Legal Foundations of Special Education

A concise guide to the special education laws every educator needs to know!

Federal and state laws, combined with a number of important court cases, have brought major reforms in special education. But laws, rules, and regulations are always changing. Practices that were followed yesterday may be illegal today. How can you be sure you are complying with the law?

The Legal Foundations of Special Education summarizes landmark court cases and provides an overview of the most influential laws affecting special education services, including the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), its 2004 reauthorization, and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

Highlights of this helpful guide to special education law include:

• Key vocabulary terms
• Summaries of the court cases and laws that affect every general and special educator
• A pretest and posttest to help readers assess their understanding of current legal terms and practices

Jim Ysseldyke, Ph.D., is Birkmaier Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, director of the School Psychology Program, and director of the Center for Reading Research at the University of Minnesota. Widely requested as a staff developer and conference speaker, Ysseldyke brings more than 30 years of research and teaching experience to educational professionals around the globe. As the former director of the federally funded National Center on Educational Outcomes, Ysseldyke conducted research and provided technical support that helped to boost the academic performance of students with disabilities and improve school assessment techniques nationally. Today, he continues to work to improve the education of students with disabilities. The author of more than 300 publications on special education and school psychology, Ysseldyke is best known for his textbooks on assessment, effective instruction, issues in special education, and other cutting-edge areas of education and school psychology. With A Practical Approach to Special Education for Every Teacher, Ysseldyke seeks to equip educators with practical knowledge and methods that will help them to better engage students in exploring—and meeting—all their potentials. Bob Algozzine is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina and project codirector of the U.S. Department of Education-supported Behavior and Reading Improvement Center. With 25 years of research experience and extensive firsthand knowledge of teaching students classified as seriously emotionally disturbed, Algozzine is a uniquely qualified staff developer, conference speaker, and teacher of behavior management and effective teaching courses. He is active in special education practice as a partner and collaborator with professionals in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools in North Carolina and as an editor of several journals focused on special education. Algozzine has written more than 250 manuscripts on special education topics, including many books and textbooks on how to manage emotional and social behavior problems.