by Common Ground | Sep 25, 2014 | Letters
By: Emerson Dickman, J.D. Too often, advocacy is seen as a contest — parents versus the system. The primary goal of an advocate should be to develop an atmosphere of collaboration and open communication between the family and the school district. The purpose of...
by Common Ground | Sep 25, 2014 | Q&A
By: Lynn Abelson, MA, CCC-SLP, OTR Q: What is the DIR® Model? A: The Developmental, Individual-Differences, Relationship-based (DIR®) model, pioneered by Stanley I. Greenspan, M.D. and Serena Wieder, Ph.D, provides a framework for assessment and intervention for those...
by Common Ground | Sep 25, 2014 | Courts
Young adults incarcerated in county jails who are eligible for special education services are the responsibility of the school district where their parents reside, according to a California Supreme Court ruling released earlier this year. The case involves a student...
by Common Ground | Sep 25, 2014 | Courts
Leaders in the field of education have called on the Supreme Court of the United States to examine longstanding special education rules that protect the placement of students with disabilities during the course of litigation. Under the provision in the Individuals...
by Common Ground | Sep 25, 2014 | Capitols
A new set of reports shows that school discipline disproportionately affects students with disabilities and students of color. The findings, issued last spring by the Discipline Disparities Research-to-Practice Collaborative, found that students with disabilities are...
by Common Ground | Sep 25, 2014 | Capitols
The United States Department of Education (USDOE) has announced that it will begin to look at graduation rates, test scores, and other measures of academic performance to help determine whether states are meeting the needs of students with disabilities. The focus on...
by Common Ground | Sep 25, 2014 | Capitols
The U.S. Department of Education has issued guidance to charter schools underscoring their responsibility to provide special education services. In a seven-page “Dear Colleague” letter, the U.S. Department of Education said that charter schools have the same...
by Common Ground | Sep 24, 2014 | Snapshot
IDEA requires states to offer formal processes to resolve conflicts arising between parents and schools. The use of adversarial processes, such as due process complaints, grew from the 1990s through 2005, but the use of these formal processes has declined since the...
by Common Ground | Aug 15, 2014 | Features
For many students with disabilities, technology can be ‘the great equalizer,’ facilitating access to learning opportunities previously closed to them. Technology, and in particular, mobile devices (Apple’s iPad, iPod and iPhone) have led to sea...
by Common Ground | Aug 11, 2014 | Snapshot
Eight percent of computers in public schools in 1995 used for instructional purposes had Internet access. By 2008, that percentage had reached 98%.1 97 percent of teachers have one or more computers located in the classroom.1 93 percent of the computers located in the...
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