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 State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR) is an important tool for states to assess local education agency (LEA) implementation of IDEA. However, reviewing LEA performance on the SPP/APR indicators must not be the only tool. This Fast Five introduces five factors (plus one!) other than the SPP/APR indicators that states should…

The state of Texas has been cited through the U.S. Department of Education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as failing to identify students under the Child Find component of the law using Response to Intervention/Multi-Tiered System of Support (RtI/MTSS). The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to identify…

To ensure students with disabilities receive the services they need to support their learning, the U.S. Congress reauthorized the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004. IDEA requires that each state: (1) implement IDEA with fidelity; (2) sustain special education programs that meet IDEA's educational standards; and (3) monitor…

The purpose of Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) is to protect the rights of students with disabilities and to assure that all students receive equitable access to a free and appropriate public education; yet there are explicit exclusions written in the law for students who may have experienced environmental,…

This brief examines California's Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), which is a framework designed to identify and assist students performing below grade level. MTSS involves at least three tiers of support; Tier 2 includes personalized assistance. Unfortunately, Tier 2 services are not adequately resourced so it is not surprising that…

State accountability systems have been a primary school reform initiative in the US for the past 20 years, but often produce unintended negative consequences. In 2004, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) implemented the Performance Based Monitoring and Analysis System (PBMAS), which included an accountability indicator focused on the percentage of…

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,…

Response to Intervention (RtI) has been widely accepted by many school districts in the United States as an instructional method that can be used to consistently decrease learning gaps and ultimately enhance learning for all students. Though implementation of RtI as an instructional method has not been legally mandated, many school districts have…

This resource conveys policies, procedures, and guidelines that support the delivery of special education services in British Columbia's (Canada) public schools. It was originally published in 1995 (ED414703), following an extensive provincial Special Education Review (1993-94). The purpose of this manual is to provide a single point of reference…

The legal source of schools' use of response to intervention (RTI) is a matter of federal and state special education laws, although its implementation is largely a matter of general education practice. The only mention of RTI is in the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and it is limited to identification of students with…

Education reform has been on a new path over the last 15 years; a path that leads to more accountability, more choice for students and parents, highly qualified teachers, as well as, best practices in instruction. In an effort to move along the path of reform and as a result of previous reform, the 2004 reauthorization of IDEA reviewed the field…

Response-to-Intervention (RtI), a framework for improving academic and behavioral outcomes for all students, can be viewed as a current example of an educational change initiative. Given the difficulties that some schools may be experiencing when implementing RtI effectively, it is important to examine prior educational change conceptualizations…

Drawing on the insights of critical disability studies, this article addresses anxieties frequently articulated by academic staff around the implementation of the United Kingdom's Disability Discrimination Act: how to accommodate the needs of students with "hidden" impairments. Following the social model of disability, it argues that…

This resource conveys policies, procedures, and guidelines that support the delivery of special education services in British Columbia's (Canada) public schools. It was originally published in 1995 (ED414703), following an extensive provincial Special Education Review (1993-94). The purpose of this manual is to provide a single point of reference…