This report contains the proceedings of a forum held on June 28, 2023 in New Orleans, Louisiana, to discuss issues surrounding meaningful accessibility of assessments. The forum was a post-session to the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) National Conference on Student Assessment (NCSA) and was a collaboration of the "Assessment,…

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), there has been an increase of students receiving special education services in U.S. public schools in the last 20 years (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). Parents are active participants in the educational decision-making process for their children with disabilities, providing…

The Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program was reauthorized in 2015 in Title IV, Part B of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). 21st CCLC programs provide academic enrichment, including providing tutorial services to help students meet challenging…

Across the United States, state and local education agencies work to ensure equitable access to high-quality education for all students, including students who are experiencing homelessness. This barrier to academic success is, unfortunately, not unique. To equitably serve all students, states and districts must first identify students…

School psychologists sometimes are called upon as a witness in a special education due process hearing. Without over-legalizing the role and responsibilities of the school psychologist, providing concise and organized attention to this topic not only reduces the discomforting symptoms of the fear/flight reaction but also contributes to more…

Because the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) delineates much of the substantive and procedural dimensions of special education practice, it seems logical that IDEA should be an integral part of special education research. Yet, to what extent do special education researchers discuss IDEA? In this study, we systematically reviewed…

The purpose of this article is to provide special educators with significant and perhaps surprising recent lessons in special education law. These lessons under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act range from the threshold issues of child find and eligibility through the central obligation of…

Since the passage of No Child Left Behind nearly twenty years ago, teachers' and students' educational experiences have been largely shaped by the high-stakes accountability system. The consequences of high-stakes accountability can be exacerbated in bilingual settings, because in these contexts often contradictory assessment policies and language…

Since 1978, the Education for All Handicapped Children's Act (now IDEA) committed Congress to provide 40 percent of the average per pupil spending to educate children with disabilities. While states have used a variety of special education funding formulas to attempt to meet the needs of children with disabilities, the funding has never approached…

In the context of global debates regarding the purpose of higher education, many national governments have adopted 'cost-sharing' mechanisms. Yet in 2017 the Philippines introduced legislation to provide 'Universal Access' to higher education by subsidizing tuition fees for all Filipino students in public institutions, partial fee subsidies…

This article delineates the four successive dimensions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's (IDEA) central obligation of "free appropriation public education" that the courts have developed thus far: (a) procedural, (b) substantive, (c) incomplete implementation of the last Individualized Education Program (IEP), and (d)…

Part B, Section 619 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) authorizes additional preschool formula grants to states that are eligible for grants under Section 611 of Part B. States are eligible if they make Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) available to all children ages 3-5 with disabilities. While not mandatory, all…

The implementation of prereferral models was being discussed in educational literature as early as 1979. Over the past decade, schools in the United States have begun to adopt prereferral models to meet multiple goals, such as reducing inappropriate referrals to special education, supporting students who face academic and behavioral challenges,…

The process of providing students with disabilities access to an education that is of appropriate quality is still a relatively new endeavor. Students with disabilities benefit from the support of family, educators, and many other professionals addressing the inequality that is faced in school. Ultimately, progress has been achieved from…

The purpose of this resource is to unpack Part B State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR) Indicator 3D to better understand how to use it to improve outcomes for children with individualized education programs (IEPs). Indicator 3D is a new subcomponent of Indicator 3 in the Office of Special Education Programs' (OSEP) FFY…