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Significant Disproportionality

Significant Disproportionality

Regulation CRF 34 §300.646 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires each state receiving assistance under Part B of the IDEA provide for the collection and examination of data to determine whether significant disproportionality based on race and ethnicity is occurring in the local education agencies (LEA) of the state with respect to:

  • Special education identification
  • Discipline
  • Educational placement

In Michigan, an LEA is the intermediate school district (ISD). The Michigan Department of Education Office of Special Education identifies ISDs each spring based on data from the previous two school years. Identification is based on the aggregate data of the member districts within the ISD.

Business Rules/Procedures for Calculating Significant Disproportionality

The following documents are the business rules and procedures for calculating whether significant disproportionality has occurred for each category.

Triangle depicting the tiered framework. The base is the universal tier followed by at-risk, moderately at-risk, and identified.

Significant Disproportionality Methodology in Michigan

The OSE provides an appropriate level of technical assistance based on the tier in which an ISD falls. Depending on the tier, there may be additional requirements an ISD must fulfill. Refer to the methodology document which defines the tiers and describes how the OSE supports the ISDs in each tier.

Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CCEIS)

ISDs identified with Significant Disproportionality per Michigan’s methodology will be required to provide CCEIS and all its components.

In IDEA (20 U.S.C. §1413(f)(2)) and its regulations (34 CFR §300.226(b)) the federal requirements indicate ISDs identified as having significant disproportionality must:

  1. Allocate 15% of IDEA Special Education (Part B, Section 611 & 619) Grants: For those districts receiving IDEA funds, 15% of your grant for the identified school year, must be reallocated for early intervening services. These services must be designed to serve children who have not been identified as children with disabilities, particularly but not exclusively, children in the groups that were significantly over-identified. These early intervening services may support activities for students in kindergarten through grade 12 with a particular emphasis on students in kindergarten through grade 3; and
  2. Review/Revise Polices, Practices and Procedures: The OSE will assist the district’s review of all policies, practices and procedures regarding the identification of children as children with disabilities, including the identification as children with particular impairments; and
  3. Publicly Report Revisions of Policies, Practices and Procedures: The district must report to the public on the revision of the policies, practices and procedures regarding the identification of children as children with disabilities, including the identification as children with particular impairments.

The regulations require, in 34 CFR §300.226(d), each LEA that implements CEIS to report to the State on the number of children who received CEIS and the number of those children who subsequently received special education and related services under Part B during the preceding two-year period (i.e., the two years after the child has received CEIS).

Voluntarily Offering Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS)

300.226 Early intervening services.

(a) General. An LEA may not use more than 15 percent of the amount the LEA receives under Part B of the Act for any fiscal year, less any amount reduced by the LEA pursuant to §300.205, if any, in combination with other amounts (which may include amounts other than education funds), to develop and implement coordinated, early intervening services, which may include interagency financing structures, for students in kindergarten through grade 12 (with a particular emphasis on students in kindergarten through grade three) who are not currently identified as needing special education or related services, but who need additional academic and behavioral support to succeed in a general education environment. (See appendix D for examples of how §300.205(d), regarding local maintenance of effort, and §300.226(a) affect one another.)

(b) Activities. In implementing coordinated, early intervening services under this section, an LEA may carry out activities that include—

(1) Professional development (which may be provided by entities other than LEAs) for teachers and other school staff to enable such personnel to deliver scientifically based academic and behavioral interventions, including scientifically based literacy instruction, and, where appropriate, instruction on the use of adaptive and instructional software; and

(2) Providing educational and behavioral evaluations, services, and supports, including scientifically based literacy instruction.
The regulations require, in 34 CFR §300.226(d), each LEA that implements CEIS to report to the State on the number of children who received CEIS and the number of those children who subsequently received special education and related services under Part B during the preceding two-year period (i.e., the two years after the child has received CEIS).

Member districts may begin the voluntary CEIS process in Catamaran by submitting a proposal to the ISD for consideration. ISDs may begin the process without a proposal. The proposal, program design process, and subsequent data reporting take place in Catamaran.