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RTI/MTSS and End of School Year: 7 Pillars to Reflect on Your Program, Recalibrate Your Approach, and Energize Your Staff

For schools implementing an RTI/MTSS model, the end of the school year can be an energizing and pivotal time. Leaders implementing RTI/MTSS have a big responsibility, to deploy the school’s full array of intervention resources to find and help struggling students. Therefore, this model requires periodic checkups to ensure schools align their current practices with RTI/MTSS best practices. The close of school offers staff an ideal time to accomplish this goal by tidying up loose ends in record-keeping, using data to improve classroom instruction, identifying gaps between its intended and actual service delivery, and looking forward to the next phase in its RTI/MTSS program roll-out.
 
As summer approaches, here are seven steps schools can take to firm up RTI/MTSS procedures, ensure they are carried out with integrity — and prepare for the coming year.
 

Best Practices for Closing Out This Year & Preparing for Next Year

 

1. Archive Your RTI/MTSS Information

Schools should give all staff who have responsibility for keeping track of RTI/MTSS information a deadline for completing their records for the current school year before the summer break. Having a district or school-wide RTI/MTSS program management system accessible to all stakeholders helps keep data organized and archived for future use. After the deadline, the school should spot-check student entries in the RTI/MTSS system to verify records are complete.
 
Did you know?
When asked what challenges they faced in implementing RTI/MTSS, 42% of K-12 survey respondents reported that their RTI/MTSS process wasn’t documented well or wasn’t followed consistently.
 

Suggested Content:

Annual School-Year RTI/MTSS Guide

 

2. Evaluate Effectiveness of Core Instruction

RTI/MTSS schools typically collect building-wide academic screening at fall, winter and spring checkpoints. These data-sets are invaluable, as they allow a school to judge the effectiveness of its core instruction and, when necessary, provide guidance to teachers on strengthening their instructional practices.
 
A rule of thumb is that classroom instruction across a school can be considered adequate if at least 80% of students meet or exceed a screener’s performance cut-points. The close of the school year is an ideal time for administrators to meet with grade-level teams to review screening data and brainstorm future instructional ideas to boost students’ collective academic performance.
 

Example:
If a grade-4 team discovers that 40% of its students routinely score below the expected cut-point on a reading-fluency screener, that team would generate ideas to promote increased fluency via instructional activities.

 

 

3. Analyze RTI/MTSS Data to Uncover Performance ‘Pockets’

As schools build a strong RTI/MTSS model, they collect troves of data monitoring student performance. If this data is reliably archived, schools can analyze it to identify pockets of student performance that either exceed or lag behind expectations.
 

Example:
A building might compare the relative outcomes of two Tier 2 reading groups using the same program to see if there are significant differences across instructors. Or a district might analyze the relative impact of several Tier 2 reading programs used in multiple schools to identify those with stronger versus weaker outcomes. Of course, this type of advanced RTI/MTSS ‘data mining’ requires a school or district first standardize its procedures. Standardizing processes will ensure data sources are valid and reliable, that interventionists collect data with frequency and rigor, and that student data is uniformly stored in electronic format for easy retrieval.

 

“Advanced RTI/MTSS ‘data mining’ requires a school or district first standardize its procedures.”

 

Suggested Content:

Your RTI & MTSS Data Analysis Team: Nerve Center of Tier 2 & 3 Services
Annual School-Year RTI/MTSS Guide

 

4. ‘Recalibrate’ Your RTI/MTSS Procedures

Every school that follows an RTI/MTSS model has its own procedures to identify students for services, document intervention plans, collect data, move students up and down the tiers of intervention, and so on. The end of the school year is an ideal time to review the school’s actual RTI/MTSS practices, identify any gaps in implementation, and ‘recalibrate’ to align those day-to-day practices with the expected RTI/MTSS procedures.
 

Example:
If the Tier 1 expectation at an elementary building is that teachers will employ weekly grade-level planning time to develop classroom intervention plans, that school can investigate actual practice to verify these teams are in fact using planning time for this purpose, examine sample intervention plans to ensure teachers include research-based intervention strategies, and check the RTI/MTSS data management system to certify classroom intervention plans are being entered electronically.

 
Data can help the school uncover discrepancies in procedures. It is an expectation, for example, that in a ‘typical’ school, 1-5% of students might be referred to the Tier 3 RTI/MTSS Problem-Solving Team in a given school year. If, as summer approaches, fully 10% of its students have been brought to Tier 3 during the current year, the school can follow up by reexamining its criteria for accepting a Tier 3 referral and the fidelity with which these criteria are being enforced.
 

5. Recruit Fall Groups Using End-of-Year Screeners

To identify students at academic risk, most schools screen the entire building population 3 times per year (fall/winter/spring). Those data are then used to recruit students whose risk profile indicates they require Tier 2/Tier 3 academic-intervention services. While fall screening data would appear to be the logical data source to recruit fall academic-intervention groups, it presents 2 limitations:

  1. Tier 2/3 interventionists cannot begin work with students until the school has conducted the fall screening and identified groups, resulting in several weeks of dead-time when at-risk learners are not receiving intervention services.
  2. In an effort to speed formation of fall intervention groups, the school may be tempted to screen immediately after the start of school. However, students often experience a ‘summer slide’ — a predictable and temporary drop in reading or math skills over the summer. For most students, the summer-slide effect disappears after 4-5 weeks of school. Therefore, districts that screen early — e.g. within the first 2-3 weeks of school — are likely to, ‘lock in’ temporary academic deficits and falsely identify at least some students for Tier 2/3 services whose skills would have rebounded on their own.

 

Suggested Content:

Not Just for Academics: Expanding RTI/MTSS to Provide Behavioral and Social-Emotional Support Click Here

 
A solution is to use the end-of-year (spring) academic screening results for 2 purposes:

  1. to enter or exit students for current spring Tier 2/3 services and also

  2. to identify fall Tier 2/3 intervention groups before the summer break.

This approach allows academic-intervention groups to meet immediately when school resumes in the fall and encourages the school to schedule the fall screening when student skills have fully recovered from the summer regression. Once fall screening data are collected, the school can update Tier 2/3 groups accordingly.
 

6. Update Your RTI/MTSS Roll-Out Plan

It can take 3 to 5 years for a school to fully implement the RTI/MTSS academic model. Buildings in the midst of rolling out RTI/MTSS will find the final months of the current school year offer a good vantage point from which to firm up plans for the next phase of implementation slated to start in the fall.
 
While advanced RTI/MTSS planning is always a good idea, some elements of RTI/MTSS require it.
 

Example:
Schools seeking to overhaul their system of Tier 2 (supplemental/small-group) interventions, may need to alter multiple elements: e.g. changing the schedule for those services, training Tier 2 providers to deliver new research-based intervention programs, revising academic-screener cut-points used to identify Tier 2-eligible students. Because each change will impact multiple staff, all changes need to be considered, finalized and communicated with relevant staff members well before actual implementation.

 

7. Prepare RTI/MTSS Professional Development

While schools often do a good job of planning and implementing a comprehensive RTI/MTSS plan, they sometimes overlook the need to provide ongoing professional development to prepare their staff to understand, accept, and work effectively within the plan.
 
As the school reflects at the close of the school year on the quality of its RTI/MTSS implementation and proposed next steps, the building should also consider what additional training teachers and support staff require to improve delivery of RTI/MTSS services. This professional-development plan should include both the essential RTI/MTSS content to be delivered to teachers and a training calendar extending into the coming school year with opportunities in large- and small-group settings.
 

Example:
A middle school might realize in the final months of school that their teachers are confused about how students access the various RTI/MTSS tiers of academic intervention. In response, the school creates a simple flowchart defining the RTI/MTSS components, describing how students gain access to each Tier of support, and outlining the responsibilities of each staff member to provide RTI/MTSS services. The school also develops a professional-development plan to present the flowchart, deciding to first share it at an early-fall faculty meeting and then follow up a month later with small-group discussions with instructional teams at each grade level.

 

“Use RTI/MTSS learnings from this year to structure a training calendar for next year, so staff will have access to opportunities to brush up on essential RTI/MTSS content.”

 

Concluding Thoughts

A key component of success in implementing an RTI/MTSS model is simply that schools pay attention to the details — verifying that RTI/MTSS records are complete and archived; closing gaps between current and best RTI/MTSS practices; looking forward to the next steps in the unfolding RTI/MTSS roll-out plan. The end of the school year is a strategic time for schools to focus their attention — make productive use of this pivotal moment between the recently elapsed and coming school years!
 

“Verify that RTI/MTSS records are complete and archived. Close gaps between current and best RTI/MTSS practices. Look forward to the next steps in the unfolding RTI/MTSS roll-out plan.”

 
Want to get a print-friendly version? Get the eBook here.
 

Talk Data to Me: The State of the Instructional Teacher Shortage

The Frontline Research and Learning Institute recently published a research brief called “The State of the Instructional Teacher Shortage”.

Following a basic supply and demand economic model, the analysis investigates the quantity of candidates applying for jobs (supply) as well as the availability of open positions (demand). Trends show changes to both sides of the equation over the past few years that are contributing to a labor shortage, however the decline in candidates is more pronounced than the increase in available jobs.

In this post, we’ll dive into updated numbers surrounding the teacher shortage as well as various strategies and tools districts can implement to quickly fill open positions.

The Teacher Shortage

The Frontline Research and Learning Institute recently published a research brief called “The State of the Instructional Teacher Shortage”. Following a basic supply and demand economic model, the analysis investigates the quantity of candidates applying for jobs (supply) as well as the availability of open positions (demand). Trends show changes to both sides of the equation over the past few years that are contributing to a labor shortage, however the decline in candidates is more pronounced than the increase in available jobs.

  • The supply side
    The quantity of candidates applying to jobs and is measured as the average number of applications per teacher job posting.
  • The demand side
    The availability of open job postings and is measured as the average number of teacher job postings per district.
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The State of the Instructional Teacher Shortage Get the Full Research Brief

 

What is the state of the teacher shortage?

With a nationally representative data set of over 1,400 school districts from January 2019 to July 2022, the Frontline Research and Learning Institute reported that supply, rather than demand, is the primary contributor to the national teacher shortage.

In this post, we’ll go over the updated supply and demand metrics from a similar nationally representative sample of over 1000 school districts nationwide.

Check out the video now for the most recent numbers

What do the most recent numbers say?

The demand side

Below is a chart of the average number of new job postings per district each month over the past four years. It’s interesting to note that this metric hardly deviates from itself year over year (aside from a slight bump in the first half of 2022).

What does this mean? Districts that are hiring are seeking to fill approximately the same number of jobs than they typically do.

Chart 1

The supply side

Chart 2 shows the average number of applicants per job posting each month over the past four years. As you can see, this metric has decreased dramatically and steadily year over year.

Postings that went live in the last quarter of 2022 are seeing about 50% less applicants than postings that went live in the last quarter of 2019.

Chart 2

The main takeaway

Trends show changes to both sides of the equation over the past few years that are contributing to a labor shortage, however the decline in candidates is more pronounced than the increase in available jobs.

The conclusion the resulting shortage is primarily a result of fewer individuals looking to fill positions.

Your action items

It’s clear that many of today’s K-12 district leaders are finding themselves struggling to recruit and hire enough qualified teachers to meet school demands and serve students.

But you can take a deep breath… because there’s good news!

Up-to-date, data driven insights paired with the latest innovations in EdTech will prepare school leaders with the information and systems they need to attract and retain quality instructional staff to their district.

Check out these top tools designed specifically for K-12:

 

1. Human Capital Analytics

Get an advantage with data around open positions, applications received, and recruitment efforts and results.

Frontline Human Capital Analytics provides direct access and guided analysis so district administrators can easily explore interactive dashboards, quickly view key metrics, and arrive at data-backed insights to make stronger decisions for their organization.

With your Recruiting & Hiring data, you can:

  • Analyze open positions to identify patterns or areas of need
  • Explore trends in the applicants in your district attracts, and how they align with your DEI&B initiatives
  • Anticipate teacher and support staff shortages and communicate your district’s staffing story to key stake

 

Note: Human Capital Analytics can also help your district understand staff absences and help to refine and inform your professional development program!

Make more informed human capital decisions with data

 

2. K12JobSpot

Find top educators around the country.

With K12JobSpot, the top job board for K-12 job-seekers, over 1,000,000 teaching jobs have been filled (and growing)!

With your Recruiting & Hiring data, you can:

  • Advertise open positions more widely by easily sharing jobs on your district website, social media pages and more
  • Proactively reach out to qualified candidates with customized, automated recruitment campaigns
  • Search for candidates where you are or reach out to educators across the country who have shown an interest in relocating

Find top educators across the country

 

3. Recruiting & Hiring + interviewstream

Enhance the hiring experience and screen candidates faster

With this official partnership, you can proactively engage with jobseekers through on-demand virtual interviews.

  • Give candidates flexibility and control with virtual, interactive interviews on demand
  • Empower HR to automate interview scheduling, rewatch live interviews to rate candidates, and score interviews in real time
  • Get time back from scheduling interviews, handling manual candidate information, and rallying your HR team together to perform assessments

Maximize HR’s schedule

Ready to dodge the teacher shortage and get the right people working in your schools?
Check out these resources to get started:

  • Recruiting the 21st Century Teacher:
    Get the rundown of how K-12 HR departments can position themselves for success by diversifying their recruiting efforts.
  • 3 Ways Technology Can Help Overcome the Teacher Shortage:
    Facing a smaller pool of teacher candidates? Check out these top 3 ways technology can help your district overcome challenges associated with the teacher shortage.
  • Grow Your Own Teacher Programs:
    GYO programs develop and train future educators from within a school district’s very own classrooms by offering alternative pathways to teacher certification. The exact objective of GYO may vary per state, but these three goals remain consistent: combatting the teacher shortage, expanding the tightening pipeline of new teachers, and diversifying the pool of teacher candidates.
  • The Guide to Retention-focused Recruitment:
    Focusing on retention can help alleviate some of the struggles school districts have recently faced, like dwindling applicant pools and vacant positions that need to be quickly filled with highly qualified 21st century educators. Get this guide for the 4 steps you need for a retention-focused recruiting strategy.

 

10 Common Myths about School-based Medicaid for School Business Officials

As a school business official, you’re likely always looking for ways to maximize your school’s resources and ensure that all students receive the services they need — to do more with less.
 
When it comes to Medicaid claiming, there are many myths and misconceptions that can hinder your efforts to do just that. Read on for 10 common myths about Medicaid claiming plus the facts you need in order to make more informed decisions.
 

Myth 1: You have to be an expert in Medicaid to run a Medicaid program

Fact: No, but you do need a strong partnership between Accounting, Special Education, and a reliable vendor.
 
One of the key components of a successful Medicaid program is trust between all parties involved. By partnering with a vendor who has expertise in Medicaid, you can have 100% visibility into your program and have access to the data and reports you need to monitor your program.
 

Myth 2: Districts can only bill for services like speech and occupational therapy

Fact: Many services are reimbursable, including those provided by school nurses.
It’s important to partner with a vendor who understands the nuances of each state’s rules and regulations to ensure that you are billing for all eligible services, and staying compliant in the process. This is where the partnership between business, special education, and the vendor becomes especially critical.
 

Suggested Content:

Ask Me Anything: Medicaid Edition Hear From The Experts

 

Myth 3: Audit and cost reporting findings are inevitable

Fact: Although it may seem this way, there are steps you can take to prepare for your audits and cost reporting.
By working with a vendor who provides a comprehensive solution, you can gain greater control over your program and minimize the risk of negative findings.
 

Myth 4: Medicaid has been around forever and not much is changing

Fact: Okay, for some of you, this may seem obvious that Medicaid regulations are always changing. But for others, it may feel like once you’ve gotten the hang of things, the regulations become second nature.
 
Yet many states continue to explore Medicaid expansion, and the program remains flexible, allowing states to design their own programs and deliver health care services as they see fit.
By partnering with a vendor who stays up-to-date on changes and updates to the program, you can ensure that your school remains compliant and in compliance with regulations.
 

Myth 5: Medicaid caps mean that student care should be reserved for doctors and hospitals

Fact: Schools are now on the front lines of providing healthcare services to students in need.
 
By partnering with a vendor who provides comprehensive support, including a robust documentation program, you can ensure that your school is equipped to provide the best possible care for students.
 

Myth 6: Medicaid vendors only support interim claiming

Fact: A comprehensive vendor will provide full-service support, including a dedicated Medicaid Services Support Team and a comprehensive documentation program that enables progress monitoring and streamlines the process of documenting services.
 
This not only makes it easier to track services, but also helps ensure compliance and supports accurate cost reporting.
 

Suggested Content:

Vendor Transparency: Is it Time for a Change? Take The Quiz

 

Myth 7: Districts have to file their own state Medicaid reports (for example: SHARS in Texas)

Fact: With the right solution in place, you can validate IEP services, parental consent, and more, ensuring audit-proof compliance and minimizing the risk of negative findings.
 
A comprehensive solution also provides a dedicated Medicaid account manager to help you navigate the process and ensure compliance. Medicaid isn’t something you should have to do alone; your vendor should be there to help!
 

Myth 8: The special education department doesn’t benefit from claiming for Medicaid

Fact: There are no restrictions on how the funds generated through Medicaid reimbursement can be allocated, and the special education department can certainly benefit from the additional resources.
 
It’s important to work with a vendor who can help you understand the full benefits of the program and ensure that all parties are comfortable with the arrangement.
 

Myth 9: You should only use your Medicaid software to capture and document services for Medicaid eligible students

Fact: You should capture services for all students, regardless of their eligibility status, for compliance and to ensure that your program stays up to date with ever-changing eligibility requirements.
 
One of the biggest challenges schools face when it comes to Medicaid is two-fold: ensuring that they are capturing all of the services they need to while ensuring that all documentation of those services is conducted correctly.
 

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Best Practices for Service Documentation Tips for Compliant Documentation & Claims

 
This can be especially tricky given the variability in eligibility from month to month. By capturing services for all students, schools can ensure that they are in compliance with all of the requirements set forth by Medicaid, while also avoiding any potential issues that may arise from audits and litigation.
 
A system that integrates service tracking and Medicaid billing is a great option to make sure you’re covering all your bases.
 

Myth 10: Medicaid is reactive in nature

Fact: Medicaid can be proactive in nature with the right collaboration.
One of the keys to maximizing your school’s Medicaid reimbursement is having a strong partnership in place with your vendor. A comprehensive, full-service vendor that provides support for Medicaid services can be your best asset when it comes to staying ahead of the game. With their expertise in the program, your vendor can provide you with the security you need in forecasting revenue, as well as expected reimbursement.
 
By debunking these myths and understanding the facts, you can be confident in your ability to run a successful Medicaid program for your school. By establishing a strong partnership with a vendor that provides comprehensive support, you can take a proactive approach to maximizing your school’s Medicaid reimbursement.
 
Frontline can help you with Medicaid audit protection, service scheduling, and so much more. See the system in action now.

5 Tips for Looking Ahead to Next Year’s Professional Development Program

At various times throughout the year, it’s helpful to reflect as central office professional learning leaders and in teams with your coaches, specialists, principals and teacher leaders. Why? Building on collective wisdom to engage in informed planning will give you a leg up for next year’s PD!
 
Reflection & Generation plays a vital role in ensuring sticky adult learning. You infuse your professional learning experiences with opportunities to think-pair-share, surface assumptions, SWOT and so on. You generate insights, plans and actions as individuals, pairs and teams and across our campuses.
 
What does that look like? Well, it’s more than just perceptions of what worked well and what didn’t. It’s about the questions that you ask about the data we have and how you can move professional learning outcomes into classroom practice.
 
With that context, here are 5 tips to reevaluate your PD program and questions you can ask for each one:
 

1. Analyze data to evaluate PD effectiveness throughout the year

Consider the evidence that you’ll want to have at this time next year and formulate your questions now.
 

Example:

  1. How do we know that professional learning impacted instructional practice and student learning?
  2. Which professional learning formats were most effective in advancing educator growth?
  3. Do we know if the expense for the kick-off guest speaker in September had greater impact than the weekly coaching activities?
  4. The ability to answer these questions is becoming increasingly vital with reduced resources and increased expectations around accountability.

 

2. Determine whether or not your efforts were aligned and coherent

Thinking about next year, consider which aspects of your professional learning system don’t align with your goals or are inconsistent with your aspirations for the culture of professional learning in your organization. Laser focus on those. 
 

Example:

  1. In what ways did our professional learning initiatives and job-embedded structures align with district, building, and personal goals this past year?
  2. To what extent was professional learning a meaningful and integrated component of the performance evaluation process, supporting focused ongoing learning and growth

 

3. Examine your job-embedded learning structures and support

Reflecting on the progress within job-embedded settings, examine the degree to which new learning was applied in practice. For next year, consider ways to tightly link job-embedded learning to student learning needs by employing backwards planning as teams start the year.  
 

Example:

  1. Were our pairs and teams empowered and informed enough to take collective responsibility for their learning? How do we know?
  2. Did the tracking methods used by learning teams, coaches and mentors give them the information they needed to implement cycles of continuous improvement?

 

4. Consider how you utilized technology tools to extend, enhance, and document

Think about any additional data points that you’ll want to capture over the coming year to evaluate effectiveness. Consider how you can refine your technology systems to track for compliance, implementation, and impact.  
 

Example:

  1. To what extent was online or blended learning a part of professional learning in our system over the past year?

 

5. Benchmark your professional learning program to the prior year

Seek out the pioneers among your faculty. Set up a shared document for people to capture their reflections on innovation throughout the year. Which paraprofessional attended an EdCamp? Which principal is using Twitter as a professional learning tool? Collect their stories as a jumping off point for innovation for next year.  
 

Example:

  1. Are we dropping what is not effective to embrace promising new ideas?
  2. What risks did we take in our thinking and implementation of professional learning, and what did we learn?

 
Learn more about implementing a comprehensive, individualized professional development program
 

Recommended Resources:

Effective Professional Learning Strategies (That Actually Work): The national landscape of professional development in K-12, best practices for an effective professional development program, resources for getting started, and more.
[Webinar] Professional Growth Retains Educators: Learn how to deploy a year-round PG and retention plan to address every educator’s unique needs.
[Playbook] Designing High-Quality Professional Development Programs: A play-by-play of what high-quality professional learning looks like, and how to plan and implement it at your district.

Providing Structure to an Unstructured Data Environment

Big data is nothing new in education. Districts grapple with disparate datasets living in various places both at the district office and within each individual school, all with the objective of making sense of so many data elements. From state data sources to vendor data extracts to local data sets, collecting and organizing the vast amount of student information can be overwhelming for any district.
 
While districts are consistently looking for critical insights on student performance from all these different sources of data, it can become extremely difficult to translate what is meaningful and what is not, unless there is a plan. In working with districts across the country, many are tackling data governance through a few simple strategies.
 

Strategy #1 – Aligning data to strategic goals

First, as a district, consider making critical decisions around what data sources are most important to measure district goals. Use your district’s strategic plan as a blueprint for your data collection, and if the data source does not align with that strategic plan, it may be taking up a lot of district resources to maintain datasets that are not used by your staff or aligned to current district goals. Additionally, when data is presented that is not aligned with the goals of the district, confusion may arise to what the areas of focus are within the organization. Keep it simple…In order for a dataset to be maintained, it has to align to a district goal.
 

Strategy #2 – Identifying your data champions

Second, with the increase in data requirements from state and federal levels, keeping good records on students becomes critical, especially when funding aligns to student enrollment, demographics, and performance. More and more, districts are identifying key personnel as ‘data champions’ to ensure there is proper, safe, and consistent data entry and management practices across all schools within the district.

Point of entry is critical to ensure the data is accurate, especially within systems like the student information system (SIS), as many critical data exports come from the SIS and are shared with vendors, state/federal governing bodies and even stakeholders. Equally important is managing access to the data to ensure all individuals that have access to district data are in compliance with all state and federal data privacy guidelines/regulations.
 

Strategy #3 – Visualizing your data

Once you know your critical datasets and you know it is entered properly to align to your goals, visualize the data. Providing analytics, specifically, disaggregated analytics, provides leadership teams the ability to determine if the organization is staying on-track with their goals, or if they need to pivot and change course. Furthermore, these analytics can be great tools to communicate to your respective stakeholders on how the district and schools are keeping a laser-like focus on the goals established by the organization.
 
All in all, while the data landscape is ever changing, data governance is critical to making sure that each district accesses, collects, manages, and analyzes data that aligns to strategic goals. This endeavor is no easy task, as it must comply with all data privacy legislation. However, by focusing on key data elements, empowering key personnel to ‘own’ the data and presenting it in a manner that accurately portrays the performance of the school district, allows leaders to effectively communicate the goals of the organization and how they are moving toward achieving those goals each day.
 
Want to learn how Frontline can help you make sense of your data? Learn more here
 

 

5 Questions to Ask for Effective Professional Development

Ineffective vs Effective Professional Development With ESSA

Historically, professional learning has tended toward the ineffective end of the PD continuum: teachers attend a workshop, lecture or meeting, passively listen and check it off the list of things that must be done. Once it’s over, they may never think about it again. On the other end of the continuum is a more dynamic professional learning experience, in which teachers are engaged in learning that will immediately and lastingly affect their pedagogical practice and enable them to reach students effectively. The question is, how does the move from one end of the continuum to the other happen?
 

As you think about the professional learning program in your school system, here are five essential questions to ask — and a look at how ESSA influences each.

 

    1. What data analysis would allow evaluation of how effective professional learning efforts have been over the past year?

     
    ESSA states that professional learning must be data-driven and targeted to specific educator needs. But beyond that, it must also be regularly evaluated to determine whether or not it produces changes in practice. This is a broader conception of what it means to be “evidence-based.” Gone are the NCLB days of strict “scientifically-based research.” The current focus is on making sure that professional learning makes a difference in the classroom. The evidence can be very local — what’s proving effective in this classroom, school or district?
     
    With that backdrop, building leaders must decide how they will collect the kind of evidence they need to provide meaningful feedback to teachers.
     

    2. To what degree were professional learning efforts aligned and coherent?

     
    ESSA calls for PD that is part of broader school improvement plans — a systems approach that highlights the interactive nature of recruitment, educator development, retention, ongoing learning and growth and advancement. The goal is to build a unified approach for supporting excellent educators throughout the cycle of their careers.
    It’s important to develop a strategic professional learning system that helps district offices collaborate and share data to make decisions. This includes strengthening the connections between district, building and individual teacher goals to create alignment, so that coherence can flourish.

 

Hand-picked content:

How to Gauge the Impact of Your Professional Learning Program Read The Blog

 

    3. Did job-embedded learning structures have the support needed to function effectively last year?

     
    ESSA allows ample opportunity for educators to create their own learning paths. This stretches them well beyond simply tracking completion, hours and credits. Effective professional learning is about individuals, pairs and learning teams defining and working toward their learning goals — based, of course, on student needs from day to day, week to week and month to month. It’s recognizing that most of the answers are within the building today — within coaching pairs and PLCs and in collaboration between educators, to name a few. System leaders need to create settings for educators to access and apply those profoundly relevant insights and integrate a variety of supplemental just-in-time content and other resources as needed.
     

    4. Were technology tools effectively used to extend, enhance and document evidence of the effectiveness of professional learning?

     
    When it comes to professional learning, ESSA emphasizes transparency. This often requires districts to evaluate their professional learning technology solutions. Do these solutions make it easy to collect and report on multiple data points, including teacher qualifications, how professional learning is applied and the impact it has on teaching? If all educators and leaders can access this data, they’ll be better able to collaborate, and together can take responsibility for planning, monitoring implementation and reviewing outcomes.
     

Hand-picked content:

Effective Professional Learning Strategies (That Actually Work) Learn More

 

    5. What has innovation in professional learning looked like during the last year?

     
    The notion of flexibility is woven throughout ESSA, which opens the door to great possibility!
     
    Giving all educators a voice in their professional learning — including in areas like goal-setting and by using individual learning plans — can play a vital role in this. Flexible mechanisms for state reporting are also helpful.
     
    One key question to ponder: “As we engage our teachers, giving them greater choice and possibilities for innovation, what processes and tools do we have in place?”

Protecting Medicaid Coverage for Millions of Students: How School Medicaid Directors Can Help

School Medicaid directors have an important role to play in supporting families to maintain their Medicaid coverage. There is a significant change happening in healthcare coverage that will affect millions of students across the country who rely on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for their health insurance.

There is a significant change happening in healthcare coverage that will affect millions of students across the country who rely on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for their health insurance. #Medicaid #StudentHealth

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Since the start of the Public Health Emergency in March 2020, families enrolled in Medicaid have not been required to complete renewal paperwork to stay covered. However, starting on April 1, 2023, this continuous coverage protection will lift, and states will resume reviewing eligibility for all people enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP to ensure they still qualify. During this process, known as the “unwinding,” it is estimated that 6.7 million children will lose their Medicaid coverage, despite the majority of them continuing to be eligible for either Medicaid or CHIP.

During the “unwinding,” it is estimated that 6.7 million children will lose their Medicaid coverage, despite the majority of them continuing to be eligible for either Medicaid or CHIP. #medicaid #StudentHealth

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Related Resource:

As student eligibly changes, districts need to seek parental consent for Medicaid. Learn more about the requirements and regulations around parental consent as well as best practices Blog: Navigating Parental Consent for Medicaid

 

Your Action Plan: Supporting Families through Unwinding in Two Easy Steps

STEP 1

To reduce the loss of health coverage, it is crucial that parents act quickly to confirm or update their contact information with the State Medicaid agency and provide the necessary information to complete their Medicaid renewal when notified. Families could receive renewal paperwork at any point this year or early next year.

Schools and district administrators can play a critical role in protecting children’s health coverage by ensuring families are aware of these Medicaid changes.
The first step for families is to ensure that their state Medicaid agency has the correct contact information for every member of their family on Medicaid, so they receive their renewal notices when the time comes. If families do not receive the notice, they may not realize their child has been disenrolled from coverage and is uninsured until it is too late.

STEP 2

The second step is for families to quickly fill out the paperwork and return it should they get a notification.

If something goes wrong, and their child loses coverage, parents need to quickly reach out to a navigator or enrollment assistor to see if they can re-enroll in Medicaid or to check if they qualify for subsidized coverage through the ACA Marketplace.

So, What Comes Next?

If you are a school Medicaid director looking for resources to support families in maintaining their Medicaid coverage, then the “Unwinding Comms Toolkit” is an excellent resource for you.

This toolkit, available for download on the Medicaid website, includes a range of communication materials such as backpack fliers, newsletter blurbs, robocall scripts, and social media posts that you can use to inform families about the upcoming changes to Medicaid coverage.

With the help of this toolkit, you can ensure that families in your district are aware of the renewal process and have the necessary information to complete their renewals on time, thus reducing the risk of losing their Medicaid coverage.

The unwinding of the Medicaid “continuous coverage” policy will be an unprecedented undertaking for the State Medicaid agency and families to ensure that children stay connected with their health coverage.
Schools are a central access point for students to be connected to necessary health services, and it is critical to keep children connected to health coverage to receive necessary care.

“Schools are a central access point for students to be connected to necessary health services, and it is critical to keep children connected to health coverage to receive necessary care.”

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Keeping students connected to Medicaid is also important for the fiscal health of all districts.

Almost all schools depend on Medicaid to help cover the cost of certain special education services. The potential impact will be even greater if your district is in one of the 17 states that have expanded Medicaid reimbursement to cover school health services for all Medicaid-enrolled students.

Suggested Content for You:

An Open Door to Increased Medicaid Revenue in Schools: School-Based Medicaid Expansion through Free Care

As a school Medicaid director, you can help families maintain their Medicaid coverage by ensuring they are aware of these changes and have the necessary information to complete their renewals. The American Association of School Administrators toolkit can also be a helpful resource to communicate with families and keep them informed. By working together, we can ensure that our students have access to the care they need and maintain their health coverage.

Front & Center: Lourie Larcade

Lourie Larcade is a Business Services Specialist with the Tehama County Department of Education in northern California. With 10 years of experience in school business and still more experience before that in the private sector, we’re thrilled to highlight Lourie in this edition of “Front & Center”.

Tell us about yourself!

I have been married to my husband Jay for 28 years and between us we have 4 daughters: Lisa, a grocery store manager; Megan, a grocery store supervisor; Tara, Administrative Assistant at the California Highway Patrol; and Kalee, a restaurant area manager. They are all successful, wonderful women and between them we have 7 wonderful grandchildren. My husband and I love to travel with my sister and her husband, and we all love to cruise and love the beach. The Caribbean Islands are our favorite places to travel.

I love to go for long bike rides, run, and kayak. Spending time with my children and grandchildren always makes me happy. We would love to live on an island in the Caribbean if we could!

What was your first job in education? Tell us your journey to get to your current role.

In 2010, I was in the public sector doing payroll at the company that I had worked at for 24 years. This company was dissolving, and I was one of 2 employees on the last day, handling everything with the bank, accountants, and attorneys to close the doors.

My first job in education was as an Accounting Technician here at the Tehama COE. I was only in that job for 3 weeks when I was offered the opportunity to apply for a Payroll Specialist position, processing the payroll for the county office as well as overseeing the 17 district payrolls.

Just over 5 years ago I applied for my current position, which involves being the Business Manager for the two county-authorized Charter Schools, calculating and reporting the attendance for the entire county, and being the Frontline ERP Software Support Specialist. My plate is very full, but I enjoy my job very much.

If you could give any advice to yourself at the beginning of your career, what would it be?

Give yourself time to learn. Moving from the private sector to education is a big move and requires a lot of time to learn the processes, terminology, and legalities of working with public funds. Know that you are capable of doing a good job!

What is one skill everyone who works in school business should have?

It is very important to be able to think outside of the box and to know that everything we do touches so much more. You need the ability and skill to be very detailed oriented and organized.

What is the best creative idea you have had that has made a difference in your role?

Putting myself in the position of learning parts of this organization that do not fall into my job description. Knowing a little about the education side of the house makes it easier to understand what they need as far as budgeting goes.

What will change most in education over the next 10 years?

I think it will be the way we are funded. I believe we will move away from the Local Control Funding Formula to more restricted funding. I don’t necessarily agree this is best, but it seems to be the way we are going. I believe local control of our funds to be able to use them as we see fit will best benefit our students. I also think that the number of people working remotely as well as the number of students who are virtual could grow.

What are you most hopeful about for the future of education?

I am hopeful that we are teaching our children not only math, reading, and science but that we teach them how to be productive adults by teaching them everyday life skills.

How does Lourie and the Tehama County Department of Education use Frontline ERP?
Read the case study

3 Ways Technology Can Help Overcome the Teacher Shortage

Is your district facing a smaller pool of teacher candidates or high turnover rates? If so, do you have insight into how technology can help you attract and retain quality educators to quickly fill open positions?

In a recent webinar, Frontline Education and interviewstream joined K-12 HR leaders to discuss modern recruiting technology, as well as how utilizing this technology can help school districts overcome the teacher shortage.

The speakers

Before we discuss the whats, hows, and whys, it’s probably helpful to know who is behind this webinar! Here is the panel of industry experts and K-12 leaders:

  • Mitchell Welch
    Principal Solutions Consultant, Frontline Education
  • Joey Vasser
    Partner Success Manager, interviewstream
  • Dana Morrison
    Recruitment/Talent Manager, East Baton Rouge Parish School System
  • Julie Tobin
    Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources at Community Consolidated School District

The current challenges in K-12 hiring

The teacher shortage is widespread, and many school districts are struggling to find and hire qualified educators. Although not every district experiences the shortage the same, and some may have shortages only for specific positions, the added stresses are likely consistent. Here are the areas of need discussed throughout the webinar:

“We’ve continued to expand our dual and bilingual programs into our elementary and middle schools. So, we’re finding, as many districts around us, that our shortages are the highest with bilingual educators. Special education is also an area of great need, self-contained special education teachers in particular.”

Julie Tobin

 

“In East Baton Rouge Parish, we have 80 schools in our school system, and we have needs in every area. One of the trends we’ve seen is a great number of educators retire, and we definitely have a need for bilingual educators as well. One vacancy is too many.”

Dana Morrison

When it comes to the #TeacherShortage, a single vacancy can feel like one too many.

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What does the data say behind these trends in these respective districts? Are other districts experiencing similar shortage areas? The Frontline Research & Learning Institute (FRLI) found in a recent survey that half of respondents reported difficulty filling jobs across all grade levels and subjects while the other half felt the effects of the shortage in specific subject areas only. Here were some of the findings:

The hardest subjects to fill according to a recent FRLI survey:

  1. Lead teachers and department heads took the longest to fill
  2. Mathematics, science, and special education took longer to fill than the average job posting
  3. Business Education and Foreign Language teachers had the lowest hire rate

 
What areas or subjects is your district experiencing the heaviest shortage? Share below!


 

Your action items: utilizing technology to combat the teacher shortage

There are so many ways technology can help position your district for success. Here are the top 3 ways technology can help your district overcome challenges associated with the teacher shortage.

  1. Internal and external technology

    When it comes to using technology in K-12 HR, it can be easy to get stuck in the way of how you’ve always done things. For example, maybe your district only uses video tech externally for things like interviews and recruiting (and it probably works wonders). But with that exact same tech, you can expand your use into other internal areas and reap even more benefits!

    According to Mitchell, to optimize your efforts to combat the teacher shortage, it’s important to “expand your reach beyond using technology just to bring people in”. Of course, utilizing tech for recruiting is critical to attracting quality candidates, but districts should think about ways tech can be implemented after the candidate becomes a new hire. Here are some of his ideas for internal tech as outlined in the webinar:

    • Job-embedded training for substitutes
    • Mentor & mentee engagement sessions
    • Professional development videos
    • Instructional content for paraprofessionals
    • Specified talent engagement

    “In East Baton Rouge Parish, we wanted to use video technology for more than just interviews. So, we’ve used this technology to open up new areas internally: literacy coaches, math coaches, and social-emotional learning specialists. We also use video technology for equity so that everyone has an opportunity, and everyone has the chance to share or respond.”

    Dana Morrison
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    See how one school district took their onboarding process from three hours to fifteen minutes with this technology

    2.  

  2. Technology for retention

    More than half of teachers leave the profession in their first five years. Once you’ve recruited the best, what can you do to retain talent to avoid this statistic? Making sure your teachers are engaged and continually growing in practice is a good first step. Mitchell says one of the easiest ways to do this is by “leveraging technology for retention”.

    In the webinar, the panelists discuss retention and technology with the idea of conducting ‘stay interviews’ during the school year to identify what is going well in their teachers’ eyes as well as areas for improvement. Afterall, when teachers feel respected, taken care of, and have the support of leadership, they are far more likely stay!

    Questions to consider for stay interviews:

    • In what ways do you or don’t you feel supported in your professional growth?
    • If you had a magic wand, what would be the one thing you would change about your work, role, or responsibilities?
    • What types of recognitions and acknowledgement increase your loyalty and commitment to the district?

    “Our [new hires] want support, mentoring, and continuous growth.”

    Julie Tobin
    Handpicked content you may enjoy:

    Need ideas to keep great educators in your district? Check out these 5 strategies for increasing teacher retention rates

    3.  

  3. Technology for district brand

    When you invest in your district’s brand, everyone benefits. It becomes easier to attract more talented teachers, improve community engagement and maintain an excellent reputation. Mitchell describes the importance of taking time to reflect on questions like: How do candidates see you? What brings a candidate to your district? How did you infuse your brand in the process that candidates go through?

    Ideas for showcasing your brand with technology:

    • Create personalized welcome videos for new hires
    • Announce your teacher of the year with a spotlight segment
    • Improve parental engagement with videos that highlight your mission, vision, and values

    “People are very visual. They like seeing or hearing (audio or video). You can include teacher leaders, teachers of the year, students, or make short introductions. Anytime you can add a storyline to your system, it’s very powerful.”

    Dana Morrison
    Handpicked content you may enjoy:

    How to Build Your District Brand

 

A better way

Though making a change to the way you use technology can feel daunting, the right tools can help. Strengthen your recruiting process and combat the teacher shortage with Frontline Education and interviewstream. This official partnership equips K-12 organizations with the right technology, data, and insights to find the best candidates quickly, increase retention rates, and help build your district’s brand.

  • Promote educator growth and market your district brand by leveraging video technology internally and externally
  • Improve the candidate experience with virtual, interactive interviews on demand (which they can watch back and even rerecord!)
  • Maximize your schedule and get time back from scheduling interviews, handling manual candidate information, and rallying your HR team together to perform assessments

 
Ready to implement this technology in your district and quickly fill open positions?
Learn more

Flexible Pay in K-12: The Benefits and Debunking the Myths

Since the launch of the Wagestream partnership, available to K-12 districts utilizing Frontline Absence Management, the concept of financial flexibility has been a frequent topic of discussion. But what does that really mean, why is it of paramount importance for K-12 school districts and why is this absolutely critical for K-12 school districts?
 
Our lives are becoming increasingly flexible with the growing popularity of on-demand products and streaming services. If you really want to, you can order same day delivery for just about anything these days. Booking appointments can even happen with the click of a button. However, when it comes to the way many of us get paid, it’s still quite old school. When you consider how district staff gets paid, it can sometimes be months before they receive a paycheck. By offering your staff flexible access to their pay when they want it, as they earn in, your district can increase fill rates, foster financial wellbeing, and minimize stress.
 

Wagestream Fast Facts:

 

 

In the HR world, I’m about doing anything I can to benefit employees, including improving their well-being. And we know that financial wellness is a piece of that.

Dr. Lisa Hatfield, Assistant
Superintendent of Human Resources, Raymore-Peculiar School District

 

Financial Flexibility in School Districts

There are federal and state funding limitations that cause the timing of pay to be a very real detractor for individuals who would otherwise be interested in working at a district. Financial flexibility is the notion that with the right, sophisticated, user-friendly technology, pay at a school district could become on-demand with very little lift from the district or its employees.
 
Financial flexibility at a school district is the idea that a substitute, for example, could work a job and then access those earned wages instantly if they needed to. When gas is more expensive than usual, or bill cycles don’t align with pay cycles, district employees wouldn’t have to seek out predatory loans or high interest credit. Instead, they could just have simple, secure access to the money they have already earned.
 
We see this a lot in organizations that have front line workers, and it is a powerful benefit for organizations to attract and retain top talent. That’s why Frontline Education is exclusively partnering with Wagestream to bring financial wellbeing to employees at districts who use Frontline Absence Management.

Financial wellbeing is when you:

  • Have control over day-to-day, month-to-month finances
  • Have the capacity to absorb a financial shock
  • Are on track to meet your financial goals
  • Feel secure about your financial future
  • Have the financial freedom to make the choices that allow you to enjoy life

 

Debunking 3 Myths About Flexible Pay

MYTH: Offering flexible pay to employees is unethical.

Reality: Consider the ethical implications of not providing flexible payment options. Requiring employees to adhere to a pay cycle that suits the business but may not align with individual needs and preferences raises ethical concerns. Providing employees with choices and allowing them to opt for it, is a morally responsible approach. Ultimately, the decision to participate in the program should be left to the individual.

MYTH: If people get early access to their pay, they’ll end up in worse financial shape.

Reality: According to Wagestream’s findings, 72% of employees who utilize or have access to flexible pay benefits experience reduced financial stress, while 52% report improved budgeting and saving capabilities. This positive impact stems from reduced reliance on costly financial options such as payday loans, credit cards, and overdrafts.

MYTH: The fixed pay cycle helps people manage their money.

Reality: The fixed pay cycle is designed with businesses in mind. Its purpose is to enable businesses to efficiently manage payroll at a lower cost and meet tax filing deadlines. The perception that the fixed pay cycle benefits individuals is a result of familiarity rather than its original intent.

To support the credibility of this program, we want to recognize that Wagestream for Frontline is the winner of the EdTech K-12 Deployment of the Year Award for 2023!
 
Want to learn more about financial flexibility and Wagestream? Explore this powerful benefit
 

Suggested Resources:
 
Azle ISD: How Azle ISD uses Wagestream through Frontline’s Absence Management to support substitute teachers, raise fill rates, and expand its substitute pool.
 
Raymore-Peculiar School District: Dr. Lisa Hatfield, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, describes how the district offers flexible pay to help recruit substitutes through Wagestream and Frontline’s Absence Management.
 
Clovis Municipal Schools: Clovis Municipal Schools in New Mexico is offering Wagestream through Frontline’s Absence Management as a benefit to help increase fill rates.
 

Teacher Retention Strategies: Ideas to Keep Great Educators

The teacher shortage isn’t new — and neither are the day-to-day challenges that come with it. But that doesn’t make it any easier to manage higher turnover rates and disruptions to student learning.

Because these struggles have become so consistent and far-reaching, it’s essential to take steps, big or small, toward improving staff retention. But how? First, consider this list of best practices for retention. Answering the “how” of keeping quality staff members in your district can:

  • Reduce turnover costs greatly
  • Improve instruction and student achievement
  • Make staff feel heard, seen, and supported

Take our instant poll:
Which of the following is your district doing to incentivize teachers to stay?

 

You likely already implement one or more of these strategies to support teacher retention. Now take a look through these additional ideas and resources to take the next step.

Support Teacher Wellness

Teaching has always been tough, and we saw a marked increase in struggle and burnout through the pandemic years. Although things are now stabilized, the weighted impact of the last few years still lingers. With a rise in anxiety and depression, it’s critical to support and promote mental health in your district. Prioritizing your staff’s mental health will ultimately help them avoid burnout, and you turnover.

“Teacher burnout, it’s like a slow leak. You see it happening, but how do you support these teachers to make sure they get rejuvenated, and that every summer it’s not, ‘Am I going to retire this year? Am I going to leave this year?’”

from “Beating Teacher Burnout” on the Field Trip Podcast. Listen now

Consider offering:

  • Meditation breaks
  • Mental health days
  • Dedicated time for physical activity
  • Exercise challenges
  • Mental well-being sessions (either virtually or in-person)

It’s also important to note that while the teacher shortage is widespread, so is the school counselor shortage. The shortage of school counselors may lead to some teachers feeling pressure to adopt a counseling role for which they are neither prepared or trained to take on. In your district, you may also consider offering professional development targeted toward social-emotional learning.

Promote Growth Opportunities

Find ways to catapult growth among your district’s educators by developing a holistic, connected program that includes:

  • Individualize professional growth: Build relationships with teachers to understand their unique goals, needs, and share feedback more openly so that you can help create a growth plan with confidence.
  • Voice and choice: Offer plentiful learning opportunities so teachers can mix-and-match development that fits both their goals and desires.
  • Lively engagement: Switch out the “sit-and-get” model with learning that teachers can do in their way, at their pace, collaborating with educators in the building and around the country.

“Because every one of us likes to be listened to and to feel like, I am a part of something bigger than myself.

— from “Keeping Great Teachers” on the Field Trip Podcast. Listen now 

 

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Cultivate a positive school culture

Establishing a school culture where teachers feel they have a voice and are being listened to creates a better environment for student growth and achievement. Keep in mind this doesn’t just happen by checking a box; rather, it’s an ongoing process in which you can:

  • Provide continuous and relevant feedback
  • Offer a mentor program to new teachers
  • Reward your teachers for their hard work
  • Give acts of kindness — perhaps it’s snacks, supplies, or free lunch on Monday!
  • Network with your community to offer discounts or gift cards

Offer Employee Assistance Programs

Everyday stresses can impact performance and morale, especially during a pandemic. An Employee Assistance Program provides confidential health, financial, and legal services to your employees at no cost to them. Your district may already be offering this service, but if not, consider implementing one. From counseling services and child-care referrals to ride-share reimbursements, Employee Assistance Programs help support your employees and any life challenges they may face.

Any number of these strategies are a great place to start in considering a comprehensive retention initiative. Create an experience for your teachers from their application process through growing and staying with your district.

Explore Frontline Recruiting & Hiring and Frontline Professional Growth →
 

Navigating Parental Consent for Medicaid

 

It’s the end of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting, and stakeholders have agreed upon related services prescribed to your student. Before the meeting can conclude and the IEP document is finalized for signature, one last form needs to be addressed: parental consent to bill Medicaid. Outside of service logging, this conversation has the largest impact on Medicaid revenue for a school district.

As your district forms policies and procedures around best practices to obtain parental consent, here are some key areas to consider. Understanding the history and general regulations around consent will also help guide best practices.1

Jump to a section:

Medicaid Billing in Schools and Parental Consent: A Very Brief History

In 1974, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) gave parents the right to protect their child’s personally identifiable information (PII) within a school system.2 In 1975, the first iteration of what was eventually known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) paved the way for the special education programs we see in schools today and the billing of public health insurance, or Medicaid, to support the delivery of those programs.3

In 1997, an advisory letter by the Department of Education clarified that FERPA regulations on PII include the student’s Medicaid information, creating the requirement for parental consent to access public health insurance information. The reissuance of IDEA in 2004 specified parental consent requirements, explicitly stating that consent must be obtained each time services were implemented.4

From 2004 to 2013, school districts maintained a practice of requesting parental consent annually with each IEP. In 2013, new regulations were issued that realigned IDEA with FERPA requirements, which do not have a mandated frequency, to move to a one-time parental consent collection, and annual notice thereafter.5

In 2014, the federal government expanded Medicaid billing to services beyond those written into an IEP.6 The implementation of this expansion is still ongoing as each state rewrites and submits new Medicaid plans incorporating the new federal regulations into state practice.

Parental Consent: Requirements and Regulations

Current federal regulations stipulate that:

  1. Parental consent must be obtained to seek access to public health information, including Medicaid eligibility, and must be obtained to bill public health insurance for services provided.
  2. A notification of continued access to public health insurance must be sent annually to the parent.
  3. Parents have the right to revoke consent at any time.
  4. School districts are obligated to provide services to students through Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), regardless of the parental consent status.7

Parental Consent Best Practices

Because parental consent is required to bill Medicaid, it’s critical to assess your district’s process of obtaining parental consent and maintaining proper records. Following best practices and considering future regulations are key to successful compliance management and to bringing crucial funds back into your district.

Best practice should ensure your district not only maximizes consent for services that are billable today, but also plans for billing expansion, if your state has not already implemented billing expansion policies.

Is your district’s parental consent form designed for Medicaid billing expansion?

As states continue to expand Medicaid billing beyond IEP services, you should also update parental consent forms to reflect these options. Massachusetts, a pioneer in the expansion of school-based billing, issued new consent forms, available through this link, that define school health services beyond the IEP and mandated recollection for all students. Since most states are still in the process of updating their state plans to expand billing, current parental consent form templates offered by states often still specify IEP services in the language, making them unusable for any other type of school health billing. Districts should plan revisions to consent forms to reflect all school health services ahead of regulatory updates, to maximize potential revenue increases as state regulations change. 8,9

When should your staff ask for consent in the IEP process?

Parental consent is best obtained long before the IEP meeting, which can often be contentious as service levels and types are decided. It’s better to discuss parental consent when the parent provides permission to evaluate their child, for two reasons:

  1. Most parental consent forms have a single date to mark the start of consent: the signature date. If parental consent is collected prior to the evaluations, the evaluations can be billed.
  2. Second, it reduces the risk that disagreements in the IEP meeting will lead to a denial from the parent.
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Working with Parents in Special Education

My district is in a state that allows billing for students without an IEP. When should we ask for consent for these students?

504 services, school health services, and mental health services are the most common areas of expansion for Medicaid billing, largely due to entrenched practices of determining medical necessity and creating service plans. Obtaining consent should begin by cross training consent talking points within these departments, and adding parental consent forms to 504, school health, and mental health standard packets.

Massachusetts serves as a useful guide here as well: department of education consent collection and outreach guidance recommends including parental consent forms in

  • free and reduced lunch applications,
  • start of school year packets, and
  • health plan meetings10.

Who should ask for consent?

The role is less relevant than proper training. Equip personnel tasked with this duty with the proper answers to parents’ frequently asked questions.

What are the common questions parents ask and how can we best address those questions?

State education departments generally put together FAQs that apply to their state programs and reflect federal regulations. Here are some examples from Louisiana and Indiana. Common questions and answers are:

Question: Why am I being asked for consent? How do you know my family is on Medicaid?

Answer: To avoid discrimination, all parents are asked for consent to bill Medicaid.11 An added benefit to this policy is that consent will be viable should the family become Medicaid recipients in the future.

Question: Will this affect my family’s overall Medicaid benefits?

Answer: No. Your personal Medicaid and school-based Medicaid come from distinct pools of funding and do not affect each other.12 This answer is often distrusted, due to misinformation from advocacy groups, private practitioners, and other stakeholders. Equipping your personnel with regulatory materials that support this answer is beneficial.

Question: If I say no, will my student still receive services?

Answer: Yes, services do not depend on your consent to bill Medicaid.13

Why should I ask all parents for consent to bill Medicaid?

First, you avoid potential discrimination or miscommunication. Beyond morality, this protects your district in the face of legal implications. Second, if a student becomes eligible for Medicaid in the future, you already have the consent required to bill Medicaid. This point may become more prominent if your state adopts Free Care, opening up the possibilities to bill Medicaid for students without an IEP who have a Plan of Care.

Where should my district store parental consent information?

This is a very important question because, with the expansion of Medicaid billing beyond IEP service, it’s easier to lose the record of parental consent (which only needs to be obtained once) in the paper shuffle. And once parental consent is obtained, revisiting that conversation runs the risk of a revocation.

Districts often use disparate systems to develop IEPs, 504s, student health plans, service logging, Medicaid billing, student health documentation, and behavioral or mental health documentation. While all systems should be equipped to collect parental consent records, a single source system, which is typically the Student Information System, can feed that information elsewhere as necessary. For example, if parental consent for all health services is collected during a 504 process, this should be fed into the IEP system, so the parental consent conversation can be bypassed.

What is the best method to annually notify parents of the continuation of parental consent?

While parents/guardians are required to be notified annually, there is no stipulation that they sign or physically acknowledge this notice. Notices can be included in back-to-school information packets that are sent to all parents to ensure the notice reaches all required recipients and compliance is maintained.14

Bring much needed funds back into your district by simplifying health services documentation and Medicaid claiming procedures. Learn how Frontline can help

1 Mays, A., & O’Rourke, L. (2019, December). A Guide to Expanding Medicaid-Funded School Health Services. Retrieved from https://healthyschoolscampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/A-Guide-to-Expanding-Medicaid-Funded-School-Health-Services-12-19-19.pdf.

2 Electronic Privacy Information Center. (n.d.). Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Retrieved May 20, 2020, from https://epic.org/privacy/student/ferpa.

3 U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). About IDEA. Retrieved May 20, 2020, from https://sites.ed.gov/idea/about-idea.

4 New York State Education Department. (2012, January 18). Parental Consent. Retrieved from http://www.oms.nysed.gov/medicaid/resources/parental_consent.html.

5 U.S. Department of Education. (2017, July 12). Sec. 300.154 (d) (2). Retrieved from https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/b/300.154/d/2.

6 Mann, C. (2014, December 15). Medicaid Payment for Services Provided without Charge (Free Care). Retrieved from https://www.medicaid.gov/sites/default/files/federal-policy-guidance/downloads/smd-medicaid-payment-for-services-provided-without-charge-free-care.pdf.

7 U.S. Department of Education. (2017, July 12). Sec. 300.154 (d) (2). Retrieved from https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/b/300.154/d/2.

8 Virginia Department of Education. (n.d.). Medicaid & Schools. Retrieved May 20, 2020, from http://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/health_medical/medicaid/index.shtml.

9 Mittnacht, M. (2013, July 13). Administrative Advisory SPED 2013-1. Retrieved May 20, 2020, from http://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/advisories/13_1.html.

10 Mittnacht, M. (2013, July 13). Administrative Advisory SPED 2013-1. Retrieved May 20, 2020, from http://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/advisories/13_1.html.

11 U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Sec. 300.154 (d) (2) (v). Retrieved May 21, 2020, from https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/b/300.154/d/2/v.

12 Louisiana Department of Education. (n.d.). 2013 Parental Consent to Seek Medicaid Reimbursement_Revised Final.docx. Retrieved May 20, 20202, from https://4.files.edl.io/8612/09/18/19/015629-dc236936-3003-4e59-9f78-81e0e0c764bc.pdf.

13 Indiana Department of Education. (n.d.). Medicaid Parental Consent Form Indiana. Retrieved May 20, 2020, from https://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/specialed/medicaid-parental-consent-form-indiana.pdf.

14 U.S. Department of Education. (2017, July 12). Sec. 300.154 (d) (2). Retrieved from https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/b/300.154/d/2.