For far too long, we as a nation have set unnecessarily low education expectations for students with special needs, limiting their choices and opportunities for success. But thanks to a new U.S. Department of Education directive, things are changing for the better. The Department is shifting to a new approach for the nation’s 6.5 million children and youth with special needs by focusing on student outcomes instead of simply on how well states comply with procedural requirements. This is welcome news.
The new framework, Results-Driven Accountability (RDA), ensures that states are showing that students with special needs are making progress on reading and math and graduation rates in order to close achievement gaps with other students. Before, states simply reported how well they met procedural requirements such as timelines for evaluations or due process hearings.
Increasing the number of indicators of student progress under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) means increasing accountability on actual student results and opportunities for success. For example, last year the Education Department considered only compliance data in making annual funding determinations for states and found that an overwhelming majority of states and territories — 41 — met the requirements. This year, after including student performance data, only 18 states cleared the bar, showing that we have more work to do on the things that matter most for student success.