Each student eligible for IDEA services will have a team of professionals and parents to develop an Individual Education Plan.
The Hamilton County Schools Exceptional Education
department utilizes a web-based IEP program to create and manage Individualized Education Plans and special education information. This program provides an efficient method of collecting and generating the student data necessary for special education program management and provides a data bank of student-related information which is used to generate required state and federal reports. The program is IDEA and State compliant and continually adapts to meet federal and state policy changes. Compliance and event alerts help the department stay in compliance with IDEA timelines and requirements. All Tennessee school systems currently use an electronic IEP management tool and special education records can be electronically transferred from system to system within the state.
Each student identified as a Student with a Disability and receiving Special Education services has a "virtual" file cabinet of special education-related documents to ensure complete and accurate record keeping. All information is confidential. The program's server uses Secure Socket Layer technology encrypting all information transmitted through the Internet. Access to the various areas of the IEP management program and the permission to execute various functions are controlled by the user type assigned to each user. The user type is determined by the user's position and duties in the school system and is assigned by the district's Administrators. Access is granted after the user has completed the district's full-day training. Access is password secure. Added protection is guaranteed via requirement that passwords be changed every ninety days.
In addition to the User Manual supplied by the programmers, Hamilton County's Exceptional Education department provides a Help File for technical assistance in the use of EasyIEP. Both the User Manual and the Help File can be found on the Main Menu page. For specific and individualized assistance, the Exceptional Education department maintains a Help Desk. The Help Desk is managed by a district EasyIEP Administrator who is a certified Special Education teacher in a Lead Staff position.