While a great deal has occurred in states and local districts to improve services for youth with disabilities, there are many states and local school districts that continue to find difficulty in meeting the transition requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Indicator 13 requirements for the State Performance Plan. It is believed that much of this is due to a number of factors including lack of knowledge of how to address both the mandate and intent of the legislation. Simply put, teachers and administrators are asking for direction and information that will tell them "what" they must do and then, with examples, show them clearly and concisely "how to plan for, develop, and implement transition services for youth with disabilities. (O'Leary, 2001)

In order to help states, districts, administrators and teachers meet the demand for a rigorous data collection and reporting system, improve the delivery of transition services, and document Indicator 13 correction of noncompliance educators need current reliable data in a format that will guide decision making, show improvement and document individual IEP correction of noncompliance. The Cutting EdJ Consulting web-based Transition Requirement and Indicator 13 Data Entry & Retrieval System provides "real-time" transition IEP review and reporting information that meet those needs.

Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee are using the Indicator 13 data entry and reporting system data for their SPP and APR reporting and staff development activities.

The Cutting EdJ Data System houses the largest number of IEP file review results for transition services/Indicator 13 nationally. There are over 28,000 individual file review results from 8 states and over 500 school districts that have been entered into the system since the 2005/2006 school year.

Special education teachers, transition coordinators, district administrators and state department personnel have found the data entry system and reports invaluable in identifying transition problems and helping them develop strategies that demonstrate improvement in transition planning and meeting the transition requirements.

Secure reliable website with controlled levels of access, and daily data backups.

Multiple uses of "click" and "drop down menus" for simple and fast data and file review entry.

Web-based "real-time" results that eliminates paper copies and provides an instantaneous reporting and record keeping system.

Simple one button access for data entry, getting reports, recording and reporting corrections of non-compliance and action planning.

Includes the option of choosing either the TOPs twenty-seven item checklist or the new updated (2009/2010) Indicator 13 eight item checklist (NSTTAC questions).

Simple one page district status report for Indicator 13 that shows:

• Total number of files submitted.
• Number and percent of files that meet I-13.
• Number and percent of files that do not meet I-13.
• Status on district and individual student file correction on noncompliance.
• Potential SYSTEMIC problems/issues.

In depth student, district and graph reports that:

• Shows individual student and overall district results for single and multiple school years.
• Identifies and reports which I-13 items meet or do not meet criteria for individual IEP's so IEP teams know where to focus on correcting the file.
• Show and compare data in graph format over time. Allows up to five years of data comparison so one can see changes and improvements.
• Reports reviewer's comments for each IEP and each transition checklist item.
• Identifies strategies, action steps or ideas that teachers and IEP teams have taken to demonstrate improvement.
• Allows one to disaggregate checklist data by school year, gender, ethnicity, disability, age and building.

Recording and Reporting Correction of Non-compliance:

• Shows the current status for every student in meeting each of the I-13 requirements.
• For student files that must be corrected, the system includes a place to report and record a description of what was done to correct the item and where that correction can be found..
• All reported corrections are instantaneously reflected in the data and all reports so one has a current understanding of their I-13 status.
• Maintains an on-line record of all reported corrections eliminating paperwork problems.
• Allows districts to remove students from the system that are no longer enrolled so they can get to 100%.

Action Planning

• On-line Action Plan template that auto-fills with district or building data.
• Provides a format to help district or building teams recognize problem areas, set goals, determine priorities, develop action steps, establish responsibilities and set timelines.