Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004 and the IDEA regulations issued in 2006 revised the requirements for identifying students under the category of specific learning disabilities (SLD). Each state must adopt criteria based on the new requirements for determining whether a child has an SLD and local…

The organization and format of this primer which is designed for state officials differs from the other two in this series based on the recommendations of the state officials who participated in the Special Education Technical Assistance for Charter Schools (SPEDTACS) Project state team meetings convened to assist in the development of the set of…

This document is a report of the proceedings of the fifth National Monitoring Conference. The contents include a brief background on monitoring and a synopsis of each of the conference sessions. The opening plenary covered the states' monitoring experiences in the first year of the new federal process following the reauthorization of the…

State special education regulations on class size/caseload in special education programs and services are analyzed, and regulations from 21 states are excerpted. Research on class size in general education and special education is reviewed. While there are hundreds of studies reported for general education, there have been very few studies focused…

To address concerns of an excess of paperwork documenting compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a survey of all 50 state education agencies was conduced that investigated the role of state education agencies in the documentation of special education procedures. The survey listed 19 types of forms related to documentation…

This report reviews state policy documents, other than state laws, that pertain to students with disabilities in charter schools. It includes background information on charter schools in general and relevant federal legislation, a report of a survey on state policy documents, and a discussion of four areas of critical issues related to this topic.…

This monograph presents an analysis of issues related to provision of extended school year (ESY) programs and services for students with disabilities. It discusses major court decisions that have established the case law that governs this area of special education. It also considers issues of eligibility, notice and timing requirements, and the…

Current policies and procedures used by states to oversee implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are reviewed, based on a 1994 survey called Profiles of State Monitoring Systems, with data from 49 states and 9 of the 10 federal jurisdictions subject to the requirements of IDEA. Background information is provided…