Legislative Authority

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004) requires states to publicly report Local Education Agency (LEA) performance against targets established in the State Performance Plan (SPP) no later than 120 days after the State's submission of its Annual Performance Report (APR). The SPP is a six year plan that describes the state’s efforts to implement the requirements of IDEA and improve results for children with IEPs. It articulates how the District of Columbia will improve its performance on prescribed Indicators. The state must report, in its Annual Performance Report (APR), on its progress toward meeting the measurable and rigorous targets detailed in its SPP. The District of Columbia SPP and APR are available on OSSE's website.

Local Education Agency (LEA) Definition

In FFY 2016, the District of Columbia's student population included 12,811 children with disabilities. (Data Source: OSSE FFY 2016 Child Count) In FFY 2016, children in the District of Columbia were served by 66 LEAs, including the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) and 65 public charter school LEAs. In the District of Columbia, public charter school LEAs historically have been able to elect to have DCPS serve as the LEA for the purposes of IDEA, in which case DCPS becomes responsible for ensuring compliance. In FFY 2016, 9 public charter school LEAs made this election. Therefore, 57 LEAs are referenced when examining IDEA-related compliance and results indicators (indicators 3, 5 – 13).

Please note that for Indicators 1, 2, 4, and 14 the LEA list reflects LEAs in existence during the 2015-2016 school year.  A total of 51 LEAs are referenced when examining these indicators. This distinction is due to the fact that, pursuant to OSEP guidelines, the data used to calculate performance is data from the prior school year.

Related Content: Specialized Education Data and Reports