District State Study Team (DSST)
overview
The District State Study Team (DSST) is a collaborative process in which a local educational agency (LEA), the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE), and System Improvement Leads (SIL) work side by side to examine how a district’s systems serve students with disabilities before the district is identified for Differentiated Assistance or Compliance Improvement Monitoring.
Nearly all districts in Differentiated Assistance are identified because of outcomes for students with disabilities. Until now, the system has largely waited for districts to be identified before specialized support could be offered. The DSST replaces that “wait to fail” pattern with early, invited partnership connecting districts to the universal and targeted resources already available across the Statewide System of Support (SSOS).
How the process works
| Phase | Purpose | Estimated time |
|---|---|---|
| Initial intake | Develop understanding of the LEA’s strengths and needs | 1 month |
| Data analysis | Deep dive into existing district data the LEA already has (no new data collection) | 1 month |
| Team formation | Identify district staff and system of support partners | 1–2 months |
| Educational partner input | Collect and synthesize input from families, students, and staff | 2–5 months |
| Identify problem of practice | Name the student outcome to be addressed | 1 month |
| Action planning | Devise change ideas and strategic actions | 1–2 months |
| Implementation support | Build district capacity, then hand off to SSOS partners | Ongoing as needed |
Where the work has taken us
- Newport-Mesa Unified School District (Orange County) — Over 16 months beginning in October 2023, this district of nearly 18,000 students narrowed more than 30 competing priorities to three and built lasting system changes, with post-secondary and achievement indicators for students with disabilities now trending above state targets and statewide rates. Explore the full Newport-Mesa results and data →
- Ukiah Unified School District (Mendocino County) — In this rural district of approximately 6,000 students, the work focused on paraprofessional capacity, stronger professional learning communities, and learning from model inclusive settings, with Ukiah now connected to Supporting Inclusive Practices to sustain the effort locally. [Read the full Ukiah story →] (page in development)
- Wiseburn Unified School District (Los Angeles County) — The next DSST partner and the first small district to enter the process, Wiseburn will test how the work adapts when a single administrator may hold several roles at once. (Starting 2026-27.)
What we are learning
Across both partnerships, consistent lessons have emerged:
- Start with cabinet, and start with measures. Establishing vision, a regular meeting cadence, and agreed measures of success at the cabinet level is what makes progress visible later.
- More is not more. Both districts were carrying more initiatives than any system could implement well. The most valuable early move was creating space to pause, take stock, and narrow focus — balancing quick wins against one or two long-term areas, no more.
- Timing matters as much as matching. Connecting a district to the right SSOS resource at the wrong moment adds to overload rather than relieving it.
- Clarity precedes capacity. Confusion about roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships limited progress more than any resource gap.
- Language shapes practice. Shifting from “your students” to “our students” — and from special education as a place to special education as a service — changed how adults worked together.
- Districts need a bridge, not another door. With county offices, SELPAs, geographic leads, CDE, and multiple statewide initiatives all in play, the greatest value CCEE added was helping districts navigate the system rather than adding to it.
- Ownership must be local. In both districts, the work continued because district leadership carried it — not because the partnership continued indefinitely.
Interested in a partnership?
The DSST begins with a phone call. Districts do not need to be identified for assistance to ask for support. Kristin Brooks, CCEE strategist at [email protected] or submit through the ccee website at Request Assistance →
As the statewide agency charged with assisting LEAs in need of support, CCEE provides universal, targeted, and intensive supports and resources for local educational agencies. Learn more at ccee-ca.org.