Why Systems Change — and What Makes It Effective
This is post #2 in the MiPAAC: Reimagining Special Education Series
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November 25, 2025
In yesterday’s post, we shared why true allyship in special education requires more than good intentions — it requires changing the systems that create inequity in the first place.
Today, we take a closer look at 
why change is necessary.
When Support Isn’t Enough
Much like a workplace where bias shapes who is heard, valued, or promoted, special education systems are shaped by historical and structural inequities:
Decades of underfunding that leave schools unable to meet student needs. Policies that prioritize compliance over outcomes. Inconsistent access to evidence-based instruction — especially in literacy. Disproportionate exclusionary discipline for students with disabilities. Opaque and inaccessible data systems that hide inequities rather than surface them. And a system that still requires parents to fight for what federal law already guarantees.Families feel these symptoms every day: exclusion, exhaustion, distrust, and having their expertise dismissed.
Educators feel them too: burnout, overwhelming caseloads, limited training, and systems that make it nearly impossible to deliver what students need.
Offering support — listening, empathizing, validating — absolutely matters.
But as MIT’s research shows:
When the focus stays on helping people cope with inequitable systems instead of changing those systems, frustrations grow and progress stalls.
In special education, that means students continue to go without the instruction, services, and opportunities they deserve.
This Is Why Systems Change Matters
Systems change isn’t abstract. It’s practical. It’s measurable. And it’s the only path to making IDEA’s promise real.
For MiPAAC and AAoM, effective systems change means:
Fixing funding so resources follow need — not ZIP code or district capacity. Embedding evidence-based instruction, especially in reading and discipline. Rebuilding trust through authentic family partnership in policy and practice. Strengthening accountability so paperwork doesn’t overshadow outcomes. Aligning data, policy, and decision-making to illuminate — and close — gaps. Reducing the need for adversarial advocacy by creating systems that work on their own.This is how allyship becomes transformative, not symbolic.
Together, we can build a system worthy of every child.
Learn more about the Autism Alliance of Michigan Education systems change initiatives here: https://autismallianceofmichigan.org/education-initiatives/