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Here is a New Year's Day fact from the Library of Congress: The Leonard and Felicia Bernstein family sent New Year’s Day,  January 1 , greeting cards to extended family and friends during the holiday season. Holiday card pictures are among the eighty-five photographs from the  1960s  available online in the  Leonard Bernstein  Collection, held by the Library of Congress  Music Division . Bernstein with Felicia, Jamie, Alexander and Nina. Photographer Unidentified.   Leonard Bernstein Collection.  Music Division

On December 21st, the U S Senate  confirmed the nomination of Johnny Collett as Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Mr. Collett previously served as the Director of Special Education Outcomes at the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), where he worked to support states in their efforts to raise expectations and improve outcomes for children and youth with disabilities. Previously, he served as Director of the Division of Learning Services and State Director of Special Education at the Kentucky Department of Education as well as worked as a high school special education teacher. Collett's nomination was widely praised by stakeholders; for example here is the statement by the National Disability Rights Network. Here is an interview with the new Assistant Secretary in April, 2017. Here is an article on him in Disability Scoop.   Here is  his opening statement before the HELP committee of the House of Representatives. Her...

The Endrew F decision has been around for a while now, is it making a difference for children with disabilities? #FAPE

Merry Christmas to all of our readers. As a point of personal privilege, here are two of the reasons why I am so happy this Christmas, my grandbabies: James right; Franklin left. Both are healthy and doing great. The following are some holiday fun facts provided by the U. S Census Bureau: Rush to the Stores $22.7 billion The estimated retail sales by the nation’s department stores (including leased departments) in December 2016. A decrease of $1.0 billion in retail sales from December of the previous year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau      Monthly Retail Trade Survey Note: Leased departments are separately owned businesses operated as departments or concessions of other service establishments or of retail businesses, such as a separately owned shoeshine parlor in a barbershop, or a beauty shop in a department store. Also, retail sales and inventory estimates have not been adjusted to account for seasonal or pricing variations. 19.7% The estimated percentage for total s...

The Endrew F decision has been around for a while now, is it making a difference for children with disabilities? #FAPE

The Endrew F decision has been around for a while now, is it making a difference for children with disabilities? #FAPE

The FCC will likely vote to end net neutrality next week on December 14, 2017. The vote will quite probably be a partisan matter- 3 to 2 along party lines. It is not too late to make your voice heard on this matter. The loss of net neutrality  would allow your internet provider to start blocking or slowing your access to certain sites or services, start charging you different amounts for different sites and services, and/or charge sites like this blog just to allow their users to see the site. That may well make it harder for you to get to and read this blog. Here is a quote from a Lifehacker article about the changes proposed. " Without net neutrality, internet providers will have the freedom to carve up the internet into slow and fast lanes—and charge companies for access to higher speeds. For smaller startups that can’t afford to pay extra, this could be a death sentence. Even bigger tech giants like Netflix and Amazon may not be willing to pay extra, resulting in slower strea...

The federal Office of Special Education Programs issued regulatory guidance today on the meaning and implications of the Endrew F decision by SCOTUS. The document is in question and answer format. There are twenty questions and answers. {Suggestion for new name: 20 Questions About Endrew!} To whet your appetite, here are two of my favorites: 15. What actions should IEP Teams take if a child is not making progress at the level the IEP Team expected? An IEP is not a guarantee of a specific educational or functional result for a child with a disability. However, the IDEA does provide for revisiting the IEP if the expected progress is not occurring. This is particularly important because of the Court’s decision in Endrew F., which clarifies that the standard for determining whether an IEP is sufficient to provide FAPE is whether the child is offered an IEP reasonably calculated to enable the child to make progress that is appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances. At least once a ...

Following our post regarding the study on school choice by the GAO, there was a report on the study and related matters by NPR. Part of the NPR story notes that  " As part of its review, the GAO also interviewed 17 families of students with disabilities. Some said they were happy with their child's private school experience and considered it an improvement over what they'd gotten in public school. But several families said they wished they had known that a private school could charge them for special education services. And one family was, according to the report, "surprised to learn that teachers providing special education services to their child [in private school] were not trained to provide those services." Granted, 17 families is a small sample size, but NPR has also heard these concerns from parents  during previous reporting . The Education Department points out that it doesn't have the authority to require states to be more transparent — to tell pare...

The Endrew F decision has been around for a while now, is it making a difference for children with disabilities? #FAPE