Monitoring Requirements Under IDEA

Under IDEA, states are responsible for ensuring compliance with the statute and providing general supervision of all programs providing Part B and Part C services. However, prior to IDEA 2004, the law did not define or explain monitoring practices and provided little guidance for enforcement. In designing the mail survey, it was expected that many states looked to OSEP as a model for their monitoring and improvement systems. Therefore, the mail survey included a variety of questions that reflect the principles of OSEP's Continuous Improvement Monitoring Process and Continuous Improvement Focused Monitoring System. These principles include

• targeting resources on the performance issues with the highest likelihood of improving results for children with disabilities;
• focusing on a small number of priorities or focus areas (e.g., free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment, child find, disproportionate representation, and graduation and dropout rates);²
• supporting each priority area with measurable indicators of performance; and
• defining standard, uniform performance benchmarks for each indicator.

Many of these monitoring principles are now codified in the law. As reauthorized in 2004, Section 1416 of IDEA identifies two primary focuses of monitoring: (1) improving the educational results and functional outcomes for children with disabilities and (2) ensuring that the program requirements of the law are met. Section 1416 places particular emphasis on those program requirements most closely related to improving educational results for children with disabilities. To address these two primary focus areas of monitoring, the law requires states to monitor local educational agencies (LEAs) by using quantifiable indicators to measure performance in each of three priority areas:

• provision of FAPE in the least restrictive environment;
• the exercise of general supervisory authority, including child find, effective monitoring, the use of resolution sessions, mediation, voluntary binding arbitration, and a system of transition services (post-secondary school transition services for Part B and transition out of early intervention for Part C); and
• disproportionate representation of racial and ethnic groups in special education and related services, to the extent that the representation is the result of inappropriate identification.

Section 1416 also requires states to establish measurable and rigorous targets for the indicators used to measure performance in each of these priority areas and requires that they annually report to the public on the performance of each LEA on those targets. The law makes clear that these requirements apply to both Part B and Part C.

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