Resource – Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS) – Resources Step-by-Step

Local Educational Agency

Plan and implement comprehensive or voluntary CEIS

In consultation with the SEA, LEAs plan the activities to be funded with CEIS funds and to which children CEIS will be provided. LEAs’ CEIS plans must be approved by the SEA before services are implemented.

When planning CEIS, LEAs should ensure that the CEIS activities supported by the IDEA funds are permissible activities. Permissible activities include professional development and educational and behavioral evaluations, services, and supports.

An LEA implementing voluntary CEIS must also ensure that funds are used for children who are not identified as children with a disability but who need additional academic and behavioral support to succeed in a general education environment.

LEAs implementing comprehensive CEIS may include children with disabilities but must use the reserved funds to identify and address the factors contributing to the significant disproportionality in the LEA for the identified category, including policies, practices, and procedures contributing to the significant disproportionality.

Relevant Regulations

20 USC §1413(f)(2)
34 CFR §300.226(b)
34 CFR §300.646(d)(i)
Significant Disproportionality Final Regulations

TA centers that help with general CEIS program planning

U.S. Department Education–Funded TA Centers

Equity Assistance Centers
Regional Equity Assistance Centers provide assistance in the areas of race, gender, and national origin equity to public schools to promote equal educational opportunities.
The IRIS Center
Developed in collaboration with nationally recognized researchers and education experts, IRIS resources address instructional and classroom issues of great importance to today’s educators. They cover response-to-intervention (RTI), classroom behavior management, and early childhood instruction, among many other topics. IRIS resources are used in college instruction, professional development activities, and independent learning opportunities for practicing educators.
National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII)
NCII’s mission is to build district and school capacity to support implementation of data-based individualization in reading, mathematics, and behavior for students with severe and persistent learning and behavioral needs.
National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI)
NCSI provides technical assistance to SEAs to help them think systemically and programmatically about how CEIS and other sources of funds might be coordinated to address the voluntary and/or required use of CEIS funds, including how CEIS funds might be used to support Multi-Tier System of Supports (MTSS) frameworks as well as other state or district-specific needs, such as equity, quality core instruction, using data to guide decision-making, community/stakeholder engagement, etc.
SWiFT Schools
Schoolwide Integrated Framework for Transformation, or SWiFT, is a national K–8 technical assistance center that builds school capacity to provide academic and behavioral support to improve outcomes for all students through equity-based inclusion.
What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)
WWC reviews the existing research on different programs, products, practices, and policies in education. Its goal is to provide educators with the information they need to make evidence-based decisions. WWC focuses on the results from high-quality research to answer the question “What works in education?”

Other TA Centers

Center on Response to Intervention
The Center on RTI provides resources to assist states, districts, and schools with the implementation and scale-up of RTI and its components.
Civil Rights Project
The Civil Rights Project is dedicated to improving educational opportunities and outcomes for children from subgroups who have been discriminated against historically due to their race/ethnicity, and who are frequently subjected to exclusionary practices such as disciplinary removal, overrepresentation in special education, and reduced access to a college-bound curriculum.
The Equity Project at Indiana University
The Equity Project provides evidence-based information specific to issues of school discipline, school violence, special education, and equality of educational opportunity for all students. In addition, the project provides support and technical assistance to educational agencies seeking to create equitable school systems.
The Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools
The Metro Center provides leadership and support to students, parents, teachers, administrators, and policymakers to target issues related to educational equity.

TA centers that help with CEIS program planning around academic issues

U.S. Department of Education–Funded TA Centers

Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs)
The RELs work in partnership with school districts, state departments of education, and others to use data and research to improve academic outcomes for students. Fundamentally, the mission of the RELs is to provide support for a more evidence-reliant education system.

TA centers that help LEAs address CEIS planning around issues with the identification of children as children with disabilities

Other TA Centers

Center on Response to Intervention
The Center on RTI provides resources to assist states, districts, and schools with the implementation and scale-up of RTI and its components.
RTI Action Network
The RTI Action Network guides educators and families with the large-scale implementation of RTI.

TA centers that help LEAs address CEIS planning around issues with the placement of children in particular educational environments

U.S. Department of Education-Funded TA Centers

SWiFT Schools
Schoolwide Integrated Framework for Transformation, or SWiFT, is a national K–8 technical assistance center that builds school capacity to provide academic and behavioral support to improve outcomes for all students through equity-based inclusion.

TA centers that help LEAs address CEIS planning around issues with the incidence, duration, and type of disciplinary actions, including suspensions and expulsions

U.S. Department of Education-Funded TA Centers

Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS)
PBIS provides technical assistance to improve the capacity of states, districts and schools to establish, scale-up and sustain the PBIS framework.