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

The National Center for Learning Disabilities' newest report, Challenging Change: How Schools and Districts are Improving the Performance of Special Education Students, 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. This new report builds on our previous report, Rewards and Roadblocks: How Special Education Students are Faring Under No Child Left Behind , released in June 2007.

Before the enactment of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), many students with disabilities were not included in state assessment programs, nor were they taught to states' challenging academic content standards. What is remarkable is the amount of progress that some schools and districts have made in improving their educational programs for students with disabilities. The testing and reporting requirements of NCLB caused these schools to take a hard look at their instructional approach and expectations for students with disabilities, recognize the need for improvement, and take action. While many continue to lament NCLB's mandates regarding students with disabilities, some schools have used them as valuable tools for change.

This report provides examples of how schools have achieved success by embracing change to tackle their challenges and by challenging themselves to change. The result: meaningful reform.

Download  your FREE copy of Challenging Change: How Schools and Districts are Improving the Performance of Special Education Students.