Important Stuff- Program Management Documents

With the deep budget cuts to most categorical programs for 2009-10 and the likelihood of further cuts in 2010-11 when federal stimulus funds are no longer available, colleges are making difficult decisions about the allocation of their limited funds to best serve student needs.  This memo addresses certain student services categorical programs and transmits a series of administrative relief measures to assist colleges in planning for and administering those programs in this unprecedented budget environment to ensure that every dollar possible is spent on direct services to students. 

Learning Disabilities Assessment: Issues and Implications. A White Paper from the Chancellor's Office LD Field Advisory Committee. (2011)

Chancellor's office (2009)

Chancellor's Office (2010)

This document is an attempt to lay out the basics of what DSPS does, the regulations that support your services, the criteria for determining eligibility, academic accommodations and fiscal reporting. Galvin Group (2012)

Policy and procedure guidance on service animals. Galvin Group (2011)

Questions and answers from the New DSPS Director's Training, September 2011

CAPED 2010 Pre-conference workshop on ADA/504 (Paul Grossman and Ralph Black)

This document grew out of the evaluation of the "Other Disabilities" DSPS Reporting Category. The guidance provided here was developed solely for use in the "Other Disabilities" research activity and should not be construed as a Chancellor's Office directive. However, as participant colleges used these definitions, they expressed the sentiment that this type of guidance was helpful beyond the confines of the study. We, therefore, share this document as a guide that may prove useful in building consistency both within and across programs.  It is not intended or considered to be a final, comprehensive manual in determining service contacts or the definitive answer to questions of what constitutes a service contact and exactly how each should be counted.  As always, when in doubt, present your questions to the experts at the Chancellor's Office.

Implementation of Senate Bill 813 and updated requirements for priority registration for members of the military and recent veterans.

In 1999 the DDL Task Force published the criteria for the current DDL Verification Form. At the time, only DDL Specialists and DSPS Coordinators were permitted to sign the form in order to verify a student as qualifying for LD. However, there are no current pathways to becoming certified as a DDL Specialist, nor have there been for the past eight years or so. As a result, very few colleges have DDL Specialists on staff, and many DSPS Coordinators have appointed Learning Disability (LD) specialists to complete the form and then pass it along to DSPS Coordinators for their signature of approval.

LD Specialists are trained in cognitive assessment and interpretation and are usually the ones conducting cognitive testing on campuses. In the process of this assessment they may determine that a student does not qualify for DSPS services under the category of LD, but does qualify under DDL. The LD Field Advisory group reasoned it would be more efficient if the LD Specialists could officially determine that DDL criteria are met at that time and be permitted to sign the verification form.

This proposal was then vetted by the LD specialists in their regional meetings and before the DSPS Regional Coordinators Advisory Group, which also approved the change. At the October 15, 2011 LD Field Advisory meeting the group recommended the change to the Chancellor's Office, which approved it and modified the DDL Verification Form to note the addition of LD Specialists to the approved signers list.

The California Community Colleges have enrolled in a statewide program with Learning Ally. This means that starting now, each site will have access to an online audio textbook library of over 65,000 titles. Founded in 1948 as Recording for the Blind, Learning Ally serves more than 300,000 K-12, college and graduate students, veterans and lifelong learners - all of whom cannot read standard print due to blindness, visual impairment, dyslexia, or other learning disabilities.

Update on Federal Student Aid including Pell grants, direct loans, gainful employement and course repeats (highlighted in yellow) January 20, 2012

A webinar with Learning Ally was conducted March 14, 2012. The webinar covered the basics of using the service and software, and also, to touch on how the resource can be used effectively in various circumstances (i.e. limited staff, on campus vs. off campus student access, etc.) This PowerPoint was used in the Webinar.