Resource Library

The SPP/APR Target Setting Toolkit is a series of eight Excel workbooks designed to assist states as they set targets for their State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR). Each tool presents five different target setting methodologies that states can use to develop, discuss, and, ultimately, set measurable and rigorous targets, as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

This resource provides a summary of findings from 28 states’ publicly available LEA determinations processes. States can use this resource to learn more about the data elements, calculation methodologies, and determination category criteria these 28 states used for making LEA determinations. This information can be particularly valuable for those states considering revisions and updates to their own LEA determinations processes.

This resource offers a side-by-side comparison of the SPP/APR Part B indicator measurement tables for FFY 2019 and FFY 2020 to highlight  new SPP/APR reporting requirements and measurement changes to Indicator 3.  The majority of students with disabilities participate in regular statewide assessments, and a small percentage of students with the most significant disabilities participate in alternate assessments. In FFY 2020, OSEP requires states to disaggregate statewide assessment results for these two groups of students with disabilities (i.e., those who participate in the regular assessment and those who participate in the alternate assessment). OSEP also requires states to calculate a “proficiency rate gap” between students with and without disabilities who participate in the regular statewide assessment.   

This rubric allows a team of users from a district or school to systematically examine the root causes of success gaps among groups of students by focusing on equity, inclusion, and opportunity. The recently updated rubric now includes considerations for children as young as preschool age. A complementary white paper provided the research-based background that supported development of the rubric.

The Success Gaps Toolkit presents a process for using data and the Success Gap Rubric to identify root causes of gaps between groups of children in districts or schools. These success gaps occur when the education system is not meeting the needs of all groups of children and outcomes for some groups are different than outcomes for most groups. The toolkit, with its process and materials, provides a manageable and defined way for districts or schools to identify success gaps that are present and their root causes and then make a plan for addressing the gaps. The success gaps may be the graduation rate of students who are English learners compared to the rate of all other children, the out-of-school suspension rate of children who are Black compared to the rate of all other children, the identification of children who are Hispanic as children with specific learning disabilities compared to the identification of all other children, and other gaps.

States can use the Organizer Template for Part B SPP/APR Target Setting to briefly document information for consideration when setting new SPP/APR targets for all indicators in the FFYs 2020–25 SPP/APR collection. States can supplement this overview template with the Indicator Organizer for Part B SPP/APR Stakeholder Involvement and Target Setting, which is designed to capture more detailed information on stakeholder involvement in setting targets for individual SPP/APR indicators.

Data for Part B Indicator 3 follow a long and complicated process that begins when a student is registered as a test taker in a state assessment system and ends with public reporting via the SPP/APR. Multiple factors are involved in this process, and regular and ongoing communication and collaboration among the various people involved can make this process easier. This suite of four resources can help states with the work. The interactive infographic provides general information about the process for a typical state.