The topic of this article is the chain of actions in special education in Norwegian compulsory schooling. The main research question is: how do local practise concur with national regulations and guidelines in different phases of the chain of actions in special education? The study is carried out as an evaluation study. The criteria on which the analysis of local practice relates to are clarified based on the analysis of national regulations and guidelines. A qualitative content analysis of written documents has been conducted, both with regard to regulations and practice. Data aimed at throwing light on local practice covers a total of eight pupil cases, each of which contains the relevant documents from the phases in the chain of actions. Based on the results, we can first of all conclude that a rather varying accordance exists between practise and regulations in different phases of the chain of actions. Certain parts of the regulations appear to be followed up effectively, but the follow up in other areas is far less clear and at times inadequate. Second, the results indicate that the interrelationship between the different phases of the chain of actions varies. This represents a serious challenge, not only for the individual phases, but also for the chain as a whole. Thus, there appears to be a clear need to improve the quality, where the focus should be on aspects of practice as well as the regulations.