11/14/08 Recent improvements

Please find a summary of recent improvements to SpEd Forms following.
The improvements will be posted to SpEd Forms servers between this weekend. This update does not include 2008/09 IEP.

Administrators:

1. "School" has been added to the search criteria on the "Teacher Workload Analysis" report.

2. Cooperative administrators can now save calendar events.

3. The ECSE Parental Consent/Objection and Prior Written Notice forms have been added to the "Forms in PDF format" menu.

4. The note: "If you object to a proposal…" is no longer hidden from the Parental Consent/Objection Form when "Remove parental partial objection language" is checked in SpEd Forms Customizations (only the third check box is hidden).

5. Using an Exit Reason of "24: Withdrew to receive homebound services" will no longer cause the student to be exited.

6. IFSP services are now included on the teacher's Workload Analysis report.

7. The status option of "SpEd: EC Not Evaluated [93]" has been corrected to read " SpEd: EC Evaluated [93]".

8. The MARSS interface has been updated to accommodate easier management of MARSS records.

MA Forms:

1. Error control has been added to the Create/Edit Batch transactions page to prevent code errors from showing up if services are not entered on the "Services setup".

2. The list of services in the "Type of Service" drop down list on the IEP/IFSP Services Record (face-to-face) is now derived by the student's information instead of that of the user.

3. The drop down menus on the calendar grid of the IEP/IFSP Services Record (face-to-face) have been added to the "Edit drop down lists" menu as MA ENCOUNTER CODES.

3. Additional clarification has been added to the text next to Social Security # on the MA Parental Consent form.

4. The student's MA Billing Setup (and batch process) have been modified to accommodate adding a guardian's secondary billing information (if necessary).

5. "Total Time:" and "Encounters:" have been added to the "Billing Information" box of the Activity Log.

6. "MA Insurance" has been changed to "MHCP ID" in the results table of the "Services Current" report.

IEP:

1. The category and/or goal will be displayed when the cursor is moved over the goal number on the "Go to Goal:" list.

2. A goal writing guide has been added to the IEP goals page.

3. The option of "bi-weekly" has been added to the "Frequency" drop down list for all service types.

4. Error control has been added to prevent users from finalizing another IEP/ISP with the same written date.

5. "(If services for any area are not needed, explain.)" has been added to the top of the Transition Services page.

IFSP:

1. The category and/or goal will be displayed when the cursor is moved over the goal number on the "Go to Goal:" list.

2. The service page now displays "Inactive" services in a summarized format.

3. Error control has been added to prevent users from finalizing another IFSP with the same written date.

IIIP:

1. The category and/or goal will be displayed when the cursor is moved over the goal number on the "Go to Goal:" list.

2. The service page now displays "Inactive" services in a summarized format.

3. Error control has been added to prevent users from finalizing another IIIP with the same written date.

Combined IEP/IIIP:

1. The Description of Child page has been removed.

2. On the goal page, teachers can choose whether the goals are written by the school or an outside agency. Outside agency goals are not validated.

ER Forms:

1. Error control has been added to prevent users from finalizing another Evaluation Report with the same date.

2. Section titles have been added to the Evaluation Report's "Go to..." menus.

3. The Evaluation Report date has been added to the print version of the Signatures page.

4. The guidelines in the "Additional Requirements for SLD" section of the Student Information page have been updated with new criteria. Due to the large amount of text, the Student Information page has been modified so that this section will only be displayed if SLD is indicated on the Signatures page of the Evaluation Report.

5. Recent criteria and template updates:

    a. Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) as per instructions
        from Lisa Backer.

    b. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) templates.

    c. The Specific Learning Disability (SLD)

    d. Speech or Language Impairment-Articulation Disorder

6. Recent test template updates:

    a. Wechsler Nonverbal Scale of Ability (WNV)(Ages 4:0 to 7:11)

    b. Wechsler Nonverbal Scale of Ability (WNV)(Ages 8:0+)

    c. Stanford - Binet Intelligence Scales - 5th Edition (SB5)

    d. Woodcock-Johnson III: Test of Cognitive Abilities

Prior Written Notice & associated forms:

1. On the Parental Consent/Objection Form, the address under "Return this form to:" will now appear under the name on the print page (originally it printed to the right of the name).

2. Error control has been added to prevent users from finalizing another Prior Written Notice or Notice of Educational Evaluation/Reevaluation with the same date as the original.

3. The field for the zip code (Return this form to:) can now be changed and saved on the Parental Consent/Objection Form.

4. The student's school ID will now be used to populate the school information on the Authorization for Release of Information form, the first time it is accessed.

Additional forms:

1. The student's name has been added to the second print page of the Special Education Data Sheet.

2. Updates have been made to the Summary of Performance. If necessary, users can view/print the original form by clicking on the "2006/07" link at the top of the page.

3. A feature has been added to the Communication Log so that users can filter the page by the "Person making contact". When the page is printed, only those logs will be printed.

4. Changes have been made to a paragraph on the Documentation of Significant Changes to IEP Plan to include the Prior Written Notice and Parental Consent/Objection forms. The number of days that a parent can object in writing (noted on this forms) has been changed from "ten" to "fourteen" days.

5. Error control has been added to prevent users from finalizing another Notice of a Team Meeting or an Extended School Year with the same date as the original.

General:

1. The DRAFT watermark has been changed to a grayscale image because of an issue where color printers would use red ink to print the watermark.

2. An option to show "All students" has been added to the "Work with student" page.

3. The case manager's name now appears above the "Regular Ed. Teacher:" on the student's Edit Setup page.

4. Inactive services will no longer appear on the teacher's Workload Analysis report.

5. Search criteria on the teacher's Combined Report has been updated to enable users to view students: "managed by me", "receiving services from me" or "shared with me".