Special education is a vital and challenging area of service within American education. The services it provides and the processes which are employed are highly articulated and regulated by an extensive network of federal and state laws. Policy tends to drive decision making processes and accountability more than it guides instruction, decisions…

This report discusses findings of a study that investigated the resolution of disputes in the field of special education. Information was collected from ten states (Alabama, California, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming) on their current dispute resolution systems and from two additional states…