We outline a multidimensional ecological systems policy framework to better understand how the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and patterns of racial disproportionality in special education relate. The framework engages with ideology, power, privilege, and context across the multiple layers of the policy-implementation process…

In the U.S. education system, students of color experience multiple forms of marginalization at the intersection of markers of difference. These injustices manifest in multiple forms, such as higher rates of inappropriate referrals to special education, misidentification, conferring stigmatizing labels, and subsequently placing students of color…

After a multitude of studies across more than a century, researchers have failed to consistently identify characteristics or patterns that distinguish dyslexia from other decoding challenges. Many researchers and educators argue the construct is too vague and contradictory to be useful for educators. Nevertheless, attention to dyslexia in policy…

This article describes a 12-step model that can be used for policy analysis. The model encompasses policy development, implementation, and evaluation; takes into account structural foundations of policy; addresses both legal formalism and legal realism; demonstrates contextual sensitivity; and addresses application issues and different…

This paper provides an analysis of inclusive education policies across international, and Anglo-American national and provincial/state jurisdictions to reveal how policies discursively construct inclusion under current, increasingly neoliberal conditions. In making this case, the paper draws upon primary UNESCO and Organisation for Economic…

Situated in the context of U.S. educational outcomes, education policy in California, and UNESCO's definition of inclusive education, we examine how schools have addressed student diversity. Methods of identifying students with disabilities are not adequately designed to identify English learners with disabilities. In part to address that problem,…

This article provides a concise and objective synthesis of the federal legislation, regulations, and agency policy interpretations; state laws; and case law, including hearing officer and complaint investigation decisions, concerning specific learning disability (SLD) identification since the 2006 IDEA regulations. The results reveal wide latitude…

Racial disproportionality in special education is a deep seated and complex educational inequity plaguing the United States educational system. In this article we outline how the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, although a civil rights based legislation, cannot sufficiently address racially disproportionate outcomes in special…

Schools should be safe, nurturing, and welcoming environments for all students. Frequently, exclusionary school discipline practices, which remove students from the classroom--even for minor infractions of school rules--through suspension or expulsion, prevent students from participating fully in their education. Suspensions, expulsions, and other…

Since 1997, revisions to the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have shown promise for addressing special education equity concerns: For example, states have the option to use response to intervention (RTI) for determining and thus reducing inappropriate disability determination, and states and districts are required to assess and…

Educational legislation and policy can lead to effective educational practices, especially for student populations that have had equal access to education addressing their needs, such as students with disabilities and gifted students. This study was an examination of state legislation and policy related to twice-exceptional learners in the United…

During the 2015-16 school year, 25 states used assessments aligned to college- and career-ready standards developed by consortia of states (i.e., Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers--PARCC, Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium--Smarter Balanced) as their accountability assessments. The participation of students with…

This short article provides a legal analysis of the Hale et al. white paper on specific learning disabilities identification. The white paper presents a purported consensus of experts that an approach combining response to intervention with severe discrepancy is consistent with the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The analysis…

April 2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the landmark legislation that has provided the foundation of federal education policy in the United States. In "Presidents, Congress, and the Public Schools," longtime policy analyst Jack Jennings examines the evolution of federal education…

Specific learning disability (SLD), although moderately declining in recent years, continues to be the largest of the eligibility classifications under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA; NCES, 2012). The recognition of response to intervention (RTI) in the 2004 amendments of the IDEA as an approach for identifying students with…