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Special Education Enrollment on Upward Trend in Charter Schools – AcceliBEAT Weekly Round Up

March 2, 2018

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Happy March to all our readers! We head into the weekend with major news from the US Department of Education, which officially delayed a rule by two years that requires states to monitor how school districts identify and serve minority students with disabilities. A contributing factor—that some districts might create quotas for special education services. In related news, data collected for the US DOE Civil Rights Data Collection project highlights a trend of increasing enrollments of students with disabilities in charter schools. In other news, though suspension and expulsion rates for students with disabilities dropped, the rate is still higher than that of their typically-developing classmates, research shows that closing schools to improve student achievement is a “high-risk/low-gain strategy,” more businesses are tailoring employment to adults with ASD, and a mom who organized a special Easter egg hunt for children with visual impairments is gaining national attention. Finally, good luck to all the education-themed films receiving Oscar nods in this weekend’s Academy Awards. All this and more in this week’s AcceliBEAT.


logo of Ed text with graduation capEducation Department Officially Proposes Delay of Special Education Bias Rule
As expected, the U.S. Department of Education is seeking to delay by two years a rule that would require states to use a standard method in monitoring how school districts identify and serve minority students with disabilities.


two young male students with a teacherSpecial Education Enrollment on Upward Trend in Charter Schools
Students with disabilities made up about 10.6 percent of the charter school population (up from 10.4 percent), compared to about 12.5 percent of the population for traditional public schools.



security guard escorting a studentStudents With Disabilities Disciplined Twice as Often as Peers
Suspension and expulsion rates for students with disabilities have dropped, but are still about two times higher than for their typically-developing classmates.



school graffiti closedWhat Research Really Says About Closing Schools — and Why It’s a Bad Idea for Kids
The Chicago Board of Education voted on Wednesday to close four South Side high schools and one elementary school and build a new $85 million high school — despite fierce opposition from the community and education activities.


Accelify Solutions Joins IMS Global Learning Consortium
Accelify Solutions, LLC (Accelify), a leading provider of special education management systems, is pleased to announce it has attained IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS) conformance certification for OneRoster v1.1.


girl holding up red modified easter egg

ATF Helps Staten Island Mom Organize Beeping Egg Hunt for Visually Impaired Kids
Their specialty is taking apart dangerous bombs. So why are some ATF agents working on eggs that beep as Easter approaches?



girl with autism working in kitchen

Increasingly, Businesses Tailoring Employment to Adults With ASD
The cafe’s managers develop individual strategies to help each of the workers with autism succeed just as any boss would work with employees to overcome challenges.



hand on keyboardLarge District Websites Have ‘Extensive Accessibility Issues’
The Bureau of Internet Accessibility (BoIA) recently shared the results of automated tests it ran to check the accessibility of a handful of school websites and found that those tested had “extensive” issues related to accessibility.


three movie screen previewsOscar Preview: 3 Ways Education Could Take Center Stage at Sunday Night’s Academy Awards
Sunday night’s Academy Awards show may dethrone some of these classics, as a trio of education films — Lady Bird, Traffic Stop, and DeKalb Elementary — have been nominated for Oscars at this year’s 90th Academy Awards.




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