This article provides foundational information to stimulate and facilitate assessment of the distinctive role of law in this field. For example, has the balance of costs and benefits reached the point of over-legalization? Similarly, to what extent is legal literacy essential for special education teachers and related service personnel as compared…

Drawing on eight waves of the Schools and Staffing Survey and the National Teacher and Principal Survey, we used a difference-in-differences research design to examine special education teachers' (SETs) responses to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the subsequent reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA was…

Even though paid advocates exist in the field of special education, teacher advocates are important because their work is based on passion and a belief that change is warranted due to their own needs and experiences with students, not merely on the basis that they are being paid to advocate. Education policy in recent years has become more…

Teachers often have a negative perception regarding the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classroom settings. Students with special education needs are often placed in classrooms where teachers believe they are unprepared to teach and manage classrooms in an inclusive environment. The purpose of this qualitative case…

With the passing of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) in 2004, it became law that every child age three to twenty-one with a disability in the United States had access to a free and appropriate education through services provided by certified special education teachers and therapists. As service providers, special education teachers are…

Section 300.5 of IDEA (2004) defines Students with Disabilities as those children who, because of their impairments, need special education and related services. Through the process of "declassification," students previously identified as having a disability requiring special education services return to full-time general education…

The concept of serving students with disabilities in their least restrictive environment is a fundamental principle of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This mandate emphasizes that students with disabilities should receive their education alongside their non-disabled peers to the greatest extent possible. This is often achieved in…

The need for teachers who have both the knowledge and skills to teach students in special education, especially students who are emergent bilinguals, is more critical today than ever before. Assumptions about the assurances outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have led to practices that have limited the scope of…

Although special education legal knowledge is central to educating students with disabilities, how two critical school professionals--special educators and school principals--garner such knowledge is unclear. This study identified gaps in the professional training for special educators and school principals by examining professional standards and…

The purpose of this collective case study was to understand how special education teachers interpret and navigate the concept of the least restrictive environment (LRE) standard in providing educational support for students with intellectual disabilities and autism. The guiding theories for this study were behaviorism and social cognitive theory.…

Early childhood special education (ECSE) teachers support children who qualify for Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004). ECSEs generally serve children under the age of five and are often asked to guide the development of a plan to decrease persistent challenging…

The purpose of this article is to provide special educators with significant and perhaps surprising recent lessons in special education law. These lessons under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act range from the threshold issues of child find and eligibility through the central obligation of…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) mandates parental participation in special education processes, yet families, especially culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families, often face obstacles in their active involvement as an equal team member in Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings. Although there has been…

This case demonstrates how school administrators' development of intersectional competence can disrupt racial inequity in special education. Intersectional competence refers to educators' preparedness to recognize how schooling is implicated in multiple, intersecting systems of oppression, collaborate with relevant stakeholders who themselves…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) states that students with disabilities should receive instruction in the general education classroom as much as possible. This move has resulted in Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) students spending more of their time in the general education classroom which has increased the need for collaboration…