Program Associate I - Reporting & Compliance

About the role

Location: Fisher Building, 3011 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit, MI 48202. Reports to: Senior Director of ESE Systems & Analytics. Bargaining Unit: OSAS. The Program Associate I, Reporting & Compliance Specialist supports the ESE Systems & Analytics team within the Student Data & Accountability division by serving as the engine for proactive ESE data monitoring. The team administers, integrates, reports, and provides end-user support for PowerSchool Special Programs (PSSP), the district's primary platform for special education data management, and serves as the data quality and systems bridge between the ESE division and the Student Information Services team. The Reporting & Compliance Specialist monitors ESE data across platforms on a recurring basis, identifies discrepancies and compliance gaps before they reach state auditors, and produces reports that make those findings actionable for ESE partner teams and district leadership. As the district works toward establishing a consistent approach to MTSS, this role will support monitoring of intervention data alongside IEP compliance data, connecting pre-referral outcomes to special education records. This role works directly in the systems where compliance data lives, coordinates findings with the Program Supervisor, and ensures that reports are structured so district partners can act on them. Success requires a strong analytical foundation, fluency with data quality monitoring practices, and working knowledge of special education compliance requirements and IEP-related workflows sufficient to distinguish a data error from a compliance violation.

Responsibilities

• Monitor ESE compliance data across platforms on a recurring schedule, identifying discrepancies, missing documentation, and workflow errors before they reach state submission or general collection audits.
• Develop and maintain data monitoring checklists and review cadences aligned to the district's pupil accounting calendar, ensuring that each count window has structured review points built in ahead of the deadline.
• Distinguish between data quality problems that can be resolved through end-user correction and those that indicate a systemic configuration or workflow issue, routing the latter to the Program Supervisor for technical resolution.
• As the district builds toward MTSS, support monitoring of pre-referral intervention data alongside IEP compliance data, identifying gaps in documentation and flagging cases where intervention records are incomplete or misaligned with special education outcomes.
• Produce compliance monitoring reports that are structured for action, clearly showing which cases are at risk, what the error or gap is, and what needs to happen before the submission deadline.
• Validate reports built by the Integration Specialist against known cases and expected outputs before they are used for decision‑making; flag discrepancies in logic or data sourcing.
• Communicate monitoring findings to ESE division teams, the Student Information Services team, and Data Services in a form each audience can act on, with sufficient context about what is wrong, why it matters, and by when it must be resolved.
• Track the resolution of flagged issues through to completion, following up with ESE partners and documenting outcomes so that the team has a clear record of what was found, communicated, and corrected before each count.
• Maintain documentation of data quality findings, monitoring procedures, and error patterns, building an institutional record that informs system improvement decisions and