Through the period of recovery and restoration, OSSE remains committed to implementing our Roadmap to Accelerating Outcomes for Students with Disabilities. We have made investments aligned to this roadmap to help address challenges associated with distance learning and the pandemic and to help build inclusive environments and a focus on outcomes that will help reduce historic gaps in achievement over the long run. 

Key Strategies​

We are employing the following strategies to improve outcomes for students with disabilities:​

• Provide actionable information for families and schools: Launch a family resource center, known as the DC Special Education Hub, through a partnership with the Office of the Ombudsman, while also investing in robust training and customer support for schools to enable the effective use of the new special education data system (SEDS).
• Strengthen staff and leader capacity:  Build the capacity of teachers and leaders to educate all students by developing special education coursework that is available to all educators, making stipends available for educators who complete the coursework to fulfill certain licensure requirements and establishing an inclusive leadership program for school and system leaders to help them create inclusive learning environments. ​
• Set clear and high expectations: Provide resources and training to assist schools in adapting to the revised local special education regulations, Chapter 30, which set clear and high expectations for serving students with disabilities, as well as the new results-based accountability system for special education, both of which launch in the 2022-23 school year.
• Support timely transportation: Address pandemic-related transportation needs such as cleaning supplies and COVID testing as well as the recruitment and retention bonuses for bus drivers in order to help ensure safe and timely transportation for eligible students with disabilities.