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…

This article is part of a case study of U.S. federal leadership in special education from the perspective of those who served in the roles of Assistant Secretaries of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services and Directors of the Office of Special Education Programs or their equivalents in the former U.S. Office of Education and…

A family-centered early intervention (EI) approach mandated by the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part C, means involving parents fully in EI and ensuring they know their legal rights and responsibilities for participating. However, many parents report difficulty accessing information and decision-making in EI. IDEA…

This is a technical report of agency actions and legislative recommendations for programs regulated by the state or government-to-government responsibilities that must be met for children aged 3-5. As changes in PreK services affect enrollment in birth-3 and school-age care, impacts on these other programs are vital to alignment work. Partnering…

When either privileged or under-resourced families navigate gray areas in the law, including federal laws related to students with disabilities such as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, inequities are revealed. Research and emerging trends have raised increasing concerns about unfairness and abuses of disability policies, particularly with…

National reports have raised concerns about the physical accessibility of public school facilities for people with disabilities. These facilities serve important roles as schools, voting locations, and emergency shelters, among other things. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to examine the physical accessibility of public school…

This Brief contains a scan of the interim assessment landscape, and is focused on the availability of documentation supporting the appropriateness of these assessments for students with disabilities. The purpose of this Brief is to advise the development of guidance that facilitates improved practices related to the use of interim assessments for…

The states and localities, not the federal government, primarily control and fund K-12 education. As a major source of revenue and with its historic role in our federal system, the states are the driving presence in most every education policy area. That is true in the current efforts to adjust education programs to the Coronavirus disease…

Over the course of two short years and through quiet regulatory actions, many of which have not garnered many headlines, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has loosened accountability for U.S. schools and colleges, putting millions of students at risk of civil rights abuses and fraudulent financial schemes. Through aggressive use of its regulatory…

When the novel coronavirus forced school buildings to close, causing a massive disruption in the delivery of these services, it exposed the extent to which schools function as an essential component of a comprehensive health system, particularly for children in low-income communities. In response to the closures, state and federal decision-makers…

The information provided in this guide helps explain the laws affecting the rights of students with disabilities in transition planning cases in New Jersey. Sections include: (1) What Does "Transition" Mean for High School Students with Disabilities? (2) When Must Transition Planning and Transition Services Begin? (3) What Is the…

COVID-19 has provided the impetus for Congress to implement reforms, many of which are long overdue. Policymakers should take the necessary steps to restore educational autonomy to states and reduce federal regulations and compliance. This "Backgrounder" outlines six reforms that federal policymakers can undertake to free school leaders…

Outcomes for students with disabilities are historically concerning. As states have leveraged the "Every Student Succeeds Act" (ESSA) to refine accountability and support systems, schools across the country have been identified as needing "Targeted School Improvement" (TSI) or "Comprehensive School Improvement" (CSI).…

This dissertation explores how federal education policies affect outcomes for special populations and their teachers. The first study uses a differences-in-differences design and data from the Stanford Education Data Archive to determine if "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) waivers reduced district-level white-black and white-Hispanic…

The Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010 defines major management challenges as programs or management functions that are vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement, and where a failure to perform well could seriously affect the ability of the U.S. Department of Education (Department) to achieve its mission or…