The charter sector has historically received significant federal support through the Charter School Program, which was allocated $440 million in fiscal year 2020. However, the sector has been criticized for not serving a proportionate share of students with disabilities and being less equipped to educate them. To gain a better understanding of how…

Science teacher education has long sought to educate new science teachers to more fully understand "Science-for-all" and prepare them to effectively navigate diverse contexts. To adopt this "Science-for-all" mantra, we need to address what the labeling (i.e., categorical labeling and/or mislabeling) of students with…

This article explores the views of a small group of teachers who specialise in supporting children with Special Educational Needs (SEN). Frequently literature exploring the relationship between parents and teachers of children with SEN uses language which is confrontational, even aggressive. This research, based within a specialist school in…

School psychologists often play a significant role in implementation of the requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) specific to independent educational evaluations (IEEs). The school psychology and special education literature addresses professional norms for IEEs (e.g., Schrank et al., 2006), but its coverage of…

The authors report findings on reading and IQ from a contemporary study of 145 individually tested incarcerated men and women in two maximum-security prisons in Louisiana. To their knowledge this study is the first to use the definition of dyslexia from the First Step Act (FSA) and the first to incorporate an IQ measure to differentiate those with…

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 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) data released earlier this year, this brief focuses on the number and percentages of…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires states to monitor and enforce IDEA Part C and Part B requirements, with a primary focus on those requirements that are most closely related to improving results and functional outcomes for infants, toddlers, and children with disabilities. This guide describes the IDEA requirements…

In this chapter, I expand on ideas about assessment originally put forward by Federico Waitoller and I in recent articles about a curriculum design that cross-pollinates elements of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The purpose of our original work was to address the intersection of racism and ableism in…

Ohio's public schools provide special education services to children with disabilities as early as preschool. Every year, the Ohio Department of Education reports the number of preschool children who received state-funded special education services during the previous year. The 2019-2020 school year had an overall increase of 906 (4.03 percent)…

"Accessibility or Reinventing Education" studies the changes that have redefined the roles and missions of schools, by asking them to consider the obstacles to learning imposed on students -- regardless of their particular characteristics -- in order to make themselves accessible to the greatest number. This book examines the ways in…

As more and more students enter public schools with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds that require services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, facilitators must be more sensitive to the needs, especially in the area of communication. Augmentative and alternative communication devices and other assistive…

Although the co-taught classroom is the fastest-growing inclusion model in U.S. public schools, an increasingly-diverse student population coupled with the continued overrepresentation of students of color in special education threatens to undermine its potential as an inclusive space that ensures success for all students. This multiphase,…

Many students with disabilities who are capable of learning math find limited success because the tools they are using to access mathematical content are not well aligned with their range of abilities. Process-Driven Math (PDM) is a learning support tool that was initially developed for one student who is blind and unable to write or type. PDM…

Postsecondary students with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) encompass a rapidly growing population that does not achieve comparable academic outcomes to their peers without disabilities. These students may experience a vast range of impairments, including those that affect cognitive, physical, emotional, behavioral, psychosocial, and self-awareness…

Prior research has indicated that assistive technology (AT) devices and services can improve the functional capability of students with autism, which includes multiple areas of student needs, such as communication, accessibility, organization, sound, sight, academic skills, mobility, and memory. Nevertheless, concerns persist as to how AT devices…