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Resource: A Transition Guide to Postsecondary Education and Employment for Students and Youth with Disabilities
Summary: This is a guide for creating transition plans. This document contains information such as transition services under IDEA, transition services under the Rehabilitation Act, postsecondary employment options, and person-centered planning. This is a useful resource for crafting a student's transition plan. I can also give this resource to the student and their parents.

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Teacher Resource: TeacherVision:

Special Education and Needs Resources

Summary: This website has tons of information and resources for 5 different categories: accommodations and environment, curriculum support, IEP resources, special education inclusion, and behavior management. This is a useful website because of the large volume of applicable strategies and resources found under each category. I can use this website to, for example, find strategies for behavior management.

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Special Need & Education Resources for Educators - TeacherVision

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Special education curriculum strategies, classroom management, and resources for students with different learning needs. We’ll help you figure out ways to create an inclusive classroom, adapt, and supplement your classroom materials.

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Parent Resource: Parent Rights & Responsibilities in Special Education
Summary: This resource explains the parent rights and responsibilities in special education in accordance to the law in NC. This document also includes all of the acronyms we use in special education. This is a useful resource for parents to understand their role in the special education process. I can also interpret this document for parents if need be to keep them informed.

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Resource: Exceptional Children's Assistance Center (ECEA) Resources Overview
Summary: This website shares resources for about services and supports, information and tools, special education forms, parent rights, communication resources, and webinars regarding the special education process in NC. There is also an interactive map of NC where you can click on a county and see all available resources in that area. This website is very useful for educators and parents alike. I can use this resource to find services that my students will need.

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Exceptional Children's Assistance Center (ECAC)

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Helping families access the right services and support Our hope is to help each family find and access the services and supports available to them and their child(ren). We are committed to providing timely, credible, reliable, family-friendly information to parents and professionals. The following resources offer general information, organization tools, financial supports and links to ...

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Resource: What is an IEP?
Summary: This resource summarizes what an IEP is in an easy to understand way. This resource also provides additional resources, such as one that compares and contrasts IEPs and 504 plans, one for the process of getting an IEP, a guide for navigating IEPs, and a sample IEP transition plan. This resource is useful because anyone can understand it, it's not long-winded, and provides additional useful resources. I can use this resource as a quick reference for what an IEP is, I can use the other resources provided, and I can give this to parents of students with disabilities and gen. ed. teachers.

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IEPs are a part of public education. They're given to eligible kids, ages 3 and up, who attend public school. That includes charter schools.

To be eligible for an IEP, a student has to:

Have one or more of the 13 conditions that are covered under IDEA, which includes learning disabilities like dyslexia and

Need services to thrive in school

Private schools don't offer IEPs. But students in private school may be able to get special education through what's known as a service plan (also called an Individual Services Plan ).

Even before they attend school, babies and toddlers can get services through early intervention . Once kids turn 3, they can get an IEP through their local public school district.

There are no IEPs in college. But eligible students often can still get accommodations through college disability services.

Find out what's in an IEP .

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IEPs are a part of public education. They're given to eligible kids, ages 3 and up, who attend public school. That includes charter schools. To be eligible for an IEP, a student has to: Have one or more of the 13 conditions that are covered under IDEA, which includes learning disabilities like dyslexia and Need services to thrive in school Private schools don't offer IEPs.

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Law: Parent and Educator Resource Guide to Section 504 in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools
Summary: This document is a guide for Section 504, including every part of Section 504, outlining the obligations imposed under Section 504, summarizes key requirements of Section 504, and aims to increase understanding of these requirements for both parents and members of the school community alike. I can give this resource to not only parents, but anyone who may need this information. I can use this resource as a reference if I ever have to get involved in a 504 plan.

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ParentEducator Resource Guide to Section 504 (1)

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Parent Resource: The Every Student Succeeds Act: Explained

Summary: This article and its included video explain what ESSA is and it's contents. This is a useful resource because it provides a simplified version of ESSA that's easy to navigate and understand. I can give this resource to parents to inform them on ESSA.

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The latest reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, signed into law Dec. 10, is in many ways a U-turn from its predecessor, the No Child Left Behind Act. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, states get significant leeway in a wide range of areas, with the U.S. Department of Education seeing its hands-on role in accountability scaled back considerably. Among the key highlights:

Accountability Plans

States still have to submit accountability plans to the Education Department. These new ESSA plans will start in the 2017-18 school year. The names of peer-reviewers have to be made public. A state can get a hearing if the department turns down its plan.

Accountability Goals

States can pick their own goals, both a big long-term goal, and smaller, interim goals. These goals must address: proficiency on tests, English-language proficiency, and graduation rates.

Goals have to set an expectation that all groups that are furthest behind close gaps in achievement and graduation rates.

Accountability Systems

Elementary and Middle Schools

States need to incorporate at least four indicators into their accountability systems. The menu includes three academic indicators: proficiency on state tests, English-language proficiency, plus some other academic factor that can be broken out by subgroup, which could be growth on state tests.

States are required to add at least one additional indicator of a very different kind. Possibilities include: student engagement, educator engagement, access to and completion of advanced coursework, postsecondary readiness, school climate/safety, or whatever else the state thinks makes sense.

States have to figure in participation rates on state tests. (Schools with less than 95 percent participation are supposed to have that included, somehow.) But participation rate is a stand-alone factor, not a separate indicator on its own.

High Schools

High schools will be judged by basically the same set of indicators, except that graduation rates will have to be part of the mix. They could take the place of a second academic indicator.

Weighting the Indicators

It will be up to the states to decide how much the individual indicators will count, although the academic factors (tests, graduation rates, etc.) will have to count "much" more as a group than the indicators that get at students' opportunity to learn and post-secondary readiness.

Low-Performing Schools

States have to identify and intervene in the bottom 5 percent of performers. These schools have to be identified at least once every three years.

States have to identify and intervene in high schools where the graduation rate is 67 percent or less.

States, with districts, have to identify schools where subgroups of students are struggling.

School Interventions

For the bottom 5 percent of schools and for high schools with high dropout rates:

Districts will work with teachers and school staff to come up with an evidence-based plan.

States will monitor the turnaround effort.

If schools continue to founder, after no more than four years the state will be required to step in with its own plan. A state could take over the school if it wanted, or fire the principal, or turn the school into a charter.

Districts could also allow for public school choice out of seriously low-performing schools, but they have to give priority to the students who need it most.

For schools where subgroups students are struggling:

Schools have to come up with an evidence-based plan to help the particular group of students who are falling behind, such as minority students or those in special education.

Districts must monitor these plans. If the school continues to fall short, the district would step in, though there's no specified timeline.

Importantly, there's also a provision calling for states and districts to come up with a "comprehensive improvement plan" in schools where subgroups are chronically underperforming, despite local interventions.

The School Improvement Grant program is consolidated into the bigger Title I pot, which helps districts educate students in poverty. States could set aside up to 7 percent of all their Title I funds for school improvement, up from 4 percent in current law.

Tests

States still have to test students in reading and math in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, and break out the data for whole schools, plus different "subgroups" of students (English-learners, students in special education, racial minorities, those in poverty). ESSA maintains the federal requirement for 95 percent participation in tests.

States are prohibited from combining different sets of students into so-called "super subgroups" for accountability purposes.

Up to seven states can apply to try out local tests for a limited time, with the permission of the U.S. Department of Education.

Districts can use local, nationally recognized tests at the high school level, with state permission, such as the SAT or ACT.

States can create their own testing opt-out laws, and states decide what should happen in schools that miss targets.

Standards

States are required to adopt "challenging" academic standards. That could be the Common Core State Standards, but doesn't have to be.

The U.S. Secretary of Education is expressly prohibited from forcing or even encouraging states to pick a particular set of standards (including the common core).

Transition from the No Child Left Behind Act

Waivers from the NCLB law are null and void on Aug. 1, 2016, but states still have to continue supporting their lowest-performing schools ("priority schools") and schools with big achievement gaps ("focus schools") until their new ESSA plans kicked in.

In general, ESSA applies to any competitive federal grants given out after Oct. 1, 2016, so most grants are still under the NCLB version of the law for the rest of this school year.

English-Language Learners

Accountability for English-language learners moves from Title III (the English-language acquisition section of the ESEA) to Title I (where everyone else's accountability is). The idea is to make accountability for those students a priority.

States can include English-language learners' test scores after they have been in the country a year, as under current law.

During that first year, those students' test scores won't count toward a school's rating, but ELLs will need to take both of the assessments, and have the results publicly reported. In the second year, the state has to incorporate ELLs' results for both reading and math, using some measure of growth. And in their third year in the country, the proficiency scores of newly arrived ELLs will be treated just like any other students'.

Students in Special Education

Only 1 percent of students overall can be given alternative tests. (That's about 10 percent of students in special education.)

Programs

Block Grant

A new $1.6 billion block grant consolidates dozens of programs, including some involving physical education, Advanced Placement, school counseling, and education technology.

Districts that get more than $30,000 have to spend at least 20 percent of their funding on at least one activity that helps students become well-rounded, and another 20 percent on at least one activity that helps students be safe and healthy. And part of the money can be spent on technology.

Some programs live on as separate line items, including the 21st Century Community Learning Centers.

New or Existing

The ESSA enshrines the Preschool Development Grant program in law and focuses it on program coordination, quality, and broadening access to early-childhood education. But the program is housed at the Department of Health and Human Services, jointly administered by the Education Department.

A new, evidence-based research and innovation program is created, described by some as similar to the Obama administration's Investing in Innovation program.

Other highlights include a standalone program for parent engagement, along with reservations for arts education, gifted and talented education, and Ready to Learn television.

Weighted Student Funding

A pilot program will let 50 districts try out a weighted student-funding formula, combining state, local, and federal funds to better serve low-income students and those with special needs.

Teachers

States will no longer have to do teacher evaluation through student outcomes, as they did under NCLB waivers.

The NCLB law's "highly qualified teacher" requirement is officially a thing of the past.

The former Teacher Incentive Fund-now called the Teacher and School Leader Innovation Program-will provide grants to districts that want to try out performance pay and other teacher-quality improvement measures. ESSA also includes resources for helping train teachers on literacy and STEM.

Funding and Other Issues

The current Title I funding formula remains intact, but there are some changes to the Title II formula (which funds teacher quality) that will be a boon to rural states.

Maintenance of effort will remain in place, requiring states to keep up their own spending at a particular level in order to tap federal funds.

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The Every Student Succeeds Act: Explained

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The latest reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, signed into law Dec. 10, is in many ways a U-turn from its predecessor, the No Child Left Behind Act. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, states get significant leeway in a wide range of areas, with the U.S.

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Parent Resource: A Parents’ Guide to Special Education in North Carolina.
Summary: This website is guide for parents of children with disabilities that explains special education law and terminology, the special education system, and how to become an advocate for their children. This is a useful resource because it provides most of the necessary information about special education for parents. I can give this resourse to parents to inform them and keep them engaged in the special education procedures that concern their child.

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The Duke Children's Law Clinic has produced a comprehensive Guide for parents of children with special education needs. The Guide explains the special education law in clear terms so that parents can learn the vocabulary, navigate the special education system, and become an effective advocate for their children. The Guide is especially geared to assist North Carolina parents.

The Guide contains 11 chapters, beginning with the broad concepts of the special education law and the important terms, then moving to specific topics. Readers can access the Guide by clicking the desired chapter on the list below, or by downloading the entire Guide to their own computer. The Frequently Asked Questions are answered orally as well as in the text. See the videos below to hear answers to common questions.
Download the guide Descarga la Guía en Español
Frequently Asked Questions

Chapter 9 of the Guide provides answers to frequently asked questions about special education in North Carolina. The questions, which are divided into six groups, are also answered in the videos below. Click the play buttons to watch each grouping in its entirety, or use the links to jump to individual answers.

Eligibility for Special Education

Special Education Services and IEPs

Least Restrictive Environment and Placement Issues

Accommodations, Modifications, Supplementary Aids and Services, and Related Services

IEP Meetings

School Discipline

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A Parents' Guide to Special Education in North Carolina | Duke University School of Law

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The Duke Children's Law Clinic has produced a comprehensive Guide for parents of children with special education needs. The Guide explains the special education law in clear terms so that parents can learn the vocabulary, navigate the special education system, and become an effective advocate for their children.

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Law: Wrightslaw Special Education Law and Advocacy.
Summary: This is a website provides accurate, updated information about special education law and advocacy for children with disabilities. This resource is useful for the many other resources and information found in this website. I can use this resource for finding services to support my students, such as attorneys, speech language therapists, psychologists, and parent support groups, and to find special education laws.

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Peter W.D. Wright, Esq. and Pamela Darr Wright, MA, MSW

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Wrightslaw provides free access to articles, cases, resources and training about special education law and advocacy.

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Law: NC Policies Governing Services for Children with Disabilities.
Summary: This document details all of North Carolina's policies regarding legal and educational services for children with disabilities, as of March 2021. Topics discussed include but are not limited to: FAPE, LRE, State Eligibility, Local Eligibility, ESEA, IEPs, and funding. This recourse is useful because it can guide me through the legal processes involved in being a special educator. I will use this resource for things such as writing IEPs and acquiring services for students.