Resources >> Issues >> Disability

Disability & Discipline

School-to-prison pipeline issues impacting students with disabilities

Key Facts and Data Trends

Major Reports

COVID-19 and Education Equity

Seclusion, Restraint, Handcuffing

Juvenile Justice
Federal Regulations on Race and Disability - Equity in IDEA

Federal Publications

Key Facts and Data Trends

• Policing and Racial Injustice: A Disability Rights Perspective - Impacts and Solutions, Disability Rights Ohio, November 2020

• School Lockdown Drills Pose Particular Challenges (And Risks) for Students with Disabilities, Child Trends, January 29, 2020

• Black Students and Students with Disabilities Remain More Likely to Receive Out-of-school Suspensions, Despite Overall Declines, Childtrends, April 29, 2019

• Lawsuit Alleges State Failing Flint Special Education Kids, The Detroit News, October 16, 2018

• Why Disabled Youth Are More at Risk of Being Incarcerated, TeenVogue, October 9, 2017

• 5 Things to Know about Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Special Education, Child Trends, January 12, 2017

• Why Are We Criminalizing Behavior of Children with Disabilities?, Washington Post, April 25, 2017

• Why Schools Over-Discipline Children with Disabilities, The Atlantic, July 24, 2015

• Race, Disability and the School-to-Prison Pipeline, Colorlines, May 13, 2014

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Major Reports 

• Disabling Inequity: The Urgent Need for Race-Conscious Resource Remedies, Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, March 2021

• Beyond Suspensions: Examining School Discipline Policies and Connections to the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Students of Color with Disabilities, US Commission on Civil Rights, July 2019

• Disabling Punishment: The Need for Remedies to the Disparate Loss of Instruction Experienced by Black Students with Disabilities, The Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the UCLA Civil Rights Project, April 2018

• Discipline Disparities for Black Students, Boys, and Students with Disabilities, US General Accounting Office, March 2018

• Suspensions are Not Support: The Disciplining of Preschoolers with Disabilities, Center for American Progress, January 17, 2018

• ACLU Comments to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Re: Students of Color with Disabilities and the School-to-Prison Pipeline, ACLU, January 16, 2018

• Key Trends in Special Education in Charter Schools, National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools, February 2018

• Let Her Learn: Stopping School Pushout for Girls with Disabilities, National Women's Law Center, 2017

• Breaking the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Students with Disabilities, National Council on Disability, June 18, 2015

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COVID-19 and Education Equity

• COVID-19 and the 'Virtual' School-to-Prison Pipeline, Loyola Children's Legal Rights Journal, August 13, 2021

• The New School Suspension: Blocked From Online Classrooms, HuffPost, August 11, 2020

• School Discipline in the Era of COVID-19, endzerotolerance.org, May 28, 2020

• How Will Schools Provide Special Education During the Coronavirus Crisis?, Education Week, March 19, 2020

• With Schools Closed, Kids With Disabilities Are More Vulnerable Than Ever, National Public Radio, March 27, 2020

• COVID-19’s Forgotten Children, ChildTrends, March 30, 2020

• COVID-19 and Education of Students with Disabilities Resources, National Disability Rights Network, April 21, 2020

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Seclusion, Restraint, Handcuffing

• A Mom Takes Action after Her 5-year-old Was Put in A Chokehold at School, NBC News, October 5, 2021

• The Use of Restraint and Seclusion on Children with Disabilities, 2017-18, US Education Department, October 2020

• Education Needs to Address Significant Quality Issues with its Restraint and Seclusion Data, General Accounting Office, April 2020

• Illinois Quietly Reversed Its Ban on a Dangerous Physical Restraint for Students, ProPublica, April 6, 2020

• ‘Thrown In A Box’: Missouri Schools’ Use of Isolation Rooms and Restraints Is Inhumane, Kansas City Star (editorial), January 15, 2020

• Students with Disabilities and the Use of Restraint and Seclusion in K-12 Public Schools, webinar, US Education Department, January 9, 2020

• How Safe Is the Schoolhouse? An Analysis of State Seclusion and Restraint Laws and Policies, Autism Committee, July 2019

• When D.C. Schools Use Restraint or Seclusion, No Laws Govern Them. Allegations of Abuse Are Piling Up, Washington City Paper, December 13, 2019

• Illinois to Take Emergency Action to Halt Isolated Time Outs in Schools, ProPublica Illinois, November 20, 2019

• The Quiet Rooms, investigative report on seclusion in Illinois schools, ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune, November 19, 2019

• Restraint, Seclusion, Deception, investigative report by Searchlight New Mexico, October 8, 2019

• State Seeks Compromise on Student Seclusion Rules (Iowa), The Gazette, August 22, 2019

• Hawaii Provided ‘Inaccurate’ Data On Student Restraint And Seclusion, Honolulu Civil Beat, July 8, 2019

• K-12 Education: Education Should Take Immediate Action to Address Inaccuracies in Federal Seclusion and Restraint Data, US Government Accountability Office, June 2019

• Ed. Dept. Should Remedy Underreporting of Seclusion and Restraint Data, Government Watchdog Warns, the 74million, June 19, 2019

• How Some Schools Restrain Or Seclude Students: A Look At A Controversial Practice, NPR, June 15, 2019

• Handcuffed in Denver in the Fifth Grade: 'Whenever I Shut My Eye, I Saw the Cuffs Chalkbeat, May 30, 2019

• Desperation and Broken Trust: When Schools Restrain Students or Lock Them in Rooms, WAMU 88.5, June 5, 2019

• The Need for Federal Legislation on Seclusion and Restraint, The Century Foundation, February 28, 2019

• WA Special Ed Students Suffering from Trauma after Use of Restraints, Isolation, King 5 NBC News, March 14, 2019

• Isolated at School: Spokane Parents Claim Isolation Rooms Misused at District Schools, KREM TV, February 7, 2019

• Democrats Seek to Sharply Curtail Restraint, Seclusion of Students, Education Week, November 13, 2018

• Children Cruelly Handcuffed Win Big Settlement Against the Police in Kentucky, ACLU, November 2, 2018

• ACLU Sues Flint Police for Handcuffing Seven-Year-Old Boy with Disabilities​, ACLU of Michigan, July 31, 2018

• Students with Disabilities Are More Likely to Be Restrained or Arrested at School, The Mighty, April 2018

• How Washington Winks at Violent Discipline of Special Needs Kids, Politico, November 29, 2017

• Excessive Force’: Judge Rules in Favor of Children Who Were Handcuffed at School, Washington Post, October 17, 2017

• 70,000 Students With Disabilities Secluded, Restrained in School, Education Week, May 16, 2017

• Kids in Cuffs: Why Handcuff a Student With a Disability, NBC News, February 20, 2017

• Lawsuit: Kenton County Deputy Sheriff Shackled two Elementary Students Who Had Disabilities, also learn more about the case here and watch a video

• Dangerous Use of Seclusion and Restraints in Schools Remains Widespread and Difficult to Remedy: A Review of Ten Cases, United States Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, February 14, 2014

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Juvenile Justice

• Criminalizing Disability: Special Needs Kids Who Don’t Get Help in School are Ending Up in Jail, Alamagordo Daily News, May 9, 2019

• Justice-Involved Youth with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Call to Action for the Juvenile Justice Community, The Arc’s National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability, 2015

• Pipeline to Prison: Special Education Too Often Leads to Jail for Thousands of American Children, The Hechinger Report, October 26, 2014

• Students with Disabilities & the Juvenile Justice System: What Parents Need to Know, Pacer Center, 2013

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Federal Regulations on Race and Disability - Equity in IDEA 

• Betsy DeVos Shows Her True Colors with Effort to Block Help for Disabled Students Alternet, July 11, 2019

• How Disability Rights Advocates Turned Back the Trump Administration’s Attack on Students of Color, ACLU, March 18, 2019

• Catching Up on a Federal Rule Involving Bias in Special Education, Education Week , March 20, 2019

• COPAA Challenges Secretary Devos’s Decision to Delay Implementation of Equity in Idea Regulation, Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, July 12, 2018

• US Education Department Delays Implementation of 'Equity in IDEA' Rule, Federal Register, July 3, 2018

• Trump Directive Spurs Proposal To Delay IDEA Rule, Disability Scoop, February 27, 2018

• National Association of State Directors of Special Education's Letter to Sec. DeVos Urging Prompt Implementation of the Equity in IDEA Rule, February 6, 2018

• ACLU Comments on Equity in IDEA Compliance Delay, ACLU, May 2018

• Federal Regulation on "Significant Disproportionailty" in the Identification, Placement, and Discipline of Students with Disabilities based on Race or Ethnicity, US Department of Education, December 12, 2016, [Delayed by the Trump Administration, July 3, 2018]

Federal Publications

• ​Questions and Answers (Q&A) on U. S. Supreme Court Case Decision Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District Re-1 (Free Appropriate Public Education), US Department of Education, December 7, 2017

• A Transition Guide to Postsecondary Education and Employment for Students and Youth with Disabilities, US Department of Education, January 17, 2017

• "Dear Colleague" Letter on the Rights of Students with Disabilities in Public Charter Schools under Section 504 and IDEA, US Department of Education, December 28, 2016

• Dear Colleague Letter: Preventing Racial Discrimination in Special Education, US Department of Education, December 12, 2016

• The Parent and Educator Resource Guide to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools, US Department of Education, December 2016

• "Dear Colleague" letter and Fact Sheet  on the Use of Restraint or Seclusion on Students with Disabilities, US Department of Education, December 2016

• Dear Colleague Letter on Supporting Behavior of Students with Disabilities, U.S. Department of Education, August 1, 2016

• Know Your Rights: Students with ADHD, U.S. Department of Education, July 2016

• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Standards Needed to Improve Identification of Racial and Ethnic Overrepresentation in Special Education, US General Accounting Office, Feb 27, 2013

• Glossary of IDEA Terms, The Equity Project at Indiana University

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