This searchable database contains bibliographic information for literature (research-based and policy/practice) relating to dispute resolution in special education.
CADRE is interested in identifying additional articles and publications to include in this database. If you are aware of other such resources, please send an email to cadre@directionservice.org with as much information as possible about the resource (e.g., title, author, source, date), and include a copy of the publication or a URL link, if available. Interested in emerging research and knowledge gaps in IDEA dispute resolution?
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Beyond Involvement and Engagement: The Role of the Family in School–Community Partnerships
Research indicates that partnerships between schools and neighborhood communities support student learning, improve schools, and strengthen families and neighborhoods. These partnerships expand the traditional educational mission of the school to include health and social services for children and...Learn more
Challenges Providing Services to K-12 English Learners and Students with Disabilities during COVID-19
Due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, almost all school districts rapidly shifted to distance learning in spring of the 2019-2020 school year. This shift laid bare both the logistical and instructional challenges of distance learning, particularly for English learners and...Learn more
COVID-19 Considerations for State Educations Agencies and IDEA Due Process Hearing Officers
This outline identifies some of the common issues that have come up during the COVID-19 outbreak and offers, where apropriate, some hearing process considerations for state educational agencies (SEA) and hearing officers.Learn more
Due Process Hearing and Written State Complaint Activity for COVID-19 Issues: A Six-Month Snapshot
In addition to the alternative forms of dispute resolution under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the two decisional avenues are adjudicative and investigative. The adjudicative avenue starts with a due process hearing (DPH) and culminates in court proceedings. The...Learn more
Enhancing Collaborative Leadership Among Parents of Children with Disabilities: New Directions for Policy and Practice
Parent involvement and leadership have evolved over time and carry different meanings within various educational contexts in the United States. In special education, parent involvement includes the roles that parents of children with disabilities play in the development of their children’s...Learn more
Expert Recommendations for the Future of Due Process in Special Education: A Delphi Study
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to identify recommendations that a Delphi panel of experts judged to be the most important for the future of due process in special education for avoiding due process hearings. The study also sought to determine and describe the degree of importance and...Learn more
Failure to Implement the IEP: The Third Dimension of FAPE Under the IDEA
After distinguishing the development of “failure to implement” (FTI) the individualized education program (IEP) as a third dimension beyond the procedural and substantive dimensions of FAPE (free appropriate public education) first established in Board of Education v. Rowley , this article provides...Learn more
Impartial Hearings under the IDEA: Legal Issues and Answers
[introduction] This Question and Answer document is specific to impartial hearing officers (IHOs) and the impartial hearings that they conduct under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It does not cover the IHO’s remedial authority, which is the subject of separate comprehensive...Learn more
Impartial Hearings Under the IDEA: Updated Legal Issues and Answers
This updated question-and-answer document is specific to impartial hearing officers (IHOs) and the hearings that they conduct under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The coverage does not extend to the alternate third-party dispute decisional mechanism under the IDEA, the...Learn more
OSEP Policy Guidance for IDEA Impartial Hearing Officers
This annotated overview of the policy letters of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) available on their website covers the period 2001 to the present. Among these IDEA policy interpretations, the selection is largely limited to those within the basic building blocks of the IDEA, free...Learn more
Punishing the Vulnerable: Exploring Suspension Rates for Students With Learning Disabilities
*/ [Abstract] Students with learning disabilities are suspended at disproportionate rates in schools. Although research has shown the ineffectiveness of suspension as a disciplinary tool, school administrators continue to use it to combat behavior infractions. This column presents a review of the...Learn more
Quality in Individualized Family Service Plans: Guidelines for Practitioners, Programs, and Families
This article provides guidance and recommendations for practitioners and families around five components of an IFSP: - functional assessment - functional outcome writing - linking functional outcomes to services - service integration - progress monitoring Each component "should be an opportunity to...Learn more
Restorative Justice in U.S. Schools: A Research Review
[Excerpt from Overview, p.1] This report presents information garnered from a comprehensive review of the literature on restorative justice (RJ)1 in U.S. schools. The purpose of our review is to capture key issues, describe models of RJ, and summarize results from studies conducted in the field...Learn more
Safeguarding procedures under the IDEA: Restoring the balance in the adjudication of FAPE
In the landmark case Board of Education v. Rowley in 1982, the Supreme Court concluded that FAPE has two prongs—procedural compliance and a less specific substantive standard. In the succeeding decades, the courts have gradually eroded the procedural dimension to the point of near distinction by...Learn more
Schaffer v. Weast’s Effects on California Special Education Hearing Decisions
This research examined the associations between Schaffer v. Weast (2005) and special education due process hearing decisions in California. Using a database we coded from the state’s due process hearings for cases that reached a decision (years 1995–2019), this study analyzed (1) how legal...Learn more
Special Education Law: Illustrative Basics and Nuances of Key IDEA Components
[Abstract] "Intended as professional development for both new and experienced special educators, this article provides both the basic requirements and nuanced issues for foundational, successive, and overlapping key components under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): (a) child...Learn more
Special Educational Needs: Understanding Drivers of Complaints and Disagreements in the English System
This paper explores why some special educational needs (SEN) disagreements become very distressing for parents and how such disagreements can be prevented or resolved. It is a qualitative study of the experiences of 78 parents (70 mothers, eight fathers) who participated in a national study of...Learn more
State Due Process Hearing Systems Under the IDEA: An Update
Abstract As part of its structure of cooperative federalism, the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act delegates to the states implementation, within broad specifications, of administrative adjudication systems. In light of the centrality of these systems of dispute resolution and the limited...Learn more