The COVID-19 global health crisis has upended the continuity of learning for students with disabilities. Despite these ongoing challenges, the right to a free appropriate public education (FAPE) for students with disabilities remains in place. As schools shift to more distance learning, teams of educators are left to redesign what FAPE looks like when they cannot be physically present with their students. This guide offers a decision-making model that aims to balance individual student needs within a virtual learning context, as well as a range of exemplars showing how this model can be applied.
The members of the Equity Coalition believe that it is now more important than ever for schools to commit to permanently rejecting harsh exclusionary discipline practices for all students and especially for those with disabilities.
We look forward to working closely with the Biden Administration and see great opportunity in the joint priorities we share regarding educators, school resources, student-centered supports, and federal investments that lead to every child having access to a high-quality education.
As the Biden education transition team conducts its search for the next Secretary of Education, the Center has joined fellow advocacy organizations in signing onto a letter expressing concerns about the possible nomination of Lily Eskelon Garcia.
This week, as we focus on gratitude, we’re also celebrating the 45th birthday of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
The Center for Learner Equity applauds the reintroduction of the Keeping All Students Safe Act (KASSA). Students with disabilities experience disproportionately high rates of restraint and seclusion in public schools, and we need this bill to address this dangerous inequity.
For decades, students with disabilities have been disproportionately subjected to the harshest and most exclusionary discipline in schools, including suspensions, expulsions, restraint, seclusion, referrals to law enforcement, and school-related arrests.
The Center congratulates President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris on their victory. We look forward to this opportunity to work together to promote and protect the civil rights of students with disabilities.
The history of the struggle to secure rights for people with disabilities is a facet of the civil rights movement that is not well known. Fortunately, there is now an extraordinary, humanizing, inspirational film on Netflix that tells a crucial part of that story.
A charter school’s legal status as part of a larger local education agency (LEA) independent LEA affects the autonomy, funding, and programming of the school—and is essential to understanding what entity is responsible for educating students with disabilities. Nevertheless, LEA status can be confusing, especially since approaches vary by state and even by school. This infographic outlines the different approaches and their implications for students with disabilities.