In 2025, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) will have been the primary law driving the field of special education for 50 years. A contentious area of disagreement has been the relationship between two primary mandates of the law: the obligation of schools to provide a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) to eligible…

The Individuals with Disability Act of 2004 states students must be serviced in their least restrictive environment. However, educators see more and more students being provided their instruction in resource rooms, with little evidence that the students are making more progress in a more restrictive environment. This study examined the…

Professional confusion, as well as case law confusion, exists concerning the fidelity and integrity of response to intervention (RTI) as a defensible procedure for identifying children as having a specific learning disability (SLD) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Division is generated because of conflicting mandates…

The least restrictive environment (LRE) mandate provides a preference for educating students with disabilities in general education classrooms while allowing separate class services as necessary to meet student needs. This study investigated changes in national LRE placement trends for students with disabilities from 1990-1991 through 2007-2008.…

This study was conducted to examine changes in the identification rates and national and state placement practices for school age students with learning disabilities (LD) between 1990-1991 and 2008-2009. Findings revealed that while identification rates of students with LD declined by about 4 percent during this time, general education placements…

According to IDEA and NCLB requirements, students with disabilities are held to the same standards established for nondisabled students. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the impact of a special education inclusion program for middle school students with mild to moderate learning disabilities. Student outcomes were measured…

Special education used to be a place--sometimes a separate school, more often a classroom down the hall where students labeled as such disappeared for hours at a time, out of sight and out of mind for the typical classroom teacher. That's still sometimes the case, but increasingly, special education is front and center in the regular education…

The inclusion of students with learning disabilities (LD) in assessment is deemed critical to improve the quality of educational opportunities for these students and to provide meaningful and useful information about student performance. Mandated inclusion and accountability for progress raise many interesting questions regarding how to fairly,…

Students with learning disabilities are not receiving "special" education, which is based on the core principles of intensive, relentless, structured, appropriately paced instruction in small groups with frequent monitoring of each student's progress. We believe that the diminution of special education for students with learning…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1975 has made a profound impact on millions of children with disabilities who now enjoy their right to a free appropriate public education (FAPE). It is the goal of national policy, endorsed by Congress, to ensure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic…

One out of every 11 postsecondary undergraduates report having a disability, and students with learning disabilities are the largest and fastest growing subgroup of this population. Although faculty are becoming more comfortable with providing students with learning disabilities accommodations as mandated by federal law, many instructors are using…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004 supports equitable access to educational opportunities for all children who have disabilities. IDEA requires that students who receive services for special needs receive a free appropriate public education, and have access to the general education curriculum, which includes…

This literature review examines how full inclusion affects students' academic achievement and social behavior, and teachers' relationships with students in the general education classroom. Learning-disabled students fail to make satisfactory progress in an inclusive setting. Teachers support the inclusion concept, but acknowledge its inadequacy.…

The placement of learning disabled and behaviorally disordered children in the least restrictive setting requires consideration of both environmental conditions and psychological factors which contribute to the handicap. (DB)