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May 7, 2012

Welcome to the new issue of IEPWriter Direct! Here's what's going on with IEPWriter.com:

Spring Focus Group Meetings introduce IEPWriter 3.5

v3.5 combines great features with increased speed

Thank you to everyone who attended and provided input regarding IEPWriter.com version 3.5 during the Spring Focus Group Meetings held in April. We were pleased to see record attendance at nearly all six sessions!

Focus Group MeetingAt each session, we provided a demonstration of some key features of the new version (which retains most of the great features included in v3.0 but includes the preferred look and feel of v2.0). Just as important, we boosted the performance of v3.5 significantly, allowing pages to load much faster.

Here are a few requested enhancements that are being implemented for the July release of v3.5:

  • Districts may select a default font, so that all text entered or pasted into the rich-text editor by users will display in that font.
  • Districts may transfer a student who has not yet exited, allowing them to share information with other districts providing services to the student; receiving districts can now accept or reject a student transfer.
  • Search for a student by parent name.
  • Start a NOREP based on a previous one.
  • To better safeguard against unintentionally creating a new document, a user must enter and save some data (as opposed to the document being created when the user clicks Start new [document]).

Version 3.5 will be released in July after the revised count is completed.
Additionally, we are working on a new Service Tracker module for next school year to integrate service tracking and associated Medicaid billing into IEPWriter.


The Future of IEPWriter

Many participants at the Spring Focus Group Meetings raised concerns regarding the future of IEPWriter.com, as Leader Services will no longer hold the statewide School-Based ACCESS Program (SBAP) contract as of July 1, 2012.

Leader Services has always maintained a separation between its school-based Medicaid services offerings and its IEPWriter.com product. We will continue offering IEPWriter.com, and we will continue making improvements so that it remains the best special education solution for Pennsylvania LEAs.

Users can continue to use the school-based Medicaid components of IEPWriter, including the SBAP documents and the MPA e-signature site, which allows physicians to electronically sign the Medical Practitioner Authorization Form. Leader is also developing a Service Tracker module that will allow users to capture and track Medicaid services.

In related news, Leader Services will soon offer a continuation of services program that will allow LEAs continued use of our WebSDS, WebPSL, and WebTran sites. We anticipate sending out an official announcement to SBAP staff later this week.


Webinars will help get you up to speed

We're happy to announce the following webinars to help get you up to speed on v3.5. Space is limited, so sign up today (though we will be recording webinars to make them available later, so no worries)!

What When Register
What's New in IEPWriter 3.5 - User Session Monday, May 21, 2012
1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Register
What's New in IEPWriter 3.5 - Administrator Session Tuesday, May 22, 2012
1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Register
What's New in IEPWriter 3.5 - User Session Wednesday, May 23, 2012
10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Register
What's New in IEPWriter 3.5 - User Session Tuesday, May 29, 2012
10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Register
What's New in IEPWriter 3.5 - User Session Thursday, May 31, 2012
1:00 p.m. - 1:30 P.M.
Register
  • We will also be announcing a webinar specific to the new rich text editor, so stay tuned!

Report changes
Penn Data: July reporting requirements changed

The newest version of the Penn Data Resource Guide (released April 2012) has updated the specifications for the July Submission, which now will contain all school age students with a valid IEP at any time during the school year, in addition to students who exited during the school year.

This is a departure from how reporting was done in the past. We have implemented the programming changes to reflect this change in both v2.0 and v3.0.

Because of this change, at the IU level the Duplicate Student reports will not be useful, since a student can be reported by more than one district.

Copying and pasting from Word

The majority of Help Desk calls we receive are formatting issues related to pasting from Microsoft Word into IEPWriter. Therefore, we’ve assembled some tips to help mitigate the issues:

  • Word uses a lot of proprietary tags for its formatting, which in turn cause issues when these hidden tags get pasted into IEPWriter. Always use the Paste from Word button in the rich text editor in v2.0 (instead of using a keyboard shortcut or your browser’s Paste option), as it cleans up a lot of those extra tags. In v3.0 and v3.5, the rich text editor will always attempt to clean up Word tags regardless of how you paste.
  • If at all possible, create your tables in the rich text editor instead of through Word.

We will be introducing a new text editor in v3.5 that will help alleviate many Paste from Word issues (though we still recommend that users create and format tables using the rich-text editor rather than copying and pasting them from Word).

Quick Tip: How to undo a selection in the state or local assessment page

SelectIf you make a selection on the IV. Participation in State Assessments page or the IV. Participation in Local Assessments page in a student’s IEP and you want to “undo” the selection, navigate to the top of the page and click the Assessment is not administered at this student’s grade level radio button.

Please note that this will clear all selections you made on the page.

In closing...

That's it for this issue. As always, please send any questions to our Help Desk at [email protected]. We're looking forward to working with all of you through the summer and beyond!

Leader Services provides special education data management solutions to schools throughout Pennsylvania and the United States. Visit our website to learn about how we make the special education process faster and easier for our clients.

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Leader Services and the Leader Services logo are service marks, and IEPWriter is a trademark, of LDP Inc, 75 Kiwanis Boulevard, West Hazleton, PA 18202. Phone (800) 360-8511.