IDEA Update

What Is Michigan’s State Performance Plan?

Under Section 616 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004, federal legislation conveys that each state shall develop a State Performance Plan (SPP) to evaluate its efforts to implement the requirements and purposes of IDEA priorities and describe how it will improve such implementation.

Beginning in 2007, IDEA requires all states to report information on each district's performance in meeting specific early intervention and special education targets outlined in its SPP. Specifically, this act requires each state to:

• Have in place a SPP that evaluates that state's efforts to implement the requirements and purposes of this part and describes how the state will improve such implementation.
• Submit an annual performance report (APR) that evaluates the state's efforts to implement IDEA 2004.
• Report to the public on the performance of each school district and early intervention program relative to the targets specified in the SPP. (§616 (b)(1)(A)). Note: some targets are set by the federal government, and some are set by the state.

This information provides local districts and communities an opportunity to see what’s working well in their special education and early intervention programs and to identify what aspects of those programs are in need of improvement. This is the first year of district level public reporting of this data.

IDEA 2004 focuses on special education services through age 21 and has 20 indicators of performance and compliance. This year, states must report on special education indicators 1-6 and 12 based on the data from the 2005-06 school year. The progress on the remaining indicators, which require public reporting, will be released within the next two years.

To meet this requirement, the MDE is developing fact sheets based on the following special education indicators:

• Indicator 1: Graduation rate of students with disabilities.
• Indicator 2: Drop out rate of students with disabilities.
• Indicator 3: Participation and performance of students with disabilities on statewide assessments.
• Indicator 4: Rates of suspensions/expulsions for students with disabilities.
• Indicator 5: Educational settings.
• Indicator 6: Preschool environment settings.
• Indicator 12: Early childhood transition.

IDEA services for infants and toddlers from birth through two years of age, known as Early On®, are required to report the performance of each service area. To view the indicators for Early On public reporting, visit www.michigan.gov/mde.

For more information on Michigan’s public reporting and to download the Special Education Fact Sheets, visit www.michigan.gov/ose-eis or www.cenmi.org and click on “Special Education Facts.”