The history of the people, problems, and politics surrounding the establishment of federal special education policy is rich with useful illustrations for advocates and educators. As the 50th anniversary of IDEA approaches, we use a historical perspective to consider how the promise of the law -- to ensure access to a free appropriate public…

The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) advocates for the full participation of all children and youth with disabilities and/or identified as gifted and talented in educational programming that promotes positive academic, social emotional, and adaptive/independent living outcomes and sets the stage for lifelong success. This position statement…

Despite the repeated documentation of the positive outcomes for students with extensive support needs (ESN) when they are included in general education settings and receive access to state-adopted general education standards, there has been little systemic progress on the inclusion of students with ESN across most states. The purpose of this…

Despite laws in the United States (e.g., Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and its 2008 Amendments), students with various disabilities continue to experience access barriers to instructional content and inclusion in course activities. Online learning environments can present especially…

Physical education classrooms reflect a range of learners, movers, and abilities. Incoming physical educators report lacking confidence and knowledge in their ability to create inclusive lesson plans. Many undergraduate and liberal studies students are required to take one adaptative physical education pedagogy course; thus, incoming educators…

This mixed-methods study delves into the intricate relationship between pedagogy, pedagogical measures, and equity concerns in education, focusing on implementing Inclusiveness, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) principles. The findings underscore the necessity for educational institutions to navigate legal constraints while prioritizing…

Federal entitlement policies like Title III and the IDEA help grant multilingual learners (MLs) and students with disabilities (SWDs) access to public schools. Yet they have operated in ways that continue to "other" the very student populations they intend to integrate. Drawing on social network surveys and semi-structured interviews…

Access to general education is a federal mandate for all students but a major challenge in middle schools. The problem addressed in this study is a lack of access to the general education curriculum in the middle grades 6th-8th. To solve this problem, the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework was created to provide instructional design…

Physical accessibility at colleges and universities is a perennial and challenging issue. Some campuses have made efforts to address these challenges through a variety of advocacy initiatives, while others have used disability simulations to bring greater awareness of physical accessibility to campus communities. An alternative approach to…

This paper examines the accommodations for the inclusion of children with disabilities in regular schools in Trinidad. A multiphase mixed methods design consisting of three phases is used. In the first phase, the environmental accommodations essential for the inclusion of children with disabilities in schools are identified. This information is…

In an economy recovering from the pandemic, record unemployment is not solely due to a lack of jobs, instead, U.S. employers are in the midst of dealing with a so-called "skills gap." While most economists report that there is a large pool of potential workers to fill the estimated more than 7.2 million job openings, employers have found…

Access to general education preschool in California has varied for children with disabilities. One reason for the disparity of educational placement is the preschool regulations outlined in California Department of Education's Title 22: Community Care Licensing guidelines. These regulations, particularly in preschool, support or hinder preschool…

Advancement of testing of mathematical problem-solving skills calls for open-ended, realistic tasks particularly susceptible to bias, compromising the score validity and fairness of tests. Informed by universal design principles, this study framed 360 prototype items developed for the "Problem-solving Measures Grades 6-8 Computer Adaptive…

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a scientifically validated framework that has been included in policy like the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 and the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008. However, studies have pointed out the variability in definitions and implementation surrounding UDL. In order to clarify this conversation,…

The movement toward collaborative models of preservice early childhood preparation, those that attempt to "blend" preparation for both early childhood education (ECE) and early intervention/early childhood special education (EI/ECSE), is entering its fourth decade. This position paper presents a historical analysis of the blended…