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Outmatched: Special Education Can’t Solve Problems Rooted in the Education Delivery System

Ashley Jochim, Alexander Kurz

In early 2025, the National Center for Education Statistics quietly announced a new record: 7.9 million public school students were identified with a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The new data capped off a decades-long trend towards increasing numbers of children being identified with disabilities and swept up into special education programs under the promise that doing so will provide students access to the support they need.

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Learning as We Go: Principles for Effective Assessment During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Robin Lake, Lynn Olson

This paper summarizes the findings from a panel of assessment experts on diagnostic assessments and their role in helping educators and parents support student learning. 

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Navigating Out-of-School Learning and the Power of Relationships: Lessons from Year 2 at RESCHOOL Colorado

Betheny Gross, Michael DeArmond

This report describes the implementation of RESCHOOL Colorado’s Learner Advocate Network between 2018 and 2019 and what it implies for expanding similar efforts elsewhere.

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Navigating Choice: How High-Touch Supports Can Address Educational Inequity

Georgia Heyward, Betheny Gross, Ashley Jochim

This brief presents findings from a preliminary analysis of 10 organizations with school navigator services.

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Too Many Schools Leave Learning to Chance During the Pandemic

Betheny Gross, Alice Opalka

This brief summarizes our findings from a review of COVID-19 response plans of 477 school districts across the country.

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Blueprint4Summer Colorado: Mapping Denver’s Landscape for Summer Enrichment

This brief provides an assessment of lessons learned in the first two years of RESCHOOL Colorado’s initiatives to expand access to out-of-school learning opportunities for children in the Denver area.

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Finding a Great Fit: Improving the School Choice Process for Students with Disabilities

Lanya McKittrick, Robin Lake, Sivan Tuchman, Travis Pillow, Roohi Sharma

Two briefs provide a summary of the special education landscape in New Orleans and Washington, D.C., and offer recommendations for further steps that might be taken to strengthen the cities’ support structures for parents of children with disabilities.

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