Scope and Sequence
The CDE Special Education Division completed 55 Verification Reviews throughout California between November 1, 2000 and June 30, 2001. The SEEDS Project utilized four staff members, two Core Consultants, and eleven Specialized Consultants in assisting with record reviews and moderation of parent/guardian input sessions in this time period. Seven new Specialized Consultants were recruited, trained, and assigned to monitoring visits between March 9 and April 10, 2001. During this time the SEEDS staff, in conjunction with CDE, developed materials, revised the meeting protocol, and developed strategies to meet the challenges of language access unique to each school district.
Recruitment of Additional Parent Moderators
Continuing recruitment of parent moderators will be conducted throughout California in the coming year. Interested parents may be located through the system of nine Parent Training and Information Centers throughout the state. Additionally, potential moderators may come from parent groups which represent under-served groups such as the four California Community Parent Resource Centers. New parent moderators will require much training and peer assistance. The SEEDS Project Specialists will be responsible for the recruitment, training, and coaching of these new Specialized Consultants. A statewide bank of parent moderators who reside near the district under review may better understand the local community, and prove more cost-effective for SEEDS. A parent moderator will not facilitate an input session in his or own district of residence or service.
Information from Families
The information provided by families at the parent/guardian input sessions could be summarized as themes. Parents expressed concern about the lack or quality of placement options and about elements of service delivery such as insufficient numbers of qualified personnel and the ability to plan for transition. They were concerned about aspects of participation in general education such as acceptance of their student by other children and teachers and sufficient support for teachers and instructional assistants.
However, one of the areas of greatest concern, lack of access to information, emerged as a key finding to both CDE consultants and parent moderators. While related to the compliance theme of Parent Involvement, the degree of misinformation and lack of information on the part of parents prompted the moderators and consultants to consider training and technical assistance avenues to meet this need, immediately and in the long term. The post-review meetings provide an opportunity for SEEDS to participate with FMTA teams in designing technical assistance.
