# ENCLOSURE C

# 

# SPECIAL CONDITIONS

1.  **[Basis for Requiring Special Conditions]{.underline}**

The Department has determined that Missouri was not compliant with all
of the terms and conditions of the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2003 awards
under Part B of IDEA, and, under the authority of the Education
Department General Administrative Regulations, at 34 CFR §80.12, is
imposing [Special Conditions]{.underline} on Missouri's FFY 2004 grant
awards under Part B.

During the week of December 8, 2004, the Office of Special Education
Programs (OSEP) conducted a verification visit to the Missouri
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). As part of that
verification visit, OSEP staff met with DESE administrators and staff
who are responsible for ensuring participation in, and the reporting of
student performance on, State-wide assessments. In the May 27, 2004
letter to DESE reporting on the results of the verification visit, OSEP
made the following findings of noncompliance with the requirements of
Part B relating to State-wide and district-wide assessments:

1.  The State had not complied with the requirements of 34 CFR
    §300.139[^1] regarding reporting on the performance of children with
    disabilities on the the MAP-A, the State's alternate assessment.
    DESE informed OSEP that although DESE reports each year to the
    public on the performance of children on the MAP (general
    assessment), through its web-site and press releases, the State has
    not, since 2002, included the performance of students with
    disabilities on the MAP-A (alternate asssessment) in this public
    reporting, or reported to the public on their performance in any
    other manner.

2.  The State had not complied with the requirements of 34 CFR §§300.138
    and 300.347(a)(5), to ensure that: (a) all children with
    disabilities participate in State-wide assessments; and (b) if the
    individualized education program (IEP) team determines that a child
    with a disability will not participate in a particular State-wide
    assessment of student achievement (or part of an assessment), the
    child's IEP must include a statement of why the assessment is not
    appropriate for the child and how the child will be assessed.
    Specifically, OSEP found that that DESE had not ensured that
    children with disabilities participated, through either the general
    assessment or the alternate assessment, in all parts of the
    State-wide assessments. DESE informed OSEP that, in order to meet
    the requirements of 34 CFR §300.347(a)(5), the IEP team for each
    child determines whether a child with a disability will participate
    in the MAP or the MAP-A. Then, without convening an IEP meeting, the
    child's special education teacher selects four of the six assessment
    areas (i.e., communication arts, mathematics, social studies,
    science, health /physical education, and fine arts), and---for each
    of those four areas---selects a goal from the child's IEP that will
    be used for the MAP-A. Thus, although third-grade children
    participate in the third-grade general communication arts MAP, the
    State does not require that each third-grade child with a disability
    who does not participate in the communication arts MAP, participate
    in the communications arts MAP-A. The teacher could, instead, choose
    to assess the child on goals that relate to: (1) mathematics
    (although there is no mathematics MAP administered in the third
    grade); (2) science (even if the district has not elected to assess
    third-grade students in the general science MAP); (3) social studies
    (although there is no social studies MAP for the third grade);
    and (4) fine arts (although there is no current administration, at
    any grade, of a fine arts MAP).

3.  The State had not met the requirements of 34 CFR §§300.138, 300.139,
    and 300.347(a)(5), with respect to youth with disabilities in
    Division of Youth Services (DYS) facilities. DESE officials informed
    OSEP that youth in DYS facilities (both youth with and without
    disabilities) do not participate in the MAP or MAP-A.[^2] In a
    December 18, 2003 letter to DESE Assistant Commissioner Melodie
    Friedebach, DYS Assistant Deputy Commissioner Dennis M. Gregg stated
    that DYS would administer the MAP to "approximately 400 youth \[in
    the spring of 2004\]."

4.  The State had not ensured compliance with the requirements of 34 CFR
    §§300.138, 300.139, and 300.347(a)(5) as they apply to district-wide
    assessments. DESE special education and assessment administrators
    and staff informed OSEP that: (a) DESE does not monitor to ensure
    compliance with those Part B requirements as they relate to
    district-wide assessments, and does not know to what extent
    districts that have district-wide assessments are in compliance with
    those requirements; and (b) DESE has informed school districts that
    it is not appropriate to use the MAP-A as an altenate for
    district-wide assessments, and does not know to what extent
    districts with district-wide assessments have developed alternate
    assessments for those assessments.

The requirements that States ensure that children with disabilities
participate in State and district-wide assessment systems; develop and
administer alternate assessments, if necessary; and report publicly on
the participation and performance of children with disabilities in State
and district-wide assessments are crucial to ensuring that children with
disabilities are provided access to high-quality instruction in the
general curriculum, and that States and districts are held accountable
for the progress of these children. 20 U.S.C. 1412 (a)(16)-(17); 34 CFR
§§300.137-300.139. The requirements regarding the participation of
children with disabilities in, and reporting on participation and
performance of children with disabilities in regular assessments have
been in effect since July 1, 1998; the requirements regarding reporting
on alternate assessments have been in effect since July 1, 2000.

2.  **[Nature of the Special Conditions]{.underline}**

Pursuant to these [Special Conditions]{.underline}, by July 26, 2004,
the State must, as directed in OSEP's May 27, 2004 letter, submit to
OSEP either: (1) documentation that DESE has corrected all of the
noncompliance with the requirements of 34 CFR §§300.138, 300.139, and
300.347(a)(5) as they apply to both State-wide and district-wide
assessments described in the May 27, 2004 letter and set out above; or
(2) for each area of noncompliance that the State has not yet corrected,
the State's plan for documenting, within one year from the date on which
OSEP accepts the plan, that the State has corrected such noncompliance,
including interim (within six months) and final (not later than 30 days
after the one year timeline) reports to OSEP.

3.  **[Evidence Necessary for Conditions To Be Removed]{.underline}**

The Department will remove the special conditions if, at any time prior
to the expiration of the grant year, Missouri provides documentation,
satisfactory to the Department, that it has fully met the
above-specified Part B requirements related to State-wide and
district-wide assessments.

## Method of Requesting Reconsideration

The State can write to Dr. Troy Justesen, designated to act as the
Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), if it wishes the Department to
reconsider any aspect of these [Special Conditions]{.underline}. Any
request of this sort should describe in detail the changes to the
[Special Conditions]{.underline} sought by the State and the reasons for
those requested changes.

4.  **[Submission of Reports]{.underline}**

All reports that are required to be submitted by Missouri to the
Department under the [Special Conditions]{.underline} should be
submitted to:

> Angela McCaskill, Missouri State Contact
>
> Office of Special Education Programs
>
> U.S. Department of Education
>
> Room 4005, 550 12^th^ Street, SW
>
> Washington, DC 20202

[^1]: The Part B regulations require, at 34 CFR §300.139(a), that the
    State must, in implementing the requirements of 34 CFR §300.138,
    make available to the public, and report to the public with the same
    frequency and in the same detail as it reports on the assessment of
    nondisabled children, the following information: (1) the number of
    children with disabilities participating-(i) in regular assessments;
    and (ii) in alternate assessments; and (2) the performance results
    of those children described in paragraph (a)(1) of this section if
    doing so would be statistically sound and would not result in the
    disclosure of performance results identifiable to individual
    children.

[^2]: Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended
    by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, also includes a number of
    requirements related to including children with and without
    disabilities in State assessment programs and reporting on their
    participation and performance on regular and alternate assessments
    that in many instances are more specific than requirements in the
    IDEA. This attachment does not, and should not be interpreted to,
    address Missouri's compliance with requirements of Title I.