About Significant Disproportionality

Significant Disproportionality: For SEAs and LEAs
An overview of significant disproportionality for state (SEA) and local educational agencies (LEA).

Significant Disproportionality: For Families and Communities
An overview of significant disproportionality for families and communities.

Significant Disproportionality Guidance and Procedures

Significant Disproportionality: Definitions, Methodology, and Support
This document overviews the definitions and methodology used to identify significant disproportionality based on race and ethnicity with respect to special education identification, placement, and disciplinary action. Additional information is also provided, including a Q&A and weblink resources.

Significant Disproportionality: Timeline of Analysis and Determination
This document contains the timeline of analysis and determination for significant disproportionality for school years 2021-2022 through 2025-2026.

Additional Resources

Equity in IDEA

Significant Disproportionality (Equity in IDEA)—Essential Questions and Answers
Guidance from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) regarding the significant disproportionality of regulations in IDEA.

Disproportionality 101: Equity in IDEA: Contents of the Final Rule – 2017 Webinar
This webinar provides a broad overview of the Equity in IDEA Final Regulations, and explains the required standard methodology, the reservation of funds for CEIS, and data requirements and calculations.

Significant Disproportionality 201 – Equity in IDEA: Implementing the Final Rule Webinar
This webinar reviews the final regulations that amend IDEA to help ensure that states properly identify and support LEAs with significant disproportionality. The webinar describes the standard methodology that states must use and discusses the required remedies for identified LEAs.

Equity Requirements in IDEA
This resource can help clarify the differences and similarities among the three equity requirements in IDEA: Disproportionate Representation, Significant Discrepancy, and Significant Disproportionality.

Examining Representation and Identification: Over, Under, or Both?
This resource clarifies what the term overrepresentation means and defines three related terms: over-identification, under-identification, and underrepresentation. This resource also provides several scenarios and initial guiding questions that show how the four terms are related.

Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS)

Quick Reference Guide on Coordinated Early Intervening Services
This three-page quick reference guide assists states, LEAs, and stakeholders to better understand basic CEIS requirements stipulated in IDEA.

Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS) Resources: Step by Step
The Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS) Resources: Step by Step is designed to help state and local educational agencies navigate the steps associated with planning for, providing, and tracking comprehensive or voluntary CEIS.

CEIS Practice Guide
The CEIS Practice Guide provides two scenarios each for voluntary CEIS and comprehensive CEIS. Each scenario describes an LEA’s implementation of voluntary or comprehensive CEIS and how the LEA or state could track the amount LEAs reserved for voluntary or comprehensive CEIS, the activities conducted using IDEA funds for voluntary or comprehensive CEIS, the target group of students, and ongoing student-level data about special education services.

Data Analysis and Decision-Making Tools for LEAs

Success Gaps Toolkit
The materials and resources in the Success Gaps Toolkit were developed to support district or school leaders in conducting a root cause analysis when there are inequitable outcomes among groups of students or success gaps. Root cause analysis is the process of discovering the root causes of problems in order to identify appropriate solutions.

Equity, Inclusion, and Opportunity: Creating Educational Systems That Meet the Needs of All Groups of Students
A presentation from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Project Directors’ Conference (2016) overviewing the Success Gaps Toolkit.

Data Meeting Toolkit
The Data Meeting Toolkit is a suite of tools that groups can use to guide conversation around data and support data-based decision making. The toolkit provides resources to support success before, during, and after data meetings.

Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS) Fiscal and Student Data Tracker
The Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS) Fiscal and Student Data Tracker is a set of four Excel tools that state education agencies (SEAs) can use with their local education agencies (LEAs), schools, and providers to assist them in tracking finances, services, and student data associated with CEIS. The resource also includes an instructions document or user’s guide for more information about when and how to use the CEIS Tracker.

OSEP-Funded National Technical Assistance Centers

Center for IDEA Fiscal Reporting (CIFR)
The Center for IDEA Fiscal Reporting (CIFR) is a technical assistance (TA) center funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education that helps states improve the quality and use of their IDEA Part C and Part B fiscal data and implement the IDEA fiscal requirements.

IDEA Data Center (IDC)
Funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), the IDEA Data Center (IDC) supports states as they work to improve the collection and reporting of their IDEA data and as they analyze and use these data to make programmatic improvements.

Data Center for Addressing Significant Disproportionality (DCASD)
The Data Center for Addressing Significant Disproportionality (DCASD) is a U.S. Department of Education-supported center dedicated to working with state and local education agencies to help build their capacity to identify and address significant disproportionality by more accurately collecting, reporting, analyzing, and using their IDEA data.