Inclusive Support Resources
Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) Meetings
The ARD 101 virtual workshop, hosted on the Texas SPED Support website, reviews the requirements of an ARD committee meeting, including membership, participation, and components. Gain an understanding of the different types of ARD committee meetings and the processes for mutual agreement while learning best practices of a compliant ARD committee meeting.
Individual Education Program (IEP) Development
The Technical Assistance: Individualized Education Program Development document, provides state guidance and resources on the development of student programming.
This Question and Answer document is intended to provide guidance and best practices to local education agencies regarding ways to approach writing annual Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals that ensure involvement and progress in the student’s grade-level academic standards. This is also known as a standards-based IEP process.
The intent of Standards-Based Individual Education Program (IEP) Process Training is to provide participants with an understanding of the SB IEP process for gathering student data, including the full and individual evaluation (FIE), to write the student’s present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (PLAAFP) statement, to draft measurable annual goals with short-term objectives/benchmarks, if appropriate, and to create a data collection system for monitoring the progress of the annual goals.
Specialized Supports for State Assessments
The District and Campus Coordinator Resource Guide or DCCR, contains information related to state assessments including information on accessibility features, accommodation eligibility, and technical guidance.
On the Texas Assessment website, you will find information on preparing for and administering the STAAR test, along with test results, practice tests, and the TFAR test system.
Review examples and non-examples of allowable supplemental aids on this Powerpoint by TEA's Student Assessment Division.
For more information on accommodations for state assessments, refer to the Texas Education Agency’s Accommodation Resources webpage.
Special Education Teacher Certification (TExES 161)
Access over 150 free webinars, articles and resources for each content area of the TExES 161 exam on ESC-20’s TExES Special Education EC-12 Exam (161) website.
Universal Design for Learning
Hosted on the Texas SPED Support site, The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Professional Development Series consists of five online courses, developed and intended to be completed in sequential order that dive deep into the application of UDL concepts.
Working with Special Education Paraprofessionals
Information in the Working with Paraprofessionals document Field User Guide addresses how to work with paraprofessionals in both general and special education settings.
Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)
The Specially Designed Instruction guidance document and Field User Guide include resources that help teachers understand, develop, implement and evaluate the specially designed instruction students with disabilities need to access and progress in the general curriculum.
Co-Teaching
Co-teaching is intensive specially designed instruction embedded within full access to grade-level, rigorous general curriculum leading to a reduced achievement gap. The purpose of the Guidelines for Co-Teaching in Texas document and Field User Guide is to help districts and schools establish a common understanding of co-teaching fundamentals, from conceptualization to implementation and evaluation, and to explain essential components of effective co-teaching programs.