The One Year Plus policy of Baltimore City Public Schools described in this Newsletter has the potential to breathe new life into "special education" for students with disabilities. In recent decades, many waves of K-12 education reform--including the No Child Left Behind Act, charter schools, alternative teacher recruitment paths, tougher teacher evaluations, better data to drive instruction, and a stronger research base for "reading by nine"--have produced trickle-down gains for students with disabilities. Special education, despite its lofty ideals, remains not nearly special enough. That situation could change as a result of One Year Plus, Baltimore's transformative initiative, implemented system wide in 2012-2013. One Year Plus raises the bar dramatically for the academic progress that students with disabilities are expected to achieve. Under the policy, students who are not severely cognitively disabled have a right to special education services "that will enable them to meet state academic standards". This Newsletter examines how One Year Plus works and the two foundations on which the policy is built.