Encore | San Diego Unified School District

An Encore upgrade is scheduled for Friday, May 16, 5:00 PM to Saturday May 17, 2008, 5:00 AM. Encore will not be available during this time.

Some of the issues we anticipate to be resolved are:
- Triennial Review/Exit - Lock Triennial Review/Consent Exit events.
- Disability information on IEP p.1
- Non-Public School (CA Residential) and Non Public School (Day School) services remain when IEP p.1 is re-opened.

The pilot project for assessment attachments has been completed!

Classes are now available to anyone who signs up online at
http://sandi.net/Encore/training/index.asp

Write assessment report page 2 information in MS Word and then add it to Encore as an attachment

· includes the type of report in the header and automatically carries it to subsequent pages
· Includes automatic page numbering
· Allows the use of tables and/or tabs
· Allows fonts to be formatted
· Allows report to be uploaded instead of being copied and pasted

Encore providers who want to use this feature must
· Attend training
· Use Assessment Report p. 2 template provided

Bring your laptop to training to have the template installed for you! (Mac users are required to bring their laptops; it is optional for PC users. Instructions for installing the template on a PC will be included in the training.)

IEP events MUST be locked in Encore by the end of your school year (traditional or year round). Please do not have any 'unfinished business' before you leave for the summer. If you are unable to obtain parent consent for the IEP, lock the event without parental consent. This will enable the IEP team in the fall to continue to work on the IEP by cloning and holding another IEP meeting.

In addition, there will be forms and service description revisions in Encore over the summer. Assessment staff and service providers working after the end of the year round schedule will be notified of the exact date in the beginning of August that this will occur. Many students change schools over the summer. Please be kind to your colleagues and have all your IEPs and assessments current, accurate, and LOCKED!

Providers using ENCOUNTER TRACKER must make their service tickets ELIGIBLE FOR BILLING. Please review the ET Handbook if you are unsure of this process. Potential revenue from Medi-CAL will be affected if these service tickets are not made eligible for billing.

Dear Encore users,

The IT Department wants to remind you and your staff to take advantage of DWA Password Self-Service (PSS). This system saves you valuable time by giving you the ability to reset your own DWA Password without having to call for the IT Help Desk for assistance. Your DWA Password is used to log into Encore, Outlook Web Access (email), PeopleSoft, Zangle, and for Active Directory workstation authentication.

Employees sometimes neglect to change their password before it expires, or forget their passwords after coming back from an absence, such as Summer Break, Winter Break, Vacation, or Year-round school schedule. Previously when this happened, a call to the IT Help Desk was needed in order to reset the password. Now by Enrolling for Self-Service, you can reset your own password when needed. We urge you to get started with the Enrollment process at https://pss.sandi.net prior to Summer break to take immediate advantage of this new service.

Notes:

Effective March 1st, 2008 all Help Camps scheduled at Angier B5 have been cancelled. If you need individual or group assistance at your site please contact one of the trainers to schedule a time.

Middle and High Schools - Shane Moore - smoore5@sandi.net
Elementary Schools - Debby Warner - dwarner@sandi.net
Yvonne Morgan - ymorgan@sandi.net

GO!!

Reminder: Your Encore password HAS AUTOMATICALLY CHANGED and IS THE SAME as
your email/district (DWA) password.

If you are locked out of ENCORE, please contact your ITOSS Support Staff to
unlock your account.

We hope this will eliminate having to remember multiple passwords to access
applications.

The Encore upgrade was completed this weekend. We hope you find the forms are available and some issues resolved. Remember - forms may need to re-establish data links the first time.

On a Mac, the goal page became available after re-opening it. (The goal page froze the first time and after force quitting, it opened quickly.)
The Progress Report prints all goal reporting sections when printed individually. Batch printing is being worked on.

Upgrade issues submitted:
- Triennial Review/Consent - Exit event continues to be problematic. Resetting may work for some but not all.
- Triennial Review/Annual event, IEP p.1, Subsequent Primary Service (second services line). Upon re-opening the form after the form has been saved, the Subsequent Primary service line becomes required. Please re-enter the primary service information again. BEFORE LOCKING, contact your ITOSS Support Staff for assistance.

The issues have been addressed and the forms should be available for use.

Just a reminder - the goal page will continue to take some time to download until the upgrade is rescheduled and complete. Let us know if you continue to experience any server or 'unhandled exception' errors.

The changes to Encore that will take effect January 7th, 2008 will be presented to teachers in auditoriums at several different schools and at the Ed Center over the next couple of weeks. Please plan to attend one of these presentations so you are aware of the changes. The powerpoint used in the presentations is linked below. Please feel free to print and share.

Changes to Encore Forms Powerpoint Presentation

As a MAC user you should be using Safari as your web browser. Safari has recently updated to version 3 which has created some problems for MAC users when trying to print PDFs. The link below has been created to inform you which versions work best together and to assist you in determining your computer's Operating System (OS), current version of Safari and current version of Adobe. You will need this information to determine whether or not you need to upgrade Adobe. Follow this link for more information :

Verify Versions

Significant Change of Placement and Supplemental IEPs
A significant change in placement CANNOT occur without an assessment. For example, a student's placement cannot change from resource specialist to special day class, from special day to resource specialist, from a comprehensive site to an alternative site, from a nonpublic school to a public school, etc., without an assessment. As assessment is needed for a significant change of placement, the IEP event group MUST include a triennial review. The change in placement cannot occur as part of a supplemental or annual review.

Two in One IEPs
Student's moving from one program to another ("two-in-one" IEP) during the time frame of one IEP, may have both programs listed on the front of the IEP, however, the START dates must not overlap or be concurrent, i.e. the services can't be listed at the same time. You must check "Subsequent Primary Service" on page 1 of the IEP to have a "two-in-one" IEP.

This webpage currently shows only a room number for the location of most trainings. This is being revised to show location as the physical building i.e., Angier Elementary and room number.

In the meantime Encore trainings that reference B5 are held at Angier Elementary, 8450 Hurlbut Street.

If you have any questions regarding the location of a particular training please feel free to contact me. nlewis1@sandi.net 619-725-7426

Please review the links to the job aids for running Encore reports. Principals will be reviewing these reports as a part of the monthly compliance checks.

Encore Report - Attending School Rosters: http://www.sandi.net/dwa/encore/readandlearn/jobaids/Encore_ReportJobAidAttendingSchl.pdf

Encore Report - IEP Caseload by Provider: http://www.sandi.net/dwa/encore/readandlearn/jobaids/Encore_ReportJobAidIEPCaseload.pdf

REMEMBER: Flagging a student on “My Caseload” or yourself as a case manager is NOT the same as indicating the service provider for an individual service. BOTH tasks should be completed as the new school year begins. Refer to the job aids for assistance.

Creating your Caseload in Quick Links: http://www.sandi.net/dwa/encore/readandlearn/jobaids/Caseload_Job_Aid.pdf

Completing Tasks and Runnng Reports (Adding Service Provider names): http://www.sandi.net/dwa/encore/readandlearn/jobaids/EncorePlusTaskReports.pdf

The Special Education Department is currently receiving calls regarding error messages when saving forms. Please log out of Encore at this time. SPED is researching the issue and will notify you when it is available.

For an overview of the training schedule for each month, the Encore Training Calendars are available for your use. Simply click on the "Training" link to access monthly schedules.

The September and October calendars have been posted.

To sign up on-line, please use the Scheduling Application.

Students who enter the San Diego Unified School District with an IEP from another district should be entered into Encore with an Interim Placement event. See the new job aids posted at
http://www.sandi.net/dwa/encore/readandlearn/jobaids/index.asp Please remember to find and enter the date the student FIRST received special education services. This is California Department of Education (CDE) data requirement.

• Create only one referral per student per lifetime
• Lock the referral as a separate event
• Lock the initial assessment plan
• Lock the initial IEP
• Be sure that the dates of each event follow in sequential order.
• Consideration of additional services should be done with supplemental or triennial reviews
• If you have questions, refer to the Event Map Handbook

* * *

Starting in the 2006-2007 school year the California Department of Education (CDE) began to collect data regarding students who were referred for special education services. The data requirements were already built into Encore in the Referral and Initial Assessment Plans.

In reporting these data for 2006-2007 we found that not all IEP teams utilized the Referral event in the IEP process. It is imperative that all forms be used when developing an initial referral/evaluation/IEP for a student. Following the appropriate steps as delineated in the event maps, handbooks and job aids
will help to ensure that all required information is collected and that timelines are met, keeping the district in compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and the California Education Code.

Encore is designed to assist you with these time lines, and will create the appropriate future events for you. Please be careful to complete all steps in order, and LOCK your events with the correct dates IN ORDER (e.g., referral locked, then initial assessment plan locked, then IEP meeting held.)

A student should only have ONE referral per lifetime. If additional services are being considered, these should take place within the IEP process, either through a triennial assessment or a supplemental assessment and IEP meeting. Changes in IEPs such as completion of speech and language services and initiation of resource specialist services are addressed in Triennial Eligibility meetings.

For referrals for mental health services (also known as CMH referrals or AB 2726 Referrals) see the job aid on the Special Education Programs Division 07-08 School Start Up pages

The beginning of each school year brings challenges as students enroll in new locations. We are currently experiencing some difficulties with the exchange of data between Zangle and Encore. Please be patient as we iron out the wrinkles.

The deadline for locking IEPs and other Encore events is the END OF YOUR SCHOOL YEAR. If you are in a year round school, this date is July 20, 2007. If you are in a traditional school, this date is June 19, 2007.

All IEP events MUST be locked in Encore by the end of the school year. Please do not leave any 'unfinished business' before you leave for the summer. If you are unable to obtain parent consent for the IEP, lock the event without parental consent. This will enable the IEP team in the fall to continue to work on the IEP by cloning and holding another IEP meeting.

In addition, we anticipate that there will be forms revisions in Encore over the summer. Any IEPs not completed by the end of summer school will be automatically locked "non-compliant".

Many students change schools over the summer. Please be kind to your colleagues and have all your IEPs and assessments current, accurate, and LOCKED!

An upgrade to Encore is scheduled for Friday, June 8 at 5:30 pm Pacific Daylight Time. We anticipate that it will take approximately three hours. You should be able to log back into Encore by Saturday morning.

We expect that the problem with editing a disablity in the present level form on a Triennial/Annual Review has been corrected.

Encounter Tracker users should see improvements in navigation on screens.

Thank you!
Encore Support Team

All district-wide applications and internet services will be unavailable from outside the district network on Saturday, May 12, from 8 AM to 2 PM, while IT performs an upgrade of key hardware. This outage will impact district email, ZangleConnection, Gradebook, PeopleSoft, Encore, and district websites. Access to district-wide applications from within the district network will not be interrupted.

We appreciate your patience as we perform this important maintenance.

Q: What is considered "inside and outside the network?"

A: Your home or an internet cafe is located outside the district network. Your office or classroom is considered inside the network.

We anticipate a service pack upgrade to Encore the evening of Friday, March 9, 2007 after 5 pm. Some scheduled changes will be transparent to users, some will correction or enhance the IEP events and forms currently in use and some will update Encounter Tracker.

IEPs
-IEP Page 1 & 1a—correction to the APE and OT service code numbers (fixes IEP component)
-Signature Page—When a student is no longer eligible for special education, service options (considered and recommended) are no longer required and are read-only
-Present Levels Page 2—the text fields after eligibility checkboxes can be changed
-Interim Placement Review, Present Levels Page 2—primary and secondary disability fields can be changed
-Supplemental IEP Review, Annual Goals—cloned goals are no longer locked
-Assessment Report Page 3—ability to save the eighth assessor name field
-Assessment Plan Pages 1, 2, 3 (Spanish forms)—time is no longer displayed in the date field

Encounter Tracker
-updates and changes to the procedure/modifier codes
-enhancements to the ET caseload

Support personnel are now divided by areas. If you have do not know which area your school is in please go to the sandi.net website, click on “Our Schools”, and in the middle section click on “Area Superintendents”. http://www.sandi.net/about/superintendents.pdf
This will give you a listing of all schools by area. The division of North and South areas is determined by Freeway 8.

Area ONE North - Darlene Sapienza - 619-209-4587 dsapienza@sandi.net
Area ONE South – Chum Montana – 619-209-4588 cmontana@sandi.net

Area TWO North - Josie Moya - 619-209-4593 jmoya@sandi.net
Area TWO South - Brunetta Dandridge-Thomas - 619-209-4591 bdandridge-thomas@sandi.net

Area THREE - Norberto “Junnie” Victorio - 619-209-4592 nvictorio@sandi.net

Area FOUR North - Norberto “Junnie” Victorio - 619-209-4592 nvictorio@sandi.net
Area FOUR South - Brunetta Dandridge-Thomas - 619-209-4591 bdandridge-thomas@sandi.net

Area FIVE North - Darlene Sapienza - 619-209-4587 dsapienza@sandi.net
Area FIVE South - Chum Montana - 619-209-4588 cmontana@sandi.net