Coordinated Early
Intervening Services (CEIS) 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, national origin, and religion 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-tiered systems 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
- 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
- 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
- Center on 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.
Resources to assist with general CEIS program planning
U.S. Department of Education Resources
- Policy Statement on Family Engagement — From The Early Years To The Early Grades
- Resource Guide: Supporting Undocumented Youth
U.S. Department of Education Funded Resources
- Early Childhood Knowledge & Learning Center (ECLKC). Best Practices in Family and Community Engagement Video Series
- IDC and CIFR. CEIS Practice Guide: Examples of Fiscal and Child Tracking for Voluntary and Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS)
- IDC. A Comparison of Mandatory Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CCEIS) and Voluntary Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS)
Other TA Resources
- Child Trends. Culture Counts: Engaging Black and Latino Parents of Young Children in Family Support Programs
- The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Families as Primary Partners in their Child’s Development School Readiness
- National Center for Children in Poverty. Parent Engagement from Preschool through Grade 3: A Guide for Policymakers
Resources to assist with CEIS program planning around academic issues
U.S. Department of Education Funded Resources
Other TA Center Resources
- Annenberg Institute for School Reform. Promising Practices and Unfinished Business: Fostering Equity and Excellence for Black and Latino Males
- Center on Great Teachers and Leaders. A Framework for Coherence: College and Career Readiness Standards, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, and Educator Effectiveness
Resources to assist with CEIS planning around issues with the identification of children as children with disabilities
Other TA Center Resources
- The ILIAD Project. Addressing Overrepresentation of African American Students in Special Education
- National Center on Intensive Intervention. Tools Chart
Resources to assist with CEIS planning around issues with the placement of children in particular educational environments
Resources to assist with CEIS planning around issues with the incidence, duration, and type of disciplinary actions, including suspensions and expulsions
U.S. Department of Education Resources
- Dear Colleague Letter on the Inclusion of Behavioral Supports in Individualized Education Programs
- Positive, Proactive Approaches to Supporting the Needs of Children with Disabilities: A Guide for Stakeholders
- Questions and Answers: Addressing the Needs of Children with Disabilities and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’s (IDEA’s) Discipline Provisions
U.S. Department of Education Funded Resources
- National Technical Assistance Center on Transition (NTACT). Culturally Responsive Practices and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
Annotated Bibliography - PBIS. A 5-Point Intervention Approach for Enhancing Equity in School Discipline
- PBIS. Addressing Inequities in School Discipline
- PBIS. Do Schools Implementing SWPBIS Have Decreased Racial and Ethnic Disproportionality in School Discipline?
- PBIS. Examples of Engaging Instruction to Increase Equity in Education
- PBIS. Key Elements of Policies to Address Discipline Disproportionality: A Guide for District and School Teams
- PBIS. Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) in the Classroom
- PBIS. PBIS Cultural Responsiveness Field Guide: Resources for Trainers and Coaches
- PBIS. Pyramid Equity Project: Defining Disproportionate Discipline—Understanding Common Measures
- PBIS. Reducing the Effects of Implicit Bias in School Discipline
- PBIS. Using PBIS to Ensure Racial Equity in School Discipline
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