WHO: Pete Wright will be the guest of Bernie and Muriel Ryan, co-hosts of Family Talk Radio.

WHAT: Standards of Learning and Special Education.

WHERE: Family Talk Radio (WRVA 1140 AM). The listening coverage area of Family Talk Radio includes 38 states.

WHEN: Monday, March 1, 1999, from 7-8 p.m., EST.

WHY: Virginia is one of many states that are implementing rigorous new Standards of Learning. Soon, children will need to pass "end of course" tests to graduate from high school.

In Virginia, the results of the first round of tests were a shock. Only 2.2 percent of the state's schools "passed." In a few years, schools that do not "pass" may lose their accreditation.

How will these new Standards affect children with disabilities? Will the Standards force schools to identify at-risk children early? Will schools begin to provide appropriate remediation? Will disabled children receive appropriate accommodations?

OR, will children with disabilities be excluded from school - or "encouraged" to drop out?

Tune in to Family Talk Radio (WRVA 1140 AM) tonight for a thought-provoking discussion about the impact of Standards on children with disabilities.

Update on New IDEA Regulations

The U. S. Department of Education has promised that the IDEA Regs will be published no later than Friday, March 5, 1999. Subscribers to The Special Ed Advocate newsletter will receive an ALERT when we learn that the Regs are available.

In addition to wrightslaw.com, here are some other sites that will publish the Regulations.

The Final IDEA Regulations will be available online at the Federal Register World Wide Web site on the day they are released at

http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/

The Final IDEA Regulations will be posted on the U. S. Department of Education's Web site within a few days of their release at

http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/finrule/index.html

The Final IDEA Regulations will be posted on the IDEA 97 Web site within 3-4 days of release at

http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/IDEA

In addition, at the Special Education Director's Site within 24 hours after release:

http://ideapolicy.org