The South Eastern Special Education Cooperative was established in 1968 to provide quality special education programs and services to all eligible students within the cooperative area. SESE provides programs and service to students ages 3-22 residing within its eleven member districts who have been screened, evaluated and determined eligible for special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), provisions of the Illinois School Code and state regulations. Services are provided in compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and the Illinois School Code. SESE is responsible for coordinating the special education activities and resources for the eleven member districts.
Presently, SESE serves approximately 1,650 students. These include all disability areas identified in the regulations including speech and language only. If speech and language students are taken out of the total, approximately 1,065 are served in programs regardless of program design.
SESE offers a wide variety of special education programs and services for the families that it serves. We believe that social, emotional and physical development is equally as important as academic development. Therefore, within each of these programs, individual goals are developed to maximize each students learning potential with respect to these areas.