To provide a missing piece to the legal foundation of professional development and practice for the individualized education program (IEP) process, the authors report the results of a comprehensive systematic analysis of court decisions specific to IEP-related procedural violations after the 2004 amendments of the Individuals With Disabilities…

This article provides a systematic and impartial analysis of the law, including hearing and review officer as well as judicial decisions, specific to the intersection of response to intervention (RTI) and school districts' ongoing affirmative obligation of child find. The results reveal that this intersection has not been the subject of…

Starting with a constructive critique of legal articles in special education journals concerning transition services under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), this article presents an empirical analysis of relevant judicial rulings for the period 1990-2016 that shows a prevailing prodistrict approach that is not otherwise…

A comprehensive search identified 42 court decisions from late 1996 to early 2014 concerning the primary modern meaning of child find under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)--whether the district had reasonable suspicion of eligibility and yet did not evaluate the child. The findings from a systematic analysis of these court…

In recent years, doctoral programs in education leadership have been subject to notable criticism and proposals for reform. Starting with a synthesis of this criticism, this article focuses on the two primary constituencies--university faculty members who teach in such programs, and school superintendents, who are the leading practitioners such…

During the past two decades, scholars, educators, and special interest organizations, including advocacy groups, have critically examined and debated the ethical and legal use of aversive interventions with individuals with disabilities. These interventions comprise a broad spectrum of behavior management techniques including but not at all…

The special safeguards and standards under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for disciplinary "removals," or suspensions and expulsions, are complicated and controversial. The manifestation-determination (M-D) requirement plays a central role in this special framework (Zirkel, 2003). The 2004 Amendments of the IDEA…

The purposes of this article are to review the in-service teacher education literature and to present a survey instrument produced in a Teacher Corps project with respect to one aspect of needs assessment for in-service education, that of teachers' preliminary preferences and priorities. (Author)

Examines the status of home instruction relative to judicial interpretations of the U.S. Constitution and individual state statutes. Summarizes and classifies case law as a means of updating judicial action. Notes that the debate about home instruction has moved from the realm of the U.S. Constitution to that of state legislation. (KO)

Although both desegregation and bilingual education ideally aim at the goal of equal and equitable educational opportunities for minority youngsters, the initial impetus of bilingual education differs distinctly from desegregation in that the bilingual approach requires separate special treatment. The degree of divergence between desegregation and…