Equity in IDEA - Final Regulations
The Department of Education has posted the final regulations under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). These regulations promote equity for students of color and address the issues that have created significant disproportionality for students of color in identification, placement and discipline within special education and related services.
From Ruth E. Ryder, Acting Director at the Office of Special Education,
"The final regulations incorporate changes to the Department’s initial proposals from the comments we received in many ways, including:
Better addressing how the risk ratio applies to small districts;
States need not calculate risk ratios for any racial or ethnic group that does not meet minimum cell or n-sizes set by the state;
Explicitly prohibiting the use of quotas or of artificially reducing the number of children identified as children with disabilities;
and Clarifying that states have flexibility not to identify significant disproportionality in districts that make reasonable progress in lowering risk ratios for two prior consecutive years. The Department also released a Dear Colleague Letter on 'Preventing Racial Discrimination in Special Education'."
