Special Education

Improving Results for Children with Disabilities

SST8 is committed to helping districts increase their capacity for improving the functional and academic achievement of all students, including students with disabilities. We offer a variety of special education-related professional development and technical assistance services for district personnel, with particular emphasis in the areas of Alternate Assessment, Assistive Technology, Autism, IDEA/Compliance Monitoring, Inclusive Teaching Practices, and Postsecondary Transition. Additionally, we welcome questions from parents of students with disabilities on these and related topics. Please contact the SST8 consultant(s) at the bottom of each of the Special Education webpages for additional information.

Question about SpEd Policy/Practice? Answer: Virtual Office Hours!

Once a month, SST8 consultants Helen Brophy and Dee Dee Howes will host "Virtual Office Hours" via webinar to answer questions from educators regarding special education policies and practices, including ETR/IEP questions. Virtual Office Hour sessions are recorded and archived for future listening. Please remember that all guidance shared is current only as of the date of the session and could later be revised by U.S. Department of Ed or ODE policy changes.

Online Toolkit of ODE Resources for ETR, IEP and Transition

The Office of Exceptional Children at the Ohio Department of Education has created an online repository of tools and resources to support LEAs' implementation of IDEA (2004) and Ohio's Operating Standards for the Education of Children with Disabilities. This toolkit contains many of the checklists, rubrics, and SmartSheets used in past SST8 and ODE trainings to guide teams in the development of compliant and high-quality special education documents. Check out ODE's ETR/IEP/Transition LiveBinder and be sure to save it as a "Favorite" or "Bookmark" in your web browser.

Operating Standards

The revised Operating Standards for Ohio Educational Agencies Serving Children with Disabilities, which are Ohio Administrative Code Rules 3301-51-01 to 09, 11 and 21, became effective on July 1, 2014. Additional updates will be posted to the ODE and SST-8 websites as they become available.

The Operating Standards for Ohio Educational Agencies Serving Children with Disabilities identify the state requirements and federal Part B Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) requirements that apply to the implementation of special education and related services to students with disabilities by school districts, county boards of developmental disabilities and other educational agencies.

Special Education