May 2008 — Features
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Together at Last
Left out of the digital revolution for too long, special education is finally being integrated into student information systems.
NO ONE CAN SAY with real certainty why it happened, but when K-12 school
districts began implementing the first student information systems (SISs) during
the 1990s, special education was largely left out of the process. The two
systems evolved as separate entities, technologically speaking, and in the
handling of individualized education programs (IEPs), paper remained the
dominant storage medium long after other student records had made the
digital transition.
"We had file cabinet after file cabinet stuffed with paper from our special education programs," recalls Curtis Smith, director of technology and information systems for the Nevada Joint Union High School District in Grass Valley, CA. "When we implemented our student information system, we wanted to get the general education piece in place and get the teachers and administrators up to speed on the technology before we addressed special education. That's a separate world with its own unique requirements. But we adopted the SIS with an eye on the future-and those filing cabinets-anticipating that we would need to integrate down the road."
A growing number of districts are finding themselves quite a ways down that road. They need to integrate their general education and special education systems, because, among other reasons, they're both part of a larger process. Any student can get a special education referral at any time, and much of the student data needed to make special ed determinations resides in the SIS: grades, attendance records, test scores, discipline information. If a district's IEP structure doesn't display this information easily, IEP planners have to bounce between two systems. If a district's IEP solution doesn't talk to the SIS, information has to be re-keyed. All this back-and-forth and extra time at the keyboard fosters errors and discourages usage.
But IEP data can be challenging to integrate with a standard
SIS. An IEP is a written document developed for an individual
public school student who qualifies for special education.
These documents are highly customized, team-developed,
narrative in nature, annually reviewed, and subject to federal
and state scrutiny. Also, the Individuals With Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA) requires that certain information be
included in an IEP, but it doesn't specify anything about how
it should be formatted.
