The essential obligation of special educators is to collaboratively develop an individualized program of special education and related services for eligible students with disabilities that confers a free appropriate public education (FAPE). When a student with disabilities exhibits serious problem behavior, providing a FAPE often means including behavioral programming in […]
The OSEP-funded Progress Center (promotingprogress.org) is hosting a free virtual program titled “Prepping for PROGRESS! Adding New Tools to Your Backpack (Toolbox) for the Start of School.” The purpose of the event is to assist teachers who are looking for resources and strategies to help prepare educators to promote progress […]
On September 26, 1973, President Richard Nixon signed the Rehabilitation Act, including Section 504, into law. Although the law was passed, it was almost five years later before the U.S Department of Education promulgated regulations implementing the law. The Section 504 education regulations can be found here. On May 6th, […]
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 […]
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