Dive Brief:

• New guidelines for holding states accountable to the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act were announced Tuesday by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, along with Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Michael Yudin.
• Perhaps the most important detail of the new framework is that states will be evaluated based on how students with disabilities perform in addition to what states do for them.
• The new requirements will see states ensure that disabled students are included in state standardized tests, work to close achievement gaps between those students and their peers, and improve their National Assessment of Education Progress scores.

Dive Insight:

States will receive one of four ratings under the new system: meeting requirements, needing assistance, needing intervention, or needing substantial intervention. States falling short could face a number of consequences ranging from mandated technical assistance to financial penalties that include being labeled a "high-risk grant recipient" — and under these new guidelines, only 18 states are currently in compliance.