Copyright (c) 2009 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/rebekah_hope Recent documents in Rebekah G Hope en-us Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:39:21 PDT 3600 http://works.bepress.com/rebekah_hope/2 http://works.bepress.com/rebekah_hope/2 Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:29:00 PDT The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) protects the rights of parents of children with disabilities with an emphasis on each individual child's unique needs. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) focuses on improving academic results for all children. On the surface these two statutes appear to work in opposite directions. One provides services based on the individual needs of each eligible child, while the other seeks to raise expectations and academic achievements of all students. The former is an in-put based scheme, relying on a complex set of procedures that, if performed correctly would result in a free appropriate public education that enables each child with a disability to receive meaningful educational benefit. The latter is an outcomes-based statute that requires each state to measure every student's progress annually, and if the yearly progress is not adequate, the school or local education agency will suffer consequences. Congress and the Department of Education have made a series of attempts to align these statutes.The purpose of my article is to examine the two statutes individually and the attempts that have been made to align them. It will explain the shift in expectations for students with disabilities since the 1997 amendments to the IDEA, and more concretely since the 2004 amendments to the IDEA that followed the enactment of NCLB. It will further examine where we are now since the most attempt to align the two statutes with the adoption of the Alternative Assessment based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards (AA - MAAS) and what is needed to close the existing gap between the two statutes. First the article will describe the history, purpose and standards, and the mechanics of the IDEA. Next, the article will discuss the purpose and mechanics of the NCLB. Third, the article will identify and discuss the conflict between the two statutes, followed by attempts to reconcile NCLB with the IDEA. Finally, the article concludes by recognizing that Congress could have, and probably should have spoken more clearly on whether it intended for the two statutes to complement each other when it reauthorized the IDEA, but regardless, the statutes affect the same population of students and will need to work together. Rebekah Gleason Hope Education Law http://works.bepress.com/rebekah_hope/1 http://works.bepress.com/rebekah_hope/1 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:55:04 PDT The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) creates a complex bundle of rights that protects parents of children with disabilities in an effort to provide each child that is eligible with a free appropriate public education (FAPE). Children in the dependency system, commonly referred to as foster children, also require a free appropriate public education when they have disabilities that affect their learning, but they have no one to advocate for them or assist them in securing an appropriate educational program. They need a surrogate to take the place of the parents who are unable to fill that role. The IDEA has always provided a mechanism for an educational surrogate parent to be appointed by the child's school system, but the recent re-authorization of the Act goes further in protecting the rights of children with disabilities when it allowed dependency court judges the power to appoint them as well. The purpose of my article is to examine the challenges that face foster children in education generally, and more specifically the challenges faced by children in foster care who have disabilities that affect them educationally. It will explain why it is not in the school systems' interest to appoint surrogate parents, and therefore, most school systems either have no program to do so. It further discusses a practical approach to setting up a surrogate parent program. This article will first discuss the background of and the need for special education services. Second, it will discuss the unique needs of foster children and how those needs impact their education. Third, it will discuss how those needs impact the children who require special education services, including whether children in the foster care system are improperly included in special education. Fourth, the paper will discuss the changes to the IDEA 2004 that affect children in foster care, including the definition of "parent" as well as changes to the appointment of surrogate parents process. Finally, fifth, the paper will explore whether this new provision has already helped, or may help the foster child population in the future. Rebekah Gleason Hope Domestic Relations Education Law Juveniles