Legislation and policy lead to action. In the absence of law or policy, situations are addressed on a case-by-case basis or they are sometimes ignored. Legislation and policy become extremely important when they relate to groups that have traditionally been marginalized, such as students with disabilities or students with gifts and talents, and…

About 13 percent of children aged 3 through 21 enrolled in public schools received special education services in school year 2015-16, and about 3 percent of children from birth through age 2 received special education services. Concerns about the difficulties identifying and evaluating children for special education have been raised by the media,…

Public funding of private K-12 schooling through vouchers continues to be a contentious issue across the U.S., even though a solid majority of Americans continues to oppose them. The voucher plans run the risk of legal challenge for how they handle the rights of students with disabilities and whether they violate state constitutional provisions…

The focus on the achievement gap has overshadowed ways in which school systems constrain student achievement through trends of racial disproportionality in areas such as school discipline, special education assignment, and juvenile justice. Using Critical Race Theory, we reframe these racial disparities as issues of institutionalized racism.…

Raising academic standards and eliminating achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students are America's prime national educational goals. Current federal and state policies, however, largely ignore the fact that the childhood poverty rate in the United States is 21%, the highest in the industrialized world, and that poverty…

This study examined provisions for special education services in state charter school legislation through document reviews, a survey of charter schools, interviews, and site visits to four Colorado charter schools. It found significant variability across states and among the Colorado charter schools in how students with disabilities access the…

Written to be consistent with federal and Colorado laws, the manual focuses on training impartial hearing officers to achieve the guarantees of an appropriate education for all handicapped children. An overview of procedural safeguards is presented, including information on due process procedures for parents and children, protection in evaluation…

This handbook provides an overview of federal and Colorado special education laws and special education issues that affect charter schools. An introduction reviews the history of charter schools and both the school choice movement and special education in Colorado. The first major section provides a history of special education statutory and case…

The third of five regional fact-finding committee hearings across the United States, this report includes testimony from hearing committee members and social service organizations in Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, and Montana. Live and prepared testimony presents information on problems associated with abuse of women, children, and the elderly;…