Preserve Funding

Tell the Senate to Preserve Funding for Postsecondary Educators of Students with Disabilities!

. CEC Issues Additional Side-by-Side Analyses of Proposed IDEA Regulations

. Tell the Senate to Preserve Funding for Postsecondary Educators of Students with Disabilities!

. CEC Provides Summary on GAO Report on Inclusion and Assessments of Students with Disabilities

. Department of Education Extends Highly Qualified Deadline for Paraprofessionals

. Department of Education Provides Guidance on Students with Disabilities in Private Schools

. CEC Welcomes Kim Krocker, Policy Specialist

CEC Issues Additional Side-by-Side Analyses of Proposed IDEA Regulations

CEC is pleased to issue new side-by-side analyses of selected issues addressed in the proposed IDEA regulations. In early June, CEC issued a side-by-side analysis of the proposed regulations that covered the topics of highly qualified personnel, IEPs, early intervening services, learning disabilities, discipline, state complaint procedures, evaluations and eligibility, and procedural safeguards. Newly issued side-by-side topics include private schools (three separate issues); monitoring, technical assistance, and enforcement; and subpart A definitions. All of CEC?s side-by-sides can be downloaded at http://www.cec.sped.org/cec_bn/side-by-sides.html .

Tell the Senate to Preserve Funding for Postsecondary Educators of Students with Disabilities!

On June 24, 2005, the House voted not to continue funding the "Demonstration Projects to Ensure Quality Education for Students with Disabilities" for fiscal year 2006, action that could eliminate these much needed programs. Although the President did not request any funds for the program in his FY 2006 budget request, the Senate Appropriations Committee has included funding the program in its version of the bill. It is now critical that CEC members contact their Senators to urge them to maintain funding once the Labor/HHS/Education appropriations bill comes before the full Senate and the conference committee.

The Demonstration Projects to Ensure Quality Education for Students with Disabilities program supports and funds projects that assist in professional development for higher education faculty that instruct students with disabilities. These programs provide higher education administrators and faculty with essential resources that help ensure a quality education to students with disabilities.

CEC is asking its members to send a letter to their Senators urging them to maintain funding for the demonstration projects when the full Senate considers the Labor-HHS appropriations bill and when the measure is considered in conference committee. Please tailor the letter to reflect how the program affects you or your students on a personal level and ask you friends and colleagues to do the same. You can send the letters to your Senators by going to http://capwiz.com/cek/home/ .

CEC Provides Summary on GAO Report on Inclusion and Assessments of Students with Disabilities

In last week?s Policy Update, we alerted you to a July 20th Government Accountability Office (GAO) report entitled ?No Child Left Behind Act ? Most Students with Disabilities Participated in Statewide Assessments, but Inclusion Options Could Be Improved?. The research contained in the report was conducted to determine how assessment-based testing included in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) impacts the more than six million students with disabilities throughout the United States. While the report found that most students with disabilities participated in regular reading assessments (possibly with accommodations such as extended time), the study also determined that states had concerns over the lack of guidance provided by the Department of Education (ED) in creating and administering alternate assessments for those students with the most severe cognitive disabilities.

As states assess and implement NCLB and the academic standards it mandates, GAO reported that a number of states are finding it difficult to understand how to utilize alternate assessments to evaluate the country?s children with the most severe cogitative disabilities. The research for this report, which was conducted in 2003-2004, found that 41 of the 48 states surveyed reported at least 95 percent of their students with disabilities participated in the regular reading assessment. Also in its report, GAO found that despite measurers taken by ED to provide information on alternate assessments, many states reported difficulty in accessing any resources that would provide assistance or model assessments. The GAO recommended that ED explore additional online resources that would address the concerns of the states regarding alternate assessments.

In addition, the GAO report found that 5 percent of students with disabilities nationwide are excluded from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), though the percentage may range from 2-10 percent in individual states. In its recommendations to the Department of Education, the GAO advised the Department to work with states ? especially those with high exclusion rates ? to reduce the number of students with disabilities that are excluded from the NAEP assessment.

In reaction to this report, the Department of Education issued a response addressing the two primary concerns reported by GAO -- alternate assessments and exclusion rates in NAEP. In response to expanding access to resources on alternate assessments, the Department cited existing information available on their Web site and said it will look into establishing navigational ?hot buttons? to make the site more user friendly. The Department also cited the establishment of the National Center on Education Outcomes and the National Alternate Assessment Center, both of which will study participation rates and assessment methodology, respectively.

In response to the GAO recommendation to review exclusion in NAEP, the Department noted that the inclusion rate for children with disabilities has increased over the last decade, and referenced existing outreach efforts made by the National Center for Education Statistics and the Institute of Education Sciences. In addition, ED acknowledges that there is room for improvement in expanding inclusion of students with disabilities in state assessments, and will continue to work towards achieving these goals.

CEC is pleased that the GAO pursued a study of the inclusion of students with disabilities in assessments. The study demonstrated that while states are making some progress on this issue, much remains to be done. We also applaud the Department of Education for announcing its intentions to provide states and schools with greater access to helpful resources regarding inclusion on its Web site and for its commitment to expanding the inclusion of students with disabilities in assessments. These actions are much needed and long overdue. CEC will continue to evaluate this GAO study and monitor the recommendations it makes.

To read the full GAO report, go to http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05618.pdf .

Department of Education Extends Highly Qualified Deadline for Paraprofessionals

The Department of Education announced that it has extended the deadline for paraprofessionals to comply with the highly qualified mandates of NCLB until the end of the 2006 school year. This is an extension from the original January 8, 2006 deadline. The change establishes the same deadline for both teachers and paraprofessionals to comply with NCLB. Deputy Secretary of Education Ray Simon calls the extension of the deadline "a more efficient, effective and coordinated method of monitoring state efforts in these areas while ensuring that all children are provided with the resources the law provides them." To read the press release from the Department, go to: http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2005/06/06172005a.html

Department of Education Provides Guidance on Students with Disabilities in Private Schools

On June 27, then-Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education Troy Justesen sent a memo to the Council of Chief State School Officers providing guidance on the obligations of states and LEAs to parentally placed private school children with disabilities. The memorandum discusses provisions in IDEA 2004 that went into effect July 1, 2005. CEC has posted this memo on its Web site at http://www.cec.sped.org/pp/pdfs/OSEP_05-09_private_schools.pdf .

CEC Welcomes Kim Krocker, Policy Specialist

CEC is excited to welcome Kim Krocker to CEC?s Public Policy team as our new Policy Specialist. Kim will assist in advocating CEC's policy priorities and will work to strengthen the Council's grassroots network. As such, she will be orchestrating CAN activities, maintaining CEC's Legislative Action Center, and sending out CEC?s Policy Updates. Please look forward to receiving communications from her in the future.