Over the past two decades, community organizing has emerged as an effective force for school improvement. In the context of shrinking education funding, stubborn opportunity and achievement gaps between low-income and wealthy children and between children of color and White children, and polarizing debate on school reform, community organizing…

This study analyzes parent and professional organizations' effectiveness in national special education policy from 1975 to the present. Of specific interest are the relationships between groups' policy victories, how groups construct their political messages, and organizational characteristics. The research is significant in that it is one of the…

State advisory panels for special education are mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Panels are composed of individuals with disabilities, their parents, special education teachers and administrators, and local and state education officials. A random national sample of 200 of the 965 members of IDEA state advisory…