Ohio's Special Education Profiles

What are Special Education Profiles?

Gifted-Ed-1.jpgThe Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) established a series of special education “indicators” to measure each school district’s services and results for students with disabilities. The Ohio Department of Education works with stakeholders to set annual targets – or goals – for how districts should perform on these indicators. For more information on how targets are determined, see the Special Education Indicator Target Setting webpage.

Every year, districts receive a Special Education Profile that shows whether they are meeting their goals, over time, for students with disabilities. The design of the Special Education Profile helps districts use data about services and outcomes for students with disabilities to keep improving their special education programs.

The Special Education Profile is organized around six essential questions (see Figure 1) to assess kindergarten readiness, achievement levels, access to general education environments, preparedness for life beyond high school, services for children with disabilities, and equitable outcomes. These essential questions highlight the relationships among indicators and assist educational agencies in using indicator data to improve services and results for children with disabilities.


Figure 1: Special Education Indicators Essential Questions

Are young children with disabilities entering kindergarten ready to learn?

  • Indicator 6 Preschool Educational Environments
  • Indicator 7 Preschool Outcomes
  • Indicator 12 Early Childhood Transition from Part C to Part B

Are children with disabilities achieving at high levels?

 

To what extent do students with disabilities have access to the general education environment?

 
  • Indicator 4 Suspension/Expulsion
  • Indicator 5 School-age Educational Environments

Are youth with disabilities prepared for life, work and postsecondary education?

 
  • Indicator 1 Graduation
  • Indicator 2 Dropout
  • Indicator 13 Secondary Transition
  • Indicator 14 Postsecondary Outcomes

Does the district implement IDEA to improve services and results for children with disabilities?

  • Indicator 8 Facilitated Parent Involvement
  • Indicator 11 Initial Evaluation Timelines
  • Indicator 15 Timely Correction of Noncompliance Findings
  • Indicator 20 Timely and Accurate Data

Are children receiving equitable services and supports?



 

The primary basis of each district’s 2023-2024 Special Education Profile is the final special education program data that districts submitted through the state’s Education Management Information System (EMIS) for the 2022-2023 school year. The Special Education Profile also reflects a district’s performance on each indicator for up to four previous years.

Results for Students with Disabilities

ICON_StudentGrowth.pngThe Special Education Profiles notify districts of their performance on the key indicators set forth by IDEA. Profiles also inform districts of any activities they must complete based on these indicators. The report includes data only about students with disabilities, unless otherwise shown.

Profile Reports

The department sends emails to superintendents, special education contacts and community school sponsors with instructions to access their profiles through the Secure Application for Enterprise (OH|ID) web portal. District users must have one of the following roles in the Ohio Educational Directory System (OEDS), assigned by their district’s OEDS administrator, to access these reports:

  • Superintendent
  • Assistant Superintendent
  • Superintendent Designee
  • Special Education Contact
  • Director-Special Education-General
  • Coordinator-Special Education-General
  • Supervisor-Special Education-General
  • Primary Contact-Sponsor

2023-2024 Special Education Profiles

The first phase of the 2023-2024 Special Education Profile, released December 2023, contains many indicators that may have required actions. This includes alternate assessment, exiting, compliance and survey indicators. 

  • Alternate assessment participation rates
  • Graduation rate (Indicator 1)
  • Dropout rate (Indicator 2)
  • Initial evaluation timelines (Indicator 11)
  • Transition to preschool (Indicator 12)
  • Secondary transition planning (Indicator 13)
  • Timely correction of noncompliance (Indicator 15)
  • Special education family survey (Indicator 8)
  • Post-school outcomes survey (Indicator 14)

The second phase will include the following indicators:

  • Disproportionate Representation (Indicators 9 & 10)
  • Significant Disproportionality in
    • Special education identification
    • Placement
    • Discipline
The third and final phase will include enrollment data and the remaining indicators. These indicators include:
  • Math and reading assessment participation and proficiency rates (Indicator 3)
  • Discipline discrepancies (Indicator 4a)
  • Discipline discrepancies by race (Indicator 4b)
  • Least restrictive environment for school-age students (Indicator 5)
  • Least restrictive environment for preschool students (Indicator 6)
  • Preschool outcomes (Indicator 7)

Profile Data

In the public version of each district’s profile, to ensure student privacy the Department masks indicators for which there are fewer than 10 students included in the calculation. These indicators are displayed as “<10”. Not all districts and community schools have data for each indicator. Districts and community schools that did not report students for an indicator are displayed as "NR" for not reported. Districts and community schools that did not have enough students in a subgroup to meet minimum group sizes are displayed as "NC" for not calculated.

The Excel file below contains several columns for each indicator required in the annual public data report. The file also contains a "Data Notes" sheet featuring a brief description of each indicator.

To request special education indicator data from previous school years, please contact the Office for Exceptional Children

More Information

For a detailed explanation of the indicators and their measurements see District-Level Special Education Data Reported to the Public.

How to Contact Your District 

Districts and community schools identify their special education contacts through the Ohio Educational Directory System, available here.

Last Modified: 1/29/2024 12:19:33 PM