Mitchell L. Yell, Ph.D., is the Fred and Francis Lester Palmetto Chair in Teacher Education and a Professor in Special Education at the University of South Carolina. He earned his Ph.D. in special education from the University of Minnesota. His professional interests include special education law, IEP development, progress monitoring, and parent involvement in special education. Dr. Yell has published 124 journal articles, 6 textbooks, 32 book chapters, and has conducted numerous workshops on various aspects of special education law, classroom management, and progress monitoring. His textbook, Special Education and the Law, is in its 5th edition. He also had been awarded almost $16 million in grants. Dr. Yell also serves as a State-level due process review officer in South Carolina. Prior to working in higher education, Dr. Yell was a special education teacher in Minnesota for 14 years.
On Thursday, September 18, the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada allowed a class action lawsuit to go forward against the Clark County School District in Nevada and the Nevada State Department of Education. The suit was brought by 12 families of students with disabilities. The lawsuit alleged […]
At 10:00 on June 12, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision, in AJ.T. v. Osseo Area Schools. The decision, which was written by Chief Justice John Roberts, sided with a student with a disability suing the Osseo public schools for not doing enough to accommodate her rare form […]
According to the IDEA, “the term ‘special education’ means specially designed instruction, at no cost to parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability, including instruction conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings…(IDEA, 20 USC § 29). The […]
On September 26, 2024, Ken Paxton, the Attorney General of Texas filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The lawsuit was joined by the attorneys general from the states of Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, […]
What are we to make of the stances of the Trump administration and Project 2025 to the U.S. Department of Education and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act? In an attempt to answer these questions, Dr. Federico Waitoller of the University of Illinois-Chicago interviewed Drs Mitchell Yell of the University […]
On June 22, 1999. the U.S. Supreme Court announced the 6 to 3 ruling in Olmstead v. L.C. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled on the integration mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In the majority opinion, Justice Ruth Baker Ginsburg wrote that the unjustified segregation of […]
July 2 was the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. This law, clearly one of the most important pieces of legislation in our nation’s history, was the first of a number of civil rights laws. Title VI […]
Today’s blog post was written by Dr. Kimberly Knackstedt, She previously has served in disability policy positions in Congress and the White House. From 2019 to 2021, she was the senior disability policy advisor for Senator Patty Murray on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the U.S. Senate. In […]
In today’s blog I will discuss an interesting case out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th, Circuit, Powell v. School Board of Volusia County, Florida (2023). The case is available on the 11th Circuit website. It is of special interest because the school district prevailed at the […]
When we think of parents filing complaints against school districts regarding special education services, we usually think of mediation, resolution sessions, due process hearings, and possible court cases. However, there are additional, less well-known, complaint resolution systems that the parents of students with disabilities may use. This blog post will […]
Using out-of-school suspensions with students with disabilities protected by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has long been a problem. Despite the issues that have arisen with the overuse and inappropriate use of discipline in general and OSS specifically, it had only been addressed by courts, including the U.S. […]
On March 21, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools. In the 9-0 ruling, which was written by Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, the High Court reversed and remanded the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit for further […]
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