The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) requires the states and territories to develop a six-year State Performance Plan (SPP). The SPP has twenty (20) indicators defined by the Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, including an indicator on post-school outcomes (PSO). The PSO indicator requires the State to survey special education students within one year of having graduated, having reached maximum age for eligibility, or having dropped out of school.
To meet the requirements of the PSO indicator, Arkansas submitted to and received approval from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) to use a six-year sampling plan. If a district is consolidated or annexed, the sampling plan will be adjusted accordingly. The sampling plan allows each district to be surveyed at least once during the six years of the SPP. To find out when the local district’s students are scheduled to be surveyed, please review the SPP located on the Special Education website at http://arksped.k12.ar.us/sections/policy.html.
To survey students within one year of leaving high school, student and family contact information is required. The required information includes student name and social security number, parent/guardian name, street address, mailing address, and phone number. The data will be gathered via the Arkansas Public School Computer Network (APSCN) for all special education students ages 14-21, including non-Pentamation districts. This special data collection will occur on the last Friday of May for each year of the sampling plan. Please make sure that the contact information in APSCN is correct prior to the last Friday in May.
The contact information will be cross-referenced with the Special Education Cycle 7 exiting data, Cycle 2 graduation data, and Cycle 4 dropout data to ensure that the appropriate students receive the survey. The identified students will be surveyed between April and June the following school year. For example, students who graduated, reached maximum age for eligibility, or dropped out during 2006-2007 will be surveyed in the spring of 2008.
The SPP is available in most public libraries across the State, in the education service cooperatives, and on the Special Education website at http://arksped.k12.ar.us. For questions about the post-school outcomes sampling plan, contact Dr. Jody Fields at jafields@ualr.edu or at 501-683-7219.