SPSM-AL_26.4.1.0 Release Notes

SPEDSM-136069

Update Special Education Status

We have enhanced the Status calculation in Special Programs to provide clearer, more consistent identification of a student’s standing throughout the Special Education lifecycle.

Student Status will continue to display one of the following:

• Referred

• Active

• Inactive

The system now evaluates status using a defined priority order:

1. Inactive

2. Active

3. Referred

This means:

• If any Inactive condition is met, the student will be marked Inactive

• If no Inactive conditions are met but Active criteria are satisfied, the student will be Active

• If neither Inactive nor Active conditions apply, the student will be referred when referral criteria are met

Key Updates

Inactive status is now more precisely calculated based on key events in the student lifecycle, including:

• Not eligible after evaluation or reevaluation

• Evaluation not accepted

• Missing or revoked parental consent

• Revocation of consent for services

• Expired IEP with no current IEP in effect

• Student exit (based on Enrollment Exit Date or Special Education Exit)

The system now distinguishes between:

• Consent for Initial Evaluation (referral stage)

• Consent for Provision of Services (post-eligibility)

This prevents students in the referral stage from being incorrectly marked Inactive due to missing service consent.

More Accurate Active Status

Students are now only considered Active when:

• They are eligible for services

• Consent for services has been received

• Their IEP is currently in effect (based on start and end dates)

• Students with a Service Plan or who are new out-of-state transfer students will be evaluated as follows:

• Service Plan:  Student’s school is 4999, and Special Education Exit Date is Empty

• Out of State Transfer: Student has a Transfer Review document where Out of State Transfer is checked and:

  • The special education records have been received is checked, and

  • The IEP Team has met and is providing comparable services is checked, and

  • The IEP End date on the Special Education profile is greater than today.

Improved Handling of Referral-to-Active Timing

Students who are determined eligible but whose IEP has not yet started will remain in Referred status until the IEP becomes active.

Consistent Exit Handling

Students with an Enrollment Exit Date on or before today will be automatically set to Inactive, ensuring alignment with enrollment status.

SPEDSM-136344

New Calculated Gifted Status Field and Reporting Updates

A new non-overridable calculated field, Gifted Status, has been added to the Gifted Profile to standardize the determination of student status.

The system automatically evaluates student data to assign one of four statuses: None, Referred, Active, or Inactive, based on enrollment, referral, consent, and eligibility conditions.

The Gifted Status follows a defined progression:

• Defaults to blank when no gifted data exists

• Updates to Referred when a referral is present without an eligibility decision

• Transitions to Active when eligibility is confirmed

• Transitions to Inactive when the student is withdrawn, consent is denied, or eligibility is not met

• Can return to Active only upon re-enrollment with qualifying eligibility

This field is system-controlled and cannot be manually overridden.

The Gifted Profile display has also been updated to align with the process, and the new GiftedStatus field is now included in the following export reports:

• S_AL_STU_GiftedReferralTrk_X

• S_AL_STU_SpecEdProfile_X_2

The plugin has also been updated to support the new Gifted Status field.

SPEDSM-137247

Phased Enhancement for Referral Information Profile Dataflow

The system has been enhanced to automatically populate key referral, consent, eligibility, and IEP data from documents into the Referral Information Profile, supporting accurate and efficient completion of the federal APR 11 & 12 reporting cycle.

The following fields are now system-driven and will populate based on document data:

• Date of Revocation of Consent/Initial Evaluation

• Final Completion Date of All Evaluations

• Initial Eligibility Date

• Initial Exceptionality

• Determined Eligible for Services

• Evaluations Completed within 60 Days

• Range of Days in Excess

• Reason for Late Evaluation

• Eligibility within 30 Days of Completion Date of All Evaluations

• Initial IEP Date

This enhancement is the second phase of this implementation to develop historical APR 11 and 12 data using PowerSchool Special Program’s Core Model schema. This work ensures improved data accuracy, reduces manual entry, and supports compliance with state federal reporting requirements. The Referral Information profile data is not live for reporting and still being assessed by the ALSDE team.

SPEDSM-139316

Notice and consent document formatting

The Notice and Consent for Initial Evaluation document has been updated to position the "Signature of Education Agency Official" field to the left of the signature line and ensure consistent formatting by removing unnecessary fields or text.

SPEDSM-139406

Notice and invitation document translation

All text within the Notice and Invitation/Consent for Agency Participation document is translatable.

SPEDSM-139407

Automatic Update of Not Eligible and Exit Dates from Reevaluation Eligibility Decision

Enhanced dataflow for the Notice and Eligibility Decision Document to automatically update the Not Eligible Date and Special Education Exit Date when a student is determined not eligible during a reevaluation. Upon finalization of the document with eligibility set to No, the system will now populate both fields using the Special Ed Teacher Signature Date.

SPEDSM-139624

Initial IEP Date for Preschool Students

Fixed an issue that prevented the Initial IEP date from populating the Preschool Profile for preschool students.

When the IEP type is marked Initial, and the student is identified as preschool, the date now flows to both the Special Education and Preschool profiles.