The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is committed to ensuring that students and youth with disabilities are held to high expectations and have the resources and supports needed to expand their learning opportunities and prepare them for success in postsecondary education and competitive integrated employment (CIE). In the 2019-2020…

Transportation is one of the many important services that an LEA may have to provide to allow access to special education and related services required for preschool children with disabilities. This document outlines rules and laws on the topic of transportation of students with disabilities and guidance on how to complete Section 8 of the…

"Dimensions of Communication" is a manual to assess the communication skills and behaviors of individuals with disabilities. It is an assessment instrument designed to help teachers, parents, educational specialists, speech-language therapists, psychologists, and other service providers evaluate the communication skills of individuals…

The purpose of this brief is to help families and educators understand the right of students with disabilities who need accessible educational materials to receive these materials in a timely manner. This right is based on provisions in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as well as in the disability civil rights statutes…

There is no handbook to being a parent. Much less being a parent of a child with special educational needs. "How do you support your child in school? Where do you even begin to try and access local services? What can you expect from your local authority?" Co-written by a parent who has been there and a SEND professional who understands…

School work is designed to challenge students and help them meet grade-level academic standards. Students with disabilities have the right to learn and participate in the general education curriculum. Public school districts must provide these students with the services, accommodations, and modifications that they need to learn the same material…

In education, assistive technologies include devices or services that increase learners' independence, participation or achievement to ensure that they reach their full potential. This guide describes how educators using assistive technology can promote an inclusive environment that accommodates the different ways learners assimilate information…

"Six Shifts to Improve Special Education and Other Interventions" offers a set of bold, new ideas for dramatically raising the achievement of students with mild to moderate disabilities and students experiencing serious academic, social and emotional, and behavioral difficulties. Despite much effort and caring on the part of educators, a…

Individualized education plans (IEPs) have the potential and responsibility of providing individuals with the highest level of learning opportunities. In this guide, discover the essential steps and vital understandings for team members to create student-centered IEPs. This book simplifies the IEP writing process and provides practical strategies…

OSERS published updates to "A Transition Guide to Postsecondary Education and Employment for Students and Youth with Disabilities, August 2020" to advance the office's efforts in ensuring that all students and youth with disabilities are equipped with the skills and knowledge to achieve their post-school and career goals. In this updated…

This guide provides cross-sector teams at the state, territory, tribal, and local levels with strategies for collecting and using data across the mixed delivery system of early care and education programs. (This guide uses the term "state and local" to refer to all of these levels.) Collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative…

Questions often arise about how accessible educational materials (AEM) might be included in Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). The two purposes of this article are to (1) help families and educators understand the importance of including AEM in the IEPs of students who require them, and (2) to discuss locations in the IEP where it may be…

The Kansas Graduate and Dropout Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of how the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) calculates and reports the Adjusted Cohort Graduation and Annual Dropout Rates. Sections include: (1) Introduction; (2) Terminology; (3) Data Sources; (4) Graduation Calculations; (5) Dropout Calculation; and (6)…

There are an estimated 1.5 to 2.5 million children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the United States. These children make up about 3-5 percent of a school's student population. Boys are diagnosed almost ten times more often than girls. Girls tend to be more inattentive and their symptoms are dismissed as those of a day…

The availability of high-quality Open Educational Resources (OER) plays an important role in addressing equity issues in education. For its full potential to be realized for every learner, however, OER must be more than openly licensed at a reasonable cost. They must also be usable across the variability that learners bring to any learning…