by Common Ground | Apr 22, 2014 | Features
By STAN KARP The New York Times says it’s “clearly the most important education reform in the country’s history.” But a recent Gallop poll says nearly two out of three people have never heard of it. ‘It’ is the “Common Core,” a new set of tougher curriculum standards...
by Common Ground | Apr 22, 2014 | Letters
There have been many attempts to standardize education since schooling for all children became mandatory in most Western countries. As a child in England, I took the 11-plus exam three times in the space of one year in a futile attempt to pass the standardized test....
by Common Ground | Apr 22, 2014 | Courts
Earlier this year, advocate groups in New Jersey entered into a settlement agreement with the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) in a seven-year-old law suit intended to help ensure that children with disabilities are educated in the “least restrictive...
by Common Ground | Apr 22, 2014 | Courts
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the “stay put” provision of IDEA remains relevant, even when a student has aged out of public school. The case involves a Hawaii student with severe disabilities, who filed for due process in order to remain at the...
by Common Ground | Apr 22, 2014 | Courts
A New Jersey Administrative Law Judge recently ordered a central New Jersey school district to reimburse parents for the tuition costs of a state-approved private school. The case involves a teenage girl with bipolar disorder classified as “emotionally...
by Common Ground | Apr 22, 2014 | Courts
An Administrative Law Judge has ordered the New Jersey Department of Health to reimburse the parent of a child with autism for the cost of services she purchased for her child before he turned three. The case involves a toddler with disabilities, who was served...
by Common Ground | Apr 22, 2014 | Capitols
Leaders at the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) have clarified the responsibilities of local school districts to provide services to “highly mobile” students, such as those in foster care or homeless, children of migrant workers, and children in military families....
by Common Ground | Apr 22, 2014 | Capitols
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has signed a new law that would allow a child who has moved out of a school district as the consequence of a family crisis to remain enrolled in his or her current school until the end of the school year. The measure allows any child...
by Common Ground | Apr 22, 2014 | Capitols
Senators Christopher Murphy (D-CT) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) have introduced in the U.S. Senate a measure designed to protect teens in residential programs from abuse. The Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2014 establishes standards intended to...
by Common Ground | Apr 22, 2014 | Capitols
Governor Christie has signed a package of bills that will benefit students with reading difficulties. Under the new requirements, young children who are showing signs of reading problems will have to be screened for dyslexia within the first few months of second...
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