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Access for High School Students with Disabilities
Teaching Students with Special Needs | Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA)
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the federal government's special education law. IDEA provides supplementary federal funds to assist states and local communities in providing educational opportunities for approximately six million students with varying degrees of disability who participate in special education. As a requirement for receiving IDEA federal funding, states must offer free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. Because a disproportionate number of special education students and English language learners are denied a high school diploma, based on their exit exam performance, it is a national imperative to ensure that all high school students -- and not just some -- are prepared to graduate; IDEA is designed in part to support that outcome.
For more information on IDEA visit http://idea.ed.gov. The US Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) has developed a series of topic briefs around several high-interest areas of IDEA with particular attention to aligning that legislation with requirements under NCLB to better help states, Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and schools fulfill their goal of ensuring that all high school students are learning at high levels.
High school students with disabilities deserve complete access to general education courses, electives, tests required for a high school diploma, and all other aspects of a full high school experience, regardless of the school they attend. Considering that a significant portion of nearly 7 million students in the United States receive special education, it is a national imperative that each one of them is given the opportunity to fulfill his or her potential.1 Information on best practices, technical assistance, and other valuable resources to benefit students with disabilities are included throughout all of the National High School Center's high school topics.
Teaching Students with Special Needs
Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Dropping Out: A Quick Stats Fact Sheet
This fact sheet provides a snapshot of the current issues surrounding dropout factors among students who are identified with emotional disturbance, and offers mental health resources that may assist this population with remaining in high school. (July 2009)
Meeting the Needs of Significantly Struggling Learners in High School: A Look at Approaches to Tiered Intervention
This report, authored by Helen Duffy of the National High School Center at the American Institutes for Research, provides an in-depth look at the implementation and structural issues, as well as the needed support required to successfully institute Response to Intervention (RTI) at the secondary school level. It defines the RTI models, explores benefits and challenges faced at the high school level, shares a snapshot of implementation at the high school level, and outlines the necessary resources needed to support this work. (August 2007)
What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public Schools: A Focus on Students with Disabilities
Freshman year course performance—more than background characteristics such as race, gender, socioeconomic status or prior achievement—predict which students with disabilities are most at risk for dropping out of high school, according to a new report from the National High School Center at the American Institutes for Research and the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. The report found that absences, course failures, course credits and GPA all can be used to accurately predict whether ninth-graders with disabilities will graduate from high school. Identifying these early warning indicators is especially crucial for students with disabilities, who drop out of high school at alarming rates. (December 2009)
Deshler, D.D. (2005). Adolescents with learning disabilities: Unique challenges and reasons for hope. Learning Disability Quarterly 28, 122-124.
Preparing All Youth for Academic and Career Readiness: Implications for High School Policy and Practice
This policy brief released by the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability at the Institute for Educational Leadership identifies five broad policy and practice areas critical to ensuring all students - and especially those with disabilities - are prepared to succeed in high school and in their post-secondary careers. The brief makes 14 recommendations spread across the five areas and provides suggestions on what organizations can support these recommendations.
Special Education in America
This report from the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center highlights the challenges crucial to understanding special education in today’s high schools, including the types of educational settings in which services are provided, the diagnosis of disabilities, overrepresentation of particular student groups, school discipline, academic achievement, high school completion and transitions into adulthood.
Tool Kit on Teaching and Assessing Students with Disabilities
The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) have developed a Tool Kit that provides the most current information -- including research briefs and resources designed to improve instruction, assessment, and accountability -- for students with disabilities that assists state personnel, schools, and families in their efforts to ensure that all students with disabilities receive a quality education.
Twenty-five Years of Educating Children with Disabilities
The American Youth Policy Forum and the Center on Education Policy have produced a report that highlights the progress of students with disabilities over the past twenty-five years and also draws attention to areas that need improvement.
1 "Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Summary: Overview." 12 December 2005. U.S. Department of Labor. http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget06/summary/edlite-section2b.html#overview.
