In response to requirements of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Maine enacted a rule requiring all schools to have a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) in place by 2012 for a general education, pre-referral system of student support. The purpose of this system, generally termed Response to Intervention (RtI) by…

This study examined the disconnect between child study teams, teachers, principals and parents in the monitoring of IEP's and effective implementation of interventions needed to move African American males from special education placements to mainstream classes. In addition, stakeholder attitudes, perceptions, opinions, and beliefs were examined…

As the theme of the 2022 annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, cultivating equitable education systems has gained renewed attention amid an increasingly diverse society. However, systemic inequalities persist for traditionally underserved student populations. As a way to better address diverse students' needs, it is of…

The issue of attrition and retention has been a chronic problem in the field of education for decades. School districts across the United States are experiencing shortages of qualified special education teachers largely due to high turnover rates, with many of these teachers electing not to return after their first year of teaching. In fact,…

This is the 21st report by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) that describes how states publicly report assessment data for students with disabilities in K-12 schools in the United States. The purpose of this report is to examine the extent to which states reported 2017-18 assessment data for students with disabilities "to the…

Swedish and international research points to serious problems for the education of students with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) in the care of social welfare, for example, in residential care. The aim of this article is to elucidate how documentation, care plans (CPs) and individual educational plans (IEPs) outline the…

Purpose: The goal of this study was to investigate the initial feasibility of the Communication Matrix Professional Development Program (CMPDP), an online program created to help educational professionals teaching students with complex communication needs. Method: A one-group pretest-posttest design was employed with 102 educational professionals…

The current study examined teacher-reported asthma management practices in school and adherence to federal guidelines for students with asthma. 593 kindergarten-eighth grade teachers completed surveys regarding compliance with federal laws and policies, information-seeking behavior, asthma-related professional development, and asthma management…

A respected principal finds himself caught in the middle of a complex legal conundrum when a student requests to bring a service animal to his public school where another student may be dangerously allergic to the animal. This case explores how accommodations per the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of…

Inclusive educational practices are rooted in a body of research indicating that when students in need of support through special education are meaningfully included in schools, academic and social outcomes improve for all students. To realize this promise of better outcomes, traditional schools with separate classrooms and even schools designated…

In this practice brief, we describe several current examples of approaches that are aimed at improving outcomes for students entering high school. Additionally, we present strategies to disrupt the negative trajectory for students with EBD, who seldom receive coordinated, individualized supports during the critical transition from middle to high…

Implementation science provides guidance on adapting existing evidence based practices (EBPs) by incorporating implementation concerns from the start. Focus-group methodology was used to understand barriers and facilitators of transition planning and implementation for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who often experience disparate…

The gap in academic achievement between regular and special education students is well documented. Math was once the stronger area for students with IEPs; however, the scores in Illinois in 2013 suggest that for the subgroup of IEP students, reading and math performance has reached an all-time ten-year low, even when correcting for the change in…

A widely cited report by the federal Government Accountability Office found that charter schools enroll a significantly smaller percentage of students with disabilities than do traditional public schools. However, thus far no hard evidence exists to definitively explain or quantify the disparity between special education enrollment rates in…

Parent empowerment involves the ability of caregivers to meet the needs of their family while maintaining feelings of control and is particularly important for families of children at-risk. It is necessary to establish reliable and valid tools to measure parent empowerment. The purpose of this study was to examine the internal factor structure,…