New York City Department of Education

Services Rendered to Special Education Students

School districts are required to identify and evaluate all students with disabilities in their area and ensure that the students receive appropriate educational services in the least restrictive environment consistent with their needs. The New York City Department of Education arranges special education services for about 150,000 students, about 20,000 of whom have severe disabilities. We examined the Department’s controls over the special education services provided to these severely disabled students and found that significant improvements were needed. For example, we visited 2 of the 56 special schools serving these students and found the schools often could not locate required documentation (a) showing what services should have been provided to the students and (b) confirming that the services were in fact provided. In addition, when this documentation was available, there were significant errors and inconsistencies in the information recorded by the schools. We also determined that the information used by the Department in monitoring such services was often out-of-date or inaccurate. We recommended a number of improvements in the Department’s controls over special education services.

For a complete copy of Report 2004-N-2 click here.
For a copy of the associated follow-up report click here.