Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CCEIS)

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IDEA section 618(d) requires states to collect and examine data to determine if significant disproportionality over-identification based on a particular racial or ethnic group is occurring in the state and the local educational agencies (LEAs) of the state with respect to:

The identification of children as children with disabilities, including the identification of children as children with disabilities in accordance with a particular impairment;
The placement in particular educational settings of such children; and
The incidence, duration, and type of disciplinary actions, including suspensions and expulsions.

In Maryland, a local education agency (LEA) is identified 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 in any of the noted categories. (COMAR 13A.05.02.04, Adopted May 22, 2018)

What is CCEIS?

IDEA regulations guiding the mandatory provision of CCEIS require LEAs identified by the State as having data leading to over-identification in one or more of the noted categories 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 these matters 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 overidentification (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 overidentification and the conditions resulting in the LEA's identification.
Engage in a self-assessment/data review process to determine the root cause factors creating the area(s).
Use the root cause factors to plan for proactive and responsive actions necessary to increase equity and decrease overidentification 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

SFY 2025 Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services Plan Template
C-1-25 and Budget Detail
CCEIS Allowable Costs Stoplight
CCEIS Plan Review and Feedback Tool
For a copy of this form, please email Interagency Equity Specialist Demetria White at demetria.white@maryland.gov.
CCEIS Plan Programmatic Amendment Template
CCEIS Plan Fiscal Amendment Template
CCEIS Progress Report Template

Self-Assessment Resources

Addressing the Root Causes of Disparities in School Discipline

This guide is intended to assist your school community in engaging in efforts to create supportive school climates and to address any persistent challenges, including disparities, in the administration of school discipline.

Assessing and Improving Special Education: A Program Review Tool for Schools and Districts Engaged in Rapid School Improvement

This program review tool is designed to assist school districts and leaders in beginning and engaging in conversations about, and reviewing and improving the quality of, their special education programs.

Building Understanding

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,

Equity, Inclusion, and Opportunity Addressing Success Gaps

This resource from www.ideadata.org provides a summary of factors that contribute to the success of all children and is in alignment with the factors identified in the Success Gaps Rubric.

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.

Significant Disproportionality (Equity in IDEA) Essential Questions and Answers

A frequently asked questions and answer document developed by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) offers guidance related to the components of the IDEA regulations related to Significant Disproportionality.

Distinguishing Difference from Disability: The Common Causes of Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality in Special Education

Each year state education departments inform school districts whether they have met the measure of racial/ethnic disproportionality in special education. The formula and the threshold of what is disproportionate varies across the country.

Preventing Disproportionality by Strengthening District Policies and Procedures – An Assessment and Strategic Planning Process

This instrument creates an opportunity to look at both general and special education practices and policies with the understanding that where disproportionality exists, it may be due a variety of institutional factors that include organizational structures, classroom processes, curriculum implementation, knowledge, skills, and dispositions of practitioners, administrators, and other staff.