USBE will replace RDA with Annual Performance Determinations; several special‑education metrics revised

Utah special education staff described a change to how the state will make determinations for LEAs under IDEA: Results Driven Accountability (RDA) will be replaced with an Annual Performance Determination (APD) process that uses fewer OSEP indicators and adds more actionable measures.

Malia (staff member) explained OSEP requires states to make determinations about how well they implement IDEA and that states must also make determinations for LEAs. As part of APD, Utah will continue to submit required EDFacts indicator data but will no longer use every historical indicator in RDA. Instead, the state will focus on measures OSEP mandates and other measures the state believes are more actionable for LEAs.

Major measurement changes explained - Assessment measures: The state will continue to use proficiency measures for students with disabilities on regular (3B) and alternate (3C) assessments but will expand to use Median Growth Percentiles (MGPs) for grades 4–10 across all grades to capture growth as well as proficiency. The state will also use participation measures across grades 3–10 to reduce low‑size problems for small LEAs. - Nonparticipation reasons: A new measure will examine assessment nonparticipation categories (absent, opted out, unknown, other) and compare each LEA to the statewide mean and standard deviation; LEAs exceeding the mean by more than one standard deviation in a category will score poorly on this measure. - Dropout: Utah will move from EDFacts indicator 2 to an event (single‑year) dropout rate for students with disabilities in grades 7–12; this uses a denominator of enrolled students in grades 7–12 rather than only students exiting special education, which staff said makes the measure easier to understand and fairer for many LEAs. - Graduation: The state will use the four‑year cohort graduation rate for students with disabilities (including alternate diplomas in the numerator) instead of OSEP indicator 1, which is based on the EDFacts exit file.

What LEAs will receive Malia said LEAs will receive an APD letter in February that details each measure and the data used; special education directors often ask LEA data teams to dig into the underlying student data and may request assistance from LEA SIS staff to verify calculations and prepare improvement plans.

Why it matters: The changes aim to use measures that are more actionable for LEAs (growth, clearer dropout/graduation calculations, and clearer participation analysis). LEAs should expect requests to review data behind APD measures when letters are issued in February.

Ending: Staff said LEAs should contact Malia or Emily Nordfeldt with questions when their APD letters arrive and noted that updated APD materials and measure definitions will be posted with the determination letters.