Challenging Change: How Schools and Districts are Improving the Performance of Special Education Students

NCLD's new report, Challenging Change, highlights how two schools and three school districts from around the nation are working to dramatically improve the academic achievement of their special education students. The educators profiled have taken on the challenge of implementing reforms that lead to significant progress for students with disabilities—nearly half of whom have learning disabilities (LD). Download this important report today!

NCLD's reports: Rewards and Roadblocks: How Students with Disabilities are Faring Under NCLB and the new Challenging Change both seek to provide helpful and candid information about NCLB’s implementation and impact on the academic outcomes for students with learning disabilities. 

The Impact of NCLB and the Value of State Testing Accommodations
NCLD also hosted a Webinar to discuss the impact of NCLB and the value of state testing accommodations. Click here to listen and watch the Webinar.

Rewards & Roadblocks: How Special Education Students are Faring Under No Child Left Behind
For one group of students — those who receive special education services — NCLB has provoked discussions that span a wide range of opinions and positions. While much of the impact of NCLB remains to be seen — after all, full implementation only began in the 2005-2006 school year — its time to take a look at what we know about the rewards and roadblocks for special education students. This report provides a look at several specific requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and their impact on students receiving special education supports and services.

State Testing Accommodations: A Look at Their Value and Validity
Accountability demands, as required by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 have accelerated students' use of accommodations on large-scale state assessments. In particular, students with disabilities and students with limited English proficiency are often provided with accommodations during testing in order to include them as full participants and provide them with fair testing conditions. This report describes the variability in the adoption and use of test accommodations across different states. This report also explores a new challenge to the use of test accommodations due to the recently released federal regulations allowing the creation of an alternate assessment, based on modified achievement standards for students with disabilities (U. S.Department of Education, 2007a).

More indepth information on No Child Left Behind, please visit at www.ld.org/nclb.