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 April 28, 2022, OCR (U.S. Department of Education, 2022) issued its findings and an agreement with the second largest school district in the U.S., the Los Angeles Unified School District (hereinafter LA Unified). The Office of Civil Rights investigated LA Unified to determine whether the district failed to provide […]
In two seminal special education cases heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, Board of Education v. Rowley (1982) and Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District (2017), the High Court fashioned a two-part test that hearing officers and judges were to apply to the facts of the case when determining […]
As of 2019, 31 states had laws or local ordinances that criminalized student misbehavior that occurred in or around schools. These laws often criminalize behaviors committed by students that may be socially inappropriate but fall short of criminal behavior. Moreover, the criminalized behaviors are often indistinguishable from behaviors that receive […]
In 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) became law. The law, which was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990, promised financial incentives to states that submitted plans to provide educational services to eligible students with disabilities in accordance with the terms of the […]
A few weeks ago, the soon-to-be Dr. Charles Walters wrote a blog for a class I am teaching in Research in Special Education law. It was a fabulous blog post that addressed some of the issues regarding the IDEA’s Due process system. Charlie titled his post “Can we Due (process) […]
Officials in the U.S Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) have release another policy document. A few weeks ago, OSERS releases the “Return to School Roadmap: Development and Implementation of Individualized Education Programs in the Least Restrictive Environment under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.” […]
On September 30, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) in the U.S. Department of Education issued a guidance document interpreting the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in light of the challenges school personnel are facing from the Covid 19 pandemic. The document titled […]
In previous blog posts, we have written about the two Supreme Court decisions that created a standard for determining if a school district had provided a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to a student with a disability who had been determined eligible under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). […]
This year the Special Education Legislative Summit (SELS), which is usually held in Washington D.C., will be held virtually from July 13 to 23. It is sponsored and planned by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE). It is an opportunity for […]
President Budget released the budget for fiscal year 2022. It contains a large increase in IDEA funding. For full details on the Education portion of the budget go to CEC’s Policy and Advocacy page.
This afternoon (May 13) at 4:00 eastern standard time there will be a free webinar sponsored by Let’s Go Learn on Developing Education Meaningful and Legally Sound IEPs. In this free webinar, Drs. Mitchell Yell and Kurt Hulett will discuss the most critical issues of the developing and implementing the […]
The Indiana IEP Resource Center is inviting out-of-state participants to their Focus on Inclusion Week, a week-long virtual professional learning event, focusing on inclusion and IEP Development for general and special education teachers and administrators. The virtual event is from Feb. 1 to 2 and includes 3 presentations a day […]
SPED LAW BLOG 