Skip to main content
Language Translation
Governor Mike Braun
  Close Menu

Special Education

2025-2026 1% Waiver Request to OESE Cover Letter
2025-2026 1% Waiver Request to OESE

Mission Statement

All students, including those with disabilities, are held to high expectations and have equitable access to educational opportunities that enrich their lives and prepare them for future success.

Our goal as educators is to improve outcomes for all students. This can be accomplished through a system that ensures equity and access. Equitable Access is the guarantee that all students are provided the necessary and individualized supplementary aids and services, accommodations, modifications, or supports to meaningfully participate in the general education curriculum. Equitable access must be accompanied by a school-wide acceptance or belief in shared responsibility, shared accountability, and high expectations. According to the Dear Colleague letter on the provision of a Free Appropriate Public Education (November 2015) and the Every Student Succeeds Act (December 2015), improving outcomes also requires a strong core curriculum, high quality instruction, unbiased assessment that guides instruction, and collaboration among administrators, general and special education staff, parents, and the community. Multi-tiered system of support and universal design for learning provide the foundation necessary to reach the overall goal.

Keep up-to-date with IDOE’s Office of Special Education! Sign up for our newsletter here and view our newsletter archive here.

Tables of Annual Per Pupil State Funding Levels

RDA Local Educational Agency (LEA) Level Data

RDA Resources

Indicator Monitoring and Compliance Guides

Indicator Monitoring Tools

Data Collection Resources

  • LEAs: 427
  • Charter Schools: 132

Information on reporting and data collection can be accessed through the DEX Knowledge Hub.

Data Collection Reports

616/618 Reporting
State Child Count of Students with Disabilities

Each academic year, the Indiana Department of Education conducts two official counts of students with disabilities. These counts are of the number of students with disabilities who are eligible for special education services and are receiving those services on the day of the count. The first count, on December 1st of each year, is used to generate state funding for students with disabilities under IC 20- 43-7-6. The second count, on April 1st of each year, is used for informational purposes. Both counts are certified by the Indiana State Board of Education under IC 20-43-4-4.

Memoranda to State Board of Education Regarding Child Counts

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

Indiana Administrative Code for Special Education Policies

General Resources

Evaluation (EV) Roster & Data Exchange (DEX)

Requesting Technical Assistance

To ensure we are most effectively and efficiently responding to the needs of our local educational agencies (LEAs), you may now request technical assistance directly from IDOE. This is an opportunity for LEAs to voluntarily request targeted support with a development need or problem.

LEAs may request varying levels of technical assistance for the purpose of improving outcomes for students in one or more of the areas identified below.

  • Universal, General
  • Targeted, Specialized
  • Intensive, Sustained
  • Intensive, Longstanding

In addition to the ability for LEAs to voluntarily request technical assistance, IDOE may also require some LEAs to engage in technical assistance under certain circumstances. This identification can be based on the following, but is not limited to, areas of noncompliance (singular or ongoing), student outcomes data, service provision, and program effectiveness. IDOE will identify LEAs and, in some cases, identify areas of need for technical assistance.

Click here to submit a technical assistance request form!

Discipline Resources:

Additional Resources:

Speech-Language Resources

 

Indiana Resource Network

The Indiana Resource Network (IRN) is made possible by the Indiana Department of Education's Office of Special Education. The IRN offers Indiana public schools free or low cost in-person and virtual professional development and technical assistance options to improve teaching and learning.

Facilitated IEP

Facilitated IEP Defined

The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) is dedicated to ensuring that local educational agencies (LEAs) receive effective and efficient targeted support when needed. A Facilitated IEP (FIEP) is an option available at the request of schools and parents for conflict prevention and resolution. This service is provided at no cost to parents or schools.  A trained impartial professional (facilitator) helps the case conference committee with the IEP process by keeping the meeting focused on the student, ensuring everyone at the table has a voice, encouraging active listening by all participants, helping keep team members on task and within the time allotted for the meeting, and participating as a non-committee member, which does not impose decisions on the group.

Consideration for FIEP Request:

  1. The case conference committee is spending more time trying to resolve conflicts than working on activities that promote student achievement and success.
  2. Multiple case conferences have been convened with little or no resolution.
  3. One or more case conference committee members believes their voice is not being heard.
  4. There is a large amount of new information to be processed, or the student's situation is particularly complex.
  5. Team members would like to create a better understanding of the accommodations and language within the IEP.
  6. Team members want clarity on the IEP facilitation process.
  7. There is a specific disagreement with which the team would like help to resolve.

Click here to submit a Facilitated IEP request form!