"I am speaking out about this because I was an educator for twenty years before I became a Senator. I speak out because as a Senator, I have been in a school almost every two weeks for the past ten years and I have seen, as you have, the inequality so many children confront. I also have seen how much difference a good system, a good school and a good teacher can make for a child.

"That all citizens will be given an equal start through a sound education is one of the most basic, promised rights of our democracy. Our chronic refusal as a nation to guarantee that right for all children, including poor children, is a national disgrace. We cannot be so blind that we do not see that meeting the most basic needs of so many of our children condemns them to lives and futures of frustration, chronic underachievement, poverty and violence.

"But, in the end, this is a spiritual issue for me. We must invest in the skills and intellect and character of our children, not because we know that if we do, they will be more likely to graduate from high school and less likely to be involved in crime, although that is true. We must invest in children not because they will be more likely to go on to college and to lead more productive lives, although that is also true. We should invest in the skills and intellect and character of our children because they are all under four feet tall, they are all beautiful and we should be nice to them."

Senator Paul Wellstone (1944-2002)
 

Administrative Updates: CLE Comments on Proposed Rules

Part B of IDEA, Fed Reg. May 13, 2008

Title I, Fed. Reg., April 23, 2008

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, Fed. Reg., March 24, 2008

About the Center for Law and Education (CLE)

Overview of the Center for Law and Education

History of the Center for Law and Education

CLE Staff Profiles

Types of Assistance offered by CLE

Internship Opportunities at CLE
Job Opportunities

Current Federal Legislation and National Issues

No Child Left Behind - A Title I Overview

ALERT: Title I -- (1) Regulations on standards and assessments; (2) Your  State's plan (June 2002)
CLE Comments on the OCR Draft (June 6, 2000) - "The Use of Tests When Making High-Stakes Decisions for Students"
CLE's Testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on Parent Centers

Triggering Educational Accountability - CLE White Paper 8/3/99

National Title I and School Reform Project

1. Project Overview

2. Triggering Educational Accountability - CLE White Paper 8/3/99

3.Title I as a Tool for Parent Involvement

4. New Opportunities for Improving the Quality of Education for Low Income Students

5. What Does It Take? Title I School wide Programs

6. Title 1 Resources
7. CLE comments on proposed Title I regulations of May 5, 2002, on Standards and Assessments.
8. CLE comments on proposed Title I regulations of August 6, 2002. 
9. CLE comments on proposed Title I regulations of March 20, 2003, on assessment of students with significant cognitive disabilities.

Educational Rights of Students with Disabilities
1. Overview of CLE's Advocacy and Other Activities
2. Resources on the Educational Rights of Students with Disabilities
3. "Examining the Amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2004: What Advocates for Students and Parents Need to Know"
4.Comments to the Conferees to H.R. 1350, Reauthorization of IDEA, November 2004
5.Including Students with Disabilities in Standards-Based Education Reform
6. Quality Education for Children with Disabilities: Topic Briefs for Parents and Their Advocates
7. Additional Issues Briefs.
8. Questions and Answers
9. Article: Disciplinary Exclusion of Students with Disabilities
10. Link to the document: When Schools Criminalize Disability/Education Law Strategies for Legal Advocates
11. CLE comments on the report of the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education.
12."CLE served as counsel for amici curiae Senators Kennedy, Harkin, Jeffords, and Representatives Kildee, Miller and Owens in two pending federal court appeals, Akinseye v. District of Columbia, D.C.Cir. and T.D. v. LaGrange School DIstrict,  7th Cir., challenging application of Buckhannon to limit attorney fee awards under IDEA."
13. Comments on proposed Title I Regulations (May 19, 2003)
14.  NCLB Choice and Disabilities
15.  "Letter to Hon. Margaret Spellings, Secy. U.S. Dept. of ED, March 22, 2005 (modified assessments of students with disabilities)
16.  Comments on Proposed Title I Regulations, December 15, 2005 (students with disabilities assessed based on modifed assessments)
17. Testimony of K. Boundy on NCLB and Students with Disabilities before Hearing Convened by the Public Education Network, January 11, 2006, Boston, MA

High School Reform Project (Including School-to-Career)

CLE Project Overview

Key Quality and Equity Provisions of Perkins Act

All Aspects of the Industry

Integration of Academic And Vocational Education

Issue Brief: Students with Disabilities, School-to-Career Transition and the School-to-Work Opportunities Act

Vocational Education and School-to-Career Resources

Community Action for Public Schools (CAPS)

CAPS Overview

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