From: HYDE AMY [mailto:ahyde@isbe.net]
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2012 2:29 PM
Subject: FW: SIS Private Schooled Student (PSS) Data Element beginning SY 2013

The following is sent on behalf of Beth Hanselman…

The purpose of this message is to provide you information about the Private Schooled Student (PSS) data element that will be new for the School Year 2013 Student Information System (SIS) collection.  This new data element will be discussed at the Summer SIS Training Sessions (July 31 – August 16, 2012) and will soon be posted on the SIS Data Elements website (under “Demographics/Enrollment”, “Program Indicators”) at http://www.isbe.net//sis/html/data_elements.htm. 

The purpose of this new data element is to allow districts to report students with disabilities whose parent/guardian has chosen to enroll the student in a nonpublic school (e.g., parochial) for general education and are being served by the district under an IDEA Individualized Services Plan (ISP).  The full definition for this new data element can be found below.  If you are familiar with the Funding & Child Tracking System (FACTS) reporting, these would be students reported under Fund Codes L, P & N.

In previous school years, ISBE’s policy was that these students should not be reported to SIS.  However, as you may know, ISBE is working to integrate the SIS and FACTS collections.  While this full integration is still in progress and timelines have not been finalized, one step toward fully integrating these collections is to ensure that all students have SIS Student Identification numbers.  This new SIS data element will now provide school districts with the proper mechanism to report these parentally placed non-public school students to SIS.  As noted below,  these private school students (PPS – ISP) will not be included in fall housing enrollment counts, statewide assessment, dropout or adjusted cohort graduation rate calculations.

If you have questions about this data element, you may contact Scott Beever (sbeever@isbe.net) or Gwendolyn Williams (gwilliam@isbe.net) via email or by phone at 217-782-5589. 

Private School Student

A private school student is a student whose parent/guardian has chosen to enroll the student in a nonpublic school (e.g., parochial) for general education, with the parent(s) bearing the cost of the student’s private education. This includes students who are being home schooled by their parents.

Districts are responsible for enrolling the following private school students in SIS.

·         Students with disabilities who are being served by the district under an IDEA Individualized Services Plan (ISP).  This category would also include students who have been evaluated and have had their eligibility determined to either receive or not receive special education services. Students who are determined eligible should be reported for 3 years from the date of the student’s most recent evaluation for purposes of inclusion in the district’s IDEA Non-Public Proportionate Share.

The public school district within whose boundaries the student’s nonpublic school is located will be responsible for reporting the private school student in SIS with a FTE of 0.

The student’s home school in SIS will be a regular elementary, middle, or high school operated by the district, appropriate to the student’s current grade and the grade(s) served by the school. The student’s serving school(s) in SIS will be the location(s) where the services are being provided.  If the serving location does not have a RCDTS code (e.g. home schooled students) or the student is not eligible for services, the home school RCDTS should be reported for both the home and serving school in SIS.

Notes:

o   These private school students (PPS – ISP) will not be included in fall housing enrollment counts, statewide assessment, dropout or adjusted cohort graduation rate calculations.

o   This category should not be used to report students who are served in a non-public private special education facility, per the student’s IEP.

o   Students with disabilities who are dually enrolled in a nonpublic school for general education and are also enrolled in the public school district should be provided services under an IDEA Individualized Education Program (IEP) if the student is found eligible for special education and/or related services.  Students with IEPs must be enrolled by the resident district in SIS. In no instance, however, should these students be flagged as private school students in SIS. PPS – ISP will default to “No” for students with IEP = “Yes”.

o   Children Ages 3-5 (Early Childhood)

§  This category may be used to report children with disabilities ages 3 – 5 who are receiving services under an IDEA Individualized Services Plan (ISP).  These children would be parentally placed in private schools (that are not Preschool for All (PFA) or Pre-K At-Risk programs).  Further, in these circumstances, the private school must meet the definition of an “elementary school”.  More information about children with disabilities ages 3 – 5 who are parentally placed in private schools can be found in Question N-1 at http://idea.ed.gov/object/fileDownload/model/QaCorner/field/PdfFile/primary_key/1

§  This category should not be used to report children with disabilities who are being served under an IDEA Individualized Education Program (IEP) if the student is found eligible for special education and/or related services.    Under this circumstance, there would be no requirement that the private school be an “elementary school”.

§  This category should not be used to report children with disabilities who are being served in a Preschool for All (PFA) or Pre-K At-Risk program, even if the program is operated by a private school, since students in these programs should be provided services under an IDEA Individualized Education Program (IEP) if the student is found eligible for special education and/or related services.