Children & Youth Action Network
(CAN) Reports

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Judy B. Engelhard, CAN Coordinator for the Division for Learning Disabilities, provides brief reports for TeachingLD.org so that visitors can keep informed about important developments in policies affecting students with learning disabilities and their teachers. TeachingLD.org is pleased to offer this page as a place for people concerned with learning disabilities to keep up to date.

28 June 2007

This report covers recent developments in the public policy area. It includes information about (a) a new set of resources on response to intervention, (b) changes in US Department of Education personnel, (c) final IDEA documents, (d) the status of the NCLB reauthorization, and (e) the recently released statistics on US education.

SPECIFIC Learning Disabilities AND RTI RESOURCE

To assist in addressing the IDEA 2004 changes in required identification procedures for Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) in IDEA 2004, the Center on Instruction has provided the Learning Disabilities Resource Kit: Specific Learning Disabilities Determination Procedures and Responsiveness to Intervention.  Developed by the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities, this kit is intended to help schools and districts navigate changes related to specific learning disability (SLD) determination and responsiveness to intervention (RTI).

Included in the kit is general information on SLD determination and RTI, tools for getting started, PowerPoint presentations, and resources for parents. In particular, the School-Based RTI Practices section provides information from elementary schools around the country that are implementing RTI. Topics include school-wide screening, progress monitoring, tiered service delivery models, data-based decision-making, parent involvement, and fidelity of implementation. The kit is available for download at: http://www.nrcld.org/resource_kit/ and pertains to:

• Reading: Grades K-12
• Reading: Special Education: Grades K-12
  
• Mathematics: Grades K-12
  
• Mathematics: Special Education: Grades K-12
  
• Special Education: Grades K-12

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
SPECIAL EDUCATION PERSONNEL CHANGES

Alexa Posny, Director of the Office for Special Education Programs for the U.S. Department of Education, returns to Kansas as the state's education commissioner July 1.

Dr. Ed Kame'enui, the first commissioner for the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) created in 2005 within the Institute for Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education, will return to his faculty position at the University of Oregon.

IDEA 2004 FINAL REGULATIONS Q & A DOCUMENTS

The U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has posted "Question & Answer" (Q & A) documents to assist in the implementation of the final regulations for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004) published August 14, 2006. The documents address questions on the following topics (general link):

• Highly Qualified Teachers Serving Children with Disabilities
• Individualized Education Programs (IEP's), Evaluations and Reevaluations
• Monitoring, Technical Assistance and Enforcement
• Procedural Safeguards and Due Process Procedures For Parents and Children With Disabilities
• Response to Intervention (RTI) and Early Intervening Services (EIS)
• Serving Children With Disabilities Placed by Their Parents at Private Schools
• National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standards (NIMAS)
• Discipline Procedures

To find out what changes to IDEA 2004 are being made in your state, be sure to contact your state agency that should be developing state regulations that reflect federal requirements.

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND (NCLB) REAUTHORIZATION

Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently named the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is underway in the U.S. Congress as this is the 5th year since the last reauthorization.  Many groups are providing recommendations for improving the legislation; the Division for Learning Disabilities (DLD) is participating in discussions with some of these groups, especially our parent organization, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) .  Among many issues, DLD is working to get legislators to:

• emphasize "support" rather than "sanctions/punishment" for failing schools
• include, in an appropriate manner, students with learning disabilities in assessment systems used for accountability purposes
  
• continue to allow the use of the High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation (HOUSSE) option to meet "highly qualified" requirements for special educators
  
• refrain from allowing only a test to be used as evidence of special education teacher preparation.

RECENTLY RELEASED NCLB REAUTHORIZATION RESOURCES

In addition to NCLB/ESEA reauthorization activities included in the March 2007 CAN Update, the following resources are available:

• CEC's complete set of recommendations for NCLB/ESEA Reauthorization based on member input and feedback are being distributed in various forums, including meetings with elected officials and staffers on Capitol Hill.
• The report Assessment and Accountability for Improving Schools and Learning that recommends an overhaul of NCLB testing and accountability provisions was released in June by the Forum on Educational Accountability.

THE CONDITION OF EDUCATION 2007 REPORT

The report on the state of American education mandated by Congress is now available in the annual report The Condition of Education produced by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). This year's report includes indicators of important developments and trends in U.S. education including participation and persistence in education, student performance and other measures of achievement, the environment for learning, and resources for education.

GET INVOLVED AND SIGN-UP TO RECEIVE POLICY UPDATES

If you have specific recommendations related to policy or legislative issues that you wish DLD to consider, please let me know via TeachingLD's contact form; it is helpful if you provide examples that illustrate how students with learning disabilities or their teachers are affected. You are encouraged to get involved by visiting the CEC Legislative Action Center and write your members of Congress on special education issues. If you wish to receive weekly updates from the CEC Policy Unit, please write to me via TeachingLD's contact form, and put "policy updates" in the subject line.

Judy B. Engelhard
DLD/CAN Coordinator