CCD RECOMMENDATIONS ON
IDEA REAUTHORIZATION CONFERENCE

 

Return to Legislative Updates	I. Discipline	II. Due Process
III. Monitoring & Enforcement	IV. IEP's	V. Definition
VI. Part C Early Intervention	VII. Related Services	VIII. Paperwork Reduction
IX. Child Medication	X. Research	XI. Funding

 

X. RESEARCH

1. House Sec. 663 and Senate Title III. Both House and Senate bills redirect the research function from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) to the Institute for Education Science (IES). H.R. 1350 would retain an authority to carry out research activities under IDEA, but would transfer the responsibility for administering these activities from the OSEP to IES. The Senate proposal eliminates the research authority in IDEA and establishes it in the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA). While CCD opposes these proposed administrative changes in both the House and Senate, CCD prefers the proposals contained in S. 1248.

Rationale: The IES is a new agency that has no track record or expertise in special education research. This move would separate administration of federal special education research from the administration of IDEA’s Part D discretionary grant programs and from IDEA’s state formula grant programs with minimal requirements for coordination between special education research activities and the implementation needs of state and local agencies responsible for implementing IDEA, and between OSEP and IES in research planning. There is no solid evidence that this move is necessary or that it would provide better research resulting in better educational outcomes for students with disabilities.

2. House Sec. 663(e)(6) and Senate ESRA Sec. 177(f): Both bills require the Special Education Research Center to disseminate the findings and results of special education research conducted by the Center through the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. CCD strongly recommends that the Center also be required to disseminate the findings and results of the Center’s special education research through the appropriate, traditional and ongoing dissemination and Technical Assistance mechanisms funded under Part D, IDEA.

Rationale: This would maximize access to this information by parents of children with disabilities, agency personnel and others concerned with and responsible for the education of children with disabilities, taking advantage of federally funded entities which specialize in providing information and support related to the education of children with disabilities.

3. CCD also urges adoption of the Senate provisions that:

• would establish a direct link between the research conducted by the Center for Special Education Research and the purposes of IDEA (Sec. 175(b)) and require that the Center’s research plan is consistent with the purpose of IDEA (Sec. 177(c)(3))
• would require the Center’s research to address the needs of all children with disabilities, including children from birth through age 5 infants and toddlers with disabilities (Sec. 177(a)(3))
• would require that the Center’s research is relevant to special education practice and policy
• Would require that the proposed Commissioner of the new Center have substantial knowledge and a high level of expertise in the education of children with disabilities (Sec. 176)
• emphasize the wide range of educational and functional outcomes that must be addressed in the research conducted by the Center (Sec. 177(a))
• explicitly direct the Center to address the unique early intervention needs of children with multiple or complex developmental delays (Sec. 177(a)(11))
• require that research conducted by the Center be coordinated with the comprehensive plan for Part D, developed under Sec. 661 of IDEA (Sec. 177(c)(6))
• amends the mission of IES, directing it to address the condition and progress of special education in the U.S. (ESRA Sec. 111(b)(1)(A))
• amends the required qualifications of members of the National Board for Education Sciences to include experts in special education (ESRA Sec. 116(c)(4)(A)(ii)
• require an orderly transition of research conducted under IDEA to research conducted under the ESRA related to the education of children with disabilities, and require that research awards made under the IDEA research authority be continued in accordance with the terms of those awards after the transfer of responsibility to IES. (Sec. 301(c)(1) and (2))

4. House: Sec. 663(c)(4); Senate: Part E, Sec. 177(a)(4): In addition, CCD urges the committee to combine House and Senate language regarding research on related services to read “identify and investigate scientifically based related services and interventions.”

 

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