Federal legislation requires students with disabilities to participate in state assessments, partly because such assessments are important components of educational accountability. These assessments are used to classify students according to their educational needs, provide information regarding the progress of students with disabilities, and identify the extent to which students are attaining state academic standards. The large majority of classified students are classified under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). But classification is highly inconsistent, which should raise concerns about over-, under-, and misclassifying certain types of disabilities. Misclassification can result from failing to identify students with disabilities, from classifying students with disabilities they do not have, and from delaying classifying disabilities in students. Some of this inconsistency is accounted for by teachers and schools (McDonnell, McLaughlin, & Morison, 1997); however, when contrasting state classification data there are striking differences that indicate that state guidelines vary and lead to the majority of misclassifications. Nationally 11.6% of students between the ages of 6 and 17 years were served under Part B of IDEA in the 2003-2004 school years (Data Accountability Center, 2009). Part B of IDEA is Assistance for Education of All Children with Disabilities, which is the core section of IDEA that provides most of the state funding. However, this overall classification percentage has demonstrated a highly inconsistent pattern for years and has ranged from 9.1% to nearly 16%. The reported prevalence rates for specific disabilities are very inconsistent from state to state. Based on the categories required...
However, the percentage of learning disabled students widely varies from 2.39% (Kentucky) to 7.67% (Iowa) across the nation. Discrepancies can be even larger in the case of less common disabilities such as mental retardation with a low of .37% (New Jersey) to a high of 3.06% (West Virginia).
The shift toward standardized testing has failed to result in a meaningful reduction of high school dropout rates, and students with disabilities continue to be marginalized by the culture of testing in public education (Dynarski et al., 2008). With that said, the needs of students with specific educational challenges are diverse and complex, and the solutions to their needs are not revealed in the results of standardized testing (Crawford &
Still, state and local governments must realize that unfunded mandates will still occur, and when that happens, federal resources must be made available to state and local governments in order to help them make responsible financial decisions. Thus, an advisory board should be put into place to assist state and local governments in dealing with unfunded federal mandates as a further bridge in the communication gap between these two
Part I: Definitions and Characteristics Deaf/Hard of Hearing Hearing disabilities occur on a continuum from mild to more serious impairments to the ability to process auditory cues. Deafness is a spectrum of disabilities referring to anything from mild hearing impairments to fully identifying with the Deaf community and culture (Taylor, Smiley & Richards, 2009). Defining deafness or hard of hearing requires various types of assessments, including those that determine responsiveness to various
American's With Disabilities Act American's Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, State and local government services, and telecommunications. Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities
Adults With Learning Disabilities It has been estimated (Adult with Learning Disabilities) 1 that 50-80% of the students in Adult Basic Education and literacy programs are affected by learning disabilities (LD). Unfortunately, there has been little research on adults who have learning disabilities, leaving literacy practitioners with limited information on the unique manifestations of learning disabilities in adults. One of the major goals of the (Adult with Learning Disabilities) 1 National Adult Literacy
(Schall, 1998) In addition to a lightened burden of proof and broader definition there were two additional changes resulting from the amendment which served to positively affect the impact and ultimate effectiveness of the legislation. This amendment clarified the fact that judges are not allowed to assess possible mitigating factors such as medication, corrective surgery, or specialized equipment in the determination of whether or not an individual is disabled. This
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