In contrast with professional norms and best practices, the legal requirements for functional behavioral assessments (FBAs) and behavior intervention plans (BIPs) are meager in scope and specificity (Collins & Zirkel, 2017). Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act makes no mention of FBAs or BIPs, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education…

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework can be applied to a variety of instructional contexts and activities, and individualized education program (IEP) meetings are one such context. The primary principle of the framework is to provide teachers with guidelines for designing and implementing instruction that can be adapted to meet the…

As the follow-up to an earlier examination of the frequency and outcomes trends of published court decisions under the IDEA for P-12 students, this updated analysis covers the 25-year period ending on December 31, 2022. The frequency trend for the most recent 10 years reversed the upward trajectory of the previous 15 years. The outcomes trend for…

Alternate assessments aligned to alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS) are designed and implemented for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. Historically, these assessments have been described as reflecting reduced "depth," "breadth," and "complexity." Yet, the meaning of these terms…

In the United States (US), early intervention (EI) programs under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act have demonstrated a commitment to teaming and collaboration through multidisciplinary assessment and coordinated service delivery. However, there continues to be broad variability as to the EI service delivery model described…

As a required part of the Individuals with Disabilities Act, students with disabilities within the United States are required to receive transitional services to help support their exit from school and ascension to adulthood. A common transitional service revolves around preparing students for the college setting, at either a university, community…

Extended school year (ESY) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has become a more frequent issue as a result of the learning loss and increased needs of some special education students due to the COVID-19 pandemic. School psychologists often play a significant role in implementation of the IDEA requirements specific to ESY.…

Since 2013, DaSy has tracked the status of Part C and Part B 619 state data systems to understand states' technical assistance needs, provide stakeholders with a national picture of what capacities state data systems have, and to track how those capacities are changing over time. Most recently, in spring of 2021, DaSy collected comprehensive…

Career and technical education (also known as vocational education) has been in existence since at least the 19th century as a means of preparing students for employment. However, for much of the 20th century, it also has served to segregate students, even after such segregation was deemed illegal. Robert Kim describes the legal history of career…

In 2019-20, over 4.6 million students attended private school. Many are eligible for equitable services--such as tutoring--under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). These federally funded services provided by school districts offer critical learning supports at private schools that opt to have their students receive them. ESEA…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. This issue is the "50th Anniversary Edition." Contents include: (1) IDRA Milestones Across Five Decades to…

The purpose of this study is to explore graduation disparities among students with disabilities in the southern region of the United States and assess the impact of IDEA policy implementation within these 11 states. The intent of this research is to establish whether there is a connection between special education policies and graduation rates for…

Under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, individualized education program (IEP) annual goals are required to enable students with disabilities to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum and to address other educational needs. This study reports findings from a content analysis of the annual goals in 88…

"Virtual Interview Training for Transition-Age Youth" and "Virtual Reality Job Interview Training" are job interview simulators with demonstrated effectiveness in randomized controlled trials. We evaluated their dose responses via secondary data analysis of 558 transition-age youth with disabilities in 47 schools where the…

Ghana is one of the few countries with prior cost-sharing funding approaches to upper secondary education to have rolled out a completely free upper secondary education policy. Whilst the empirical foundation of the emerging body of studies on the policy includes policy makers, implementers and a reliance on policy documents, the perspectives of…