The enactment of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in January 2002 was the culmination of an emerging consensus in the 1980s and 1990s behind greater federal regulation of the nation's elementary and secondary schools. The reauthorization of Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson's Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 by Republican…

This article takes up the question of equity, access, and cyber charter schools from the perspective of disability studies in education (DSE). DSE positions inclusion and educational access as social justice concerns. In doing so, we assert the importance of making visible the social justice implications of the current laws that impact cyber…

Federal special education and accountability policies requires that educators individualize instruction for students with disabilities, while simultaneously ensuring that the vast majority of these students meet age-based grade-level standards and assessment targets. In this paper, we examine this dynamic interplay between policies through…

This report discusses issues involved in the debate over whether the United States should have national education standards, what must be considered in creating such standards, what problems must be addressed, and what trade-offs might be required among conflicting objectives. The first section provides a short summary of developments in education…

Debate over the proper identification and placement of gifted children in public schools is not new. But the pressure put on public schools by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 has brought advocates and opponents of gifted education into starker conflict. This presents a chance to reexamine the foundational premises of the argument in…

This report summarizes a two-volume study focusing on state administration of selected federal education programs and federal and state interactions surrounding programs for special pupils. Federal programs and civil rights provisions examined include four titles of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Education for All Handicapped…