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From the Council for Exceptional Children

Special Education Moved from ED to HHS
This afternoon, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced an Inter-Agency Agreement to transfer the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice.

This announcement disrupts the special education system that we have all unified to build and support over the last 50 years.

CEC is consistently and vocally opposed to efforts to fracture the federal role in education by dismantling ED and, more specifically, by moving special education to the Health Department. One of ED’s fundamental functions is to support the development, education, and workforce development of people with disabilities, priorities that are reflected in CEC’s members. These essential functions are now at risk as ED continues to fracture its role in supporting special education.

Shifting IDEA from the Department of Education to the Health Department represents more than a bureaucratic change; it signals a move toward a medical model that views students as patients rather than as learners with strengths, potential, and belonging.

For five decades, we have worked to ensure that students with disabilities are recognized as general education students first. Keeping special education alongside all other education programs under ED protects that progress, strengthens inclusion, and upholds a unified K–12 system where every child is part of the school community.

CEC remains steadfast in our belief that the federal government plays a vital role in safeguarding the rights and education of children with disabilities. We all must continue to insist on a strong federal role in special education that ensures consistent oversight, accountability, high-quality personnel preparation, support for families, and, most importantly, policies that place children with disabilities, not politics, at the heart of every decision.

Please take action and call on Congress to assert its oversight power to protect children with disabilities.

Thank you for your commitment to the education of children with disabilities. We will continue to keep you abreast of changes, and together, we will continue our fight.

Benjamin Tillotson, President
Chad Rummel, Chief Executive Officer

I had a great time working with teachers and therapists at the County Educational Service Center for the past two weeks. I'm looking forward to working together again in the future!

Interesting:

Rayna Gordon Weiner

Wading Into the Deep End: What Reading Actually Requires When the Text Gets Hard Explicit, text-driven modeling unlocks the rigor of complex texts. It's messy, and we should be doing far more of it.

Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have delivered striking evidence that writing by hand engages the brain far more deeply than typing the same words on a keyboard.
In the study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, 36 university students wore high-density EEG caps with 256 electrodes while performing a simple task: copying words they saw on a screen. They did it once by hand with a digital pen and once by typing on a keyboard.
The results were dramatic. When participants wrote by hand, widespread brain connectivity patterns lit up — particularly in theta and alpha frequency bands linked to memory formation, sensory processing, attention, and learning. These connections spanned central and parietal regions. When they typed, those same areas went almost completely silent.
Lead researchers Audrey van der Meer and Ruud van der Weel emphasize that the fine motor movements, sensory feedback from the pen, and visual-motor coordination of handwriting create rich, elaborate neural networks that typing simply doesn’t replicate.
The findings have clear implications for education. As schools shift toward tablets and laptops, this research suggests preserving time for handwriting could give children a significant advantage in learning and memory. In an increasingly digital world, the humble pen may still be one of the best tools for building a stronger brain.
Rayna Gordon Weiner

Rayna Gordon Weiner

Why U.S. Test Scores Are in a ‘Generation-Long Decline’ The drops go beyond the pandemic and cut across income, geographic and racial divides, new data shows.

The nation's reading report card came out today:

Rayna Gordon Weiner

2026 Literacy Academy for Families!
Columbus Convention Center, June 3, 2026. Learn about strategies to support your child’s reading development and discover resources to help strengthen partnerships with your child’s school.
All parents and caregivers as well as individuals in roles who support families are encouraged to attend!

Register: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/38GL3LK
Gordon Weiner

There are still a few seats left in my Associate Level Orton Gillingham training this summer. Sign up today!
Gordon Weiner

for Reading Justice
Save the Date: Aug 2 | 3:30 PM EST | Virtual
We are hosting our FIRST EVER parent advocacy conference — and we’re bringing Louisa Moats AND Kareem Weaver as keynotes.
This isn’t just for parents. It’s for everyone ready to stand with them.
Rayna Gordon Weiner