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Evidence Based Practices:

1. General Education teachers and Special Education teachers can co-plan the lessons.

2. Team meetings can be planned and attended to ensure teachers are staying consistent and updated on student progress.

3. Teachers can use Universal Design for Learning to create lessons that support all learners.

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Evidence Based Practices:

1. Preparing the topics before the meeting begins and ensure all parties are aware of the planned discussion.

2. Educators should meet prior to the meeting to create a bond with the families.

3. Follow-up with families after the meeting to monitor progress and open communication if future questions occur.

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Evidence Based Practices:

1. In order to keep parents involved, they should be in the discussion of IEP goals.

2. Build an honest and respectful relationship with parents to keep conversations flowing.

3. Encourage parents to continue practice opportunities at home and discuss progress with the educator.

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Article #1: Collaborative Teaching Between Special Education Teachers and
Mainstream Teachers in Inclusive Education

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Article #1: Collaborative Teaching Between Special Education Teachers and
Mainstream Teachers in Inclusive Education

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In this article, collaboration between SPED and GE teachers are studied and it is proven that collaboration improves the quality of instructional planning. GE teachers provide the content knowledge and the SPED teachers provide the accommodations needed.

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Article #2: Investigating special education teachers’ knowledge and skills: Preparing general teacher preparation for professional development 

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Article #2: Investigating special education teachers’ knowledge and skills: Preparing general teacher preparation for professional development 

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This article discusses how training with general education teachers could benefit to use the data and communicate effectively with the special education teachers. The study shows that special educators have the experience in assessments and student needs.

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Article #3: Collaboration and Communication between General Education and Special Education Teachers

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Article #3: Collaboration and Communication between General Education and Special Education Teachers

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This article describes how effective collaboration with professionals requires communication and responsibility from both sides. Having these opportunities to collaborate will increase student successes in the classroom.

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Video Resource: Co-Teaching & Teacher Collaboration

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Video Resource: Co-Teaching & Teacher Collaboration

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This video reviews the key collaborative approaches, such as consulting, team planning, co-planning, inclusive classrooms, and co-teaching models. These co-teaching models include One Teach, One Support, Parallel Teaching, Station Teaching, Alternative Teaching, and Team Teaching. It supports having both educations engage in instruction and flexible student centers.

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Similarly to how I am utilizing Padlet, it would be a platform to place IEP documents and resources. This would be beneficial for General Education and Special Education teams to collaborate on strategies/worksheets inside the classroom.

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Jotform will let multiple users edit documents, create assessments, and input information from students. Jotform can also track IEP goals and collect progress reports to ensure the team stays informed.

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Jotform Multiple Users: Share your forms with your team

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Jotform’s Multiple Users feature helps your team stay organized while managing online forms and form responses. Take your user management to the next level now!

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Google Drive will allow educators edit, create, and share resources in real time. Teachers can create the IEP meeting agendas and share folders for resources.

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Article #1:Evidence-Based Strategies to Make Team Meetings More Effective

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Article #1:Evidence-Based Strategies to Make Team Meetings More Effective

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This article is a great resource because it is simple read. It reviews being thoughtful of the time for everyone, beginning by introducing everyone in the meeting, and allowing for feedback after the meeting.

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Article #2: MEETING MADNESS Maximizing Meeting Experiences to Promote Higher Productivity and Effectiveness

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Article #2: MEETING MADNESS Maximizing Meeting Experiences to Promote Higher Productivity and Effectiveness

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This resource is full of helpful information because it reviews helpful tips on how to organize the meetings to ensure they are inclusive and results-orientated. Research is proven that when meetings are planned and structured, it directly correlated to a positive work environment.

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Article #3: IEP Meeting Facilitation Strategies for Meaningful Inclusion of Students with Disabilities

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Article #3: IEP Meeting Facilitation Strategies for Meaningful Inclusion of Students with Disabilities

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This article reviews preparing before the meeting by fostering familial connections and how important it is for students to be a voice in the meeting. Creating the meeting agenda beforehand so all participants are prepared is helpful as well.

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Video Resource: How to Prepare For and Run Efficient IEP Meetings

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Video Resource: How to Prepare For and Run Efficient IEP Meetings

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This video presents a clear pathway into how to run an efficient IEP meeting. Beginning with preparing, clear agenda, and foster communication between the family and yourself.

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How to Prepare For and Run Efficient IEP Meetings| Tips for New Special Education Teachers

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SIRAS stands for Special Education Information System that is used to manage the records and services. Within the program, you can create and store IEPs and ensures alignment with compliance.

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SIRAS Newsletter August 2025 Exciting News! Enter MediCal Billing through SIRAS Service Log. SIRAS and MediCal Billing Technologies (MBT) Have Partnered to Streamline Your Service Documentation and Billing. >> learn more << EVEN MORE NEWS! SIRAS Translation Services has now the resources to translate IEP and assessment reports into ANY language. We offer high quality translations in any language with fast turnaround. >> Click here for Translation Request Process<< IMPORTANT Information for all users in SIRAS New Features/Changes: Reactivate for Signatures: now available for IEPs marked as “Parent Contacted, No Response” Service Logs are now organized into tabs. Notes section now has rich text features. “Individual and Small Group Services” is no longer an option for preschool services. Districts serving infants on IFSPs and those receiving students at age 3 should review updated SIRAS procedures for C to B transition planning and meetings. Add the District for the IEP at age 3 to Next Year’s Data when it is time to work on the Initial IEP. In that way, the receiving district does not need the SIRAS record transferred to them to begin working on the Initial IEP Evaluation while the IFSP is still in effect. In compliance with EDC 56043(g)(1) Transition to Adult Life pages are now required for all high school students and are optional for 8th grade students at this time unless required by your district. Review (30 day) meetings: If you will be holding a Review (30 day) meeting, you will need to indicate if the meeting is a New Plan or if the district adopting the IEP BEFORE the meeting is created. Remember that adopting the existing IEP at this meeting will NOT reset the annual review date. Be mindful of when that is scheduled for. This meeting type is only for students moving in from another SELPA within California. Students moving in from another state will require a Triennial. See help doc. The grade change rollover occurred over the summer. If a meeting with a date prior to July 15 is open, the rollover is on hold until that meeting is finalized. Contact the SIRAS data administrator after finalizing and they will advance next year’s data/update the grade/school. Review meetings finalized last year without parent consent. Go to Reporting > Meeting Reports > Predefined Reports tab > click Parent Contacted, No Response. Click on the tab “Search Query Criteria” and adjust the meeting dates on the query to (7/1/2024-6/30/2025). Students whose last meeting finalized without consent, will still be working on the previous year’s goals. Follow your district’s procedures for follow up with these families. SIRAS Passwords: Although you will be prompted to change your password every 365 days, get ahead of the new school year and change your password now! Go to Tools > My Account and click on Edit Account Details. Enter your new password, confirm and then click Update User Account. If you have forgotten your password over the summer, the Email Password Reset button appears if/when you try to login with the wrong password. Click on the button to have a password reset link emailed to you. Share IEPs/Info for Gen Ed forms easily from SIRAS. IEP/Non-IEP forms are Savable and Printable in Batch. In the Tools menu/Document Library, click the ‘Fill in for student’ checkbox to enable the ability to save non-IEP forms. Print IEP and Non-IEP forms in batch by going to the Tools menu/Labels and Batch Forms/Batch Forms for your entire found set (your caseload or school). Review your current student list in SIRAS. Use the ‘Manage Caseload’ button under the Student Info menu to request students to be added or removed from your caseload. Use the Student Data Overview links on your home page to monitor your caseload. Review your students who have Overdue or Upcoming meetings (annuals due within the next 30 days and triennials due within the next 75 days. When an annual and triennial are both due in the same school year, best practice is to hold both meetings by the earlier date. Plan your year now to avoid overdue IEPs. IMPORTANT Information for SIRAS Data Administrators in SIRAS After Rollover Help can be found here and the following are some of the tasks to be aware of: User account transfer processing. Sped Data Administrators can use the tab on the Home Page called User Transfers where you can ‘Reassign’ user accounts. Clicking ‘Reassign’ for that user will allow the transfer to the requested district. See help document for more information about this feature. Select Deactivate User Accounts for staff who are not returning this year. This will clear associated district assignments to make the account easier to transfer to another district if required. Users from NPAs and Staffing Agencies require an email from their agency and their accounts are created/activated/deactivated by SIRAS. Enter Progress Report dates and School Holidays under Tools/SELPA-District-School Admin for the 2025-2026 school year. Search for students without a Case Manager and assign one. EOY Amendment Window: The EOY Amendment Window closes on August 8. Let SELPA know if you will be re-certifying to make further data updates. Continue to follow up on IEP meetings finalized last year that did not have parent consent. Print a list from Reporting/Meeting Reports/Predefined/Parent Contacted, No Response. Click on the tab “Search Query Criteria” and narrow the meeting date criteria, e.g., 7/1/2024-current date, to limit meetings in the list from last year only. Remember that meetings finalized this way last year, do not have the new year’s goals approved yet. If parent consent is received because of your follow up, upload the signed document and update the parent consent. Do NOT reactivate the meeting to complete these tasks, however you are now able to “reactivate for signatures” in these cases if you confirm the parent wishes to sign electronically. Review your associated archive(s) and current data to make sure they were properly updated to reflect the new parent response. Degree of Support: As shared above, this feature is on the MIS Summary. Work with your administrator to determine who will be completing and monitoring this new data piece to keep it as accurate as possible. This data is now required and will be collected as part of Fall 1 2025 reporting. Click on the magnifying glass to bring up the query builder and go to Predefined Queries>Compliance Concerns/Overdues>Degree of Support Required/Missing to see who your district still needs to enter. Go to Predefined Queries>Data Monitoring>Degree of Support for Disability needs reporting to see who you need to archive to CALPADS. Plan Adoptions needed can be found in the query builder under Predefined Queries>Data Monitoring>Plan Adoption Required. Check Reportable Data Changed for updates from the Record of Changes page which now need to be reported to CALPADS such as services which were set to change/start at the beginning of the current year. SIRAS will bridge to the training server in sometime between August 17-22. New staff needing access to the training server before that occurs will need to be added manually to the training server. CALPADS Fall Roadshow is scheduled for September 22nd from 9am-12pm and will have both in person and zoom options. This event is open to Ventura County staff and the surrounding areas. ~ SIRAS Translation Services ~ To request a quote contact steve@sirassystems.com: Provide SSID, meeting Purpose/Date; and Language NEWS FOR THE 504 Modules and the SST Module: ASK ABOUT THE NEW 504 SERVICE LOG Ask to customize your districts form >>> 504 Module - SIS Integration now available. Click here for more technical information Contact steve@sirassystems.com for a quote and to arrange The modules employ Transfer buttons on the MIS Summary page which move the student record from one module to another (for example, SST to 504 or SST to Special Education). If your district is interested in using either the SST Tracker or the 504 Plan Developer email Siras Systems for assistance to get started. Optional Costs: - Customized 504 Forms - SIS Integration of demographic and contact data - Training & Workshops

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EDPlan is an online platform to create and manage IEPs, while allowing progress monitoring and compliance checks. This program works well with 504 plans and provides translations.

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Individualized Education Plans (IEP)

Medicaid

504 Plans

Behavior & Social-Emotional Learning

Multi-Tiered System of Supports

EDPlan is a suite of tools and services from PCG that helps you promote a plan for student success-in special education, academics, behavior, and beyond. EDPlan's features have been designed in partnership with teachers, education professionals, and project management experts; it is used in more than 30 states, supporting thousands of schools and districts nationwide.

Learn more about EDPlan, the nation's leading suite of web-based special education solutions.

Follow us on Social Media

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EDPlan | Plan on success for your students

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EDPlan is a suite of tools and services from PCG that helps you promote a plan for student success-in special education, academics, behavior, and beyond. Designed in partnership with teachers, education professionals, and project management experts; EDPlan is used by thousands of schools, districts, and states nationwide.

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Technology Resource #3: Embrace IEP (Embrace Education)

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Technology Resource #3: Embrace IEP (Embrace Education)

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Embrace IEP is a great program because it offers editing IEP goals, along with a goal bank available. It offers step-by-step directions for new educators to provide full accessibility.

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Web-Based IEP/Special Education Software by Embrace - EmbraceIEP

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Customizable IEP Software That's Easy To Use EmbraceIEP® is a web-based IEP software that provides users with powerful IEP tools at their fingertips, including built-in core standards and objectives, automatic calculation of service environment percentages, and data tracking aligned for state reporting. State-specific compliance features ensure completion of required fields, while system automations help track IEP [...]

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Article #1: Empowering Parents of Students With and Without Learning Difficulties to Collaborate With Schools

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Article #1: Empowering Parents of Students With and Without Learning Difficulties to Collaborate With Schools

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This article reviews how families can stay involved in their child's learning and the role that they can adopt (active collaborator or passive observer). The findings of the article are dependent on the families' contextual factors and how to facilitate meaningful partnerships.

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Article #2: A Family’s Journey to Getting the Support Their Son Needed

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Article #2: A Family’s Journey to Getting the Support Their Son Needed

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This was an enlightening article that provided insight into the beginnings of navigating the special education world and securing the services needed for their child. It also reviews helpful tips to parents to learn more and advocate for themselves.

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Article #3: Special Education Advocacy Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families

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Article #3: Special Education Advocacy Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families

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This article highlights the need for educators to understand the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of families in order to fully support and collaborate. The results and suggestions demonstrate from data that schools can design culturally responsive interventions through trainings for staff.

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Video Resource: Collaborating with Families

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Video Resource: Collaborating with Families

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This video is a useful resource because it promotes the prospect of having a shared communication with parents. Keeping them involved throughout the year on their student's progress is essential because they can provide insight from the home perspective.

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Bloomz is a great communication app because it provides translation imbedded and allows parents to communicate. It also has a calendar and tools for scheduling parent-teacher conferences.

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School districts often end up using five to ten different classroom communication apps across all their schools. Schools might be using one tool for msging, and a completely different tool for taking attendance or healthcheck forms. When a school or district uses too many communication apps, things get lost in the shuffle. Overloaded parents often miss important messages leading to further disengagement and frustration.

Bloomz is the unified parent teacher communication app that increases parental engagement by connecting everyone with one easy-to-use tool. Bloomz handles ALL district, school, teacher, parent, and student communication. Bloomz is designed to be the complete unified solution, bringing together teachers, parents and students.

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Parent Teacher Communication App with PBIS Behavior Management

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Bloomz makes it easy for teachers to securely share photos and classroom updates, reach parents through messaging, and coordinate events.

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Remind is easily accessible for parents and educators to use because you can make phone calls through the app. If you send a message, it will automatically translate and the teacher can send announcements.

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Adoption and usage

Simple, effective, and surprisingly easy to use

With nearly 30 million users in 80% of US schools, the numbers speak for themselves: students, families, and educators love using Remind.

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Remind | Communication Platform for Education

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Remind is a communication platform that reaches students and families where they are and supports learning wherever it happens. Millions of educators, students, and parents use Remind to connect with the people and resources that help them teach and learn.

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Seesaw is unique because you can share private notes and send documents through this application. Students can use Seesaw as a learning application so parents can see their schoolwork and progress.

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Seesaw | Elementary Learning Experience Platform

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Elementary Learning Experience Platform | Seesaw

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Seesaw is a Learning Experience Platform with 25M+ users, enhancing elementary education, engagement, and school culture while improving academic success.