What Is CIMS?

The Michigan Department of Education (MDE), Office of Special Education and Early Intervention Services (OSE/EIS) is developing and refining a new monitoring and quality assurance system with a focus on improving educational results for Michigan students with disabilities. The Continuous Improvement & Monitoring System (CIMS) will be used by local educational agencies (LEA), public school academies (PSA), state schools (e.g. the Michigan Schools for the Deaf and Blind), state agencies (e.g. Family Independence Agency, Community Mental Health), and Part C (early intervention) service areas.

CIMS balances the need for continuous procedural compliance with a focus on improving student results and outcomes. The goal of the CIMS is to have districts and agencies better understand the operation and effectiveness of programs for students with disabilities and develop plans for targeted use of their resources. Special education stakeholders throughout Michigan spent many hours during 2003-04 designing the CIMS. The results of that work promises to move Michigan educators from a cyclical closed-ended monitoring system into one of continuous improvement. 

In concept, a system that once focused upon compliance with rules will now focus on program effectiveness and student results. In practice, a system that previously depended upon cyclical MDE monitoring activities will now involve collaboration between school districts and the MDE in a new quality improvement monitoring process.