An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is the cornerstone for documenting the appropriate education being provided to students who qualify for special education and related services under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. A growing group of students with a disability are students who are culturally and linguistically diverse and…

A wide variety of legislation impacts the jobs of special education teachers in the United States. In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was signed into law, mandating that states develop standards and report outcomes for all students in the key areas of math and reading. In 2004, the reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education…

Intended as professional development for both new and experienced special educators, this article provides both the basic requirements and nuanced issues for foundational, successive, and overlapping key components under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): (a) child find, (b) eligibility, and (c) free appropriate public…

Supplementary aids and services (SAS) have been a provision in special education law since PL 94-142, however, almost no guidance has been provided to help teams make decisions about their appropriate selection and use. In this exploratory study, we explore the types of SAS selected for students with significant support needs using a conventional…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been described as the next chapter in American education with the promise to deliver "fewer, clearer, and higher" standards aimed at preparing "all" students for college "and" career (Rothman, 2013). Though CCSS articulates minimum expectations for what college and…

This study explored the practices rural schools in Wisconsin have in place to meet the needs of students at grades PK-3 with Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities (EBD). The research question was as follows: What practices do rural elementary schools use as they strive to meet the Individual Education Plan (IEP) Objectives of PK-3 grade students…

Educating children with disabilities alongside their peers in mainstream preschools has increased intensely over the past few years, affecting all aspects of early childhood education. Many children who previously would have been educated in segregated special centres are now being included in inclusive preschools. This research paper discusses…

Schools are facing many changes in the ways that teaching, learning, and assessment take place. Most states are moving from individual state standards to the new Common Core State Standards, which will be fewer, higher, and more rigorous than most current state standards. As the next generation of assessments used for accountability are rolled…

This paper discusses how the process for IEP documentation was used in a training program for a group of young inexperienced teachers and teaching aides to effectively address the educational needs of children with diverse disabilities. Teachers at Kianh Centre in Vietnam received explicit instructions for writing effective functional individual…

For more than seven years, Etiwanda School District in California has implemented a districtwide technology integration program that included beginning, intermediate, and advanced professional development training and support for general education teachers. Training included programs such as Intel Teach to the Future and the application of this…

The Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for students 16 years of age or above must address specific transition components. Studies to date have focused on the presence and quality of these transition components, yet the alignment of these components and their role in leading the development of the IEP is just as critical. This qualitative…

In response to legislative mandates that schools use evidence-based instructional practices, the National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center has identified evidence-based practices and predictors in the area of secondary transition for high school students with disabilities. This article provides an overview of practices and…

Evaluating special education teachers is an especially salient topic for secondary principals because special educators in middle and high schools often collaborate with numerous content-area teachers and have varying degrees of direct instructional impact. The author's experiences as a secondary special educator and as a supervisor responsible…

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…

The reauthorization of Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA) in 2004 mandated that students with disabilities be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE), which is also known as inclusion of the student. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate innovative strategies implemented in an inclusive classroom to…