School district to dashboard ESE documentation
Exceptional student education documentation of accommodations has changed to a centralized dashboard system for the Lee County School District enabling real-time tracking of services.
The first audit observation by RSM, first district’s contracted auditing firm, highlighted a need for enhancement of monitoring ESE service delivery, Student Services Senior Director Rachel Gould said.
One of the options was developing a centralized dashboard integrating data from individualized education plans, provider logs, and attendance systems to enable real-time tracking of services and accommodations.
The district executed four key steps – created a centralized system in FOCUS, held multiple trainings for teachers and administrators, revisions of processes based on feedback and fully implemented the centralized system.
The FOCUS page shows each classroom accommodation and when an IEP is completed. The lower portion of the page shows the dates, and a statement, such as “I certify I have provided the student’s peer classroom accommodations during lessons this week for all the days the student was present and have documentation.”
Gould said there is also a statement that can be added for guest teachers providing accommodation.
With the centralized system being a new process, Gould said they will continue to monitor and update it when new questions and issues arise.
Another highlight of the system is principals can monitor the ESE weekly accommodation report by reviewing the student data, teacher providing the accommodation, what course and tracking which accommodations are implemented on a weekly basis.
The second audit observation recommended that the district enhances its oversight of ESE service delivery by implementing a centralized framework for documentation, monitoring, and performance management. Three areas were highlighted in the recommendation.
Gould said they strengthened the oversight and alignment in ESE leadership through the district ESE department, regional directors, and regional ESE coordinators.
“We are conducting quarterly audits,” she said of a sampling audit of 10 schools.
Gould said the positive impact for parents and students stem from it being the same process in every school, easier to show accommodations are being provided, better trained staff to support students and clear guidance in one place.
Superintendent Dr. Denise Carlin said when the feedback came back from the auditors it raised a lot of concerns for her.
“Obviously our students are our No.1 customer,” she said, adding that it is important to both provide and document the accommodations.
Carlin recalled when she was in the classroom all the forms she had to fill out manually and write them into the student’s plan.
“With the technology, you can review the accommodations already listed and document those that have been provided,” she said. “It’s more important than the documentation – it is the actual provision of those. The documentation is important, no question about it, but providing those accommodations and making sure they are being done with fidelity is extremely important.”
She thanked the team for acting proactively to the audit, as it is a huge undertaking.
Board member Jada Langford-Fleming said it is all about the follow through for the students – providing those accommodations.
“This is long overdue, and, oh my goodness, thank you,” Board member Melisa Giovannelli said. “This work is easier for our teachers, and they will feel like they are valued more. I look forward to outcomes, data and results from this.”
She asked if parents will be notified once the accommodations are provided.
“How does a parent know the service was given to a student that day?” Giovannelli said.
She said it would be great if a parent would automatically receive an update or an email – a daily progress report of the accommodation.
Chief Academic Officer Dr. Nathan Shaker said with it being a new system, parents as of right now, would not be able to see the documentation on a daily basis, but rather a weekly basis. He said it is something they will continue to look into as they tighten up the accuracy of the new system.
In August, an internal audit detected problems with how the School District of Lee County documents its provision of services to students with special needs.
For the first observation – development and delivery of ESE services or accommodations – RMS reviewed a sample of 40 individualized education plans, which identified 467 district services and accommodations.
For services – 107 had documentation to support delivery and 71 had no documentation to support delivery. There were six documentations to support delivery for accommodation, and 283 that had no documentation. In other words, 76% had no documentation to support delivery of services.
The ESE exceptionalities and programs for the district include sensory impairments, communication impairments, developmental disabilities, physical and health impairments, emotional and behavioral disabilities and learning disabilities.
For the 2024-2025 school year, there were 8,073 students with communications impairments, 4,097 students for learning disabilities, 4,225 students for developmental disabilities, 2,131 for physical impairments, 362 students for emotional and behavioral disability, 228 students for sensory impairments and 134 students for medical/placement related.
The district provides a variety of specialized programs for these students – consultative/instructional support, behavioral intervention, life skills, social emerging, social functioning, functional skills, deaf and hard of hearing and hospital homebound.
The objective of the audit was to “access the district’s ESE program, focusing on regulatory compliance and the effectiveness of IEP development and implementation of the program. The internal audit also evaluated the timeliness and accuracy of IEP documentation and the alignment of ESE services with federal and state mandates.”