News Release
NCD #02-356
April 23, 2002
Contact: Mark S. Quigley
202-272-2004
202-272-2074 TTY
mquigley@ncd.gov
National Council on Disability Addresses Discipline
and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
WASHINGTON--The National Council on Disability (NCD)
today reissued its 1998 Discipline of Students with Disabilities:
A Position Statement (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/discipline.html),
in preparation for an April 25 Senate hearing on discipline issues
and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA).
During the course of five studies on IDEA and one
on transition issues, from 1989 to 2000, NCD consistently found
that parents of children with disabilities are enthusiastic supporters
of the law. They think it is a good law. Those studies include:
Back to School on Civil Rights (2000) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/backtoschool_1.html);
Transition and Post-School Outcomes for Youth with Disabilities:
Closing the Gaps to Post-Secondary Education and Employment
(2000) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/00publications.html);
Improving the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act: Making Schools Work for All of America's Children
(1995) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/95school.html)
and its supplement (1996) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/96school.html);
Inclusionary Education for Students with Disabilities: Keeping
the Promise (1994) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/inclusion.html);
Serving the Nation's Students with Disabilities: Progress and
Prospects (1993) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/progress.html);
and, The Education of Students with Disabilities: Where Do We
Stand? (1989) (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/stand.html).
NCD's 1998 Discipline of Students with Disabilities: A Position
Statement (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/discipline.html),
which is as relevant today as it was in 1998, shares NCD's concern
about the way this issue is being characterized and the potential
harm to children with disabilities that may come from Congressional
efforts to revisit this issue.
NCD believes that instead of making it easier for
schools to wash their hands of students with disabilities by giving
schools new means to facilitate their discriminatory exclusion,
policy makers must look for ways to address the needs of all students
with and without disabilities so that they stay in school and succeed.
NCD is also seeking input from IDEA stakeholders on
its new working paper on IDEA reauthorization (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/reauthorizations/idea/idea.html).
Specifically, NCD wants feedback on questions related to monitoring
and enforcement, full funding, discipline, and eligibility and over-representation
of students from culturally diverse backgrounds. The paper is designed
with questions that will help stakeholders develop their responses.
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