by Common Ground | Feb 22, 2024 | Features, Parents, Professionals
IDEA, the nation’s special education law, is designed with one goal in mind: to ensure that children with disabilities receive an appropriate education to address their needs. The law covers children from birth through age 21. One part of IDEA—Section 619—funds...
by Common Ground | Apr 20, 2023 | Parents, Professionals, Special Ed Basics, Teachers
Common Ground is committed to informing families and guardians about parental rights and special education advocacy. In this and upcoming editions we will share a series of basic and important special education topics on the rights, responsibilities, administrative...
by Common Ground | Apr 20, 2021 | Better IEPs, Parents, Professionals, Teachers
Throughout the pandemic, students with transition services, especially community-based instruction, and off-site job placements, have found that services could not be implemented due to business closures or gathering restrictions. In its “The Road Back”...
by Common Ground | May 5, 2020 | Letters
April 30, 2020 Dear Editor, We are writing on behalf of the New Jersey Association of School Psychologists (NJASP) and school psychologists practicing across the state of New Jersey. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and especially given the considerable impact on...
by Common Ground | Feb 26, 2017 | Q&A
By Deborah Lynam and Jillian Matysik Child Study Team (CST) members are often asked about dyslexia in schools by parents and educators. Until the recent dyslexia legislation in New Jersey, dyslexia was not traditionally discussed in schools. This was often a cause of...
by Common Ground | Oct 6, 2015 | Courts
A New Jersey Administrative Law Judge has ordered the parents of a Morris County student with disabilities to consent to evaluation. The case involves a 6th grader classified as “Other Health Impaired.” At the time of the child’s classification in the 3rd grade, the...
by Common Ground | Jun 26, 2013 | Capitols
Following months of opposition on the part of special education advocacy groups, the State Board of Education voted to withdraw plans to revise sections of the state’s special education code. Last fall, the New Jersey Department of Education proposed major...
by Common Ground | Sep 24, 2012 | Courts
Earlier this year, Newark public schools settled a decade-long, class action federal lawsuit brought by parents of children with disabilities. The case was filed in 2001 on behalf of six students with disabilities whose parents were seeking special education and...
by Common Ground | Jun 1, 2011 | Capitols
Earlier this winter, the U.S Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs released a memo reminding states that a response-to-intervention (RTI) process cannot delay the initial evaluation for special education services of a child suspected of having...
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