Getting and Staying Organized for the First Year Special Needs Teacher

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Getting and Staying Organized for the First Year
Special Needs Teacher
Mr. Michael Covey New Albany High School
Special Needs Department, New Albany, Ohio
43054. mcovey_at_new-albany.k12.oh.us
Presented at the Council for Exceptional Children
Salt Lake City, Utah Convention and Expo 2006
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In today's world of special education, teachers
are responsible for legal documents (IEPs), work
samples as well as records of contact with all
members of the special education team. In
short, we live and die professional by the
documentation we maintain. A play on the old
adage that we are only as good as what we have
documented has never been truer. Some school
districts are fortunate enough to have a central
office where all documents are kept in neat files
that are easily retrieved with a click of a
keyboard. Most however are maintained at the
building level by special needs teachers. The
organization of those case managers is mandatory
for survival, but seldom demonstrated to new
special education teachers. It is very often left
to the skill or lack of skill of the special
education teacher. Unless you are lucky enough to
have a mentor to help you with your organization,
you find yourself buried beyond all hope in
paperwork stuffed into various well meaning
folders and cabinets! This presentation will
provide the reader with a functional document
organization method that can be used for the
first year as well as the veteran special needs
case manager. So lets get organized!
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What should be maintained in a special needs case
managers organization folder?
?
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What to keep is at a certain level subjective,
but I have found that the following items in my
working folder have been very functional.
The key word is Functional!
Start with a minimum 5 paper fastener! ( Dont
worry, it will fill up) ?

• Subtitles for each tab
• Phone list
• Student Schedule/Teacher notification
• IEP/ MFE copies
• Interims/Grade cards- Periodic Progress Reports
  of goals( PPR)/ Tracking sheets
• E-mails
• Work Samples

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Inside CoverDocument all Communications

• Unless your school district has its own required
  phone log, I would recommend making your own on
  any standard word software program (dont forget
  to save it for additional phone logs at a later
  date). If you make your own, I would recommend an
  open block for the students name, parent/
  guardian names
• (sometime the last names are different),E-mail
  address of parent /guardian as well as home and
  cell numbers.
• You will also need to create a column for contact
  dates, and topic covered as well as the out come
  of the conversation.
• Again these are minimum items, add to it as best
  fits your individual needs !

Parent Contact Log
Student name____________________________ Parent/
Guardian__________________________ E-mail_______
___________________________ Cell/Home
number________________________
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First Tab
Title it
Student Schedule/ Teacher Notification

• This section has two parts The Students most
  recent classroom schedule (placed on top) and the
  notification of accommodations/modifications
  outlined in the IEP.
• Note It is important that you send out two
  copies of the notification of accommodation
  within the first few days of school. One copy is
  for the general education teacher to keep for
  there records in a secured place. The other copy
  is signed by them and sent back to you for your
  records. This is the copy you keep under the
  student schedule in your folder.
• I like to keep the two sections together because
  it is easier to make sure that I have not missed
  anyone and to make sure I have gotten back a
  signed copy from each of the general education
  teachers.
• You may also want to send a cover letter out with
  your notification forms indicating that as a
  member of the IEP team , they should become
  familiar with the IEP over all.

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Second Tab
IEP/MFE
Title It

• This is a quick reference section for you as the
  case manager to the Individual Education Plan
  (IEP) or the Multi Factored Evaluation (MFE).
  Both are handy to have when speaking to a parent
  over the phone or face to face.
• If you find that you need to create a graded
  contract or a behavioral plan, this is also an
  ideal place to have it at the ready. ?
• I also like to make a diskette copy of the
  current IEP document as well as a working copy of
  the Periodic Progress Report (PPR) document. I
  simply place the diskette into a disc sleeve and
  tab it overtop of the hard copies of the IEP/MFE.

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Third Tab
Grade Card - PPR - Tracking Sheets
Title It

• The third tab covers the official records of the
  student progress for both the general education
  grades (interims/grade cards) as well as the
  progress on the IEP goals (Periodic Progress
  Reports / Tracking sheets).
• General education documentation The interim
  grade indicates how the student is performing
  approximately half way through a grading period.
  This grade could go up, down or stay the same by
  the end of the grading period, which is reported
  out officially as the report card. Both should be
  kept in chronological order in this section.
• IEP progress documentation Each school district
  has it own way of monitoring progress on IEP
  goals. At New Albany, we have found our procedure
  to be very beneficial to the students and the
  case managers. At the time that interim reports
  are set out, we send out what is called,
  Tracking Sheets to all of the teachers that IEP
  students are scheduled with. The tracking sheet
  asks for missing assignments or incomplete
  assignments, classroom attitude, effort as well
  as the accommodations the teacher is currently
  using with that student.
• The Tracking Sheet is sent home with the interim
  report to the parents. This information will help
  guide you as the case manager to redirect or
  modify the IEP to better meet the needs of the
  student.
• The Periodic Progress Report (PPR) is a report
  card that contains the goals of the IEP along
  with comments and achievement levels to date for
  each goal. This document is sent home with each
  general report card at the end of each grading
  period.

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Fourth Tab
Title It
E-Mails

• Today's Technology has made life easier for
  keeping records of who we have contacted and
  when. I like to sort my e-mails by date then time
  for each day. I would strongly suggest you do the
  same for quick references.

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Inside - back cover
Title It
Work Samples

• This is the section where you keep examples of
  the students completed work that demonstrates
  goal achievement or progress towards the goal
  achievement. All work samples should be exemplars.

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Filing Tab

• The filing tab is the tab you see when you file
  the folder in your desk or lockable cabinet.
• I would recommend that you create a tab that has
  the students name , IEP renewal date as well as
  the MFE renewal date.

Doe, John IEP Due4/17/05 MFE Due 5/12/08
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We live or die professionally by what we have
documented!
Special Needs Teacher Documents work!
CEC Expo helps teachers get organized!
Mr. Norman ties the knot!