July 22, 2017
By: Mandy McLaren
Source: The Washington Post With a mailbag slung across his small frame and a wide-brim hat perched atop his head, Mason Wade stepped up to the catwalk. Clasping his aide’s hand for support, he sashayed across the gym, a sprawling red carpet under his feet. For the 6-year-old dressed as a mail […]
July 21, 2017
By: Mackenzie Ryan
Source: The Des Moines Register A legal judgment could force Iowa schools to change how they determine which students qualify for special education, potentially allowing thousands of more children to qualify for services, advocates say. Administrative Law Judge Christie J. Scase issued a ruling that requires the Iowa Department of Education to […]
July 18, 2017
By: Christina A. Samuels
Source: Education Week New research is stirring fierce debate over the use of sign language among young deaf children who use surgical implants that create a sense of sound. The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, suggests that the long-term use of sign language holds back the speech and reading skills […]
July 12, 2017
By: Tre-Vell Anderson
Source: Disability Scoop The Ruderman Family Foundation, a leading organization advocating on behalf of people with disabilities, has come out against the forthcoming film “Blind.” The group accuses the movie of “crip-face” — akin to blackface — in its casting of the able-bodied Alec Baldwin as the blind lead. “Alec Baldwin in ‘Blind’ […]
July 12, 2017
By: Evie Blad
Source: Education Week Programs that teach students how to recognize their emotions, solve problems, and form healthy relationships may continue to show positive benefits for students months, or even years, after they complete them, a new meta-analysis finds. Students who completed social-emotional learning interventions fared better than their peers who didn’t participate on a variety […]
July 11, 2017
By: Carolyn Wilke
Source: The Sacramento Bee While school bullying has been widely condemned for harming students’ emotional health, a new study calculates the financial cost to school districts: $276 million annually in California. The study published in June in School Psychology Quarterly is the first to count the direct losses caused by bullying-related student absences. “If […]
July 11, 2017
By: Margaret Gilmour
Source: NPR Ed By the time my younger son is midway through third grade, I realize that his academic progress has stalled. He’s stuck somewhere between kindergarten and first grade. School is a struggle for him. He has a language-based learning disability, which affects how long it takes for him to process […]
July 11, 2017
By: Christina Samuels
Source: Education Week Special educators are fanning out across Capitol Hill Tuesday, spreading a few targeted messages for Washington lawmakers: Congress should pass a budget that allocates more money to special education and gifted education, oppose efforts to divert public money to private school vouchers, and fight any bill that would cut […]
July 11, 2017
By: Michelle Diament
Source: Disability Scoop Less than half of states are meeting their obligations to appropriately serve students with disabilities under the nation’s special education law, federal education officials say. In an annual review, the U.S. Department of Education found that only 22 states deserved the “meets requirements” designation for the 2015-2016 school year. […]
July 10, 2017
By: Anya Kamenetz
Source: NPR Ed Our education system has this funny quirk of grouping kids by birth date — rather than, say, intellectual ability or achievement or interest. But developmental pathways are as individual as kids themselves. And so there’s a perpetual back-and-forth about whether to put certain kids in school a grade behind […]