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The
Online Newsletter About Special Education and the Law
March 5, 2001 Vol. IV, No. 7 |
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The
Online Newsletter About Special Education and the Law
March 5, 2001 Vol. IV, No. 7 |
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Legal Rights & Responsibilities NEW! Wrightslaw Best Seller List
POWER IN NUMBERS! Have a question? Need help? Visit a Wrightslaw COMMUNITY!
New from Wrightslaw! Having trouble getting good special ed services for your child? Want to avoid problems with the school? Get a copy of the bestselling Wrightslaw Tactics & Strategy Manual Now in 2 formats! (You Save $8.95!)
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Highlights:
This issue is a CALL TO ACTION. Read about last week's Congressional Hearing on special education implementation and enforcement. Learn how you can make a difference. Get an update on the class action suit filed by Oregon students about "high stakes testing." Pete and Pam Wright present at the COPAA Conference (March 8-11 in Washington, DC) Subscribers as of March 4, 2001: 21,548 people from 50 states and dozens of countries. With your help, we may break the 21,000 mark this week. Please forward this newsletter or the subscription link to your friends so they can learn about special education advocacy. Thanks! ====================== 1. FROM WRIGHTSLAW: A CALL TO ACTION! 2. UPDATE ON CLASS ACTION SUIT ABOUT "HIGH STAKES TESTING" 3. COPAA CONFERENCE - JOIN US! 4. SUBSCRIPTION & CONTACT INFORMATION ========================== 1. FROM WRIGHTSLAW: A CALL TO ACTION! When Congress reauthorized the IDEA in 1997, they strengthen the role of parents. They intended to ensure that families had meaningful opportunities to participate in educating their children at school and at home. (20 U.S.C. § 1400) All decisions about the child's educational program and placement would be made jointly by the child’s parents and school officials. Is IDEA-97 working as Congress intended? On February 28, Congress held a hearing, "Special Education: Is IDEA Being Implemented as Congress Intended?" The hearing was chaired by Congressman Burton whose grandson has autism. Congressman Burton discussed the struggles his daughter has experienced in getting educational services for his grandson. He wants to hear from you - before March 15 (details below). Some of you remember the blockbuster IDEA Compliance Report , Back to School on Civil Rights that was published last year. This Report used data from the U. S. Department of Education and found that all states were out of compliance with the IDEA. (News Release and Summary) Lilliam Rangel-Diaz (National Council on Disability) wrote a report about the Congressional hearing. Read about the testimony of a well-known school board attorney and parent attorney Gary Mayerson. Find out who provided support and comfort to the school board attorney after she was questioned by the Committee members. Find out why Lilliam Diaz-Rangel wrote, "Thank God for little boys like Christian." Lilliam's story inspired us to issue this CALL TO ACTION. If you are the parent or grandparent of a child with a disability, please download and read Lilliam's report. If you are a teacher or special education service provider, or your work brings you in contact with special education (juvenile court, child welfare, immigration agencies), please download and read Lilliam's report. AFTER you read Lilliam's report, please send a letter or email about your experiences with special education to Beth Clay. Ms. Clay's email address is beth.clay@mail.house.gov Please send a copy of your letter to Wrightslaw at action@wrightslaw.com We'll publish some of your letters in a special section of the Wrightslaw site. Please write today! If you wait, you may not get around to it. If you don't speak up now, you may not have another chance. The window of opportunity is open now - until March 15. For help writing letters, download The Art of Writing Letters For additional advocacy information, go to our Advocacy Library How did your state do? Get a Copy of the IDEA Compliance Report - includes 100s of links & information about states. =========================== 2. UPDATE ON CLASS ACTION SUIT ABOUT "HIGH STAKES TESTING" On February 1, we sent an Alert, "Learning Disabled Students Settle Class Action Lawsuit Against Oregon." This case has national implications for high stakes testing. The folks at Disability Rights Advocates have posted an online questionnaire about the effects of high stakes testing. They want to gather data, track emerging trends within states, etc. If you have experiences with high stakes testing, please take a few minutes to complete this survey. Link to a summary of the settlement agreement The settlement included a 42-page report by a panel of experts, including 30 recommendations to ensure that students with learning disabilities are treated fairly on high stakes tests. The experts' report is part of a new publication, "Do No Harm: High Stakes Testing and Students with Learning Disabilities." You can order a FREE bound copy of the "Do No Harm" report. Please share this report with your school board, state legislature, state board of ed members, school district superintendents -- people who need to learn more about high stakes testing and students with disabilities. To order your free copy of "Do No Harm," please contact Disability Rights
Advocates:
=================== 3. LEARN "EFFECTIVE PARENT ADVOCACY" AT THE COPAA CONFERENCE - JOIN US! From March 8 through March 11, Pete and Pam Wright will join attorneys, advocates and parents at the 4th Annual COPAA Conference in Washington, DC. On Friday, March 9, we present on "SMART IEPs" during a daylong session about "Effective Parent Advocacy." Topics and presenters for Effective Parent Advocacy are:
Get more information about the conference from the COPAA site. We hope to see you there! ============================ SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION The Special Ed Advocate is a free online newsletter about special education legal and advocacy issues, cases, tactics and strategy, and Internet resources. Subscribers receive announcements and "alerts" about new cases, events, and special offers on Wrightslaw books. To subscribe Read back issues of The Special Ed Advocate. CONTACT INFORMATION Pete and Pam Wright
Website: https://www.wrightslaw.com
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