The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) allows alternate pathways for school districts to identify and classify students with a specific learning disability (SLD). Response to Intervention (RtI) is one of the frameworks schools can use when eliminating the use of the discrepancy model. The premise of RtI posits that…

The implementation of prereferral models was being discussed in educational literature as early as 1979. Over the past decade, schools in the United States have begun to adopt prereferral models to meet multiple goals, such as reducing inappropriate referrals to special education, supporting students who face academic and behavioral challenges,…

The inclusive service delivery model is a philosophy of education that involves changing how educators address disability and provide educational services. Arkansas has recently developed a plan to implement inclusion whenever possible to better comply with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guidelines for students with disabilities.…

This paper explores methods by which the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) development process can be improved through the use of systems-based thinking, specifically through the use of Gittell's (2016) Relational Coordination Model. IEP development meetings have been described as meaningless rituals where parents often leave feeling ostracized…

Little is known about how the expansion of state pre-kindergarten (pre-k) programs affects low-income children with disabilities in Head Start. Using almost 30 years of administrative data of all Head Start programs and a differences-in-differences design, this study tests the possibility that, as state pre-k differentially draws relatively more…

In the era of inclusive education, every educator can expect to have students with disabilities in their classroom. Unfortunately, preservice teachers who are not specifically pursuing special education licensure are often only expected to take one course focused on teaching students with disabilities. Given the increased emphasis on less…

Purpose: The United States (US) system of special education committed three original sins that perpetuate inequities between children with disabilities and their peers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the history of the US system, contrast this history against international disability law and identify opportunities for leaders to transform…

Transition education is a required component of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Information Act of 2004, and all students who have disabilities must have a transition education plan to prepare them for life after high school. However, there are no definitive standards for transition programs, and it is unclear how administrators with…

When the coronavirus pandemic was declared a public health crisis in March 2020, school psychologists were forced into situations where face-to-face interaction with their students was discouraged and in some cases, prohibited. Consequently, the traditional practice of school psychology abruptly ended. Individualized Education Plans (IEP) and…

Catholic schools are called to serve all of God's children, including students with disabilities who require and benefit from inclusive practices. Inclusionary practices align with Catholic Social Teaching (CST), Catholic identity, and the mission of the Catholic schools. This article frames CST's foundation for inclusive practices in Catholic…

For more than 40 years many organizations, families, and advocates for students with disabilities have worked toward creating a more inclusive public education system. As a result, many more students served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) spend 80% or more of their school day in general education classrooms. But a…

The rapid emergence and authorization of statewide, fully online, virtual charter schools has resulted in the need for states to identify potentially inequitable effects of disability service funding policies. This article describes state funding policies and the designation of responsibilities regarding the provision of special education services…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act allows three methods of determining whether a student qualifies for special education as a student with a specific learning disability (SLD). The first and most controversial is the Discrepancy model, which requires a significant discrepancy between the student's intellectual ability and academic…

California Association of School Psychologists (CASP) adopted a Position Paper in March, 2014 intended to support school psychologists in California in electing to use a process known as Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses (PSW) as one of three methods specified in IDEA 2014 and California Code of Regulations, Title 5, to identify students being…

Presented in this article are the rationale and construct of a new consultative teaching model for the inclusive instruction of students with learning disabilities in secondary schools. The inclusive consultation model (ICM) is a proposed alternative to traditional co-teaching models as described in the extant literature. In recognition of the…