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IDEA / Related Legislation
GAO Releases New Report on Student Discipline
On January 25, 2001, the General Accounting Office (GAO) submitted a report entitled Student Discipline: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations. Following the 1997 Amendments to the Individuals with Education Act (IDEA), there was a perception of a double standard for student discipline for students with disabilities. As a result, Congress directed the GAO to conduct a study to determine how the IDEA Amendments of 1997 affect the ability of schools to maintain a safe environment conducive to learning.
Some of the results of the GAO study, which primarily involved a survey of principals of 272 middle and high schools from around the country, indicate, for example, that (a) students with disabilities are receiving the same punishments as their general education peers for violent acts they commit in school, contrary to what some lawmakers stated in legislation last year; (b) the same proportion of each group of students who commit violence, about one in six, is expelled from school or placed in an alternative educational setting as a consequence of their actions; (c) 74 percent of responding principals generally regarded their overall special education discipline policy, which is essentially a combination of IDEA and local policies, as having a positive or neutral effect on their school's levels of safety and orderliness; and (d) the remaining 26 percent of responding principals rated the policies as having a negative effect. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of theis GAO report, please visit the GAO Web site.
Source: National Council on Disability
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