The following brief provides an overview of the separate but intersecting federal policies that govern the identification of and services provided to English learners and students with disabilities. This overview will frame key opportunities to serve ELs with disabilities more equitably with the aim of helping policymakers, advocates, and…

National reports have raised concerns about the physical accessibility of public school facilities for people with disabilities. These facilities serve important roles as schools, voting locations, and emergency shelters, among other things. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to examine the physical accessibility of public school…

The Impact Aid program, administered by the U.S. Department of Education (ED), was originally established in 1950 by P.L. 81-815 and P.L. 81-874, 15 years prior to the enactment of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Impact Aid compensates local educational agencies (LEAs) for a "substantial and continuing financial…

The "Handbook of Leadership and Administration for Special Education" brings together research informing practice in leading special education from preschool through transition into postsecondary settings. The second edition of this comprehensive handbook has been fully updated to provide coverage of disability policy, historical roots,…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), signed into law on December 10, 2015, requires that state education agencies (SEAs) establish standardized, statewide entrance and exit procedures for their English learners (ELs), including ELs with disabilities. For certain ELs with…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 (Public Law 114-95) requires each state to create a plan for its statewide accountability system. In particular, ESSA calls for state plans that include strategies for reporting education outcomes by grade for all students and for economically disadvantaged students, students from major racial and…

Student graduation from high school with a regular high school diploma is an important indicator of school success and one of the most significant indicators of student college and career readiness. In addition, there are substantial economic benefits to high school completion. For example, according to the U.S. Department of Education's National…

To understand the challenges associated with the enactment of educational policies that aim to improve equity and opportunity for students of color with disabilities, this chapter focuses on two separately conducted ethnographic studies. The first investigates district administrators' approaches to addressing racial disproportionality after the…

Voucher and education savings account (ESA) programs fund students' private school education expenses, such as tuition. In school year 2014-15, 22 such school choice programs were operating nationwide, all but one of which was state funded. Under two federal grant programs, one for students with disabilities and one for students from disadvantaged…

About 13 percent of children aged 3 through 21 enrolled in public schools received special education services in school year 2015-16, and about 3 percent of children from birth through age 2 received special education services. Concerns about the difficulties identifying and evaluating children for special education have been raised by the media,…

Research shows that students who experience discipline that removes them from the classroom are more likely to repeat a grade, drop out of school, and become involved in the juvenile justice system. This can result in decreased earning potential and added costs to society (lost tax revenue and incarceration). The Government Accountability Office…

Much has been written on the subject of school turnaround, but relatively little about how to "pay for" turnaround-related work. Turning around low-performing schools not only requires changing instructional and related practices, but changing spending patterns as well. Too often education dollars are spent on the same costs from…

"The ABCs of School Choice" is a comprehensive, data-rich guide to every private school choice program in America. The 2016 edition of "The ABCs of School Choice" is the best yet, not just because of the new look and the fantastic growth in the number of school choice programs, but also because it is now paired with a…

In 2011, the Arizona State Legislature adopted a law creating the first education savings account (ESA) in the United States. Following Arizona's lead, several other states, including Florida Tennessee,Mississippi and Nevada, have implemented ESA policies. Typical eligibility requirements include conditions such as a pupil's diagnosed disability,…

Historically, state departments of education, or SEAs, have--for the most part--been compliance-focused organizations that managed federal education policy. Over the past several decades, these agencies have been education policy implementation entities. Today, while their compliance responsibilities have remained, they are taking on more…