The U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced the release of the final regulations to implement Part B of IDEA 2004. An official copy will be published in the Federal Register on August 14, 2006. The regulations will become effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

From the the official press release:

Thirty years ago, America’s students with disabilities were for the first time assured access to a free and appropriate public education thanks to a new law passed by Congress, now called IDEA,” said Spellings. “Yet in those 30 years, too many students with disabilities have faced what President Bush calls ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations.” Students with disabilities can meet high standards, as long as we adults have high expectations and hold them to these standards. Thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act, we are holding ourselves accountable for making sure students receive the education they deserve. And with these final regulations for IDEA aligned with No Child Left Behind, we are ensuring that students with disabilities are challenged and prepared for successful lives.”

You may have heard of Project PARA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a no-cost self-study program paraeducators and a second program for teachers who supervise paraeducators. However, you may not yet have heard about the latest update to the Paraeducator Self Study Program. As noted on their project history page, the project has been around … Read more

The U.S. Department of Education has announced proposed regulations to implement the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) and invites public comment. So that members of the public will have as much time as possible to review the proposed regulations, the Department has posted an unofficial copy. The Council for Exceptional Children … Read more