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SIS 2000+ Special Education History

Sec. 7, Maintain A Timeline

Special education programs must be implemented through a sequence of events called "Special Education Process" (or "due process" when the steps are required by law). A Timeline is an event sequence for a special education program that has been predefined in a separate application called Special Programs Editor. Timelines are referenced by Special Education History and displayed in the 'Compliance Timeline' tab of the current special education program being edited. After the student is enrolled in a special education program, the Timeline is maintained and events tracked using the following procedures:

7.1 Find a student
See Step 1.3, "Find a Student"

7.2 Activate the edit mode

From the main screen of the selected student's record, select a special education program to edit (Fig. 70).

Fig. 70

Then click on the Edit command button to activate the edit mode. Five tabs will be displayed. Click on the 'Compliance Timeline' tab to bring the Timeline to the front (Fig. 71).

7.3 View Timeline
A new Timeline will have no dates except the Due Date for the first event, which was already set when the student was first enrolled in the program (Step 3.2.3). It is displayed in the Timeline at the top of the list (Fig. 71). Due dates for subsequent events will be displayed only after certain other steps are executed, as will be explained in Steps 7.4 and 7.5. On the right side of the screen are more data columns used for maintenance. See Step 7.6.1. A comment field is available at the bottom of the screen. See Step 7.6.2.

Fig. 71- sample new Timeline. All events are linked to Event #1.

The sequence number of each event is displayed in the far left column. Events may be linked to previous events in a parent/child relationship. The sequence number of the parent of an event is displayed in the "P" (parent) column. In the sample Timeline illustrated above, all events are linked to Event #1, indicated by the value "1" in the P column of the child events.

The purpose of linking is to calculate the Due Date of a child event against either the Due Date or Actual Date (completion date) of a previous (parent) event. The calculation method is determined per event according to the Special Ed. Recalculate option set in the Special Programs Editor (Fig. 72). When the setting for this option is Off (default), the Due Date of an event is calculated as so many days from the parent's Due Date. When the option is turned On, the Due Date of an event is calculated as so many days from the Actual Date (completion date) of the parent event.

The Timeline calculates and displays dates within the date range of the selected student's current track

These links and various other event attributes were set up when the Timeline was first defined in the Special Programs Editor (Fig. 72). The parameters defined for each event will affect the operation and maintenance of the 'Compliance Timeline' in the Special Education History application, as follows:

Fig. 72 - Special Programs Editor - sample of attributes for Event #2 for the sample Timeline in Fig. 71

Program code -

Database code assigned to the special education program for which the Timeline is being defined.

Description #1 -

The name of the special education program for which the Timeline is being defined.

Sequence num.(ber) -

A number designating the sequence of this event in the due process.

Description #2 -

The name of the event.

Depends on Date -

This field will refers to another event that has already been defined in the sequence; thus setting up a parent/child link.

Num. of Days to add -

The number of days allowed to complete the event in the due process. The Special Education History application will use this value to calculate actual calendar Due dates for each event in the the fulfillment of the program once the sequence of events starts.

Count the Weekend -

When this option is on, weekends are counted in the Number of days to add field.

Count non School Days -

When this option is on, non-school days (such as holidays) are counted in the Number of days to add field.

Special Ed. Recalculate -

If this option is not checked (default), then the Due date is calculated as so many days from the parent event's Due date in the 'Compliance Timeline'. If this option is On, then the Due date is calculated as so many days from the parent event's Actual Date (completion date).

Auto recalculate -

When On, this causes previously set Due dates to be recalculated in the 'Compliance Timeline' when a Due date of a parent event is changed. When unchecked, a non-empty Due date will never be changed by the 'Compliance Timeline' (but can be changed manually).

Is required -

If this field is checked, if completion of the event is required by the school district before completing any child events. If it is left unchecked, the event is optional.

Is documented -

When this option is checked, there is a document associated with this event.

Type of Date -

Completed events may be dated in a variety of ways, such as 'Effective Date', 'Expiration Date', 'Received date', and so on.

Document Type -

The type of document associated with this event.

Receiving entity type -

The type of person or institution that must receive the associated document.

Originating doc -

The printed format that is required for the associated document.

Method delivery -

The method of delivery required for the associated document.

7.4 Calculate Due Dates
A new Timeline will show only the Due Date for the first event (Fig. 71). The Due dates for subsequent events can be calculated and displayed by executing the ReCalc command. However, if the calculation method for a child event is set to calculate against a parent event's Actual Date (completion date) (Special Ed. Recalculate option set to On in Special Program Editor), then the child event's Due Date will not be calculated until the parent's Actual Date is entered.

7.4.1 Initiate

Select a starting event in the Timeline and then click on the ReCalc command button. After a few moments, Due Dates of child events will be displayed according to their calculation attributes, i.e. the number of days to add, whether or not weekend days and non-school days are counted, etc.

Sample scenario -
In the sample below (Fig. 73), all child events are linked to the first event and the Special Ed. Recalculate option was set to Off for all child events. Therefore, a due date was calculated for all events. If, on the other hand, Special Ed. Recalculate option was set to On for any event, that event's due date could not be calculated because it would have been dependent on the first event's Actual Date, which was not yet determined.

Fig. 73

7.5.1 Select event to complete
Click on the entry line of an event that has been completed (Fig. 74). In this sample Timeline, since all events are "Required", the first event in the sequence, Referral, must be completed first.

Fig. 74 - first event selected

7.5.2 Enter Actual Date (completion date)

Click on the Change Actual Date command button. In the dialog box that appears, use the drop-down calendar to enter the date that the even was actually completed. Press OK to save or Cancel to abort.

Fig. 75

7.5.3 View data
The view will revert to the Timeline grid (Fig. 76). The date entered will be displayed in the Actual Date column and the Cmp check box will be automatically checked to indicate "Completed" status.

Fig. 76

If any child events to this event had both the Special Ed. Recalculate and the Auto Recalculate options turn On, their due dates would have automatically recalculated against the newly entered Actual Date of the parent event.

7.5.4 Repeat
Repeat Steps 7.5 - 7.5.3 for each event that is completed.

Fig. 77- sample, completed Timeline

7.6.1 Check boxes
Check boxes editable by the user as follows:

• Code -

A blank space for entering a user-defined tracking code or other brief notation.
• Rqd -

"Required". A check will appear in this field if this step is defined in the Special Programs Editor as "required by the school district". "Required" events must be completed before any of their child events can be completed.
• Cmp -

"Completed". This field will be automatically checked when an Actual Date is entered for the event.
• Exm -

"Exempt". Check this field if the student is exempt from this event.
• Due Proc -

Check this field if the special education event is required by law. (This field is non binding in the Timeline calculations.)

7.6.2 Remarks
This is a memo field available for anecdotal comments for the selected event (Fig. 78).

Fig. 78

7.6.2 Change Actual Date

Use this command to edit the completion date of an event. If the event is the parent of any child events that have the Special Ed. Recalculate option turned On, after editing the parent date, execute the ReCalc command to recalculate the Due Date of each child event.

7.6.3 Change Due Date

Use this command to manually change the Due Date of an event. Due dates of events can be edited only for those events who have the Auto Recalculate option turned Off. If this option is On, the Due Date of child events cannot be edited manually - is automatically updated against the parent event when the ReCalc command is executed.

7.6.4 Redo

Sometimes contingencies may arise (such as a change in the student's status) that will necessitate redoing a portion of the Timeline. A contiguous range of events in a Timeline can be started over from any point. Click on the ReDo command button to open a redo dialog box (Fig. 79).

Fig. 79

Select the beginning point event. Click OK to save or Cancel to abort. All events from the beginning point onward will be copied to the end if the list and reassigned continuing sequence numbers. Execute the Recalculate procedure to recalculate Due Dates, if applicable.

Fig. 80 - sample, events 4 and 5 were copied to the end of the list, becoming events 6 and 7. Recalculation was then performed.

Previous Timeline events remain in place in the upper portion of the list. All maintenance techniques apply to the redone entries in the same manner as explained in the previous steps.