Goal 3: Progress Updates
Read the current year Strategy 3 updates below, or read previous updates in the accordions labeled by year.
Report 2: February 9, 2026
The committee met on November 17, 2025 to review the survey data gathered through the Special Services Parent Satisfaction Survey. Some members of the committee expressed concern about declining survey participation. In year one, 425 surveys were submitted, compared to 291 in year two and 261 in year three. The Special Services Parent Advisory Council also reports declining parent participation in their monthly meetings, prompting discussion on how we can increase stakeholder participation across the board. Parent notification of the survey was provided through district emails, the monthly parent newsletter, save-the-date flyers distributed at conferences, and building specific communication with parents. Each building notified parents of the survey and requested their participation. The Survey Marketing subcommittee will reconvene in the third quarter to continue exploring ways to boost participation and examine the quality of the study itself to ensure we are capturing the data necessary to inform our continued proactive efforts as a strategy committee.
Other members expressed pleasure with the continued increase in parent satisfaction in all areas of the survey. Two areas dipped by 0.02%, but with the decline in participation, we discounted that as an actual decline. Some participants stated that the study should focus on student growth rather than parent satisfaction.
The strategy committee has since met on December 15, 2025 and again on January 5, 2026 to continue work toward constructing a goal from the survey that encompasses the lowest-ranking survey response, which concerns student progress monitoring. The question specifically asks, “Progress monitoring tests given at school accurately measure my child’s abilities.” The team is interested in the following topics surrounding progress monitoring:
- Transparency of reporting
- Clarity for staff and parents surrounding the definition of progress monitoring
- What is being tested
- How it is monitored
- District common assessment reporting
- IEP progress monitoring/reports
- Provide parents with a rubric that explains what the verbiage means in IEP progress monitoring.
- This was sent via the monthly newsletter on January 1, 2026.
- What we are listing for progress monitoring and what we are measuring do not match: a chart showing which probes would test different skills. However, what I am creating as a teacher may not exist on a chart. What we are putting in the goal and what we are using to progress monitor need to align.
- Review of the progress monitoring tools for IEP goal reporting
- Ensure parents can see progress reporting longitudinally per IEP year
- This was addressed in the Week at a Glance (newsletter page 2) to our staff on December 19 on how to print their parents' progress reports.
Through discussion and consensus-building, two goals were identified on January 5, 2026.
Goal 1: Beginning Feb. 2026, the district will review progress-monitoring practices to strengthen accuracy and alignment by using file-review data to determine whether the progress monitoring aligns with the goal as written by the IEP team. Information will be provided to the school staff to support correction, and to the BOE in February and July, with individualized retraining supplied as needed.
Goal 2: Beginning Feb. 2026, the district will examine current progress-monitoring reporting practices to identify discrepancies to enhance parent understanding of student growth.
These goals will serve as the committee’s focus moving forward, anchoring future discussion, feedback, and decision-making related to Strategy 3. The Secondary Subcommittee met on January 14, and the Survey Subcommittee met on January 20.
Updates from these meetings were shared with the full committee at the February 2, 2026 meeting. Updates from these meetings will be shared in my final report of the year.
Report 1: November 24, 2025
Our first committee meeting this year was on September 15, 2025. The team used that time to set our group norms and meeting expectations, introduce ourselves and discuss our goals for the year. Because the goal identified by the steering committee was limited to increasing parent participation, achieving it would have concluded the committee’s work early. Therefore, we asked to utilize the data from the Parent Satisfaction Survey, collected from November 3 to 16, to drive a new goal that will be presented to the board at a future meeting for their oversight.
In response to the Board’s request to revisit last year’s IEP and 504 implementation goal, the committee examined how to ensure fidelity of implementation across all settings while maintaining a practical, supportive approach for staff. The group recognized that while legally required data collection focuses on student progress goals, creating clear and efficient ways to communicate accommodations ensures that teachers and families share a common understanding of the supports in place. The committee determined that concerns related to the fidelity of IEP and 504 implementation are best addressed at the building level, with administrators responsible for responding to and resolving issues as they are communicated by parents, following established district processes. The committee also emphasized that the district already has a system in place to address such concerns and that this remains the appropriate avenue for families to utilize when questions arise about implementation or communication.
To support the committee’s broader goals, two subcommittees were established to focus on targeted areas of work for the year. One subcommittee is dedicated to marketing the Parent Satisfaction Survey, and another continues last year’s work, reviewing the current service delivery model at Derby High School.
The Survey Marketing sub-committee was formed to address the decline in parent participation from the previous year. In the first year of the survey, we had over 400 responses when it was provided in the fall. Last spring, we presented the survey again, and the participation rate dropped below 300. To increase engagement, the subcommittee developed several marketing strategies that became action items during meetings on September 25 and October 9, including:
- A printed flyer, designed by Kara Sumner, was distributed at parent-teacher conferences
- A contest link was created that will be used to gather information on parents who participated in the survey. A prize drawing will be held for each building to give a little gift to the winner for giving us their feedback.
- A QR code was created to market the survey and was embedded in the flyer.
- Three dates were determined to contact parents through mass communication to remind them to participate in the survey.
- The Special Services Parent Advisory Council is also marketing the survey on their Facebook page.
The High School Service Model sub-committee, initially formed last year, continued its work evaluating the current structure for delivering special education services at Derby High School. On September 30, the group, which included high school staff, building and district administrators, and other stakeholders, met to explore potential adjustments that would make the model more responsive to student needs and more adaptable to national recruiting and licensing trends. The group welcomed the expertise of Todd McCarthy, Assistant Principal at Derby High School, whose experience in similarly sized districts provided insight into both the benefits and challenges of the types of changes being considered. Next steps include collaborating with comparable districts, observing their instructional practices and applying those findings to strengthen Derby’s approach.
The main Strategy 3 committee met again on October 20 and heard updates from the Special Services Parent Advisory Council and the two subcommittees. They also discussed the successes and challenges that the district is facing in relation to the delivery of services for students who qualify for services under IDEA and Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The committee will meet on November 17 to review the data gathered through the survey that opened on November 3 and closed on November 16 and begin constructing the next goal for the Strategy 3 committee to address.