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NHDOE Special Education Program Approval & Improvement Process

A Powerful Way to Use Data
 "Deep beliefs and assumptions can change as experience changes, and when this happens culture changes. The carrier of culture is, as author Daniel Quinn says, the story we tell ourselves over and over again. As we gradually see and experience the work anew, we start to tell a new story." The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook


The New Hampshire Department of Education (NHDOE) is responsible for assessing the impact and effectiveness of state and local efforts to provide a "Free Appropriate Public Education" (FAPE) to children and youth with disabilities, ages 3-21. 

Over the past 17 years, the NHDOE has contracted with SERESC to work with families, students, educators and communities of New Hampshire to shape its special education program approval work in a way that drives and supports results for children and youth with disabilities.

The special education program approval and improvement model is designed as a self-assessment review for all New Hampshire public and private schools. The core case study process is required of all schools at the time of their program approval. However, an in-depth yearlong improvement process is an optional activity available to each site during their approval year. 

Both the case study and yearlong improvement process involve teams of general and special educators, parents, students, administrators and school board members working together to assess the work of the school and review related outcomes for students with educational disabilities.  This program approval process results in improvement planning that addresses issues of non-compliance as well as identifying goals, activities, and timelines for continuous improvement1.