Michigan Association of Administrators of Special Education
(Early Childhood
Community of Practice)
MAASE
Meeting Agenda
10/8/2014
12:00p to 2:30 Ballroom D
Objective of Meeting: Early childhood administrators sharing information, ideas and
support
Agenda Items:
1) MAASE SI 2014, EC CoP display and sessions, and early childhood professional
development opportunities.
a. Michigan DEC has a committee to ensure early childhood representation/professional
development at conferences throughout the state (e.g. MAASE SI, Michigan DEC). If
you are interested in helping, contact Colleen O’Connor!
b. Comments to also encourage participation at the Michigan Collaborative Conference.
It would be especially helpful to have sessions on inclusion at this conference.
c. Next year we will aim to fill 5 early childhood sessions at MAASE SI.
2) Birth to Three:
a. Review of Sheldon & Rush Professional Development Session – collaboration,
thoughts, ideas
i. Consensus was that the session was very valuable. It had practical
information about implementation and matched the audience well.
ii. Discussion about starting an informal subgroup to collaborate and problem
solve around the development and implementation of the PSP model.
Providers are interested as well as administrators. Discussed having a
group of administrators first with hope to discuss ways to support
providers. Discussion occurred that the group is interested in exploring
whether Sheldon & Rush could do some phone consulting with the group
to assist in facilitating implementation of PSP practices.
b. Upcoming conference in Ionia with Lee Ann Jung: 2 days - only $80! Best practices
for early childhood home visitors. In addition, there are going to be monthly webinar
one-hour learning opportunities.
c. Update on Book Study Pilot – Lynda Cook Pletcher – Sessions have been valuable
overall. It has not been determined whether there will be future book study
opportunities. Some areas have found it difficult to stay engaged without a visual
presenter but like the opportunity for providers to interact.
d. Michigan Part C Personnel Standards and Essentials of Early On training requirements
i. Target is December 1st but this date has not been finalized. There will be a
notice from the state when the modules are ready. Areas will have one year
from when the modules are released to have staff complete.
e. Curriculums discussion in 0-3: Is anyone using a curriculum? If so, what is being
used? AEPSi, HELP. Discussed whether curriculum is appropriate in birth to age
three. Some experts say no. Robin McWilliam has a significant amount of material to
guide practices in 0-3 and suggests use of other tools such as the MEIS-R (to be
published soon). Some use the HELP to identify current level of performance along
with family based assessment as part of on-going assessment. Discussed having MEISR added to acceptable assessments in the state of MI.
f.
Discussed the 72 hours required for FTE unless you have it prorated on your ISD plan.
Will send out the CEPI rules related to the updates which include language for year
round per 1862.
3) Three to Five:
a. Brainstorm - language on IEPs related to the need for an inclusive learning
environment.
i. Discussion that LRE is already considered as part of the IEP. Therefore, it
is technically covered for what is required under legislation for GSRP for
an IEP in an inclusive environment.
ii. IEP should trump the Preschool Quality Assessment (PQA) but there are
still some concerns from general education staff who are rated on the PQA
but have students on IEPs and need to provide rewards per IEP. However,
when you break down the effect of receiving one 3 on the PQA for
rewards, it only adds up to about .1 of a point on the PQA. Overall, there
is a need for communication and collaboration in inclusive environments
for understanding how the overlaying requirements impact each other.
iii. ½ day ECSE versus full day GSRP - many parents are opting out of ECSE
so they can get full day GSRP.
iv. Discussed use of 1755 teacher within inclusive environments. Teacher
goes into GSRP – co-teaching versus support. Also discussed the role of
MTSS within the inclusive environment and preschools. Need advocacy
about count/how FTE is calculated for these best practice models…
v. Some areas are finding parents are less likely to opt for ECSE and are
pushing more for inclusive learning environments.
vi. Children who are 5 and need one more year of support prior to
kindergarten? Some areas are having children in Kindergarten for 2 years.
Some areas are still using developmental Kindergarten.
b. Speech referrals for children in community based organizations and non-public
i. Some areas there is SLP in non-publics
ii. General consensus is using IEPs for preschool. Non-public service plans
are for K-12.
iii. Child Find/Project Find request – screening – directors have general
consensus that there is no screening/screening is not allowed. You can’t
do screening without a REED per some areas. Some therapists visit
classrooms.
4) Updates from other committees:
a. Michigan DEC: Will be doing a one day conference the first Friday in May (May 1,
2015). Focus will be inclusion. Looking to infuse a parent voice and parent panel.
Looking for members to work on committees! Colleen will put out an ask including
level of commitment needed. Also looking for different PD opportunities. DEC may
be interested in partnering with MAASE for the administrator group on PSP
implementation.
b. Early On Michigan Foundation: Haven’t met since last meeting/no updates.
c. MAISA Early Childhood: Met last month.
i. Lots of conversation about kindergarten entry assessment. They need
teachers and children as participants for the pilot. Also discussed birth to
three and the set-aside language. Goal is 25,000 participants.
ii. MAISA 0-3 committee proposed to change the language to: “support
increased funding for Early On.”
iii. GSRP was also a large topic of discussion along with how special
education fits within. One of the subcommittees focused on developing
handouts/resources for superintendents on topics in early childhood.
iv. Discussion about an intentional plan for implementation for universal
preschool.
d. MAASE inclusion project: There is a small group who has been examining the data.
Total of 266 responses! If you are interested in being part of the group, contact
Deanna Strudwick or Lydia Moore.
e. Michigan Interagency Coordinating Council (MICC): A significant amount of focus
on the new indicator/SSIP (state systemic improvement plan). Likely will be related to
the area of social emotional. The state will submit the new indicator by April 1, 2015.
It will be a results indicator, C11. Quick notes are out and available on the MICC
website. A number of individuals went to a national conference (DaSy) on data. At
the conference it was very apparent how little support and funding there is for our
system in MI.
f.
MICC feeding ad hoc committee: Please watch for an email and survey from Sondra
Stegenga gathering information on needs related to this issue. The survey will be
focused on administrators views. Next meeting for the committee will be in January
and will be wrapping up the research and begin the draft of recommendations.
g. MICC financial ad hoc committee: Discussed the need for money. Information was
submitted by local areas to determine hourly rate/costs. Meetings coming up this
month and in November. More information will be available in December.
h. MICC State Systemic Improvement Plan committee: See above.