Teachers College Press Does Compliance Matter in Special Education?: IDEA and the Hidden Inequities of Practice (Disability, Culture, and Equity Series)

About the Author Catherine Kramarczuk Voulgarides is an educational consultant and an assistant professor of special education at Touro College in New York City. Product Description This book asks a question that many educators may think, but won’t say out loud: Does compliance with IDEA legislation matter? The author acknowledges that, while compliance with IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) is important, it can also be an administrative burden that detracts from practitioners’ capacity to adequately serve students with disabilities.Using data collected from three suburban school districts, Voulgarides helps us to understand how compliance with IDEA intersects with decades of evidence of racial inequities in student outcomes. This timely and thought-provoking book unpacks the civil rights history of IDEA, examines the impact of its procedural focus on educational practice, and questions why racial inequities in special education persist despite good intentions by policymakers, educators, and school personnel. Review As a former school principal, I recommend the book as a useful district-level book study for educators and district leaders to examine practices within their districts. In addition, the book is an excellent source in higher education for students in teacher education and principal preparation programs to learn about the limits of IDEA and the complexities of procedural compliance. The book will spark many discussions and hopefully also spark ideas to reduce disproportionality and inequities in special education.-- Teachers College Record