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Special Education: Ensuring Excellence for All Students - Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Time: 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET
“No Child Left Behind and the new IDEA have not only removed the final barrier separating special education from general education, they have put the needs of students with disabilities front and center. Special education is no longer a peripheral issue. It's central to the success of any school."
-Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
This November marks 30 years since Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142). Today, thanks to this law, which became the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, the majority of children with disabilities are being educated in their neighborhood schools and in regular classrooms alongside their non-disabled peers; high school graduation rates and employment rates among youth with disabilities have increased dramatically; and post-secondary enrollments among individuals with disabilities continue to rise.
With the advent of No Child Left Behind and the recent reauthorization of IDEA, a new era in special education has commenced—one that doesn’t seek to meet minimum requirements, but rather embraces increased academic achievement and real results for every child with a disability. For the first time in our nation’s history, states are required to establish high expectations for students with disabilities in reading and mathematics and districts are held accountable for reaching annual yearly progress goals for all of the students they serve. Special education and general education have for too long been treated as separate systems, but in fact, they share responsibility for children with disabilities. Under NCLB, these systems must work together to provide effective teaching and ensure that those with additional needs benefit from strong teaching and instructional methods that should be offered to children through general education. As a result, NCLB and IDEA is beginning to close the achievement gap for children with disabilities.
The November broadcast of Education News Parents Can Use will showcase successful inclusion programs in schools, profile research-based, early identification and intervention initiatives to identify academic and behavioral problems in young children, and will include a panel of educators, policymakers, community leaders and parents exploring key issues such as:
- How is NCLB helping ensure the academic progress of children with disabilities?
- What are the key provisions of the reauthorized IDEA legislation and does it impact those involved with the special education process?
- What do parents need to know about early intervention for children suspected of having a disability and what challenges do these students and their families face?
- How have schools made it easier for parents to navigate the system as they create an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for their student with a disability?
- How can students with disabilities be successfully integrated into general education classrooms?
- What is Positive Behavior Supports and what difference is it making in schools?
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