7/30/2019 Public Consulting Group Case Study - Special Education Software Development

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THE OPPORTUNITY

Gwinnett County Public Schools is the 12th largest district in the nation.In 2003, PCG Education was selected by GCPS to design and implementour ully integrated, Web-based special education management system,IEP Online™. The GCPS Special Education and Psychological Servicesdepartment had a goal to make its Individualized Education Plans (IEPs)paperless. At the time, educators in the district either completed IEPdocuments by hand or through orm-based computer sotware programs.

In 2010, GCPS expanded its partnership with PCG Education to include asotware application development project called Student Target Objective

Reporting Instrument (STORI). STORI would quantitatively assess andmonitor achievement on a per student basis o progress made towardobjectives within the student’s IEP. GCPS also requested that PCGEducation design and implement a dashboard portal page to give usersone location or access to both IEP Online and STORI.

THE PCG APPROACH

PCG Education’s approach embraces the best practice o integratedsolutions. Our national experience aords us frsthand knowledge o howschool districts across the U.S. struggle with data quality issues when theiapplications are not integrated. PCG Education oers a ully integratedset o solutions to provide a more holistic picture o students’ educationa

history.

The IEP Online™ system provided GCPS with unctionality or parensignature pages, doctor prescription orms, and other paper documents tobe converted and stored electronically. Since implementing IEP Online™GCPS has enhanced its application with many special customizationsincluding its own discipline orms and behavior intervention orms.

Data collected in STORI assists administrators with trend analysisdisplaying students who are meeting and/or not meeting their objectivebeore their attainment dates within their IEPs. Additionally, usingSTORI data, administrators are able to determine i they need to assistheir teachers by oering alternative methods and/or approaches toachieve student success prior to the end o a reporting period. GCPS

district administrators are able to analyze their special education studenpopulation achievements and areas o concern by district, school, groupo students, and by teacher. Teachers can judge their eectiveness in theclassroom and make adjustments to promote student achievement basedon the data gathered to monitor student progress towards objectives intheir IEPs.

The PCG-designed dashboard portal includes a way to deliver trainingmaterials to all users, in video, PDF, and Word document ormats. Toassist in compliance with eligibility and IEP meetings, upon login, case

managers have a view o their caseloads, including a clear view o keytimeline dates. To support the caseload view compliance, timelinesensitive reports are available on the dashboard or sta members torun on demand to maintain compliance with eligibility and IEP meeting

and testing accommodations. A calendar eature allows users to posupcoming events and communicate with GCPS support sta memberwithout leaving the dashboard. The dashboard also gives administratora way to monitor server usage to negate any unexpected perormanceissues and gives them instant notifcation i a server is not perormingFinally, the case managers’ data collection status per student is displayedon the dashboard so these sta members can keep track o student datacollection.

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THE CLIENT Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS), Suwanee, Georgia

• District type: large urban

• Total special education students: 17,617

• Total student population: 161,000+

THE PROJECT

• Design and implementation o district-wide managementsystem or special education

• Design o district-wide progress monitoring datacollection sotware application, including Functional,

Academic and Behavioral components• Design and implementation o a dashboard portal page

case study:Special Education Management, ProgressMonitoring Sotware Development, DashboardPortal Page Development

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7/30/2019 Public Consulting Group Case Study - Special Education Software Development

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THE RESULT

GCPS educators now use a single integrated platorm to supportspecial education management (IEP Online™) and progress monitoring(STORI) programs. The integrated unctionality enables GCPS to develop

individualized student plans and have the objectives rom those IEPsappear in STORI or data collection to provide progress monitoring orstudent achievement. Additional efciencies include minimized duplicatedata entry, simultaneous access to student records and data collectionby multiple users, and electronic, real-time stakeholder document review.

With IEP Online™, the district was able to streamline its process, improvecompliance levels, and provide access to data in support o student andprogram decision-making. The integration o IEP Online™ and STORI hasgiven GCPS the ability to track eectiveness o interventions and supportin special education, leading to better resource planning and student

outcomes. Additionally, the dashboard portal page provides GCPS withimportant compliance inormation, assisting them with critical timelinedata.

Case Study: Management, Progress Monitoring Software Development, Dashboard

Portal Page Development

“Please thank your team, a hundred times over, for their willingness to deliver what GCPS needed. This will have adramatic impact on student learning and achievement, inaddition to teacher instruction. I look forward to movingto Support and Maintenance and future projects with PCG.This has been a great experience.” 

Lori Hall - Instructional Support Center Team LeadGwinnett County Public Schools