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Significant Disproportionality is the persistent over-representation of students from a particular racial or ethnic group in one or more of the following categories: identification as a child with a disability or within a specific disability, restrictive placements, and/or disciplinary removals as compared to other groups of students.
In Maryland, a local education agency (LEA) is determined to be significantly disproportionate if it has one or more subgroups of students evidencing a risk ratio of greater than 2.0 for
two or more consecutive years (unless the risk ratio declines by a defined amount (.15 if less than 4.0 and .5 if over 4.0) from one year to the next. (COMAR 13A.05.02.04, Adopted May 22, 2018)
IDEA regulations guiding the mandatory provision of CCEIS require LEAs identified by the State as having significant disproportionality to reserve 15 percent of IDEA Part B Section 611 and Section 619 funds to implement a comprehensive system of proactive and responsive actions to address root cause factors contributing to significant disproportionality with respect to identification, placement, and/or disciplinary removals. CCEIS is defined by regulations at
34 CFR §300.646(d).
CCEIS activities funded under Part B include:
Providing educational and behavioral evaluations, services, and support, including evidence-based literacy instruction (see
34 CFR §300.226(b)).
Providing professional development and educational and behavioral evaluations, services, and supports (see 34 CFR §300.646 (d)(1)(i)).
Additionally, the local system must:
Address the factors contributing to the significant disproportionality (34 CFR §300.646 (d)(1)(ii)); and
Address and review a policy, practice, or procedure identified by the LEA as contributing to the significant disproportionality (34 CFR §300.646 (d)(1)(iii)).
Build systemic awareness and the leadership supports by convening a local implementation team necessary to implement organizational change and promote sustainability.
Establish a diverse stakeholder group inclusive of external and internal partners to develop an understanding of disproportionality and the conditions resulting in the LEA's identification as significantly disproportionate.
Engage in a self-assessment/data review process to determine the root cause factors creating the area(s) of significant disproportionality.
Use the root cause factors to plan for proactive and responsive actions necessary to increase equity and decrease disproportionality at the district, school, and/or classroom level.
Consider implementation drivers: staffing, training, ongoing coaching, and consultation, staff performance evaluation, data systems that support decision making, progress monitoring, implementation with fidelity, and effective evaluation.
Identify a structure of results-based and job-embedded professional learning experiences to build the capacity of local general and special education personnel who are engaged in the day-to-day implementation of change efforts.
Develop a comprehensive system for the evaluation of plan outcomes that emphasizes teacher/staff fidelity of implementation
and measurable student outcomes.
- Align projected expenditures with specific actions necessary to mitigate root cause factors and meet CCEIS Plan outcomes.
CCEIS Allowable Costs - Stoplight Document
Equity Requirement in IDEA
This resource from
www.ideadata.org defines the three distinct equity requirements of IDEA: Disproportionate Representation, Significant Discrepancy, and Significant Disproportionality,
Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality in Special Education
A data analysis workbook tool developed by Dr. Edward Fergus and Roey Ahram provides an overview of how to analyze special education and general education data to identify rates of disproportionality in special education classification and placement.
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