The Department of Justice has a responsibility to ensure that all programs serving students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) abide by laws, as do state governments. This study took a close look at a Department of Justice's investigation of the appropriateness of a behavior intervention program (that is, the Georgia Network for…

This paper explores post-secondary faculty perceptions of awareness and preparedness relating to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Institutions of higher education are businesses. The largest threat to sustained viability for many businesses is litigation. Business-related litigation is often the result of non-employment discrimination or…

Based on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates, weakened climate/culture, decreased academic scores, and endangered job security, the implementation of a successful behavioral intervention program within the school setting was a necessity (Homer & Sugai, 2000). Quantitative data were obtained from two assessment…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the factors that influenced the decision of general education teachers to identify and refer male students for special education classes. Additionally, the students' gender, the teachers' gender, and the teachers' years of teaching experience were investigated to determine the extent to…

This study aims to identify the relationships between Individualized Education Program (IEP) status and substance use. More than 122,000 eighth-, ninth-, and eleventh-grade students provided survey data in 2013. Analyses tested associations between IEP status and tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use, accounting for emotional distress and…

Special education-related lawsuits are a concern to school systems. They are time-consuming, expensive, and contentious. School and parental relationships become strained when litigation is involved. This study analyzed data from the Virginia Department of Education's due process database over a 12-year period of time to note common disabilities…

Over the past 20 years, punitive approaches and policies similar to those of the criminal justice system have become prominent in our schools. These local, state, and federal education and public safety policies serve to remove students from the educational environment and channel them into the criminal justice system. This phenomenon is often…

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…

We examined the theoretical factor structure fit and psychometric properties of the "Transition Assessment and Goal Generator" (TAGG). In the first study, 349 transition-aged students with disabilities, their special educators, and family members completed TAGG assessments, and using exploratory factor analysis (EFA)/confirmatory factor…

All students are expected to participate in accountability systems and multiple options exist for students with disabilities, including taking the general large-scale assessment with and without accommodations and taking an alternate assessment. Using a secondary analysis of the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2), the researcher…

The passing of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act---later renamed the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act---mandated that schools and districts ensure that all available education services were comparable between students with disabilities and general education students. This mandate led to students with disabilities and…

This study examines the community-wide effects of investments in two early childhood initiatives in North Carolina (Smart Start and More at Four) on the likelihood of a student being placed into special education. We take advantage of variation across North Carolina counties and years in the timing of the introduction and funding levels of the two…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of integrating culturally responsive instruction (CRI) into a course hosted by the school of education at a higher education institution. The study participants were pre-service teachers who completed a pre-course survey and a post-course survey designed to discern their views on the factors…

Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams are required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to consider a student's need for assistive technology (AT). Despite this legal requirement, AT supports are often not available to students with disabilities. Many students with disabilities and their families have addressed the…

Population changes, legislative changes, time and cost constraints, and practitioner and family perceptions each affect the delivery of early intervention services. This pilot project examined current evaluation practices used with the birth to 3 population. The role of norm-referenced and authentic assessment tools in the eligibility…