LD News is a free e-publication of the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD). It is sent out monthly and addresses issues related to learning disabilities for parents, care-givers, educators, advocates and individuals with learning disabilities.

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Letter from NCLD
NCLD's Executive Director, James Wendorf, discusses the good news about the newly released regulations to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 

Research Roundup
NCLD's Director of Professional Services, Dr. Sheldon Horowitz, discusses the disadvantages of the common practice of keeping students back in kindergarten or delaying the start of kindergarten an extra year. (And be sure to download NCLD's new LD Checklist!)  To read "Redshirting " A Moving Experience," click here.

Policy Updates
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings released the final regulations for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act on Thursday, August 3, 2006. Read a complete report on the regulations, and more, here.

News Desk
Read about groundbreaking research on individuals with ADHD, learn five key components of PK-3 success, find out how private and public schools compare in reading and math instruction, and more, here.

LD Links
Learn important and surprising facts about the U.S. Education System, get job search help, find helpful resources for parents of children with learning disabilities or AD/HD, and more, here.

RTI Update
Progress monitoring is a scientifically based practice that is used to assess students' academic performance and evaluate the effectiveness of instruction. Progress monitoring can be implemented with individual students or an entire class. The National Center for Student Progress Monitoring has published a review of progress monitoring tools that rates each tool against a set of psychometric and content-specific standards.
 
Michael Shaughnessy of Eastern New Mexico University conducted an interview with Gary Germann about Response to Intervention and the AIMSweb Progress Monitoring System. Read about how greater numbers of school systems are moving toward computer based data management systems.
 
A series of studies has also been released by the National Center for Educational Accountability that delineates the practices of nearly 200 high-performing schools. The studies used three years of performance data to identify top schools in 20 participating states, and, through the use of consistent protocols, researchers found strong similarities in the methods that the schools utilize to improve student achievement.  The studies include data from elementary through high schools, as well as interviews with district leaders, principals, and teachers from high- and average-performing schools.  For more information, click here.