Durham Public Schools

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• Durham Public Schools
• PEPsPersonal Education Plans
• A Legal Requirement
• Ann Majestic ? Tharrington Smith
• October 13, 2011
• Updated by Dr. Carol White August 15, 2013

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The Current Law for PEPs

• Requires school administrative units to identify
  students at risk of academic failure and not
  successfully progressing towards grade promotion
  and graduation no later than the fourth grade.
• Identification shall occur as early as can
  reasonably be done and can be based on grades,
  observations, State assessments, and other
  factors, including reading on grade level, that
  impact student performance.
• No later than the end of the first quarter, or
  after nine weeks of instructional time with a
  student, a PEP for academic improvement with
  focused intervention and performance benchmarks
  shall be developed or updated for any student at
  risk of academic failure who is not performing at
  least at grade level.

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• Focused intervention and accelerated activities
  should include research-based best practices that
  meet the needs of students and may include
  coaching, mentoring, tutoring, summer school,
  Saturday school, and extended days.
• Local school administrative units shall provide
  these activities free of charge to students.
• Local school administrative units shall also
  provide transportation free of charge to all
  students for whom transportation is necessary for
  participation in these activities.
• Local school administrative units shall give
  notice of the personal education plan and a copy
  of the personal education plan to the student's
  parent or guardian.

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• Parents should be included in the implementation
  and ongoing review of personal education plans.
• Local school administrative units shall certify
  that they have complied with this section
  annually to the State Board of Education. The
  State Board of Education shall periodically
  review data on the progress of identified
  students and report to the Joint Legislative
  Education Oversight Committee.
• No cause of action for monetary damages shall
  arise from the failure to provide or implement a
  personal education plan under this section.

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Personal Education Plans

• All students must have opportunities for success
  and for receiving assistance in the areas in
  which they need improvement.

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Policy 3240 PERSONAL EDUCATION PLANS

• The Durham Public Schools identify students
  at risk of academic failure based on grades,
  observations, state assessments, and other
  factors that impact student performance that
  teachers and administrators consider appropriate.
  Students who are at risk of academic failure
  shall be identified and provided with academic
  interventions.
• Legal Reference  G.S. 115C-105.41Adopted
  Effective  June 17, 2010

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Policy 3240 PERSONAL EDUCATION PLANS

• Any student in grades K-11 not promoted shall be
  provided with a personal education plan (PEP) the
  following school year.
• Immediately after (or before) a teacher has had
  nine weeks of instructional time with a student,
  a PEP shall be developed or updated for any
  student at risk of academic failure, not
  performing at grade level.
• Each PEP should include focused interventions,
  accelerated activities and performance benchmarks
  for academic improvement.

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Policy 3240 PERSONAL EDUCATION PLANS

• Schools shall notify parents that a PEP has been
  developed, provide them with a copy of the PEP,
  and include them in the implementation and
  ongoing review of the PEP.
• The superintendent or designee is authorized to
  develop procedures to implement this policy.

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A PEP must be completed for

• Students who were retained the grade level prior
  to the current grade and who do not have an
  Individual Education Plan (IEP) that addresses
  the specific area/subject of academic concern.
• Students who have an Achievement Level of 1 or
  2 or failing mark/grade in an academic area at
  the end of the grade or course. This includes
  students whose IEP does not address specific
  area/subject of academic concern.

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A PEP must be completed for

• Students who are at-risk of failing, or have
  failed a specific subject area on their most
  recent report card. This includes students whose
  IEP does not address that specific area/subject
  of academic struggle.
• Students identified as being at-risk of retention
  (a PEP should be developed no later than the end
  of first semester

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Recommended Process for PEP Development
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PEP Development

• Meet with the parent(s) and/or guardians to
  develop the PEP.
• Send an invitation to conference letter.
• Make at least 2 more attempts (letter, email or
  phone call ) and document attempts if no
  response.
• If no response, proceed to complete plan of
  support.
• Send copy to parent noting the parent as not
  present for the PEP development.

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PEP Development

• All teachers who have the student for the
  designated areas of weakness must attend the
  meeting
• Write intervention plan (PEP) to support the
  student in the specific area of need
• Implement intervention plan and monitor for
  progress

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PEP Development

• Copies maintained by the classroom teacher (some
  cases , the counselor) in the students
  cumulative folder
• The PEP must be signed and dated by all parties
  involved
• A signed copy must be provided to the
  parent/guardian
• Information from teachers on the students in
  their class reported to the principal for PEP
  data tracking on PowerSchool.

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PEP Development

• After 4-6 weeks, interventions are reviewed
• If strategies were successful, teacher(s)
  continue and evaluate quarterly
• If strategies were unsuccessful and show little
  or no acceptable academic growth or improvement
  the teacher can
• Change, increase and continue interventions with
  the support of PLC feedback or refer the student
  to the schools Student Assistance Program (SAP)
  Chair.

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If the PEP Concern is Behavior

• Consult with support personnel familiar with
  behavioral interventions
• Start to document and track behavior issues
• Complete a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)
• Develop a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) based
  on the FBA
• Implement the BIP for a minimum of six weeks
• Document intervention results through collected
  data

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PEP Intervention Plan Must Answer
Interventions Based On

• What are we going to do differently?
• How often will this occur?

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PEP Interventions

• Must increase intensity by providing intervention
  in a small group (after school, recess, before
  school, lunch, electives, enrichment)
• Provide small group direct instruction using (no
  more than three students)
• Learning strategies
• Grade level concepts
• Advance organizers and other tools
• Prerequisite skills

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Interventions

• Skill based mini lessons with resource teacher
• Guided computer activities (i.e. Study Island,
  Education City, AOR, etc.)
• One-on-One drill and practice with teacher
• Parental tutoring (guided activities)
• Peer tutoring
• Review games
• Strategy instruction  
• Differentiated Instruction

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PEP Documentation

• Documentation of intervention efforts are a
  must.
• PEP documentation should include strong evidence
  of intervention efforts. The data and information
  should support the case of progress being made or
  the students lack of progress and academic
  growth.

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PEP Documentation

• Unit /Chapter or Cumulative Tests
• CA Data
• NC Class, Extend 2 , Vocats, or Spanish EOC
• Reading records
• SRI/SMI/mClass Data
• Writing test scores
• Project grades
• Records of class participation

• Exams
• Lexile scores
• Progress reports
• Writing samples
• Pop quiz grades
• EOG/EOC Scores
• Benchmark records
• Behavior tracking data
• Teacher anecdotal notes from observations
• Teacher-made assessments

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Monitoring the PEP

• Teacher review of intervention efforts to
  determine effectiveness and/or need for
  intervention(s) continuation or changes
• Effectiveness carefully monitored, documented,
  and evaluated throughout the year
• Every grading period, teacher meets with parents
  to discuss progress and effectiveness of
• Interventions

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Intervention Resources

• www.interventioncentral.org Intervention ideas
  for Math, Reading and Behavior
• www.adlit.org National multimedia project
  offering information and resources to the parents
  and educators of struggling adolescent readers
  and writers
• www.allkindsofminds.org Provides training and
  research findings for teachers, and a database of
  intervention strategies.

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Intervention Resources2

• www.jimwrightonline.com
• Academic and behavioral strategies
• PRIM (Pre-Referral Intervention Manual) State
  mandated pre-referral intervention activities
• http//easycbm.com Free resource for teachers to
  track reading and math interventions with
  progress monitoring

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PEP Audits

• PEPs can now be monitored online using the
  district electronic profile. Identified
  school-based administrators have been provided
  rights to access all files in their school.
  Identified district level administrators are able
  to view all schools. The link to the ePEP is
  https//epep.dpsnc.net