Enforcement and Compliance

·         Policies and procedures that define “compliance”

·         Information dissemination, training & technical assistance for parents and professionals on policies and procedures

·         Ongoing, periodic monitoring of compliance

·         Continuous improvement/quality improvement

·         Systems to resolve complaints:

·         Mediation

·         Due process/impartial hearing

·         Complaint investigation

·         Litigation: individual or class action

·         Corrective action plans (CAP)

This summarizes the legally required systems for ensuring compliance with the law.   The law and regulations or state code set out the requirements or standards for compliance.  Providing information and training on the policies and procedures, and technical assistance to implement those policies and procedures, is essential.  Ongoing, periodic monitoring provides state and federal oversight of compliance with those requirements.  The new “continuous improvement” or “quality improvement” procedures provide opportunities for families and others to monitor compliance and outcomes on an ongoing basis, even between monitoring visits.  Mediation, due process, complaint investigation, and litigation are methods for resolving problems or concerns.  Corrective action plans (CAPs) are the means by which schools and districts change policies, procedures and practices to comply with the law.

What does it take?

·         Effective policies, procedures, programs & personnel, developed through representative, participatory process

·         Data on program processes...and results!  (Shared through a participatory process)

·         Targeted training and technical assistance

·         Timeline and shared responsibility for implementation

·         Effective, responsive complaint process & resolution system

·         Meaningful corrective actions - and sanctions

This summarizes the steps that are necessary to ensure quality programs and services - the purpose behind enforcement and compliance.  Policies are those formal and informal rules that govern how people involved in our children’s education behave.  Procedures are the specific steps that, if implemented, should lead to fulfillment of the policies.  Programs are the academic and support services that provide the “opportunities to learn” that our children need to succeed.  And personnel are the people who will carry out the procedures and implement the programs.  All of these - policies, procedures, programs, and personnel - are more effective if the entire community has a voice - up front - in decision-making.

Data on processes and results are the information - statistics, anecdotal, etc. - that tell us whether or not we are succeeding in reaching our goal.  Data helps us identify what targeted training and technical assistance is necessary to improve services and service delivery - as well as outcomes.  We don’t have the resources to do everything, so targeting our training and technical assistance lets us focus on our highest priorities.  Timelines help make sure that we don’t put off taking the necessary steps.  Sharing responsibility for implementation means that the burden of implementation doesn’t fall on a few people - and that our whole community is engaged in carrying out our goals and plans.  Effective, responsive complaint processes and resolution systems make sure that people who raise concerns have a way of getting questions answered and solving problems.  Complaint systems are invaluable, because they tell us what’s really happening to real children.  Are our policies appropriate?  Are our procedures being implemented the way we want them to?  Are they effective?  Are they carrying out our policies?  Do the programs move our agenda forward?  Are there kinks in our programs that need addressing?  Are our personnel properly trained?  Do they know how to do what we want them to do?  Are they in fact doing what we want them to do?  And meaningful corrective actions and sanctions  let everyone know we are serious about making sure our policies are carried out, our programs are successful, and our goals are realized.  Corrective actions don’t have to be punitive; they are aimed at correcting problems.  But if corrective actions are not implemented properly despite the availability of training, technical assistance and support, then there need to be  serious consequences to make sure that what we want to be done is actually done.

MEDIATION, DUE PROCESS,
COMPLAINT INVESTIGATION

·         Voluntary mediation

·         Due Process Hearing

·         Complaint investigation

·         No retaliation, coercion, harassment

These sections summarize the individual-initiated methods for ensuring compliance: mediation, due process, and complaint investigation.  They provide an overview of these processes and the relevant timelines.  It should be stressed that mediation and due process can be initiated for an individual child even if a request for complaint investigation is filed to address more systemic issues, like a district policy that affects a group of children.  For example, a parent may file a due process hearing to challenge the denial of extended school year services for their particular child, but may also file a request for complaint investigation because the district has a policy of only providing extended school year services to students in self-contained classes.

It’s important to inform parents that the law specifically prohibits a school or district from retaliating against a parent or their child for exercising their rights under any federal or state law.  That in and of itself would be a violation of the law, would be subject to due process or complaint investigation, and would require a corrective action plan.

What’s Important?

·         What gets counted gets done.

·         Attention paid indicates relative importance.

·         New federal education laws broaden the emphasis on OUTCOMES and ACHIEVEMENT.

·         Necessary inputs lead to desired outcomes.

·         Not everything that counts can be counted; not everything that can be counted counts.

COMPLIANCE

·         Compliance is an outcome, not a set of procedures.

·         Focusing solely on procedural compliance avoids the real issues for which compliance is required.

·         We can't legislate love but we can facilitate help.

·         It takes a long time to undo something and redo it another way: it takes community, togetherness, resolve, even procedures! but new kinds of procedures that focus on the outcomes for the child rather than merely on proper filling out of forms.

Now we’re moving to the part of enforcement and compliance that is initiated by the enforcement agency - in education, the state and/or department of education.

The first section reminds us that what we think is important can be demonstrated by what we pay attention to.  Our current education system reports in New Jersey focus on limited data: % of classification, by disability;  % by placement; county-based race data, for special education students; graduation and drop out rates for general education students.  Until recently, monitoring of special education did not use data to help guide the monitoring process and understand what was really happening in districts, not just what district personnel said they were doing.  There is almost no monitoring of general education, except for test data.  There is virtually no data on the inputs necessary to reach the desired outcomes in general or special education.  This first overhead also reminds us that not everything that is important can be reduced to numbers - for example, parent satisfaction, or self-esteem of our children.  We need to try to identify sources of information for non-quantifiable outcomes.

The next section reminds us that compliance with the law is only important because the law is tied to ensuring positive outcomes for our children.  Compliance for the sake of compliance is meaningless.  Procedural compliance alone doesn’t mean that the spirit of the law is being respected and implemented.  The procedures have been developed because they are helpful to reaching the desired result.  Parents must be included in meetings about their children’s education because their participation means that the decisions reached at the meeting are more likely to be appropriate and more likely to be implemented.  While we can’t make people love our children, we can facilitate the training and support they need to do a good job educating our children.  Putting the proper supports in place, giving them a structure that facilitates their job, makes it more likely that they will be successful with our children, and when they are successful, they begin to feel good not only about themselves but about our children, too.

The new focus on outcomes for children, not just procedural inputs, is going to take some time to implement appropriately.  We’re undoing what we’ve been doing for a long time, and we need to be patient - not martyrs, but patient, while we all figure out how to make it work.

Bureaucratic Reform

·         The fewer the policies and procedures needed to reach the goal, the better.

·         If the main result of a meeting is a form, the meeting produced the wrong result.

·         Preparing budgets and anything related to them is a necessary evil but not the best use of anyone's time and energy.

·         Reducing costs, increasing compensation, or just providing more training are usually not the solutions to organizational problems.

·         Work on problems, not symptoms.  “Morale” is not a problem; something is happening that causes low morale, which creates a problem.

Ideally, What is Monitoring?

·         Processes

·         -Data-driven

·         -Integrated

·         -Predictable

·         -Fair

·         Products

·         -Assurances of protection for all rights & effectiveness that what is projected to be done is going to work

·         -Strategic use of resources

·         -Continuous improvement

The first section reminds us that the purpose of the law is not bureaucracy for bureaucracy’s sake.  If we can work collaboratively together, coming to consensus about what is necessary for our child and how we are going to provide it, we don’t need to fixate on procedures.  The policies and procedures are simply tools to help us achieve the right result.  The purpose of an IEP meeting, for example, is not to develop the IEP form but to develop a plan for how we are going to educate our children.

The second section summarizes an effective monitoring and “continuous improvement” system.  Data-driven means we use information to help us figure out what’s really going on.  Integrated means that our monitoring system is not separated from day to day functioning of our education system.  Predictable means that everyone involved in the system knows what’s expected of them, what’s going to be monitored, and what the ramifications are for positive or negative findings.  Fair means that there are no favorites, that the rules are fairly applied, and that everyone has the resources they need to do a good job.

Monitoring also has to check to make sure that all family and children rights are protected.  Monitoring also has to make sure that compliance is related to the results we want; if a district or school is compliant, then the results should be achieved.  Since we do not have unlimited resources, monitoring should focus our resources on our highest priorities.  And continuous improvement means that we are never satisfied; we use results of monitoring or complaint systems to help guide us in a positive direction.  While 100% compliance may be impossible, we need to keep moving in a positive direction.

Critical Elements in Monitoring

"You can learn a lot by looking."  Yogi Berra

District/school perspectives:

·         Effective policies and procedures

·         Data on program processes and results

·         Targeted training and technical assistance

State & District Perspectives/External feedback to district/checks and balances:

·         Effective, responsive complaint process/ complaint management system: “If you have any problems with your child’s education, call 1-800-####”

·         Meaningful corrective actions and sanctions

Yogi Berra said that “You can learn a lot by looking.”  Sometimes we don’t look for things that are important; other times, we don’t look in the right places.  But periodically looking for things to identify compliance or non-compliance is essential.

Monitoring is a tool for looking, for ensuring that the steps that are necessary for achieving the desired result are actually taking place, and that the desired result is occurring.  We have to look at what’s actually happening to make sure that we are moving forward toward our goal.  We need to look at the school level, the district level, the county level, and the state level.  Each level has its own responsibilities.  The state is responsible for overall  enforcement of the law(s), and monitoring is a way of looking at what’s happening in districts and schools to be sure that the laws are being enforced.  A complaint resolution system is another important tool.  Monitoring sees what’s happening at a particular time when the monitoring visit is being conducted; complaint resolution systems provide a forum for people who are involved in the day to day process to raise issues of concern.  Corrective actions and sanctions must be available, widely known, and used whenever monitoring or complaint investigation identifies failure to comply with the processes or desired outcomes of the law.

Questions Families Should Ask:  Effective Policies and Procedures

·         Do they implement a thorough and efficient education (Abbott)?  A free, appropriate public education (IDEA)?  Quality education (Title I)?

·         Are they compliant with state and federal law?

·         Do they produce satisfactory results for families?  How do you determine?

·         In what ways are policies and procedures evaluated in light of results?

Questions Families Should Ask:  Data on Program/Results

·         What data are systematically collected about education processes and results?  (Most states collect only what the federal government requires).

·         How are these data verified or audited?

·         Are these data reported to the public on a regular basis?

·         Are the data understandable and useful in evaluating (monitoring) programs?  What is the format for reporting data?

Questions Families Should Ask:  Effective Complaint Management

·         Are complaints tracked and reported to the public?

·         Is the complaint system accessible to all populations?

·         Are the number and nature of complaints used to determine needs for training and technical assistance, changes in policies and programs?

·         Do parents help design the system?  Are parents involved in evaluating it?

Questions Families Should Ask:  Training &Technical Assistance

·         How are training & TA needs identified?  How is data on processes & results used to inform personnel & parent development?

·         Do results (or lack of desired results) trigger changes in personnel development, or is personnel development driven by what people say they want training on?  We have to look at what does and doesn't work for students and make changes in people's training based on what does and doesn't work for students.

·         Is training & technical assistance evaluated based on student results?

·         Is the expertise available at the state/district level?

·         What is the role of parents in identifying training/TA needs, and developing, implementing & evaluation training/TA program?

Questions Families Should Ask:  Meaningful Corrective Action and Sanctions

·         Do the same complaints/violations reoccur?

·         What’s the impact/consequence of repeated complaints/violations?

·         Are the potential consequences widely known?  The actual consequences?

·         How are parents involved in identifying appropriate consequences?  Determining whether they should be imposed?  Evaluating their success?

These five sections walk families through a questioning process that gives them tools to use when they are evaluating their school or district policies, procedures, programs and systems, or looking at the overall state systems.

What should we know?

·         What are the available academic & support services?

·         What types of programs/settings serve students (including LEP, low-income, students with disabilities)?

·         What are class settings, sizes and configurations?

·         Is the curriculum challenging?  Who has access to it?

·         Are instructional materials tied to the curriculum?  Engaging?  Appropriate culturally & developmentally?

·         What are the personnel resources serving students?

·         Certified, not certified

·         Qualifications, years of experience

·         Working in/out of their area of expertise/qualification

·         Cultural competence

·         Knowledge/competence in diverse instructional strategies

·         Sufficient numbers to meet needs?

·         What are the facilities like?

·         Habitable?

·         Is there enough space?

·         Is there adequate technology?

·         How are facilities organized?

·         What are the result/outcomes of services? Who exits education and how?  How do special populations perform (special education, LEP, Title I, students of color)?

·         % classified; % segregated

·         % taking performance assessments, % passing at each competence level

·         % retained/not promoted

·         % graduating with regular diploma

·         % graduating with GED

·         % certification of achievement

·         % dropping out/pushed out

·         % aging out

·         % attendance/absenteeism rates

·         % status unknown

·         Disciplining Students:

·         What do we know about who gets disciplined? Special populations?

·         Are teachers prepared to manage classrooms and students?

·         % out of school suspensions and expulsions

·         % long-term suspended, not returning

·         % expelled to nowhere

·         Impact of long-term school suspensions and expulsions on student achievement & drop-out

·         Data at the class level, the school level, and the district level

These sections walk through important information that our monitoring and complaint investigation systems should focus on to ensure that we are providing quality education services.

What's Missing?

·         Where are the annual measures of learning?

·         Where are the measures of successful transition?

·         Where are measures of post-secondary training and jobs?

·         Where are the measures of family participation in education?

·         What else is missing?

What Do These Data Mean for Families?

·         Disappointing results can discourage us, or they can create opportunities for radical improvement.

·         More needs to be discovered about connections between personnel, settings, services and results.

·         Attention must be shifted from primary focus on procedures to primary focus on RESULTS (while still ensuring the inputs necessary to provide the opportunity to achieve).

These sections refocus our attention on important measures that aren’t always included in our current monitoring systems.  They also remind us that continuous improvement monitoring systems build on what we’re doing well and continually try to improve what isn’t being done well.  We need to be able to identify linkages between our personnel, the settings and environments in which services are provided, the services, and the results that we are getting vs. the results that we are looking for.  Again, procedures are only important insofar as they lead to the results we want.

How Does a State/District Monitor?

·         Monitoring is focused on the results of  educational services - student performance.

·         What components must be in place?

·         What procedures are conducted annually?

·         What results should occur from monitoring?  (Monitoring needs to be evaluated for its results).

Premises for Monitoring

·         Address all legal requirements, including procedural compliance and educational results for students.

·         Include public involvement in education compliance issues.

·         Build upon existing student data to increase the efficiency of the system

·         Direct resources to areas of greatest need.

·         Result in timely verification or enforcement of compliance.

Components of Effective Administrative Supervision (Monitoring)

·         Comprehensive policies and procedures

·         Data on process and results

·         Training & Technical assistance; personnel development

·         Effective complaint management

·         Corrective actions and meaningful enforcement

Focused Monitoring Data Template

·         Variables are selected based on expected results of education; some variables are selected as key/critical to select districts to target

·         LEA performance is measured

·         Data are compiled and analyzed (LEAs are ranked) -Top 15%, average, bottom 15% of schools

·         Data are disseminated

·         Look at your district/school: "How did I  do overall, and in comparison to other districts"

These sections focus on: (a) the underlying premises of an effective monitoring system  (b)  necessary components of an effective monitoring system  (c )  using focused monitoring to direct our limited resources to areas of highest priority and districts with the greatest difficulty in ensuring compliance and desired outcomes  (d) components of a focused monitoring system.   Remember: we have to have appropriate policies and procedures in place, data about how the policies and procedures are being implemented and the outcomes for students, training and technical assistance for schools and districts to implement the policies and procedures, effective complaint management systems that are user-friendly, well-known to everyone, with meaningful consequences, and corrective action plans that have a reasonable likelihood of resulting in compliance and the outcomes we are looking for.

When we use focused monitoring, we divide districts into three categories.  The “continuous improvement” district is doing well enough compared to the rest of the state on selected variables (Key performance indicators) to have no on-site monitoring; the “monitoring validation” district would not be selected for on-site monitoring given their performance on the key variables, but they will be monitored to verify data and procedures, and keep all the other districts honest; the “focused monitoring” district undergoes onsite monitoring because data indicates it has significant problems with compliance compared to the state average.

What's Next?

·         Key performance indicators are based on what results we expect from an effective education program

·         What results do you/we expect?

·         How will specific "Focused monitoring" visits be conducted? Who do we talk to , what do we observe?  Who participates in monitoring visit?

Annual Focused Monitoring Process

·         Determine status of LEA/school (3 types) using data & template:

·         -Continuous improvement LEA - no on-site monitoring

·         -Monitoring validation LEA (10%) - randomly selected to verify data and procedures

·         -Focused Monitoring LEA - selected on the basis of focus indicators, triggers

·         -Trigger (everyone below a certain # gets monitored.  Examples:

·         Below 2 standard deviations below mean gets monitored

·         Take the average, half the average, below that gets monitored

·         Where you set the trigger is dictated by the resources of your state/district and how important you think the trigger is

·         Could set uniform trigger level for all the variables

·         Implement integrated monitoring procedures

·         Strategically allocate resources

·         Provide Technical assistance/training (CSPD)

·         Enforce and sanction

These two sections indicate that the “key performance indicators” are based on the results we want to see from our educational programs.  Stakeholders, including parents, must be part of the team that decides those key performance indicators.  They must also be tied to state standards and other relevant criteria.  Once the key performance indicators are selected, we have to decide what results will be acceptable in each area, and how we are going to find the data or information that will let us know where the school or district stands in relation to that key  performance indicator.

Once we have selected the indicators and our definition of acceptable compliance on each indicator, we have to decide how we are going to engage in monitoring.  With a focused monitoring system, each school or district falls into one of three categories, each of which is treated differently.  Any school or district that falls below a certain “trigger” standard will get monitored.  The overhead lists some examples of how triggers can be defined.

Focused monitoring is a strategic use of limited monitoring resources.  Monitoring has to be preceded by and followed by technical assistance and training, and enforcement and sanctions when necessary.

·         Continuous Improvement LEA

·         Self-study supplements district improvement plan

·         If self-study approved and implemented, no further monitoring activities

·         If self-study rejected or not implemented, referral to focused monitoring

·         Monitoring Validation LEA

·         Comprehensive review

·         Data validated/audit (no problems) -- no further compliance activities

·         Data discrepant or problems identified -- corrective action plan; referral to focused monitoring

·         Focused Monitoring

·         Verify/investigate focus areas

·         Corrective action plan

·         Noncompliance resolved -- no further monitoring activities

·         Continuing noncompliance - mandatory sanctions

These sections describe what happens in a focused monitoring system to each of the three types of districts, and compares the traditional cyclical monitoring system to a focused monitoring system.  What are the benefits and drawbacks to each?  The cyclical monitoring system ensures that every district is monitored during the cycle period (once every six years, for example), which limits the amount of attention that can be paid to districts with the greatest problems.  With focused monitoring, the state focuses on those districts that have the farthest to go to reach the state average, important given limited monitoring resources.  But it means that many districts don’t get monitored at all, unless they are randomly selected.  Focused monitoring also “rewards” districts that do better than the state average on selected key variables, even if the state average is low compared to national averages or far from compliance (i.e., LRE in New Jersey!)  New Jersey is moving to a system that combines the traditional cyclical model with some of the characteristics of the focused monitoring model, including the concept of “continuous improvement.”

What is the Role of Stakeholders?

·         Suggest variables (key performance indicators - KPIs)

·         Suggest which ones are critical to monitoring decisions

·         Suggest the level of a KPI that triggers monitoring

·         Suggest goal levels for each KPI towards which the state should strive

·         Parents must have a high level of participation in stakeholder group

What’s Your Role?

·         Find & review existing plans --> are they complete?  consistent with law?  how were they developed?  approved by parents?

·         Analyze implementation & impact/ performance of plan --> collect & review data

·         Participate in developing next district plan/application for funds, and school plan: curriculum, instruction, parent involvement

·         Help design & participate in training

·         Help develop accountability plan

·         Stay informed & involved; inform & involve others--> Title I, School Review, PTA, Budget Advisory, BOE

How Should We Be Involved?

·         Analyze school programs, facilities, funds, performance

·         Select “Whole School Reform” model fitting our school (Abbott districts), special education service delivery models, etc.

·         Oversee its implementation

·         Help develop curriculum & instruction

·         Design professional/parent/community development

·         Develop supplementary programs plan

·         Develop facilities plan

·         Develop school-based budget; document additional funding needs

·         Recommend appointment, transfer or removal of teaching staff, aides; recommend principal candidates

·         Develop school technology plan

·         Develop accountability plan

·         Build parent/community ownership, support, participation

These sections describe the role of stakeholders, including parents, in monitoring systems; gives parents ideas about how they can participate in monitoring and continuous improvement processes; and refocuses our attention to expected results.  Within the next three years, all districts in New Jersey will have “continuous improvement,” or “quality improvement” steering committees with parent representation.  These steering committees will be responsible for analyzing how the district is currently doing, what needs improvement, and development and overseeing implementation of plans for improvement.  Parents need to be involved at every step of the way!

Title I

·         Comprehensive needs assessment

·         High standards and expectations

·         “Accelerated curriculum”

·         Effective teaching strategies

·         High quality teachers and staff

·         Timely, effective 1-1 help when needed

·         Parents are welcomed and involved

·         Ongoing assessment of students and program implementation & impacts

Title I & Parents

·         School Parent Involvement Policy:

·         Written by parents & school together

·         Approved by Title I parents

·         Describes how parents will be involved in:

·         Writing Title I school plan

·         Deciding on parent training

·         How school will spend Title I $$

·         Determining progress

·         How to improve the plan

·         School-Parent Compact:

·         Role of school, parents, students

·         Communication

·         Specific responsibilities of each

Title I & Parents

District Parent Involvement Policy:

·         Written by districts & parents together

·         Approved by Title I parents

·         Details how parents will be involved in:

·         Making district Title I decisions

·         Setting standards for progress

·         Developing & monitoring implementation of plan, including application for federal Title I funds

·         Identifying students for services

·         Selecting parent training

·         Improving the plan, services, outcomes

Industrial/Institutional Age

·         Schools are institutions.

·         Curricula are books and materials.

·         One size fits all.

·         Students are on an assembly line.

·         Dropouts are defective students. (But students can drop out and still get a job that pays a decent wage and benefits).

·         State institutions are there for the “real rejects.”

Transitional Age/ Technological/Referral Age

·         Schools are subcultures (parents aren't welcome).

·         Curricula are multiple tracks.

·         Special pull-out programs.

·         Students are tracked.

·         Dropouts are negative statistics.

·         State institutions begin to close.

Information/Inclusion Age

·         Schools are for everyone of all ages.

·         Curricula are learning experiences.

·         Special support services are provided where students are; students aren’t pulled out to where the services are.

·         All students are included.

·         Success for all students is the goal.

·         State provides leadership, technical assistance and support.

These sections summarize the history of education in the United States, as it moved from an exclusionary institution to what we hope are institutions that will inculcate values and knowledge in our children that will make our society more inclusive and supportive.  Our laws have changed to reflect these changes in our concept of the institution of education.

School Reform

1.  What do we want ALL students to:

·         know (content standards)

·         be able to do (performance standards)

2.  What do we have to do to get there?

·         Curriculum & instruction

·         School/class structure

·         Professional & parent development

·         Individual help

·         Resources

3.  How do we know if we get there?

·          Assessment; Monitoring

4.  What happens if we don’t get there?

·         Improvement, Accountability

5.  Who is “we?”

·         Governance; Parent involvement

This section reminds us that the purpose of monitoring, enforcement and corrective action is to ensure that our children receive a quality education.  Federal education laws have all been written with these questions in mind.  Whether it’s IDEA, Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Goals 2000, or other federal education laws, the focus is on ensuring the necessary inputs to have quality outcomes for ALL our children

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