Overview of the Annual Performance Report Development:
See Overview of the Development of the Annual Performance Report (APR) in the Introduction section, page 1.
Monitoring Priority: FAPE in the LRE
Indicator 19: Percent of mediations held that resulted in mediation agreements.
(20 U.S.C. 1416(a)(3)(B))
Percent = [(2.1)(a)(i) + 2.1(b)(i)) divided by 2.1] times 100. (Formula references data contained in the rows of the table below.)
New York State (NYS) will use data collected and reported to the United States Education Department annually in the 618 report on Table 7 of Information Collection 1820-0677 (Report of Dispute Resolution Under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).
|Federal Fiscal Year (FFY)||Measurable and Rigorous Target|
(2010-11 school year)
|97 percent of mediations held will result in mediation agreements.|
Actual Target Data for FFY 2010:
88.3 percent of mediation sessions resulted in mediation agreements.
|7/1/2010 - 6/30/2011
Table 7: Section B, Mediation Requests
|(2) Total number of Mediation requests received||186|
|(2.1) Mediations held||144|
|(a) Mediations held related to due process||6|
|(i) Mediation agreements related to due process complaints||5|
|(b) Mediations held not related to due process||138|
|(i) Mediation agreements not related to due process||115|
|(2.2) Mediations not held (including pending)||42|
|Percent = 5[(2.1(a)(i)] + 115[2.1(b)(i)] = 120 divided by 144[2.1] = .883 times 100 = 88.3 %|
Discussion of Improvement Activities Completed and Explanation of Progress or Slippage that occurred for FFY 2009:
Explanation of Progress or Slippage
The State did not meet its target that 97 percent of mediations held would result in mediation agreements. The percent of mediation sessions held in 2010-11 that resulted in agreement was 88.3 percent, compared with 88.033 percent from the previous year. There were 186 total mediation requests in 2010-11, 71 fewer than in 2009-10. The decline in requests has slowed from the 104 slippage reported in 2008-09 and may have been affected by the increase in resolution sessions during the same period. However, the percentage of mediation sessions that resulted in agreement improved slightly (.27 percentage points).
Improvement Activities Completed in 2010-11:
- The Office of Special Education accessed technical assistance to further inform its special education mediation process through ongoing participation in the Northeast Regional Resource Center’s Legal and Regulatory Workgroup.
- The New York State Dispute Resolution Association (NYSDRA), under contract with the Office of Special Education, edited and maintained a website (http://www.nysdra.org/consumer/specialeducation.aspx) that describes and promotes the benefits of special education mediation in NYS, highlights frequently asked questions and answers, and provides additional resources. From June 2010 to July 2011, the NYSDRA website had a total of 29,722 individuals visiting the webpage. This is an increase of 3,915 from the 2009-10 year.
- In March, April and May 2011, NYSDRA collaborated with the New York State Education Department (NYSED)-funded Special Education Parent Centers to deliver regional presentations to provide parents, school districts, advocates and others with information and strategies to engage in early and nonadversarial dispute resolution, including mediation and resolution sessions.
- NYSRDA provided training to 117 veteran and new mediators. This training curriculum was made accessible online.
- In 2011, NYSDRA updated the Special Education Mediation brochure. During the 2010-11 school year, NYSDRA distributed an estimated 3,500 brochures.
- NYSDRA completed a pilot project with the Charitable Ventures Foundation (CVF), which was designed to test whether intensive outreach could increase the number of mediations utilized in the special education field. Through its member Community Dispute Resolution Center in Buffalo, NY, NYSDRA and CVF discovered that a focused effort increased the number of mediations by 60 percent. Discussions are being held about replicating this effort in other areas of NYS.
Revisions, with Justification, to Proposed Targets / Improvement Activities / Timelines / Resources for FFY 2010 [If applicable]