Student Attendance Policy During the COVID-19 Public Health Response
At the beginning of the COVID-19 public health response and the displacement of students to full remote learning and hybrid combinations of on-site and remote learning, attendance reporting for teachers and schools was challenging and riddled with disparate and...More on Supporting Children With Special Needs During Distance Learning
By Rebecca Branstetter, Ph.D. If your child has special needs, remote learning can be incredibly stressful. Here are some tips for helping kids learn, while still taking care of yourself. Parenting a child with additional learning, attention, social-emotional, or...IDEA is 45 Years Old
Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142) (EHA), in 1975, to support states and localities in protecting the rights of, meeting the individual needs of, and improving the results for infants, toddlers, children, and youth with...What Does NJ’s The Road Back Plan Do?
“Today’s guidance comes with one overarching requirement: that our public schools will open in some capacity with the health of students, their families, and educators being the TOP PRIORITY.” – Governor Phil Murphy NJDOE is basing its guidance...New Jersey Education Association Response to The Road Back Plan
The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) has released a detailed response to NJDOE’s The Road Back Plan. On June 24, NJEA released its Education Recovery Plan. The NJEA plan addresses specific challenges schools and educators expect to face, and details...Key Questions to Ask Before School Opens
SPAN Parent Advocacy Network has developed key questions to ask as stakeholders work with schools in developing their reopening plans. School districts across New Jersey are making plans for reopening schools in the summer and for the 2020-21 school year. “The Road...What are NJ Districts Planning to Do?
Many New Jersey districts are planning hybrid programs, with some in-person instruction and some remote instruction. For the in-person cohorts, split day or alternating week schedules are also common in preliminary plans, in order to ensure that a fraction of students...Closing the Digital Divide
With months of remote instruction already behind New Jersey schools, significant gaps still exist in providing students access to technology and technological equipment, such as laptops, tablets, hot spot access devices, and other electronic mobile devices. Many New...Teachers Perspective: Relieving and Addressing Student Anxiety Related to Covid-19
6 Tips from Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Consultant, Jessica Minahan: Review the curriculum. Encourage colleagues to review their curriculum before assigning reading and other work. For example, if a character in a book becomes seriously ill or dies, you may...Resources
USDOE Supplemental Fact Sheet: Addressing the Risk of COVID-19 in Preschool, Elementary and Secondary Schools While Serving Children with Disabilities This Supplemental Fact Sheet reaffirms the rights of students to receive educational instruction and related services...Perspective: New Jersey Needs to Fully Fund Extraordinary Costs
By Gerard Thiers Federal law requires that every eligible child with disabilities – more than 220,000 in New Jersey – receive a “free and appropriate” education. Of course, special education services are not free. While they are provided at no cost to students or...NJCommonGround.org, and the Common Ground E-newsletter are projects of the NJ Council on Developmental Disabilities
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- The Right to a Free and Appropriate Public Education
- What to Do if You Suspect Your Child has a Disability Impacting Their Education
- Initial Special Education Evaluations and Eligibility
- The Individualized Education Program (IEP)
- Special Education Placement
- Q&A: What are Extended School Year (ESY) Services?
- Q&A: Dispute Resolution