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Legislative Updates and Alerts
January 2012
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What is CEC, advocating for in 2013?
• Advocate for federal policies that improve
transition systems between school and work for youth
with disabilities through the reauthorization of the
Workforce Investment Act addressing issues such as
enhancing community outreach and professional
development, creating of and funding for research
priorities designed to address individuals with
disabilities and clarifying and restructuring WIA’s
performance measures to incentivize providers to work
with individuals with disabilities.
• Advocate for federal policies that ensure a free
appropriate public education for children and youth with
disabilities and comprehensive early intervention
services for infants and toddlers with disabilities
through the reauthorization, regulatory provisions and
continued full implementation of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act and by addressing issues such
as ensuring access to the general education curriculum;
developing a well prepared, diverse special education
workforce; reducing paperwork burden; least restrictive
environment; identification and eligibility procedures;
disporportionality; mental health; transition
initiatives; family involvement; procedural safeguards;
monitoring and enforcement; reexamining maintenance of
effort requirements; and the release of the final IDEA
Part C regulations.
• Advocate for federal policies that result in the
implementation of evidence-based, best practices for
children and youth with disabilities and/or gifts and
talents, including school-wide initiatives such as
Response to Intervention (RTI), Universal Design for
Learning (UDL), and Positive Behavioral Interventions
and Supports (PBIS) and policies that support and
promote positive school climates.
• Advocate for federal policies that support
accountability and assessment systems that better
address the needs of students with disabilities and/or
gifts and talents through assessment systems that
are designed to address diverse learners using multiple
indicators of student performance; and accountability
systems that measure student growth over time through
the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act/No Child Left Behind.
• Advocate for federal policies that ensure the
meaningful participation of children and youth with
disabilities and the professionals who work on their
behalf in school reform initiatives, such as charter
schools, differentiated compensation systems, and high
school reform through the reauthorization and
implementation of laws such as the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act/No Child Left Behind and the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
• Advocate for international policies that reaffirm
the human rights of persons with disabilities
through ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities by the United States.
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Urge Congress to
Support the American
Jobs Act Today!
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President Obama sent the American Jobs Act to
Congress to help save and create educator jobs and
address the fiscal crisis in schools across the
country. If passed, this bill would provide $30
billion dollars to save some 280,000 jobs and
support state and local efforts to retain, rehire,
and hire early childhood, elementary, and secondary
educators. It would also provide $30 billion for
school modernization projects. As budget cuts
continue to negatively impact our schools and
students, we need your voice now! Send this letter
to your Representative and Senators and ask them to
co-sponsor the American Jobs Act today and make
saving educator jobs a priority! |
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What’s Going On In Colorado!!
HOUSE BILL 11-1277
22-7-604.5.
Alternative education campuses - criteria -
application - rule-making. (Bill regarding changes
in reporting requirements for special education,
online schools and other CDE programs)
(1) A public school may apply to the state board for
designation as an alternative education campus. The
state board shall adopt rules specifying the
criteria and application process for a public
school to be designated an alternative education
campus.
22-11-203.
Student longitudinal academic growth - calculation-
data - research. (2) (a) For each school year, the
department shall provide to each school district in
the state academic growth information for each
student enrolled in the district public schools,
based on the statewide
Senate
Bill 11-070
Concerns students with special needs and the
transition from secondary to post-secondary school.
Federal legislation such as the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 of
the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) protect students with
disabilities from discrimination and call for the
creation of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP)
in primary and secondary schooling. However, the
federal government has been relatively silent when
it comes to requirements for students with
disabilities in institutions of higher education.
SB 11-070 allows students to use an IEP that was
created in secondary school for documentation
purposes in postsecondary school, and requires
institutions to follow the services and
accommodations outlined in the IEP if the student
enrolls within three years of attending high school
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Urge Your Congressional
Delegation to Co-Sponsor
the TALENT Act !!
CEC Endorsed Legislation
Charts New Course for Gifted,
High-Ability Students |
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Senator Casey (D-PA) and Senator Grassley (R-IA);
and Representative Payne (D-NJ) and Representative
Gallegly (R-CA) have introduced the To Aid
Gifted and High-Ability Learners by Empowering the
Nation’s Teachers Act, better known as the
TALENT Act
(S. 857/H.R. 1674).
The TALENT Act expands the education debate by
focusing on gifted, high-ability
students—particularly those from low-income or
minority backgrounds—who have been overshadowed in a
U.S. educational system that focuses on its
struggling, low-achieving students.
The TALENT Act meets the needs of gifted and
high-ability students in four key areas:
1.
Changes to Assessment
& Accountability Systems
2.
Increase in Professional Development
3.
Focus on Underserved Populations
4.
Emphasis on Research and Dissemination
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