The rights of approximately seven million students with disabilities in the United States are secured via the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Despite these protections, consequential inequities still need to be addressed. Racialized inequities in special education outcomes persist across classifications, placements, and…

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…

The term "child find" refers to a district's ongoing obligation to evaluate upon reason to suspect a child may meet IDEA eligibility standards. This obligation consists of two components: a reasonable suspicion of eligibility and initiating the evaluation within a reasonable period of time. Because child find is a procedural matter, it…

The New Generation School (NGS) initiative, launched by the government of Cambodia in 2015, aims to improve the quality of education including raising teaching standards; improving student performance; innovating curriculum; and introducing accountability measures. Similar to charter schools in the USA, the NGSs operate as autonomous schools and…

Like many other countries, Canada's academic system has been challenged to achieve proportionate representation of historically underrepresented groups. Canadian equity law identifies four designated groups (FDG) for whom conditions of disadvantage shall be corrected: women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of visible…

Disproportionality in school discipline (i.e., disparities in exclusionary discipline for certain subgroups) represents one of the most significant problems in education today (Losen et al, 2015; Welsh & Little, 2018). This qualitative study investigated how school principals described their concerns, pressures, and tensions when making…

Students in the United States who receive special education services are entitled to receive an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that provides an appropriate level of benefit. Although IEP content is informed by policy mandates and practice recommendations, research has yet to investigate the degree to which school practice is in alignment.…

School administrators play a critical role in special education and it is their responsibility to ensure policies, procedures, and practices are carried out in accordance with the law. This requires that school administrators know the requirements of the law and research-based practices in special education. Researchers have shown that school…

During the past decade, responsible research assessment (RRA) has become a major science policy goal to advance responsible research and innovation and open science. Starting with the DORA declaration in 2012, common understanding of the needs and demands of RRA has been shaped by a growing number of initiatives, culminating in a European…

The Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 promotes healthy, inclusive, and sustainable communities through equitable, lifelong, and high-quality education. The UN's SDG 4a.1 evaluates schools' electricity, internet connectivity for education, computers, disabled facilities, clean drinking water, gender-segregated sanitation, and basic handwashing…

It is important for educators to collect accurate information on the academic performance of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who may be assessed with an Alternate Assessment Aligned with Alternate Academic Achievement Standards (AA-AAAS) to inform decisions about resources, programs, instruction, and individualized…

This article documents the San Diego National Origin Desegregation Assistance Center (NODAC), one of the nine national centers established by the U.S. Office of Education to provide technical assistance to school districts cited under Section 601 of Title VI, from the Office for Civil Rights, to meet the Lau compliance requirement based on the Lau…

Secondary transition planning is a requirement of IDEA and intended to support students with disabilities as they move from K-12 education into post-school activities such as education, employment and activities of daily living. States are held accountable for meeting the requirements of IDEA through an Annual Performance Report in which they must…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) began a new wave of school accountability under which states draw on multiple measures to assess school quality. States have options in terms of how to weight components in their school quality indices and how many years of data to use to determine school ratings. In this study, we simulate school ratings…

Professional standards for principals include numerous provisions addressing the need to have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to promote effective special education programs. The administration of special education programs requires complex responsibilities including assurances that policies and practices are in compliance with…