Restraint and seclusion are frequently misused in schools, leading to harmful outcomes for students. There is currently no federal law regulating these practices, which has led to inconsistencies in state and district policies. This policy paper aims to provide a brief background on current definitions, case law, and policies and provide teachers…

Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 has been increasingly utilized as a legal avenue by U.S. students with disabilities, particularly concerning remedies not typically awarded under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The purpose of this legal update is to briefly highlight recent case law in which guardians filed action in…

The U.S. Supreme Court has heard several cases regarding special education. These cases have resulted in decisions that have addressed issues involving special education programming and procedural issues. On March 21, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in "Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools." This decision, which was the…

Due to the recent nature of the COVID-19 Pandemic there has been limited study of its influence on special education due process hearings. To explore this phenomenon, the present study compares hearing officer decisions involving Pennsylvania city Local Education Agencies (LEAs) for the two years before and after the global health crisis.…

School psychologists are well served to stay up to date on trends in special education law, particularly with respect to determinations when school teams' decisions are challenged. This allows them to focus on proactive best practices that foster accurate specific learning disability (SLD) identification and active collaboration with parents. This…

As many sport administrators provide much of their sport content on digital platforms, it is imperative for them to be knowledgeable of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. In the case of Price v. Escalante -- Black Diamond Golf Club LLC (2019), Joel Price claimed they were not able to access Black Diamond Golf Club, LLC…

Teaching physical education involves more than overseeing what happens on the field, court or in the swimming pool. Physical educators also need to control the locker room, where students hazing other students may be common practice at certain schools. This case is a good example of what happens when teachers and coaches fail to supervise athletes…

Title I accountability requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) represent the present-day instantiation of Lau, which requires schools to provide a program for English learners (ELs) that supports their meaningful engagement and to provide transparent information about EL program quality. This study uses critical policy analysis to…

The recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions "Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College" (2023) and "Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina et al." (2023), hereafter collectively referred to as "SFFA v. Harvard," have garnered attention, especially among…

As policy debates concerning LGBTQ+ students and staff continue across the American education system, there is not a clear description of the prevalence of local policy protections, even in states with legislative mandates, nor a strong understanding of how to expand reform initiatives. After conducting a document analysis of policies with a…

Aversive procedures such as seclusion and restraint are generally viewed as emergency only procedures in school settings. However, they are still used too often to respond to student behaviors in schools. The purpose of this scoping review was to determine which types of documents have been published in peer-reviewed journals, the degree of…

During (and after) the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, educational communities have employed distance education to reach their students. However, not all districts are aware of the legal requirements of using instructional materials in a virtual setting. In recognition of the growth of virtual learning environments, Congress passed the…

In 1974, the Education for all Handicapped Protection Act was signed into law by President Gerald Ford. This law which was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990, established a federal entitlement to special education for eligible students with disabilities. In 1982 and again in 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court…

In her 2024 State of the State address, New York Governor Kathy Hochul introduced the Top 10% Promise, a policy offering New York students ranked in the top 10% of their high school class direct admission to the State University of New York (SUNY) system. "Access to higher education," she said, "has the potential to transform the…

In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued one of its most significant decisions that promises to reshape governance in education: "Loper." The case overruled "Chevron," a landmark case that required courts to defer to administrative agency interpretations of the law when (a) such laws were ambiguous and (b) the interpretations…