Special Education

Approximately 48,000 students with disabilities are currently being served by Wayne County's 34 local school districts and over 80 public school academies. The large majority of these students are provided appropriate programs within their resident districts.

Approximately 8,500 students have more severe impairments (often referred to as "low incident" students) that require placement in the 38 special education center programs located throughout the county. A center program serves low incidence students from several local school districts at a single site. All 38 special education center programs are operated by local school districts.

View the Special Education Plan
View and Download Special Education Forms

Compliance

Monitoring

Special education monitoring is a mandated function of each Michigan intermediate school district. The monitoring focuses on a dual system of compliance and continuous improvement activities. Under the compliance aspect, random samples of student cases are reviewed for compliance in areas such as parent notification, procedural safeguards, timelines, evaluation, provision of services, and reporting progress. Under the continuous improvement aspect, districts are reviewed based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) selected yearly by the MDE. KPIs include broader areas such as student drop out rates, least restrictive environment placement, early childhood identification rates and assessment rates.

CIMS Links Continuous Improvement & Monitoring System - A mandated activities project of the MDE

Complaints

Investigating formal complaints brought against local school districts and public school academies is another mandated function of intermediate school districts. Wayne RESA must conduct its investigation, including a written and fully documented final report, within 21 calendar days.

Data Collection

December 1 Count

A headcount is taken each December 1 of all students receiving special education. This count is subject to audit by MDE and is part of the formula to determine the per capita allocation of Federal IDEA funds. Districts transmit their December 1 data to RESA through their respective student systems and RESA staff complete an error check and upload data to the Michigan Compliance And Information System (MI-CIS).  December 1 Count 

Personnel Documentation

Wayne RESA maintains data and documents related to the professional credentials of providers of special education programs and services employed by Wayne County school districts. This database of qualified staff is submitted electronically to MDE as part of the December 1 Count.  Personnel Approvals