For many students, when considering eligibility for special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the primary (though not only) classification at issue is emotional disturbance (ED). Despite continuing professional controversy concerning the IDEA's definitional criteria for the emotional disturbance…

This study aims to illustrate how states include an improvement science approach to educational improvement in their Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) state plan. Through a qualitative content analysis of 52 state ESSA plans, we propose an introductory organizational typology to categorize states based on their explicit inclusion of improvement…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) allows alternate pathways for school districts to identify and classify students with a specific learning disability (SLD). Response to Intervention (RtI) is one of the frameworks schools can use when eliminating the use of the discrepancy model. The premise of RtI posits that…

The Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) seeks to improve all schools. To strategically target resources and champion equity in education, the NDE blends both federal and state supports in its classification and designation system. Nebraska statute requires the State Board of Education to create a system of accountability combining multiple…

Educators, families, and policy actors rely on federal and state special education law to inform many decision-making processes. Vague eligibility criteria within the laws can result in conflict between school districts and parents. Resulting due process hearing decisions can have important implications for future practice. One area of particular…

This case highlights the moral and ethical dilemmas that principals and educators confront when making decisions about special education classification and placement, particularly in the context of racial disproportionality. These decisions are complex, influenced by the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and…

Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) is an outgrowth of Response to Intervention (RtI). The various systems of support for students and school communities provided through these programs are integral to modern education and embedded in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004. While there are many benefits to…

The annual National Deafblind Child Count is the world's first and longest-running count of children who are deafblind. Begun in 1986 on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, it represents a collaborative effort between the National Center on Deafblindness (NCDB) and state deafblind projects throughout the country, including those in the…

Purpose: Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a lifelong condition that when impacting educational performance is identified and serviced through U.S. schools as outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. A few examples of educational categories that refer to DLD are (a) speech or language impairment (S/LI) and (b) specific…

The number of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) is on the rise, and these institutions now represent about one in five colleges and universities in the United States (Excelencia in Education 2024). Collectively, these two-year and four-year colleges and universities enroll just over a third of all undergraduate students in the nation. HSIs also…

How school districts measure homelessness among their students has implications for accountability and funding, as well as for supporting student success. Yet, measuring homelessness among high school students is challenging because students move in and out of experiencing it. Using administrative student-level data from a mid-sized public school…

Reclassification is a critical threshold when English Learners (ELs) exit specialized language services and access all-English mainstream classrooms. Despite the mandates of the Every Student Succeeds Act, reclassification rates and time remain a pressing problem. A product of this malfunctioning system has been long-term ELs (LTELs). This article…

To achieve Higher Education Act Title V funding goals, policymakers must reconsider approaches, respond to Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) diversity, and prioritize servingness. This study investigated HSI heterogeneity across traditional performance metrics and student-engagement indicators using data sources previously only examined…

In the 40-plus years since the "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act," special education has grown in the number of students and amount spent on services. Despite this growth, academic performance of students with disabilities remains troublingly low compared to general education students. To some extent, these differences reflect…

The Post-9/11 GI Bill represents significant public investment in and commitment to veterans who have served in the armed forces and those who will serve in the future. Recent studies have examined its effect on veterans' college participation. In this study, Liang Zhang uses data from four waves of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study…