Special Education Action: National

What Parents Should Know About U.S. Department of Education's Updated Differentiated Monitoring & Support Reports Page

Callie Oettinger — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 17:11:32 GMT

U.S. Department of Education (ED) rolled out a revised IDEA Differentiated Monitoring and Support (DMS) Reports page on ED.gov. The page features a searchable database that lets you filter by state, program (Part B or Part C), year and document type. It sounds promising, but parents and advocates should know that what’s online today is far from complete.

The Database is Incomplete

Special Education Action has long tracked ED’s oversight reports and immediately noticed big gaps. Records begin in 2018 and earlier years such as 2016 and 2017 are absent. Worse, several states and territories don’t appear at all. For instance, OSEP issued a groundbreaking DMS monitoring report to Texas in 2016, which was followed by years of continued monitoring, yet visitors can’t even select that state in the drop‑down menu. Other states are listed but their histories are truncated. For example, Virginia’s entry shows only 2024 documents, omitting reports from 2020 and 2022. These omissions suggest the database remains a work in progress, but nothing on the page explains that to users.

What is DMS?

ED’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) monitors how each state implements Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Under the DMS system, OSEP reviews each state’s general‑supervision system and issues reports and letters—commonly called DMS reports and status letters—that identify noncompliance, outline corrective actions, and describe areas of progress and/or continue noncompliance.

These documents may be technical, but they matter because they reveal whether a state is meeting its obligations and they often reflect input from parents and advocates.

What Changed in 2024–2026?

In 2024 ED started redesigning its website. Special Education Action previously documented how the overhaul broke links and caused oversight documents to vanish. By early 2025, broken links occupied spaces where federal oversight had lived.

ED’s own 2023 report to Congress under the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act notes that ED plans to remove roughly 100,000 URLs from ED.gov and “has invested in data cleansing activities that will support expedited and effective content migration.” In other words, the agency is actively pruning its web presence even while families are searching for critical oversight records.

Redesigning a Department on the Chopping Block

The redesign didn’t happen in a vacuum. Federal agencies must comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, which require public websites to be accessible to people with disabilities. ED’s accessibility statement says it continually modifies its sites to meet those requirements. In 2024 U.S. Department of Justice issued a final rule clarifying that state and local governments must meet web‑accessibility standards. It’s plausible that the redesign was an attempt to modernize ED’s sprawling web presence and comply with these mandates.

Yet the timing is odd because the Trump administration has been moving to dismantle ED. March 20, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to abolish ED and the administration has been cutting staff and transferring programs to other agencies. Why invest in a major website overhaul while tearing the agency apart?

Regardless of the motive, the result is a confusing juxtaposition. Families and advocates are asked to navigate a redesigned website for a department that the administration has pledged to abolish.

Why This Matters

Access to oversight documents is disrupted. The 2024 redesign broke links and removed pages. Parents and advocates lost visibility into how their state is performing under IDEA and what corrective actions are required.
The database isn’t complete. Early years are missing, several states aren’t listed at all, and some states show only partial records. Families still can’t access many past reports and must rely on their own archives or the willingness of state officials to share documents. In my neck of the woods, Virginia disputed ED’s 2020 report and later failed to post all subsequent reports—even while touting how well it worked with OSEP. (But I digress…)
Few people are talking about it. To my knowledge, no major news outlets have reported on the disappearance of DMS reports. Without coverage, many families may not even know these oversight documents exist.
Digital copies are unofficial. Even once the database is populated, ED notes that digital reports are for reference only and advises users to request official hard‑copy versions through their state’s Monitoring and State Improvement Planning (MSIP) contact. Anyone who has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with ED knows that “quick” and “timely” are not words often associated with ED’s turnaround times.

How to Stay Informed

Use archived copies. Special Education Action is archiving DMS reports and status letters so families can access them even when ED links are broken.
Check the new ED.gov page regularly. ED may populate the database over time. Until then, the page serves as an official location for future DMS reports.
Contact your state’s MSIP representative. For official hard‑copy reports or for reports not yet posted online, reach out to your state’s MSIP contact as suggested by ED.
File public‑records requests. IDEA and state open‑records laws allow families to request monitoring reports and correspondence. If your state or MSIP contact don’t provide a report, submit a FOIA request or a state‑level public‑records request.

Final Words

The DMS system is a vital part of IDEA’s accountability framework. When ED began modernizing its website it inadvertently hid—or removed—many records that families and advocates rely on. The new DMS reports page is a step toward restoring access and is easier to navigate. But . . .

It still lacks significant data. Until ED fully populates the database and clarifies its plans for modernization, communities must remain vigilant, archiving documents, sharing information, and reminding officials that transparency is essential.

What Parents Should Know About the Naviance-Related Class‑Action Lawsuit

Callie Oettinger — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 16:13:18 GMT

“Children should not have to needlessly hand over their data and forfeit their privacy in order to do their schoolwork or participate in remote learning, especially given the wide and increasing adoption of ed tech tools.”

~Federal Trade Commission

Last Friday, April 3, 2026, class action notice letters were issued, notifying parents and students of a class action lawsuit related to the platform Naviance. Naviance is used by thousands of school divisions nationwide and plays a central role in career exploration and college applications. The notices were distributed by Kroll Settlement Administration LLC, the settlement administrator, and outline the steps families must take to participate in or opt out of the settlement.

Although the case was filed by the parents of a Chicago Public Schools student, students and parents nationwide are being alerted of the suit and settlement, due to the widespread use of Naviance.

What’s the Case About?

Office for Civil Rights Publishes Four Findings and Resolution Agreements for Disability Discrimination Cases: California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington

Callie Oettinger — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 16:04:33 GMT

March 11, 2026, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published four more findings and resolution agreements to the 2026 section of its “Office for Civil Rights Recent Resolution Search” database. This brings the total number of complaints listed under 2026 to 45, 13 of which focus on disability discrimination cases.

Quick Review

OCR doesn’t publish press release…

Department of Justice Sends Nationwide Message in its Decision Against Special School District of St. Louis County

Callie Oettinger — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 16:29:22 GMT

February 23, 2026, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued findings from its investigation of the Special School District of St. Louis County. Buried in the 93‑page letter was a sentence with nationwide implications:

“Any time a student demonstrates a pattern of behaviors that is not effectively prevented or managed using the strategies in the BIP, the s…

Office for Civil Rights Adds 18 More Cases to "Recent Resolution Search" Database

Callie Oettinger — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 04:33:20 GMT

February 24, 2026, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) added 18 investigation findings and resolution agreements to its “Office for Civil Rights Recent Resolution Search” database. This brings the number of case resolutions listed under 2026 to 27.

All 18 of the newly posted cases focus on race and national‑origin discrimination at colleges and universities. …

Office for Civil Rights Publishes Nine Findings and Resolution Agreements for Disability Discrimination Cases: Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia

Callie Oettinger — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 20:54:46 GMT

Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published nine findings and resolution agreements for 2026 to the “Office for Civil Rights Recent Resolution Search” section on its site. Although all are listed under 2026 on the site, one of the nine actually has a 2025 findings and resolution date. All nine are based on complaints filed between 2020 and 2025.

Quick Review

Differentiated Monitoring and Support Reports and Letters

Callie Oettinger — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 21:00:00 GMT

Published 11.10.25. Updated 2.4.26, 2.10.26, and 4.16.26.

When U.S. Department of Education (ED) rolled out its redesigned site in 2024, broken links took up residence where federal oversight once lived. Pages that once housed documents such as Differentiated Monitoring and Support (DMS) reports, guidance documents, and Dear Colleague letters now redirect—or vanished entirely.

To safeguard access, Special Education Action has begun archiving DMS reports and status letters directly on its site instead of linking to unstable USDOE URLs. (Additional Reading: We Need to Preserve What U.S. Department of Education Continues to Remove)

About the List Below

The following documents were taken from both the old DMS Part B page (~~still accessible as of 11.10.25 2.10.26~~ no longer available) and the new Parts B and C DMS page (which as of 4.16.26 now redirects to a database formatted page). ~~Links from the old page no longer open the referenced files;~~ I’m working to locate and add downloadable versions for the links still listed below.

Important: This is not a complete collection. ED often posts DMS reports and letters years late—or not at all. If a record isn’t listed, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. For this reason, I’m working on adding notes under states with missing materials. For example, the Bureau of Indian Affairs section includes a 2021 closure letter addressing only some of the issues identified in 2019. Where are the corresponding status reports or closure letters for the remaining issues? Are the remaining issues even closed? If not, why not?

Request: If you have DMS records not listed below or missing from the downloads, please consider sharing them so they can be added to the list.

Please Check Back: I’ll continue adding records as they’re found. Please check back periodically for updates.

Updates

2.4.26: When USDOE updates its website, a timestamp appears on any page that has been modified. Between September 26, 2025, and January 21, 2026, the timestamp in the lower corner of the DMS webpage remained unchanged. On January 22, 2026, the timestamp updated to January 22, 2026; however, no substantive changes to the page content are apparent. The screenshots below, taken on September 30, 2025, and January 22, 2026, document the page’s identical content on both dates.

2.10.26: USDOE added its December 17, 2025, letter and report to Louisiana Department of Health for noncompliance with IDEA Part C. This has been added to the list below.

4.16.26: Added OSEP’s March 25, 2026, closeout letter for South Carolina; March 25, 2026, DMS report for Utah; February 29, 2026, DMS report for Maine; February 18, 2026, closeout letter for Alaska; February 18, 2026, closeout letter for Idaho; and updated content under the “About the List Below” section.

Differentiated Monitoring and Support (DMS) Reports

Alaska

Part B DMS Reports

DMS Monitoring Report of Sept. 25, 2023
September 25, 2023: Alaska Part B DMS Monitoring Report
567KB ∙ PDF file
Download
Download
- May 16, 2024: Alaska Part B DMS Status Letter
  May 16, 2024: Alaska Part B DMS Status Letter
  382KB ∙ PDF file
  Download
  Download
- February 18, 2026: Alaska Part B DMS Closeout Letter
February 18, 2026: Alaska Part B DMS Closeout Letter
351KB ∙ PDF file
Download
Download

American Samoa

Part B DMS Reports

April 2, 2024: American Samoa OSEP and OESE Fiscal Monitoring Report

April 2, 2024: American Samoa OSEP and OESE Fiscal Monitoring Report

280KB ∙ PDF file

Special Education Action: National

What Parents Should Know About U.S. Department of Education's Updated Differentiated Monitoring & Support Reports Page

The Database is Incomplete

What is DMS?

What Changed in 2024–2026?

Redesigning a Department on the Chopping Block

Why This Matters

How to Stay Informed

Final Words

What Parents Should Know About the Naviance-Related Class‑Action Lawsuit

What’s the Case About?

Office for Civil Rights Publishes Four Findings and Resolution Agreements for Disability Discrimination Cases: California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington

Quick Review

Department of Justice Sends Nationwide Message in its Decision Against Special School District of St. Louis County

Office for Civil Rights Adds 18 More Cases to "Recent Resolution Search" Database

Office for Civil Rights Publishes Nine Findings and Resolution Agreements for Disability Discrimination Cases: Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia

Quick Review

Differentiated Monitoring and Support Reports and Letters

Published 11.10.25. Updated 2.4.26, 2.10.26, and 4.16.26.

About the List Below

Updates

Differentiated Monitoring and Support (DMS) Reports

Alaska

Part B DMS Reports

American Samoa

Part B DMS Reports

Part C DMS Reports

Arizona

Arkansas

Part B DMS Reports

Part C DMS Reports

Bureau of Indian Education

Part B DMS Reports

California

Colorado

Part B DMS Reports

Part C DMS Reports

District of Columbia

Florida

Hawaii

Idaho

Part B DMS Reports

Part C DMS Reports

Illinois

Indiana

Part B DMS Reports

Part C DMS Reports

Iowa

Part B DMS Reports

Part C DMS Reports

Kansas

Part B DMS Reports

Part C DMS Reports

Kentucky

Part B DMS Reports

Part C DMS Reports

Louisiana

Part B DMS Report

Part C DMS Report

Maine

Part C DMS Reports

Massachusetts

Part B DMS Reports

Michigan

Part C DMS Reports

Mississippi

Part B DMS Reports

Part C DMS Reports

Montana

Part B DMS Reports

Part C DMS Reports

Nebraska

Part B DMS Reports

Nevada

Part B DMS Reports

Part C DMS Reports

New Hampshire

New Jersey

Part B DMS Reports

New Mexico