ESSA │Students with Disabilities
Before 1975, only one in five children with disabilities attended public school The passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)) changed that. With more than 6 million children receiving special education services, educators, families, policymakers, and providers face many challenges on the road to improving outcomes—and improving lives—for students with disabilities. ESSA takes this work one step further by, among other things, emphasizing the use of preventative frameworks such as multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) and positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) for English learners and culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. The law also sets new requirements for assessing the academic progress of students with disabilities including those with the most severe cognitive disabilities.
AIR conducts federal, state, and local projects designed to improve outcomes for students with disabilities and their families. Our areas of expertise include intensive intervention, tiered systems of support (e.g. response to intervention, PBIS, MTSS), resources and services to improve supports for English learners and culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students with disabilities, instructional and assistive technology, teacher preparation, and fiscal reporting.
In alignment with ESSA, our special education professional development and technical assistance to states and districts across the nation focuses on building capacity for state and district leaders, educators and policy makers to effectively serve students with disabilities in various school settings and across all tiers of instruction and intervention.
We also develop projects that analyze and synthesize information related to policy initiatives in special education and early intervention and conduct cutting-edge research on emerging, high-priority topics related to special education.
Key Resources
- High Leverage Practices for Special Education
- Supporting Students through RTI [Video]
- Essential Components of RTI Integrity Rubric and Worksheet
- What is Intensive Intervention? Data-based Individualization (DBI) Webinar
- Intervention Screening Tools Chart
- Academic Progress Monitoring Tools Chart
- Behavioral Progress Monitoring Tools Chart
AIR Centers with Related Content
AIR operates a number of national, regional, and state centers that produce publicly available resources. The centers that have a specific focus on students with disabilities are as follows: