Family & Community Special Communities
Special Education

OSEP’s Report on the Monitoring of Massachusetts

Introductory Letter

Dr. David P. Driscoll
Commissioner of Education
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
75 Pleasant Street
Malden, Massachusetts 02148

Dr. Howard K. Koh
Commissioner
State Department of Public Health
250 Washington St.
Boston, Massachusetts 02108-4619

Dear Drs. Driscoll and Koh:

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) conducted a review in Massachusetts during the weeks of November 30, 1998, February 22, 1999 and April 6-8, 1999 for the purpose of assessing compliance in the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and assisting your State in developing strategies to improve results for children with disabilities. The IDEA Amendments of 1997 focus on "access to services" as well as "improving results" for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities. In the same way, OSEP's Continuous Improvement Monitoring Process is designed to focus Federal, State and local resources on improved results for children with disabilities and their families through a working partnership among OSEP, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE), the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH), and parents and advocates in Massachusetts.

In conducting its review of Massachusetts, OSEP applied the standards set forth in the IDEA 97 statute (20 U.S.C. §1400 et. seq.), and in the Part C regulations (34 CFR Part 303) and Part B regulations (34 CFR Part 300), in effect at the time of the OSEP review. The Part C regulations in effect February 1999 were those published by the Department on July 30, 1993, as revised by the Technical Amendments published on April 14, 1998. The Part B regulations in effect in February 1999 were those published on September 29, 1992. All citations to 34 CFR Parts 303 and 300 in this report are to the regulations, as published on those dates. On March 12, 1999, the Department published new final Part B regulations and conforming changes to the Part C regulations that took effect on May 11, 1999. In planning and implementing improvement strategies to address the findings in this report, ESE and DPH should ensure that all improvement strategies are consistent with the new final regulations.

A critical aspect of the Continuous Improvement Monitoring Process is collaboration between the Steering Committee of broad-based constituencies, including representatives from ESE,

DPH and OSEP. The steering committee assessed the effectiveness of State systems in ensuring improved results for children with disabilities and protection of individual rights. In addition, the Steering Committee will be designing and coordinating implementation of concrete steps for improvement. Please see the Introduction to the report for a more detailed description of this process in your State, including representation on the steering committees.

OSEP's review placed a strong emphasis on those areas that are most closely associated with positive results for children with disabilities. In this review, OSEP clustered the Part B (services for children aged 3 through 21) requirements into four major areas: Parent Involvement, Free Appropriate Public Education in the Least Restrictive Environment, Secondary Transition and General Supervision. Part C (services for children aged birth through 2) requirements were clustered into five major areas: Child Find and Public Awareness, Family-Centered Systems of Services, Early Intervention Services in Natural Environments, Early Childhood Transition, and General Supervision. Components were identified by OSEP for each major area as a basis to review the State's performance through examination of State and local indicators.

The enclosed Report addresses strengths noted in the State, areas that require corrective action because they represent noncompliance with the requirements of the IDEA, and technical assistance regarding improvement for best practice. Enclosed you will find an Executive Summary of the Report, an Introduction including background information, and a description of issues and findings.

Although ESE has made progress in some previously identified areas of noncompliance, OSEP is seriously concerned about continuing noncompliance that has not been corrected. These areas include:

1. ESE's IEP development process that results in delays in services and in children with disabilities not receiving services;

2. Children with disabilities, especially those placed in separate educational environments not being educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate; and

3. ESE's failure to exercise its general supervisory authority in such a manner to insure that it has effective methods for identifying and correcting deficiencies in local school districts. These deficiencies have been allowed to exist for a number of years, impacting on services to children with disabilities. OSEP has documented these continued deficiencies in its prior monitoring reports to ESE from 1991 and 1995. These issues are addressed in detail in the enclosed Report.

The State must take action to ensure that the above long-standing, serious noncompliance is effectively and promptly corrected through out the State. ESE and DPH have indicated that this Report will be shared with members of the steering committee, the State Interagency Coordinating Council and the IDEA State Advisory Panel. OSEP will work with your steering committee to develop corrective actions and improvement strategies to ensure improved results for children with disabilities in all areas identified in this Report.

Thank you for the assistance and cooperation provided by your staffs during our review. Throughout the course of the review, Ms. Marcia Mittnacht and Mr. Ron Benham were responsive to OSEP's requests for information, and provided access to necessary documentation that enabled OSEP staff to work in partnership with the Steering Committee to better understand the State's systems for implementing the IDEA. An extraordinary effort was made by State staff to arrange the public input process during the Validation Planning week and, as a result of their efforts, OSEP obtained information from a large number of parents (including underrepresented groups), advocates, service providers, school and agency personnel, agency administrators, and special education administrators. OSEP would also like to recognize the efforts that have taken place in Massachusetts to improve results for children with disabilities and the strong commitment of State staff to continue these efforts.

Thank you for your continued efforts toward the goal of achieving better results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities in Massachusetts. Since the enactment of the IDEA and its predecessor, the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, one of the basic goals of the law, ensuring that children with disabilities are not excluded from school, has largely been achieved. Today, families can have a positive vision for their child's future.

While schools and agencies have made great progress, significant challenges remain. The critical issue is to place greater emphasis on attaining better results. To that end, we look forward to working with you in partnership to continue to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities.

Sincerely,

Kenneth R. Warlick
Director
Office of Special Education

cc: Ms. Marcia Mittnacht
Mr. Ron Benham