Reauthorizing ESEA: Students with Disabilities Pocket Guide

The Reauthorizing ESEA Pocket Guides are written by AIR experts to assist policymakers and educators as they consider changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The series of three guides focuses on provisions in the law to improve low-performing schools, ensure highly-effective teachers, and reduce the achievement gap between students with disabilities and their non-disabled peers.

The Student with Disabilities pocket guide:

• describes the current provisions in the law, focusing on accountability, alternative assessment requirements, and the highly qualified teacher criteria for special education teachers; 
• presents data over the last decade, including statistics on school accountability for the students with disabilities subgroup, the use of alternate assessments, and math and reading achievement levels; and
• poses points for policymakers to consider and questions to frame the discussion as they reauthorize ESEA.