The US Department of Education notes that, "in 1970, U.S. schools educated only one in five children with disabilities, and many states had laws excluding certain students, including children who were deaf, blind, emotionally disturbed or mentally retarded, from its schools." Now, they estimate that more than 6.5 million children and…

The West Comprehensive Center (WCC) is working with the Arizona Department of Education (ADE), the Nevada Department of Education (NDE), and the Utah State Office of Education (USOE) to assist districts and schools that are implementing activities to improve outcomes for Indian students. As a first step, WCC staff reviewed state and national law,…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (Public Law 114-95) was put in place to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to ensure that every child achieves. The Act includes the following titles: (1) Improving Basic Programs Operated by State and Local Educational Agencies; (2) Preparing, Training, and Recruiting High-Quality…

In a move that could prompt major changes in the way states measure the achievement of English-language learners, the U.S. Department of Education is planning to tell states they must each use a consistent yardstick in determining when a child is fluent in English and when that child no longer needs special ELL services. A proposed…

A growing chorus of people are saying that some school districts are overzealous in categorizing students as English-language learners (ELLs) in the aim of complying with federal and state laws to ensure that children of immigrants get extra help with English. They contend that the information requested on the home-language survey that parents are…

Prior to the mid-1970s, over one million children with disabilities were excluded from the nation's schools. In 1975, as a result of intense litigation and advocacy, Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA, P.L. 94-142), now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), mandating that public schools…

This brief report summarizes how American education has drifted into the accountability systems now in use, either under individual state laws or as mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. The report describes how slip-sliding into the current accountability requirements has resulted in a system so flawed that it fails in its…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the most current revision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 notwithstanding, the more than 100 page long Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the most comprehensive, expensive, and litigated federal statute impacting on public education in the United States. Enacted…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 has placed a renewed emphasis on the importance of the regular classroom, the regular classroom teacher and the general curriculum as the primary focus of special education. This book contains over 100 topics that deal with real issues and concerns regarding the regular classroom and…