This final of six briefs analyzing data from the U.S. Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), covering the 2020-21 school year, explores the characteristics of the 176 charter schools with a specific focus on students with disabilities. This group, representing 2.3% of charter schools nationwide, is heavily concentrated in a handful of states and is…

The least restrictive environment (LRE) mandate suggests a preference for educating students with disabilities in general education settings provided their needs can be met there. This study examined national trends in the educational placements of students with disabilities ages 6 to 17 in the 50 states and the District of Columbia from 1990…

For this 17th article in the series reviewing recent court decisions concerning appropriate school psychology practice from both professional and legal perspectives, the topic is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's (IDEA) central obligation, free appropriate public education (FAPE). More specifically, the focus here is procedural and…

There is no national study examining the rate of enrollment of students with disabilities in charter schools. We examined whether students with disabilities were significantly less likely to enroll in charter schools as compared to non-charter public schools accounting for state level variation using data for the entire national population. We…

This technical brief is part of an ongoing series the Center for Learner Equity (CLE) launched in 2015 that examines the enrollment and experiences of students with disabilities in different school settings. Using the 2017-2018 U.S. Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) data released earlier this year, this brief focuses on specialized charter…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that schools assist students with disabilities to develop independent living skills and abilities essential to succeed in most of their life's endeavors. According to the law, each student with a disability must have an individualized education program (IEP), and the IEP must address…

This article chronicles the development of a portfolio system used primarily to assess special education high school students on a variety of traditional and non-traditional standards and skills. Developing, capturing, sharing, and assessing student learning can be problematic when traditional testing or classroom assessment methods are not an…

This article explores transdisciplinary collaboration and role-release strategies that would allow physical therapists and orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists to more effectively support students with visual impairments (that is, those who are blind or have low vision) and additional disabilities with their expanded core curriculum…

The purpose of this document is to provide information on the calculations and data from the 2017-2018 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) that were used to assess the findings in the related thematic briefs. Using the 2017-18 CRDC data, variables were selected to observe the enrollment and experiences of students with disabilities in different…

Teacher turnover continues to perpetuate shortages in U.S. schools, particularly within settings that serve students with disabilities, economic disadvantages, or other obstacles to their education. Recent studies suggest high teacher turnover in high-need settings is not reflective of problems associated with the needs of their students, but…

This report examines estimates of school infrastructure needs and discusses the federal role in financing early childhood facilities, elementary and secondary (K-12) public school infrastructure, and postsecondary educational facilities. Federal programs that provide support for school construction and renovation are organized in this report…

Students who are deaf with a disability or disabilities (DWD) constitute nearly half of the population of K-12 learners who are deaf or hard of hearing. However, there is a dearth of information on theory, research, and practice related to these learners. The authors present an overview of (a) how the field of education of students who are D/deaf…

Child First is a national campaign to ensure that deaf children have their right to language recognized and fulfilled regardless of which educational method is specified in the Individualized Education Program (IEP). Whether the child's family embraces American Sign Language (ASL), speech reading, a system of signs that encodes English, or a…

The purpose of this study is to analyze the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) data that states and U.S. territories report from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and discuss the status of the most restrictive special education placement settings for students with disabilities. In this analysis, we found that (a) states do not set…

Introduction: It has been well established that children with visual impairments tend to be less physically active and more delayed in motor skills than their sighted peers. As a result, there has been some research focusing on inclusive physical education for these children. However, there is a clear lack of research on the current status of…