Evaluation of Transition Supports for Youth with Disabilities

Charting My Path for Future Success Project

District IEP Collection Letter

MARCH 2024

Dear [District Administrator],

As part of the U.S. Department of Education project Charting My Path for Future Success, we are asking you to provide copies of IEPs for the students in your district who are participating in the study. The IEPs will be used to collect information on key intermediate outcomes, including information on students’ goals, transition planning, and supports. When parents entered their child in this study, they agreed to release their child’s school records to the U.S. Department of Education and its study team contractors.

Our initial request for student IEPs will take place in fall 2024, and we will request updated IEPs for participating students in spring 2026. Please share copies of the full IEPs for all participating students in your district with the study team. The IEPs can be shared in whatever form they currently are in. See Enclosure for detailed instructions for uploading to the Sharepoint site.

The study team will not identify your school, staff, teachers, students, or their parents in study reports or data files prepared for the Department. The Department and contractors they hire are required by law to follow all federal laws regarding privacy and confidentiality. There is minimal risk of breach of confidentiality.

Questions about the study? Please email chartingmypath@air.org or call us at 1-XXX-XXX-XXXX.

Questions about study participants’ rights? Please contact the Chair of AIR’s Institutional Review Board: IRBChair@air.org or toll-free at 1-800-634-0797.

Privacy Act Statement & Notice of Confidentiality. The purpose of this project is to assess whether two transition support programs help students prepare for and attain their goals beyond high school. The U.S Department of Education is authorized to conduct this project under Section 664 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 20 U.S.C. 1464). Information collected for this study comes under the confidentiality and data protection requirements of the Institute of Education Sciences (The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Part E, Section 183). Per the policies and procedures required by the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Part E, Section 183, responses to this data collection will be used only for statistical purposes. The reports prepared for this study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a specific program, district or individual. Any willful disclosure of such information for non-statistical purposes, except as required by law, is a class E felony.

Paperwork Burden Statement: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 1850-0979. The time required to complete this collection of information is estimated to average 6 hours per district response, which includes reviewing instructions, compiling the requested IEPs, and submitting IEPs to the study team. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate, suggestions for improving this form, or comments/concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, please write to: Institute of Education Sciences, NCEE, 550 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20202.

Enclosure. Instructions for Securely Sharing Files with the AIR Study Team

Transferring Electronic Files

First-time Log-in

1. Decide on a district staff member who will be responsible for uploading the IEP files. Send this person’s name and email address to Vanessa Coca, Data Manager with the study team, at chartingmypath@air.org with the subject line: Charting My Path for Future Success Study file sharing.

2. The data manager will grant this individual access to AIR’s secure file sharing workspace for your district. This person will receive an email with a private link to that workspace.

3. Once logged in to the private workspace, this person will find a spreadsheet with your district’s list of students for which we are requesting IEPs. You should use this list to identify the IEP files that will need to be uploaded to our secure file sharing workspace.

4. [For paper versions of IEPs]: Once paper versions of IEPs are identified and gathered, the district staff member should photocopy or scan each IEP to electronic files. For scanned files, follow the instructions below for uploading electronic files. For photocopied files, follow the instructions below for mailing paper files.

Uploading Electronic Files

1. Click on the link to your district’s workspace folder “Charting My Path/[District NAME].”

2. Add files by clicking on “↑Upload” > “Files.” A file explorer window will pop up and you should be able to choose the IEP file(s) to upload from your computer.

3. Once you have selected the IEP file(s) to upload, click “Open” at the bottom right of the file explorer window to upload.

Mailing Paper Files

1. Mail photocopied IEPs to the AIR study team using a tracked service at:

[insert AIR mailing address].

2. Submit a receipt for mailing costs to the AIR study team via email at: Vanessa Coca, Data Manager with the study team, at chartingmypath@air.org with the subject line: Charting My Path for Future Success Study file mailing receipt.