The goal of Special Education is to help individuals with disabilities transition to meaningful adult roles. When students with disabilities pursue education majors, Special Education Faculty must balance their desire to support college students with disabilities, while maintaining the rigor of their academic programs. To gain a better…

The aim of this essay is to advance understandings of current efforts to democratize disciplined approaches to educational innovation and improvement in the US and other countries, with a specific focus on the macro-level policy contexts of improvement research in education. In the US, earlier analyses examined these policy contexts from a…

Although education is in many ways a responsibility of states and localities, the U.S. federal government also has an important role to play. National laws, court rulings, and policy guidance help ensure that English Learner (EL) and immigrant-background students have equitable access to a meaningful education. It is then up to states and school…

This paper examines the use of cameras in self-contained special education classrooms. It begins with an examination of the legal framework used when administrators are contemplating the implementation of video surveillance within the classroom. It gives a brief summary of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, Individuals with…

The purpose of this study is to research the evolution of policy of integrating children with disabilities into the general education settings in the U.S., keystone events that shaped the fates of disabled children and outcomes of policy decisions. According to the direction that these purposes provide, this paper tries to answer these questions:…

The authors examined 62 court cases occurring in 2009 from the LexisNexis database regarding students, ages 3-21 years, with various forms of autism spectrum disorder and violations to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. They analyzed procedural and substantive violations to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the…

This article examines a critical question for the special education community: What should be the current meaning of "free appropriate public education" (FAPE) in light of not only the Supreme Court's landmark "Rowley" decision in 1982 but also developments in the 30 years since then? After synthesizing what the…

This article reports on a case that resulted in a published court decision which illustrates a dilemma at the intersection of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). On first impression, the finding that teachers were operating based on professional principle seems to validate their actions.…

This paper reviews characteristics of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), possible causes of ASD, current demographic information, the effects on the individual with ASD and the family, as well as diversity and multicultural issues related to autism. Additionally, the paper provides pertinent information about students with ASD for both general…

Without question, servicing the needs of incarcerated youth can be challenging. Not only is the average juvenile a complex individual with multiple needs but the facility itself is a composite of trained professionals that must work together to produce a juvenile able to successfully reenter society. Policies enacted to achieve this goal cannot be…

The present study sought to determine to what extent vestiges of the dual system of educating students with and without disabilities persist and how they undermine the implementation and sustainability of inclusive education. We investigated how prior experiences with segregation shape administrators' thinking and school policies and practices…

The history of special education in the United States and Thailand has followed a similar path in many ways. Both countries made compulsory education mandatory to move in a positive direction in providing special education services to children with disabilities including the provision of services for children with ASD or Autism. In Thailand,…

The demands for accountability in education have led to an increase in high-stakes testing practices in public schools. Accountability can be seen at the high school level in the use of exit examinations (hereafter "exit exams") that students must pass to receive a diploma and graduate from high school. One of the most challenging issues…

A contextual analysis of the general education default and student benefit is presented from the perspective of school-based compliance with federal mandates from IDEIA [Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act] of 2004. A goal was to inform school administrators striving to develop and maintain effective, inclusive learning…

Administrators must have a strong command of education and special education law. Case law rulings, additions to procedural safeguards, and legislation in the area of special education are demonstrative of the need for additional training in the area of law for preservice administrators to increase their competency level. Valesky and Hirth (1992)…