20 U.S.C. § 1464 — Studies and evaluations

(a) Studies and evaluations. (1) Delegation. The Secretary must assign the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences responsibility for carrying out this section, except for subsections (d) and (f). (2) Assessment. The Secretary, either directly or through competitively awarded grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements with eligible entities, must assess progress in carrying out this chapter. The assessment must include how effective State and local efforts are to provide: (A) a free appropriate public education to children with disabilities; and (B) early-intervention services to infants and toddlers with disabilities and to infants and toddlers who would risk substantial developmental delays without those services. (b) Assessment of national activities. (1) In general. The Secretary must conduct a national assessment of activities carried out with Federal money under this chapter in order to: (A) determine how effective this chapter is in achieving its purposes; (B) give the President, Congress, the States, local educational agencies, and the public timely information about implementing this chapter more effectively; and (C) give the President and Congress information useful for developing legislation that achieves this chapter's purposes more effectively. (2) Scope of assessment. The national assessment must assess activities supported under this chapter, including: (A) how programs assisted under this chapter are carried out and how they affect meeting developmental needs and improving academic achievement of children with disabilities, so those children can reach challenging developmental goals and challenging State academic content standards based on State academic assessments; (B) which types of programs and services have shown the greatest likelihood of helping students reach those challenging State standards and developmental goals; (C) how professional-development activities assisted under this chapter are carried out and how they affect instruction, student academic achievement, and teacher qualifications, so special-education and regular-education teachers can improve results for children with disabilities; and (D) how effective schools, local educational agencies, States, other recipients of assistance under this chapter, and the Secretary are in achieving this chapter's purposes by: (i) improving academic achievement of children with disabilities and their performance on regular statewide assessments compared with children without disabilities, and improving their performance on alternate assessments; (ii) increasing their participation in the general-education curriculum; (iii) improving their transitions at natural transition points; (iv) placing and serving them, including minority children, in the appropriate least restrictive environment; (v) preventing them, especially children with emotional disturbances and specific learning disabilities, from leaving school before completion; (vi) addressing their reading and literacy needs; (vii) reducing inappropriate identification of children, especially minority children and children with limited English proficiency, as having disabilities; (viii) improving parents' participation in their children's education; and (ix) resolving disagreements between education personnel and parents through alternative dispute-resolution activities, including mediation. (3) Interim and final reports. The Secretary must submit reports to the President and Congress: (A) an interim report summarizing preliminary assessment findings no later than three years after December 3, 2004; and (B) a final report of the assessment findings no later than five years after December 3, 2004. (c) Study on ensuring accountability for students who are held to alternative achievement standards. The Secretary must conduct one or more national studies examining: (1) the criteria States use to decide: (A) who may take alternate assessments; and (B) how many and what kinds of children take those assessments and are held to alternative achievement standards; (2) whether alternate assessment tools and procedures are valid and reliable; (3) how well alternate assessments and alternative achievement standards match State academic content standards in reading, mathematics, and science; and (4) how alternate assessments are used and how effective they are at properly measuring student progress and outcomes specific to individual instructional needs. (d) Annual report. The Secretary must give Congress an annual report that: (1) summarizes research conducted under part E of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 [20 U.S.C. 9567 et seq.]; (2) analyzes and summarizes data reported by the States and the Secretary of the Interior under section 1418; (3) summarizes studies and evaluations conducted under this section and the schedule for completing them; (4) describes the extent and progress of assessing national activities; and (5) describes findings and decisions resulting from reviews of how States carry out this chapter. (e) Authorized activities. In carrying out this section, the Secretary may support objective studies, evaluations, and assessments, including studies that: (1) analyze measurable effects, outcomes, and results achieved by State and local educational agencies through activities reforming policies, procedures, and practices intended to improve educational and transition services and results for children with disabilities; (2) analyze State and local needs for professional development, parent training, and other suitable activities that can reduce the need for disciplinary actions involving children with disabilities; (3) assess educational and transition services and results for children with disabilities from minority backgrounds, including: (A) data on: (i) the number referred for special-education evaluation; (ii) the number receiving special education and related services and their educational or other service placement; (iii) the number who graduated from secondary programs with a regular diploma in the standard number of years; and (iv) the number who leave the educational system before completion; and (B) the performance of children with disabilities from minority backgrounds on State assessments and other performance measures established for all students; (4) measure educational and transition services and results for children with disabilities served under this chapter, including longitudinal studies that: (A) examine services and results for children ages 3 through 17 who receive special education and related services under this chapter, using a national representative sample of separate age groups and disability categories; and (B) examine educational results, transition services, postsecondary placement, and employment status for people with disabilities ages 18 through 21 who receive or have received special education and related services under this chapter; and (5) identify and report where children with disabilities are placed, organized by disability category. (f) Study. The Secretary must study and report to Congress on how much States adopt the policies described in section 1435(c)(1) and on the effects of those policies.