National Council on Disability to Testify Before Special Education Commission on Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

4/26/2002

From: Mark S. Quigley of the National Council on Disability, 202-272-2004

WASHINGTON, April 26 --The National Council on Disability (NCD) will provide expert testimony to the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education on the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) on April 26, beginning at 10:30 a.m. at the Wyndham Hotel, 1400 M Street, NW, Washington, DC.

Specifically, NCD will address what works and what can be improved at the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) so that educational outcomes for children with disabilities will be improved by the IDEA reauthorization.

During the course of five studies on IDEA and one on transition issues, from 1989 to 2000, NCD consistently found that parents of children with disabilities are enthusiastic supporters of the law. They think it is a good law. Those studies include: Back to School on Civil Rights (2000) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/backtoschool_1.html); Transition and Post-School Outcomes for Youth with Disabilities: Closing the Gaps to Post-Secondary Education and Employment (2000) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/00publications.html); Improving the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Making Schools Work for All of America's Children (1995) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/95school.html) and its supplement (1996) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/96school.html); Inclusionary Education for Students with Disabilities: Keeping the Promise (1994) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/inclusion.html); Serving the Nation's Students with Disabilities: Progress and Prospects (1993) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/progress.html); and, The Education of Students with Disabilities: Where Do We Stand? (1989) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/stand.html).

NCD senior research specialist Martin Gould, Ed.D. will provide an in-depth analysis of OSEP's monitoring from the consumer perspectives contained in NCD's Back to School on Civil Rights report, as they relate to the reauthorization of IDEA.

Dr. Gould's testimony will be posted to the NCD Web site (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/testimony/02testimony.html) at 10:30 a.m. on April 26.

NCD's new working paper on IDEA reauthorization, which seeks input from IDEA stakeholders on questions related to monitoring and enforcement, full funding, discipline, eligibility, and over-representation of students from culturally diverse backgrounds, is available at http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/reauthorizations/idea/idea.html.

For more information, contact Mark S. Quigley at 202-272-2004.

Note: NCD is an independent federal agency making recommendations to the President and Congress on disability policy. In 1986, NCD first proposed and then drafted the original Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Currently, NCD is coordinating a multi-year study on the implementation and enforcement of ADA, IDEA, and other civil rights laws.