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In 2008 the State Board of Education updated special education program operating standards in response to changes in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004. Operating Standards for Ohio Educational Agencies Serving Children with Disabilities are filed with Ohio's Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR), the Legislative Service Commission and the Secretary of State. The intent of these standards is to ensure that children with disabilities have equal access to and the opportunity for full participation in education, independent living and economic self-sufficiency.
ACCESS THE OPERATING STANDARDS
In 2010, the State Board of Education further updated Rules 3301-51-09 and 3301-51-05 of the operating standards, pertaining to delivery of special education and related services and procedural safeguards that ensure parent, student and school district rights. Find links to these updated rules below. The updated rules override the original versions of the rules found in the Operating Standard for Ohio Educational Agencies Serving Children with Disabilities, listed above.
Rule 3301-51-09 Delivery of Services - Effective July 23, 2010
Changes to section (I)(6) of this rule authorize the Ohio Department of Education to partner with selected local education agencies and boards of developmental disabilities to form and evaluate alternatives to current methods of calculating the ratio of how many students intervention specialists and other special education services providers may serve simultaneously. The purpose of these alternatives to ensure the best possible service to students with disabilities.
Rule 3301-51-05 Procedural Safeguards - Effective April 24, 2010
Changes to sections (C)(2) and (C)(3) of this rule relate to the requirements of a school district when a parent revokes consent to provide his or her child special education services.
THE GUIDANCE DOCUMENT - PROCEDURES AND GUIDANCE FOR OHIO EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES SERVING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
The Guidance Document is a searchable online resource developed by the Office for Exceptional Children (OEC) to provide educators throughout Ohio with guidance, best practices and information to help implement the operating standards or “rules” that serve as the framework for providing services to Ohio’s children with disabilities and access to the general education curriculum so the children can make progress and be prepared for life beyond school. The Guidance Document is reviewed quarterly by the OEC to ensure that it is current and notice about any changes is posted on the home page of the Guidance Document and a notification email is sent out on the OEC list-serv. The guidance document is available at www.edresourcesohio.org. To access the Guidance Document, click here.
Also available on www.edresourcesohio.org is access to additional Ohio resources including the Operating Standards, Special Education Model Policies and Procedures, Whose IDEA Is This?, required and optional forms and annotations for the individualized education program (IEP), evaluation team report (ETR) and Services Plan (SP) forms and the Standards-Based IEP Tool-Going Places with a Standards-based IEP (GPS-IEP). News, updates and copies of the list-serv newsletters from OEC are found in the center of the home page. There are links to other Ohio resources, to federal resources and to information available from the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).
There is also a resource page for secondary transition planning which includes guidance, steps and a planning tool. The secondary transition planning page can be found at www.edresourcesohio.org/transition.
RELATED RESOURCES
Webinar Video on Operating Standards for Ohio Educational Agencies Serving Children with Disabilities - Ann Guinan, Assistant Director of Procedural Safeguards in the Ohio Department of Education's (ODE's) Office for Exceptional Children, and Barbara Weinberg, ODE Office of Early Learning and School Readiness, presented this two-hour video, which is posted on the Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALI) Web site. To access the presentation, click here.
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