The U.S. Department of Education defines physical restraints as a restriction that immobilizes or reduces the ability to move torso, arms, legs, or head freely. Because of the inherent dangers of physical restraints, their use is strictly regulated in most hospitals, prisons, and public law enforcement settings. Although students have died in…

The purpose of this document is to provide information and resources on special education for charter schools and charter school authorizers. The information in this report should not be relied upon as a comprehensive or definitive response to specific legal situations involving special education compliance. This report includes a: (1) Minnesota…

Early identification of developmental delays in young children is a national priority. Yet, a significant number of children do not receive timely developmental monitoring and screening as part of current health and early identification systems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) "Learn the Signs. Act Early."…

This brief is the first in a series focusing on Employment First implementation as it relates to one of the seven elements within the High-Performing States in Integrated Employment model. It examines the background of circumstances under which Employment First efforts began in seven states, and introduces each state's values, mission, and goals…

This report explains how State Entity (SE) Program grantees are using or proposed to use the technical assistance (TA) set-aside portion of their Charter School Programs (CSP) funds for these activities. This report also describes SE activities to ensure subgrantees are equipped to meet the needs of all students, and specifically students with…

The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) ensures educational equity for multilingual learners through supporting school districts and charter schools to develop, implement and evaluate research-based language instruction educational programs (LIEPs) so that multilingual learners, including students with English learner (EL) status, attain…

This brief is the second in a series focusing on Employment First implementation as it relates to one of the seven elements within the High-Performing States in Integrated Employment model. It examines the background of circumstances under which Employment First efforts began in seven states, and introduces each state's values, mission, and goals…

This report discusses the Person and Family-Centered Approaches in Mental Health and Co-Occurring Disorders Training Project, a training project that the Research and Training Center (RTC) at the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) at the University of Minnesota performed for the Minnesota Department of Human Services. This project was born…

To prepare high school graduates with visual impairments for college, staff members at Perkins School for the Blind developed a nine month residential program, College Success@Perkins. This article describes components of the program design and provides data on eight students who successfully completed the program in the first cohort. It concludes…

Federal policy initiatives such as the flexibility waivers for accountability are requiring that states transition away from the use of an alternate assessment based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS). It is expected that those students who had participated in that assessment will instead participate in the state's general assessment (or a…

This Study Snapshot highlights key findings from a study that examined the use of exclusionary discipline practices by Minnesota local education agencies. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights identified 43 local education agencies in the state as being in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act for their use of exclusionary discipline…

This brief is the third in a series focusing on Employment First implementation as it relates to one of the seven elements within the High-Performing States in Integrated Employment model. It examines the background of circumstances under which Employment First efforts began in seven states, and introduces each state's values, mission, and goals…

This "Equity by Design" brief highlights equity issues that arise in the process of reopening schools during a global pandemic. The authors examine state plans and guidance for reopening schools across states in the Midwest & Plains Equity Assistance Center (MAP EAC) region which includes the 13 states of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa,…

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…

To help special education planning teams reach agreements, the Minnesota Department of Education, Compliance and Assistance, Alternative Dispute Resolution Services provide the option of facilitated IEP (Individualized Education Program) meetings. This option is available for IEP, IIIP (Individual Interagency Intervention Plan), and IFSP…