IDEA National Assessment Study

The current reauthorization of IDEA (2004) instructs the Department of Education to carry out a National Assessment of the law to measure: (1) Progress in the implementation of IDEA 2004; and (2) the relative effectiveness of the law in achieving its purposes. The IDEA National Assessment Implementation Study (NAIS) will inform the National Assessment by providing a representative, national picture of the implementation of early intervention and special education policies and practices at the state and district levels with a focus on new provisions included in IDEA 2004. Data collection will include three surveys of state administrators: (1) All State Part B administrators responsible for programs providing special education services to school aged children with disabilities (6-21); (2) all State 619 coordinators who oversee preschool programs for children with disabilities ages 3-5, and; (3) all State IDEA Part C coordinators who are responsible for early intervention programs serving infants and toddlers. A fourth survey will collect district level data from a nationally representative sample of local special education administrators about preschool and school-age programs for children with disabilities ages 3-21. The U.S. Department of Education has commissioned Abt Associates to conduct this study.