The long-term academic outcomes for many students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are strikingly poor. It has been decades since students with ADHD were specifically recognized as eligible for special education through the Other Health Impaired category under the Education for all Handicapped Children Act of 1975, and…

Schools and districts have long grappled with race- and disability-based exclusionary discipline inequities. Research on the topic has uncovered a variety of systems that maintain such disparities, including school policies and practices that exacerbate the problem. Researchers and practitioners have increasingly considered school context and…

This zine represents a large community project done with the collaboration of Waterloo's NAACP Education Chapter, ASK (Access for Special Kids) Resource Center, community members, caregivers, college students, and faculty. The importance of this zine was to highlight the work from town hall meetings and caregiver interviews, but also show…

Historically, schools across the nation have struggled to address significant racial or ethnic disproportionality, including overrepresentation in exclusionary discipline practices, special education identification, and restrictive educational placements. The federal government has mandated that local education agencies monitor and address…

Chronic absenteeism is a measure of how many students miss a defined number of school days for any reason--excused, unexcused, suspension. Many states define chronic absenteeism as the number and percentage of students missing 10 percent or more of their school days in a year. The purpose of this Brief is to provide information about chronic…

Inclusive teacher preparation varies greatly in format and practice, yet programs grapple with the same underlying challenges: which practices work and where do they work. As children with disabilities are increasingly being included in schools, it is essential that guidance is put into place on how best to adapt inclusive practices into the…

Access to education has long been seen as a fundamental element of a developed country. Specifically, the relative availability and access to education by various constituent groups has been identified as an essential metric in educational evaluation. Yet, individuals with disabilities have been identified as being underrepresented within…

Racial disproportionality in special education is a deep seated and complex educational inequity plaguing the United States educational system. In this article we outline how the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, although a civil rights based legislation, cannot sufficiently address racially disproportionate outcomes in special…

In the province of Manitoba, Canada, there is a gap between the rhetoric of inclusive education and its practical implementation. In the absence of inclusive educational policies and guidelines, deficit-based approaches such as categorical labels for students who are deemed to have a severe emotional and behavioural disorder, segregated…

Response to Intervention (RTI) has become the gateway to identification for many students with specific learning disabilities. Those include students in the 17 states that require RTI as the source of eligibility data as well as many students in the 33 states that allow districts to choose RTI among other options (e.g., discrepancy). There is…

Schools should be safe, nurturing, and welcoming environments for all students. Frequently, exclusionary school discipline practices, which remove students from the classroom--even for minor infractions of school rules--through suspension or expulsion, prevent students from participating fully in their education. Suspensions, expulsions, and other…

The 2007 "Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1". Supreme Court 5:4 decision suggests that the Court is divided in its interpretation of "Brown" and its intent in addressing racial segregation. Although "Brown" intended equal educational opportunities through desegregation practices,…

The executive summary a case study of two authorizers--Denver Public Schools and the District of Columbia (D.C.) Public Charter School Board--both with strong outcomes in many areas and a high or growing charter enrollment. For each, it summarizes how their approach to authorizing has shaped the way they address the issues that arise as charter…

This report provides a case study of two authorizers--Denver Public Schools and the District of Columbia (D.C.) Public Charter School Board--both with strong outcomes in many areas and a high or growing charter enrollment. For each, it summarizes how their approach to authorizing has shaped the way they address the issues that arise as charter…

This article serves as a continuation of the first article that was featured in the October 2014 issue of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) "Communiqué." There are three primary purposes to this two-part series. The first purpose is to increase awareness of special education law focused on the least restrictive…