Department revises Special Education Indicator 3 targets

1/17/2023

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) established a series of special education indicators to measure services and results for students with disabilities. IDEA requires states to set targets across indicators through the 2025-2026 school year with input from stakeholders.

In fall 2021, the Department requested public comment on proposed target options for each indicator and met with a wide range of stakeholder groups. A targeted stakeholder group then held a series of meetings to review public comment, along with Ohio’s data and improvement strategies, and recommended final targets. With this stakeholder group, the Department finalized and reported the state’s targets to the U.S. Department of Education.

The U.S. Department of Education required the Department to revise targets for Indicator 3a: Math and Reading Assessment Participation to no lower than 95% per the Elementary and Secondary Education Act section 1111(c)(4)(E) (pages 39 and 116), which was reauthorized as the Every Student Succeeds Act. The Department reconvened the virtual stakeholder group in November 2022 to revise these targets and align with ESEA.

Final targets and more information about the target-setting process are available on the Special Education Indicator Target Setting webpage. Ohio’s performance on each special education indicator is compared to the federal targets annually. Additionally, by June 1 each year, states must publicly report the performance of each district in comparison to the state targets.

Contact specialedtargets@education.ohio.gov with questions.