TheraSimplicity Trial

At Charting the Cs, I learned that you can get a 30 day free trial to TheraSimplicity if you'd like to try it. It's normally about $190 for a single license.

Podcasting PowerPoint

As promised, here is the Podcasting PowerPoint I used at Charting the Cs.

No Politician Left Behind - More!

In today's breakout, we added to our No Politician Left Behind requirements.

No Politician Left Behind

Here's a sample podcast that we did at Charting The Cs.

Podcasting Handout

Here's a copy of the podcasting handout I'll be distributing at Charting the Cs. I've also done a short podcast describing the items in the handout.

Closing the Gap Preconference Workshops

Closing the Gap has announced their preconference workshops. Lots of good stuff including presentations by Linda Burkhart, B.S. and Denise DeCoste, Ed.D.
This year's conference will be held October 18-20 at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel and Hotel Sofitel in Bloomington.

2005-06 EC:SE Data Available

The latest EC:SE data is available on the EC:SE page of our website. The data is available in PDF format for the Aitkin, Brainerd, Crosby-Ironton, Pequot Lakes, Pine River-Backus and Pillager school districts.

New AT FYI Available

The latest issue of the AT FYI available on our website. This issue focuses on Scaffolding Learning. Have a look!
Back issues are available. Let me know if you'd like to see them.

Closing Date for Referrals

It's that time of the year again - closing date for referrals. Our maximum target date for completing assessments is 30 days. We suggest that any referrals for assessments that need to be completed by Co-op staff before the end of the school year reach us by April 11.

We will not establish an absolute cut off date. We will make every attempt to complete all referrals we receive. However, we need your cooperation in preventing chaos the latter part of May.

Six Scholarships for Charting the Cs Available

We have six scholarships available for the 16th Annual Charting the Cs Assistive Technology Conference scheduled for April 23–24, 2007 at St. Cloud Civic Center in St. Cloud, MN. The scholarships cover the registration fee only. Let Margaret Knebel or myself know if you are interested!

Click here for the brochure.

I'll be there as I'll be doing two sessions on Podcasting! See you there!

Universal Design for Learning Workshop

Pacer is offering a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) workshop on Tuesday, April 3, 2007, 6:00-9:00pm at Washington Educational Services Building in Brainerd. This is a great opportunity to learn about UDL!
To register, click here.
To see the flyer, click here.

Show Students in 'Other' Districts

When a student is transfered to you from a case manager in another school district, the student will not automatically appear on your list. Use the 'Show' drop down list box to show students in 'Other' districts or 'All' districts. You can then edit the student setup and change the 'Serving District' to your district.
Here's a short movie showing how.

Special Education Data Sheet

Want to save yourself some work? Instead of printing page 1 and page 4 and sending it to the coop, print the Special Education Data Sheet and send that instead.
This is a new form that summarizes all the data we need from pages 1 and 4. It can be found at the bottom of the left column in the 'Additional Forms' section of the student's Forms page.
Life is Good!

Problem MARSS Numbers

MARSS numbers are 13 digit numbers. The new update of SpEd Forms requires that the MARSS number be exactly 13 digits with no spaces, alphabet characters or special characters. Special characters are things like underscores (_), asterisks (*) or tildes(~). Some reports will not run if the MARSS number does not meet the standard.
If you have a non-standard MARSS number for a student, please change it. Here is a short movie showing how to change it.

Printing the MARSS Page

If you encounter an error when trying to print the MARSS page, you need to set the 'School Year of Data' drop down list box to the appropriate reporting year.
Here's a short movie demonstrating how to fix the error.

PBEC Podcast Issue 8 - SpEd Forms Upgrade

In this issue of the podcast, I discuss the major feature changes to the latest SpEd Forms release.
To listen, click here.

Universally Designed Technology in Schools Online Training

With the support of the NEC Foundation, PACER has created a free online training to help teachers, administrators and other professionals, and families learn about and implement universally designed technology (UDT) in K-12 schools. UDT supports a broad range of abilities and learning styles. It can give students with disabilities equal access to the curriculum and help schools meet the educational needs of all students.
For more information, click here.

How to view 'exited' students in SpEd Forms

I've put together a short Quicktime movie demonstrating how to show students in your list who are 'inactive' or 'exited' in SpEd Forms.
You can view it by clicking here.

SpEd Forms Upgrade

I've upgraded the SpEd Forms server. Here's a summary of the changes:

1. Simplified user interface - "Student setup" and "Work with student information" have been combined into a single "Work with students" screen.
2. Improved MARSS entry screen based on DOE MARSS Student Data form ED-01910-10.
3. A new tuition billing calculator in "Student Setup" helps calculate total service hours.
4. "Evaluation Status" is now called "Status". Includes two new student status options; 90 (General Education) and 91 (504 Plan).
5. "Services Summary" has been improved and renamed "Special Education Data Sheet".
6. The "Student Acknowledgement and Tuition Agreement" form has been added.
7. A new client-side JavaScript spell check program has been implemented. Works with DesignMode and much better in all internet browsers.
8. Request access to any student record in the site database by clicking on the "Request Student" button at the top of the student list.
9. Measure and graph progress towards goals and objectives.
10. The full working copy of the student record is now transferred when using the remote transfer between school districts.

The new user guide, reflecting the changes in SpEd Forms, is now available.

Charting the Cs - Update 1

The updated brochure for Charting the Cs is available for download! The update contains clearer information on hotel costs.

We have 10 scholarships available for the registration fee (only). Contact Margaret Knebel if you're interested.