[abstract]
This article examines school removals and transitions among nine special education students. First, the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the local school discipline policy and special education contexts are discussed. Next, drawing from participants’ narrative accounts, the ways in which policy mandates and contextual conditions shaped their individual experiences are examined. Findings reveal the significance of IDEA and the profound impact of educational policies on students having academic and disciplinary difficulties. I argue for further examinations of the “on-the-ground” effects of educational policies and for students and their families to have more power in school accountability.
[excerpt from Implications section]
"Researchers and policy makers should address any ways in which IDEA and/or its implementation lead to excessive, unwarranted, or even questionable exclusionary discipline practices. Furthermore, with the current emphasis on graduation rates, it would be timely for policy makers and school district personnel to more closely examine school discipline policy. In zero-tolerance cases, IDEA defers to local school discipline policy which typically mandates expulsion. However, research shows that conditions beyond young people’s control—in both schools and communities—can greatly contribute to why some engage in activities that can lead to expulsion (Payne & Brown, 2010). Although serious infractions must be met with decisive responses, cutting troubled young people off from educational opportunity is unconscionable. These youth are among those most in need of the stability and future opportunities that formal education can offer." (p.838)