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HOW USDE SECRETARY CARDONA RELEASES LETTER ON RESTRAINT AND SECLUSION, INCLUSIVE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES.... (204 hits)

For Immediate Release From OSERS!

(A 15-Minute Read)




Secretary's letter on Restraint and Seclusion


January 8, 2025



Dear Governors, Chief State School Officers, Administrators of Lead Agencies, School District Administrators, and Early Childhood Program and School Leaders:

As education leaders, we have a collective responsibility to ensure that all children are educated in learning environments that are safe, supportive, and responsive to their needs. We must keep this responsibility in mind when considering the practices of restraint and seclusion in schools. The U.S. Department of Education (Department) remains concerned that children continue to be subjected to restraint and seclusion practices even though these practices are harmful to children and despite the lack of evidence that these practices are effective strategies to respond to a child’s behavior or that these practices reduce the occurrence of behaviors that interfere with learning. The use of restraint and seclusion practices is inconsistent with our shared goal to ensure every child is treated with dignity and free from abuse. The most recent publicly available data shows that more than 50,000 public school students were restrained or secluded in public schools during the 2020-2021 school year.[i]

Restraint and seclusion practices can have a lasting and negative impact on children. There is ample evidence of significant harms to students due to these practices, including serious physical injury, emotional trauma, and even death.[ii] Schools and early childhood programs should do everything possible to align their practices to ensure all children are educated in learning environments that are safe, supportive, and responsive to their unique needs.

Instead of relying on reactive restraint and seclusion practices, it is critical for educators to be given opportunities to learn about and implement positive, proactive practices in schools and early childhood programs and how to effectively support and respond to students’ behavioral needs. As described in previous guidance from the Department, this involves using practices that provide a behavioral framework to support the social, emotional, physical, and mental health needs of students,[iii] including through the use of multi-tier systems of supports with individualized, targeted, and effective interventions for high-need students. Schools and early childhood programs should implement evidence-based practices[iv] to foster climates of inclusion, safety, and belonging as an alternative to exclusionary discipline and restraint and seclusion practices.[v]

I commend those states and districts that have prohibited the use of seclusion and limited the use of restraint in schools and early childhood programs, and those districts and programs that have committed to implementing evidence-based, responsive, and inclusive practices to support student behavior. The rejection of seclusion and the shift away from reliance on restraint in our Nation’s schools and early childhood programs is long overdue. We must equip educators and early childhood providers with the positive, proactive, and evidence-based tools and resources to meet the needs of all students. I encourage all States that have not yet done so to invest in providing educators with evidence-based, positive behavior support alternatives that support students and prevent the need to use restraint and seclusion practices, which can be harmful.

The Department has invested $1 billion through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act Stronger Connections Grant program for states to award subgrants to high-need local educational agencies to establish safer, healthier, and more inclusive learning environments. The Department also published a guide for schools on how to implement positive, proactive approaches for supporting children with disabilities as an alternative to seclusion and restraint practices and a guide to implement functional behavioral assessments for any student whose behavior interferes with learning. In addition, the Department continues to provide resources to ensure educators and early childhood providers are prepared to respond effectively to students’ behavior needs.[vi] School and early childhood program leaders can both keep their communities—including children and staff—safe while ensuring every child is included, supported, and treated fairly. Our children are depending on us, and the time to act is now.

Sincerely,
/s/
Miguel A. Cardona, Ed.D.
U.S. Secretary of Education

Learn more HERE!: https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/key-pol...


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INCLUSIVE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES

Our nation has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to providing every child with an equal opportunity to an education. Two Federal laws that address the education for children with disabilities are the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), signed into law in 1965 and 1975, respectively. Together, the ESEA and the IDEA provide the system and structure to ensure that children with disabilities have access to learning environments that meet their individual needs. The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is issuing this guidance to provide State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), schools, educators, and members of the public with a better understanding of the ESEA and the IDEA requirements and guiding principles to support the implementation of inclusive educational practices for students with disabilities.

The ESEA was signed into law in 1965 by President Lyndon Baines Johnson, who believed that “full educational opportunity” should be “our first national goal.” The ESEA has focused on advancing equity and upholding critical protections for America’s students from disadvantaged backgrounds through its requirements, programs, and funding. Similarly, when President Gerald Ford signed into law the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, the predecessor statute to the IDEA, he did so in response to systemic exclusion of students with disabilities from public schools, which only educated one in five students with disabilities at that time. Since 1975, the IDEA has pioneered educational opportunity for children with disabilities through its mandate of a free appropriate public education (FAPE) provided in the least restrictive environment (LRE)—two primary requirements that continue to drive the education of children with disabilities today.

Disability is a natural part of the human experience. Almost 45 million adults in the U.S. have a disability, and nearly 7.9 million students ages 3 through 21 received special education and related services under the IDEA in the 2023-2024 school year, representing over 15 percent of all children enrolled in public schools. The IDEA requires that every FAPE-eligible child with a disability receive an individualized education program (IEP) that includes information on how the child’s disability affects the child’s involvement and progress in the general education curriculum (i.e., the same curriculum as for nondisabled students) and includes goals that meet the child’s needs to enable the child to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum. At the same time, the ESEA requires that States and LEAs apply the same challenging State academic standards to all public schools and public school students, including students with disabilities, in the State (except for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities for whom the State may define alternate academic achievement standards aligned with the State’s content standards).

The IDEA and the ESEA have the same goal of improving academic achievement through high expectations and high-quality education programs. The ESEA works to achieve that goal by focusing on challenging State academic standards and accountability systems that are designed to measure student performance, providing supports for educators and resources for a well-rounded education, and emphasizing evidence-based instruction; and the IDEA complements those efforts by focusing on how to best support students with disabilities, individually and within ESEA-created systems. When Congress reauthorized the IDEA in 2004, it found that the education of students with disabilities can be made more effective by coordinating the IDEA with other LEA, State, and Federal school improvement efforts, including improvement efforts under the ESEA. Recognizing that “the vast majority of students with disabilities can access the general education curriculum and perform at the same level as their non-disabled peers if given the appropriate accommodations,” this coordination ensures that students with disabilities benefit from such efforts and that special education is viewed as a service rather than a physical location. This coordination is particularly necessary given these data:

In the 2022-2023 school year, the majority of students with disabilities spent 80% or more of their day in the general education class. However, the achievement gap between students with and without disabilities is significant, ongoing, and long standing. Despite increases in children and youth with disabilities being physically present in general education classrooms, students with disabilities experience less time learning content in the grade-level standards, less instructional time, and less content coverage than their nondisabled peers;

Students with disabilities graduate high school at lower rates and drop out of school at higher rates than their peers without disabilities; and

Students with disabilities graduate from college at lower rates than those without disabilities, and those with disabilities who did graduate were less likely to be employed full-time than their peers without disabilities.

Read the full Guidance HERE!: https://sites.ed.gov/idea/idea-files/build...


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ED Shares National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and Federal Action Plan


ED shared the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and accompanying Federal Action Plan in a Dear Colleague Letter from OSERS Assistant Secretary Wright-Gallo and OESE Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Schott: https://www.ed.gov/media/document/dcl-suic...

A federal interagency work group contributed to the development of the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (https://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/press-announcements/20240423/biden-harris-administration-releases-national-strategy-suicide-prevention-first-ever-federal-action-plan) to address suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention, across the lifespan—recognizing there is no single strategy to address this urgent and growing public health crisis.


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OSERS Impact Story – January 2025

A new infographic from OSERS (https://sites.ed.gov/idea/osers-impact-story-january-2025/) highlights stats from 2020-2024 and various guidance, monitoring, data and fiscal information released during 2021-2025.


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Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Randolph-Sheppard Act Regulations

The Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) posted a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) related to the Randolph-Sheppard Act regulations: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/... Comments received through the NPRM will help the Randolph-Sheppard Vending Facilities Program (RSVFP) to evolve with technology and ever-changing customer demand. Comments due March 11.


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Guidance on Allowable Use of Funds and RSVFP

RSA released a Technical Assistance Circular (https://rsa.ed.gov/sites/default/files/subregulatory/TAC-25-01.pdf) regarding the allowable use of funds for management services for the benefit of the RSVFP. The TAC responds to inquiries received by RSA from state licensing agencies, RSVFP vendors, and professional associations on behalf of RSVFP vendors.


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Special Education Personnel Retention Resources

OSEP Director Williams released a Dear Colleague Letter (https://sites.ed.gov/idea/idea-files/dear-colleague-letter-on-special-education-personnel-retention-jan-13-2025/) focused on special education personnel retention and the necessity of a well-prepared and supported special education workforce. In the letter, she provides resources for states and local agencies to enhance personnel prep and retention efforts.


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Guidance to Assist Students with Disabilities Transitioning Out of High School

OSERS issued new guidance related to postsecondary transition for students and adults with disabilities: https://sites.ed.gov/idea/idea-files/coord... The guidance describes how agencies may coordinate to assist students with disabilities, including students with intellectual disabilities, who are in high school and will be transitioning out of high school and will potentially receive services as an adult, funded by programs authorized under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and other programs.

The guidance builds on A Transition Guide to Postsecondary Education and Employment for Students (https://sites.ed.gov/idea/idea-files/policy-guidance-transition-guide-postsecondary-education-employment-students-youth-disabilities-august-2020/) and Youth with Disabilities and prior policy letters (https://rsa.ed.gov/sites/default/files/subregulatory/2020-transition-guide-letter-08-31-2020.pdf) that the department issued in August 2020.

GRANT ANNOUNCEMENTS:


Grant Announcements

ALN Competition Title Dates

84.326E National Technical Assistance Center on Transition for Students and Youth with Disabilities: https://www.ed.gov/grants-and-programs/gra...

Open: 01/15/2025
Close: 03/17/2025


84.177Z Independent Living Services for Older Individuals Who Are Blind (OIB) Program: https://rsa.ed.gov/about/programs/national...

Open: 01/15/2025
Close: 03/17/2025


84.328M Training and Information for Parents of Children with Disabilities: Parent Training and Information Centers: https://www.ed.gov/grants-and-programs/gra...


Open: 12/16/2024
Close: 03/03/2025


84.323A State Personnel Development Grants (SPDG): https://www.ed.gov/grants-and-programs/gra...

Open: 12/03/2024
Close: 02/18/2025


84.250R American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Services (AIVRS): https://rsa.ed.gov/about/programs/american...

Open: 11/06/2024
Close: 03/06/2025

The OSERS Bulletin contains resources that are provided for the reader’s convenience. The inclusion of these materials is not intended to reflect its importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or services offered. These materials may contain the views and recommendations of various subject matter experts as well as hypertext links, contact addresses, and websites to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. The opinions expressed in any of these materials do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any outside information included in these materials.

Learn more HERE!: https://rsa.ed.gov/





Posted By: agnes levine
Friday, January 17th 2025 at 4:26PM
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