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 | Aug 11, 2014 | Capitols
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, (CMS) officials released federal guidance for states on Medicaid coverage of therapies for autism, indicating that such treatments are covered for beneficiaries under age 21. While the guidance focuses on the provision of...
by Common Ground | Aug 11, 2014 | Capitols
The National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), released a research report earlier this year that endorses read-aloud accommodations for students with disabilities for examinations. The Center...
by Common Ground | Aug 11, 2014 | Capitols
Nearly a year after the NJDOE backed away from sweeping changes to state special education code, the Department has put forth a modest proposal to make technical changes to the code. The changes, which were submitted to the State Board of Education, are mostly...
by Common Ground | Aug 11, 2014 | Capitols
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has signed into law a bipartisan measure (S-2079) designed to ensure that students with disabilities are able to participate in athletics, and are provided with reasonable accommodations or modifications, based on their individual...
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...
by Common Ground | Apr 22, 2014 | Capitols
Leaders at the New Jersey School Boards Association have issued a new report calling for changes to the state’s system of special education. Entitled “Special Education: A Service, Not a Place,” the report calls for greater accountability for outcomes and...
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