The following letter is from the NYS OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION
Dear Parents, Families, Educators, and Other Key Stakeholders of Students with Disabilities:
I am writing to invite you to participate in virtual special education State Performance Plan Stakeholder Engagement Meetings to discuss New York State’s performance targets and improvement activities for implementing the requirements and purposes of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The IDEA requires each state to have a special education State Performance Plan which consists of 17 indicators that include compliance and performance targets in areas such as timeliness of evaluations, early childhood growth and achievement, equity in discipline, least restrictive environments, and secondary transition.
The United States Department of Education requires each state to engage stakeholders in the examination and revision of the State Performance Plan target setting process and improvement activities. The New York State Education Department (NYSED) will be hosting virtual stakeholder sessions in November 2021 to gather your input on our State Performance Plan. The virtual sessions will be topic specific, and meetings will last approximately two and a half hours. Meetings will occur both during the day and in the evening in our hopes to accommodate different schedules.
Meaningful family engagement leads to better educational outcomes for students with disabilities. It is essential that we hear from diverse voices from every region of New York State. Improvement efforts are only effective when informed by parent and family voices with input from educators and other key stakeholders of students with disabilities.
NYSED values our partnership with all of our key stakeholders in our ongoing efforts to improve outcomes for students with disabilities throughout New York State. Please consider participating in these Stakeholder Engagement Meetings to add your voice and perspective to this very important work.
To register to participate in these upcoming Stakeholder Engagement Meetings, view the online surveys, and/or to just learn more about the State Performance Plan, please visit our Stakeholder Engagement webpage: http://www.nysed.gov/special-education/ffy-2020-2025-spp-apr.
We look forward to hearing from you and encourage you to contact us at [email protected] with any questions.
Sincerely,
Christopher Suriano
OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER 89 Washington Avenue, Room 301M EB Albany, NY 12234 Telephone: (518) 402-3353 www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/