The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) entitles students who qualify for special education services to a free and appropriate education (FAPE) across all public education settings, including juvenile justice (JJ) facilities. JJ facilities have disproportionately higher rates of students with disabilities, who tend to experience…

Despite extensive transition provisions in the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the post-school outcomes for students with disabilities continue to be disappointing. The IDEA designated those transition provisions as priority targets for federal and state compliance monitoring to assure that schools are attaining the goal…

There has been a paradigm shift from accommodations to the identification of levels of accessibility (e.g., universal features, designated features, and accommodations). A consequence of this shift is that many students with disabilities who previously were assigned accommodations now access many of them as universal or designated features. This…

The individualized education program (IEP) is often referred to as the most important plan designed to provide students with disabilities a free and appropriate public education that requires families and professionals to collaborate for student success. Using qualitative methodology, we examined four focus groups of 43 parents of students with…

High quality family-professional partnerships promote the personal, social, and academic growth of students with disabilities. However, due to systemic barriers, such partnerships can be difficult, especially for families from low-resourced communities. Using the Sunshine Model, the purpose of this systematic literature review was to characterize…

The central obligation under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act is to provide each eligible student with a free appropriate public education (FAPE). In "Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District RE-1" (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court revised the prior substantive standard for determining FAPE that the court had developed in…

Special education stands at a pivotal juncture, confronting both existential challenges and transformational opportunities. The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is not upholding its mandate of promoting the Individualized Education Program (IEP). I underscore the centrality of the IEP in the…

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework can be applied to a variety of instructional contexts and activities, and individualized education program (IEP) meetings are one such context. The primary principle of the framework is to provide teachers with guidelines for designing and implementing instruction that can be adapted to meet the…

All New Hampshire public school districts must provide access to a free appropriate public education for preschool-aged children with an identified disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B. Children identified under IDEA Part B have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) to support their learning. Some…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates high-quality special education services for U.S. students with visual impairments (VI) in their least restrictive environment. Due to shortages of teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs) and other resources, however, many students with VI, especially those in rural or…

Under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, individualized education program (IEP) annual goals are required to enable students with disabilities to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum and to address other educational needs. This study reports findings from a content analysis of the annual goals in 88…

The majority of students with exceptional needs receive most of their formal education in general education or inclusive classrooms. These students often need a variety of accommodations to ensure their success with the general education curriculum. The purpose of this article is to explore accommodation approaches and strategies for teaching…

The U.S. law governing special education, the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), requires that students with disabilities be provided a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). However, given the interpretive latitude within the law and the wide discrepancy in how this law is applied,…

Five days after the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its ruling in "Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision in "M.C. v. Antelope Valley Union High School District." This important decision involved a student who was being served under the Individuals with…

The peer-reviewed special education literature has included notable attention to the peer-reviewed research (PRR) provision that the 2004 amendments added to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). However, as with the other IDEA issues, the legal accuracy of this translating treatment for special education professionals is subject…