We outline a multidimensional ecological systems policy framework to better understand how the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and patterns of racial disproportionality in special education relate. The framework engages with ideology, power, privilege, and context across the multiple layers of the policy-implementation process…

The identification of students with specific learning disabilities has evolved since the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) in 2004. This reauthorization gave state agencies parameters that disallowed using the severe discrepancy model for identification as a stand-alone method. In response to…

The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed the lives of millions of schoolchildren and exacerbated existing educational inequities. Most schools rapidly transitioned to remote instruction in March 2020 and continued operating under fully remote or hybrid learning conditions for the 2020-21 school year. This rapid transition to, and subsequent…

In 2013, the Minnesota Legislature appropriated $1.763M for Fiscal Year 2014 to create a statewide system for special education paperwork. In 2014, the Legislature greatly expanded the requirements of the system but did not appropriate additional resources to maintain ongoing operation of the system. The 2014 legislation codified the system in…

In this paper, I provide a window into the lived experience of a group of urban high school science students confronted with the stigma associated with special education, disability, and academic failure and present tools to understanding the ideological forces and institutional structures that undermine the ability of schools to create a culture…

This document contains the following nine appendixes of the main report, "What Does It Cost to Educate California's Students? A Professional Judgment Approach. Technical Report. Getting Down to Facts II": (1) Professional Judgement Panel General Instructions; (2) Professional Judgement Panel. Task Instructions; (3) School Resource…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) "Platooning" Instruction: Districts Weigh Pros and Cons of Departmentalizing Elementary Schools (Lucy Hood); (2) Behind the Classroom Door: A Rare Glimpse Indicates the…

RTI has the potential to meet the challenges of increasing diversity in student populations and the need for increasingly complex systems of instructional design. Three fundamental shifts in understanding systems and systems change must ground RTI policy and implementation work. First, RTI must be seen as an activity system nested within a larger…

In this article, the authors advance 10 postulates describing what they believe to be true about collaboration in special education: (1) Collaboration in teacher education is possible; (2) Collaborative programs can be initiated from many departure points; (3) Collaboration requires real time for communication; (4) Supportive leadership is…

This report analyzes data from a survey of the 50 states and the District of Columbia designed to study changes in organizational structure within state education agencies (SEAs) and the impact of those changes on management and leadership in special education. completed forms were received from 48 SEAs or a 94 percent return rate. The report…

This document presents the transcript of a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Education Reform concerning special education finance at the federal, state, and local levels as part of the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Highlights of the testimony include: how states are allocating the increased federal aid…

The National Association of State Directors of Special Education has established the Professional Development Leadership Academy to assist states in meeting state improvement plan requirements of the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Professional development is crucial to this endeavor and will be accomplished…

This paper reports a case study of the implementation within the special education division of the Massachusetts state department of education of fiscal reforms required by the Massachusetts Comprehensive Special Education Statute, Chapter 766. Three theoretical perspectives were used to organize the study--a rational, organizational, and…

An analysis of four schools explored the degree to which positive outcomes of a 1990 state policy on educational reform had been sustained in the context of subsequent policies emphasizing standards-based reform. Results found an increased use of educational support systems, but also increased special education referrals and restrictive…

The historical development to 1967 of the 50 state departments of education and the central school agencies of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Panama Canal Zone, and the Virgin Islands is presented in this massive reference. Each chapter, dealing with a separate state or territory, was written independently; however, topics in common to…