according to the special education regulations
at 603 CMR 28.05(5)(b); and transport is for school attendance and
school-sponsored extracurricular activities; and transport occurs with
the knowledge and agreement of the school district; and the parent
voluntarily provides transport. As of September 12, 2005, the
mileage reimbursement rate 40¢ per mile reimbursement.
Evaluations:
Administrative Advisory SPED 2004-1: Independent Educational
Evaluations (IEE)
(memo) - Clarify school district responsibility under the federal and
state
special education law for providing a publicly funded independent
educational evaluation (IEE) or private evaluation for a student.
MA DOE Technical Assistance Advisory SPED 2009-2: dated January 7, 2009,
Observation of
Education Programs by Parents and Their Designees for Evaluation
Purposes
The
legislature recently amended section 3 of G.L. c. 71B, the state
special education law, to require school committees, upon request by a
parent, to grant timely and sufficient access by parents and
parent-designated independent evaluators and educational consultants
(both of whom are referred to in this guidance as "designees") to a
child's current and proposed special education program so that the
parent and named designees can observe the child in the current program
and any proposed program. The law, referred to in this advisory as "the
observation law," limits the restrictions or conditions that schools
may impose on these observations. The purpose of the law is to ensure
that parents can participate fully and effectively in determining the
child's appropriate educational program.
MCAS:
Requirements
for the Participation of Students with Disabilities in MCAS (manual)
Placement:
Advisories:
Problems:
Problem Resolution
PQA (see our webpage)
