The OSEP has released updated policy guidance aimed at ensuring equal educational opportunities for all children, regardless of their disabilities on July 24.
The OSEP has released updated policy guidance aimed at ensuring equal educational opportunities for all children, regardless of their disabilities on July 24.
The United States Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs has taken significant steps to bolster the rights and protections of children with disabilities and their families under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
The OSEP has released updated policy guidance aimed at ensuring equal educational opportunities for all children, regardless of their disabilities on July 24.
Underlining the significance of strengthening the policy guidance, Glenna Wright-Gallo, the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation, drew upon her previous experience as a special education teacher, administrator, and state special education director.
“One vital component of this effort is to ensure children with disabilities, born through age 21, receive the early intervention services and a free appropriate public education that meets their unique needs and prepares them for further education, employment, and independent living,” she stressed.
The updated OSEP guidance is designed to achieve three primary objectives, namely, to provide states with accessible and actionable information to identify and correct noncompliance promptly; to safeguard the rights guaranteed under IDEA to children with disabilities and their families; and, to reinforce expectations across states to ensure consistent implementation of IDEA.
OSEP Director Valerie Williams also highlighted the responsibility of states in educating students with disabilities under the law.
While the federal government provides grants under IDEA, each state must uphold its general supervision responsibility, ensuring that all school-age children, irrespective of the nature or severity of their disability, have access to FAPE in the least restrictive environment. Additionally, infants and toddlers with disabilities should receive appropriate early intervention services to the fullest extent possible.
The updated guidance also clarifies specific roles and responsibilities for state education administrators to meet IDEA’s general supervision requirements.
Among the essential clarifications is ensuring that states address any credible allegations of noncompliance, regardless of whether they are reported during the formal monitoring visit cycle or not. Additionally, states are mandated to conduct monitoring visits for each local educational agency or early intervention service program at least once within the state’s six-year cycle for the State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report.
Furthermore, states must promptly issue findings of noncompliance, typically within three months of identifying such cases. Lastly, to guarantee comprehensive compliance, state authorities, along with local education agencies and early intervention services programs or providers, are tasked with verifying the correction of each case of child-specific noncompliance, leaving no subset of cases unaddressed.
