College of Education

Indiana Special Education Administrators' Services (ISEAS)

Indiana Special Education Administrators' Services (ISEAS) is a statewide dissemination and technical assistance project.  ISEAS was conceived in 1978-79 in response to a long-recognized need for increased support to Indiana's special education administrators and implemented in January 1979.

MISSION - It is the mission of the ISEAS Project to support special education administrators in solution seeking.  Special education administrators include those at the local, state, and university levels.

FUNDING - The funding source is P.L. 108-446 discretionary funds from the Indiana Department of Education, Division of Exceptional Learners.   Indiana State University became the fiscal agency for the project beginning July 1, 1985.

GOVERNANCE - The governance is designed to be "field-oriented" and aligned with the Indiana Council of Administrators of Special Education (ICASE).  Project activities are guided by a Steering Committee comprised of 9 members:  7 special education administrators (each representing an ICASE Roundtable area); a designee from the ICASE Executive Committee; and the state director of special education.

STAFF - Three persons are employed:  the project director, an executive assistant, and a program coordinator.

ACTIVITIES - Project activities are determined by the Steering Committee based on monthly input from constituent administrators.  Adjustments have been made over the years by deleting some activities and adding others.  Current, major ISEAS activities are listed below:

ISEAS CABLE - A monthly newsletter is sent to directors of special education and other interested parties.  It helps satisfy the administrator's need for information impacting on special education from the Local, State and Federal levels.

Listservs – Listservs have been set up for the seven regional Roundtables.  Listservs also have been created for Directors <directors@iseas.org>, the ISEAS University Forum <forum@iseas.org>, and the DOE Division of Exceptional Learners Projects <projects@iseas.org>.  Both a PT listserv <pt@iseas.org> and an OT listserv <ot@iseas.org> are now operational for OTs and PTs who are registered on their respective listservs.  The listservs allow any participant on the listserv to broadcast a message, inquiry, or announcement to all others on the listserv.

ISEAS University Forum - Representatives of departments of special education from several of Indiana's colleges/universities, the state director of special education or his designee, an ICASE representative, and the ISEAS director meet regularly.  This Forum provides a link between the universities and the local and state special education administrators in their pursuit of mutual solutions to personnel preparation concerns.

Internet Site - Our web site, which can be located at <http://coe.indstate.edu/iseas/>, was placed on the Internet in July 1996 with links to the Indiana Department of Education.  The home page includes the Indiana Job Connection at <http://iseasjob.indstate.edu>, “Do You Remember?” listing of current and former Indiana Special Education Administrators, Calendar of Events, Listservs for multi-mailing postings, and multiple links.

Publications - The ISEAS office maintains a full set of the LRP Individuals with Disabilities Law Report for access by special education administrators.  The project also provides subscriptions to The Special Educator, published by LRP, for any interested directors of special education.  The Directory for Special Education Administrators is an annual publication provided by the project.

Academy - The first annual Academy: Leadership and Education for Administrators in Special Education was launched in December 1995.  The vision for each Academy was to bring special education administrators together to focus on issues beyond business as usual. In 2001-02 the Academy concept was re-directed to support new directors, assistant directors (supervisors, coordinators) and DOE Division staff.  Academies 2002 and 2003 consisted of six seminars throughout the calendar year that encompassed the eight goals under the new District Administrator standards approved by the Indiana Professional Standards Board.  The Academy provisions were suspended for 2004 and 2005.  The focus of the Academy 2005-06 Seminars was IDEIA reauthorization and Article 7 revisions.  Academy 2006-07 consisted of three seminars, beginning with “Implementing NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-466)” on October 18, 2006; Response-to-Intervention (RtI) on November 15; and ISEAS sponsored mini-seminars presenting the NASDSE RtI “webinar” on March 14, 2007 at sites selected by each Roundtable.  Academy 2007-08 will include a Special Education Symposium on the draft Article 7, in conjunction with DOE Division of Exceptional Learners, Butler University Special Education Department and Principals’ Training Program (EPPSP), presented on August 1 and again on August 2, 2007; a seminar on November 15 to be presented to a target audience of Curriculum Directors, on what Ohio has implemented with its district administrators; and a final third session on March 19, 2008 focusing on building level implementation, with principals as the target audience.