The Colorado Re-Engaged (CORE) initiative, created under House Bill 21-1330, allows a four-year institution of higher education (IHE) to award an associate degree to former students who meet eligibility requirements -- including having already earned at least 70 credit hours before stopping-out of a bachelor's program. Under HB21-1330, each…

Given that standards-based education has been commonplace since the early 1980's, most practicing education professionals cannot remember a time where standards did not exist. Standards have historically served as a mechanism for accountability and academic achievement. In physical education, while not required in initial educational reforms, the…

Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) is an outgrowth of Response to Intervention (RtI). The various systems of support for students and school communities provided through these programs are integral to modern education and embedded in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004. While there are many benefits to…

This article delineates the four successive dimensions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's (IDEA) central obligation of "free appropriation public education" that the courts have developed thus far: (a) procedural, (b) substantive, (c) incomplete implementation of the last Individualized Education Program (IEP), and (d)…

California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) is continuing its five-year grant, "An Equitable Pathway to In-Demand STEM Careers," which began in Fall 2021 to facilitate Hispanic students' degree completion and career preparation in STEM fields. In its third year, the grant team followed the original proposal to: 1. Offer effective…

"Augmentative and alternative communication" (AAC) refers to a wide variety of communication devices, systems, tools, and strategies that support or replace spoken language. Augmentative and alternative communication users represent a range of ages, abilities, and communication needs. Support for AAC often begins in the public school…

The aim of this paper is to bring together concepts and commitments from both liberal and queer theories with the purpose of designing an integrated framework for equity-focused education policy analysis and implementation. In essence, we aim to build a conceptual bridge between queer and liberal democratic theories and to develop what we call a…

This paper examines Colombia's National Plan for Human Rights Education (Plan Nacional de Educación en Derechos Humanos, PLANEDH) as a case study to discuss how positivistic, Eurocentric, and Western constructions have influenced a hegemonic understanding of human rights education. While the PLANEDH policy aligns with the United Nations human…

The adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2006 and, in particular, Article 24 was a landmark in the struggle of people with disability for recognition of their fundamental human rights, including their right to education. As a legally binding treaty under international law, imposing…

Transgender and nonbinary (collectively referred to here as "trans") students are ill-served by most school environments. They experience challenges trying to navigate institutions that, at best, are poorly designed to support them and that often work against them. Although some districts and states have developed laws and policies to…

This paper explores some of the documents that provide a foundation for the Church and its ministries to deliver justice and mercy to all, including students with disabilities. First, Catholic Social Teaching (CST) traditions will be presented as the foundation to some of the documents of the American Church. A chronology of the documents of…

C.R.S. 24-33.5-1905 (4) directs the Department of Higher Education (DHE, the Department) to prepare a report detailing progress made towards critical state cyber-security goals at institutions of higher education that received an appropriation through SB 18-086. Specifically, the report must include, at a minimum: (1) The number of faculty or…

Three years after the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Patrick McGuinn reviews how the U.S. Department of Education has managed the approval process for state accountability plans, how state plans are shaping up as a result of their newfound flexibility, and what implementation challenges have emerged. States have required…

According to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA), a State wanting to receive Federal funds must submit a plan indicating which of nine programs it wants to receive funds for. This is the final report on the results of the audit of the U.S. Department of Education's processes for reviewing and approving State plans…

The researcher briefly reviewed the Response to Intervention (RtI) framework and explained how Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA, 2004) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) enhanced RtI implementation in general education classrooms. The main focus of this paper is to identify general educators' roles when implementing RtI…