A piece of civil rights legislation, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guarantees students with disabilities a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment and authorizes appropriations of billions of dollars in funding to states and school districts to assist them in providing special…

On December 3, President Bush signed into law the "Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004," amending IDEA '97. These amendments continue the focus on educating children with disabilities, to the maximum extent possible, in the general education curriculum and go a step further by aligning many of the provisions…

Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), public school students throughout the country must participate in annual testing in specific academic areas and grades outlined in the law, including students with disabilities. Requiring the inclusion of all students with disabilities in state- and district-wide assessments helps ensure that schools,…

First addresses the use of destructive labels to describe students with behavior disorders, including negative multiassessment practices, weakness-focused Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), punitive management programs, disparaging remarks, and behavioral descriptions that accentuate student weaknesses. It then suggests ways to promote dignity…

This article provides strategies that early childhood special educators can use to incorporate the learning of specific skills into a variety of developmentally appropriate play activities for children with disabilities. The development of individualized education programs that incorporate play as a framework for intervention is discussed. (CR)

Discusses the assessment component of individualized education programs for students with visual impairments. Important issues reviewed are the appropriate selection of a battery of tests; the knowledge base about a particular vision condition; the importance of supplementing testing information with meaningful observations and interviews; and…

This article presents recommendations for transition planning assessment for secondary students with learning disabilities. It proposes redirecting assessment practices to obtain present-level-of-functioning information for Individualized Education Program planning that extends beyond high school graduation. Current assessment procedures that…

Discusses requirements specified in the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that pertain to functional behavioral assessment, as well as positive behavioral intervention plans and supports as they relate to the responsibilities of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team and to the IEP itself. (CR)

Fitness testing is an important assessment tool used by physical educators for many purposes. Some states require fitness testing to monitor individual student progress throughout the school year. Some physical educators use it to monitor the effects of the physical education curriculum and to teach concepts such as goal setting and personal…

Federal regulations (U.S. Department of Education, 2007a) provide states with the flexibility to offer an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS). This assessment option is for a small group of students with disabilities who can make significant progress, but may not reach grade-level achievement within the…

Metropolitan State University, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, is a competence-based, baccalaureate-degree-granting institution created in 1971 to serve adults. The Operational Models Project was designed to improve the university's program for assessing experiential learning. Specific purposes of the project were: (1) to describe a program for…

The Community College of Vermont holds the position that the highest purpose of education is to foster self-reliance, in both the community and the individual. This college awards the associate degree upon the completion of individual, student-written, competence-based degree contracts. Areas of competence which are evaluated include self…

In the adult development and career change program of Metropolitan State University (Minneapolis-St. Paul), a student sets a career or personal enhancement goal and develops a plan detailing the competencies necessary to achieve that goal. The competencies and learning gained from prior experiences are then assessed and documented, while learning…

Evaluations of the three years of the Fond du Lac public school system experience-based career education (EBCE) project are described in this three-part report. The two major sections of each evaluation are assessments of the achievement of student outcome objectives and of process objectives based on data collected through the use of standardized…

In response to findings of excessive exclusion of students with disabilities from national and state educational assessments, this document was developed to provide a listing of the states' guidelines for the participation or exclusion of students with disabilities in assessments. Guidelines in use were provided by 43 states. The remaining seven…