Effective education policymaking and policies are central to the work that states do to ensure that all young people experience and benefit from an equitable and excellent education. This must include students with disabilities, with an awareness of intersectional identities. At every level of a state’s education system, from classrooms and other learning settings to school districts and charter networks to state capitols, policy creates the enabling conditions for all young people to learn and develop.

Decades of research across multiple scientific disciplines tells a hopeful and factual story about what is possible for every young person: When young people are engaged in and supported by conditions intentionally designed to reveal their potential, they will learn, develop, and thrive. Further, for young people to understand and then act on their unique potential, education practices and the policies that enable them must simultaneously attend to multiple dimensions of learning and development: academic, cognitive, social and emotional, moral and ethical, identity, and physical and mental well-being. This is what is meant by educating and developing the “whole child.” 

The challenge for states in this moment is to redefine, retool, and, in some cases, rebuild statewide systems with the primary purpose of educating and developing the whole child. To do so effectively, policymakers and system leaders will first need to take stock of the extent to which their state’s education and youth-serving systems meet young people’s integrated whole child needs. Particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic crisis affecting millions of families across the country, state policy should work to ensure that every young person is known, engaged, and supported with the resources they need to positively learn and develop. Meeting this historic moment and prioritizing the well-being of all young people will require imagination, flexibility, and better policymaking at the state level — informed by the science of learning and development and centered on equity — so that school districts, charter networks, schools, and educators have the direction they will need to make a positive difference for young people and families. 

The Science of Learning and Development Holds Lessons for All Young People’s Education

Specifically, the science of learning and development reveals the following universal principles that should inform state education policymakers seeking to address whole child development, especially when centering the needs and aspirations of students with disabilities within state policies:

• Potential: Each child develops billions of neural pathways providing significant potential to learn and thrive. 

• Malleability: The brain is highly malleable, from birth through adolescence and beyond.

• Individuality: Every child learns and develops differently. 

• Context: Experiences, environments, and cultures are the defining influences on development. 

• Relationships: Strong, trusting relationships are essential to learning and development. 

• Integration: Intentional integration accelerates learning. 

• Continuum: Human development is a progression, but not a linear one.

• Meaning making: People continuously make meaning of the ideas, concepts, experiences, and relationships they encounter, and of the cultures in which they live. 

While these key findings of the science of learning and development apply equally to all young people, research also demonstrates that young people with disabilities are disproportionately marginalized by current systems. In fact, due to the design of our current systems, students with disabilities experience worse educational and developmental outcomes compared to other groups of students. As is the case with any young person, equitable and excellent education for students with disabilities is fundamentally predicated on systems that center whole child education informed and enabled by the science of education practice and policy. When states leverage universal knowledge from science about how young people best learn and develop, they will be in a better position to ensure that students with disabilities and their families have a seat at the table when important decisions are being made about their education and their opportunities to thrive both in school and in life.

State Policy Recommendations to Support Whole Child Learning and Development for All Learners

The Whole Child Policy Table (see sidebar) identified five overarching categories, informed by the science of learning and development, to advance state policy change to better support whole child development. Each is accompanied by a set of policy actions to further clarify potential mechanisms to support achieving that end. The categories include: 

1. Setting a whole child vision 
2. Transforming learning environments
3. Redesigning curriculum, instruction, and assessment
4. Building adult capacity and expertise 
5. Aligning resources efficiently and equitably 

By utilizing the WCPT framework and its levers for change, state policymakers can more effectively attend to the needs of all students, including students with disabilities. This work will look different from state to state, but the fundamentals of the science of learning and development and how they apply to all young people do not change. The primary goals for states are to center the knowledge from the science of learning and development and to engage students with disabilities and their families in advancing attendant policies.

Building on the work of the WCPT, NCLD has identified policy opportunities specifically aimed at recognizing and responding to the needs of students with disabilities to ensure that they have access to an equitable, whole child education aligned with the core findings from the science of learning and development. In each category, there are examples of ways some states are making progress toward realizing a whole child education for students with disabilities in their state.

• Convene a diverse set of stakeholders to develop an equity-focused, statewide whole child vision.
• Integrate the shared whole child vision into all policies that impact learning environments by analyzing existing policies and practices against this vision, and by supporting state and local learning and developmental competencies for students aligned with this vision.
• Establish a children and youth cabinet to help coordinate, strengthen, and streamline services for children, youth, and families/caregivers across state agencies, identify current state capacity and needs, and provide guidance to support local service provision.
• Create a plan to track and evaluate progress toward implementing and achieving the whole child vision through investments in statewide data systems and learning opportunities for educators, communities, families/caregivers, and other stakeholders, focused on appropriately using data to make decisions for improvement.

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• Disaggregate and report all relevant education and youth-serving system data, including health and wellness data, that is needed to monitor and incentivize progress toward achieving the vision to reflect students with disabilities — and, where feasible, the intersectional identities of students with disabilities.
• Create a statewide clearinghouse that identifies and disseminates best practices and highlights exemplary systems, schools, and other learning settings that are effective at implementing a whole child vision that centers students with disabilities.
• In developing the vision and strategy, meaningfully engage and include stakeholders like educators with experience with students with disabilities, students, families and caretakers, community providers, and youth development specialists.
• To foster stronger coordination and collaboration, ensure that students with disabilities, their families, and the educators who serve them are invited to be part of children and youth cabinets that may be established by the state.

State Examples

Georgia
During the State Systemic Improvement Plan development process, Georgia’s stakeholders and education leaders observed a concerning trend. Each year, over one-quarter of students with disabilities who exited school dropped out before completing high school. Upon further investigation, it was determined that a significant majority of these students were students with a specific learning disability. In light of this finding, Georgia sought to better understand why the state has so many students with learning disabilities failing to complete high school, particularly given that these students have the same intellectual functioning as their peers and just need to learn material differently. Conversations with stakeholders across the state revealed an enlightening realization: To change outcomes for students with disabilities in Georgia, it was first necessary to shift mindsets about what students with disabilities are capable of achieving.

With this mindset shift in clear focus, Georgia began a series of efforts to reorient understanding. Several key principles were at the core. One, students with disabilities are young people first. Two, not all disabilities are the same. The label “students with disabilities” encapsulates a significant variety of learning and developmental differences. By correcting misunderstandings and helping educators better understand the many types of learning disabilities and differences, the state better prepared educators to meet the diverse needs of their students. Three, inclusive leaders and practices can benefit both students with disabilities and all students. Integrating Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into the curriculum should be viewed as a best practice for all young people, rather than something only for students with disabilities. Finally, schools have the responsibility of preparing students both for academic success and for success in life. Schools must attend to whole child development to set the student up for success across both dimensions. (Additional information about Georgia’s Whole Child resources is available here.) Taken together, these principles have begun to meaningfully advance change and shift mindsets regarding what is possible for students with disabilities in Georgia. 

Creating inclusive, welcoming learning environments centered on trusting relationships and physical and emotional safety will better enable all students to thrive. Transforming learning environments to better meet the academic, social, emotional, physical, and developmental needs of students with disabilities is an important part of this. It cannot be a “one size fits all” approach, but instead needs to reflect the nuanced needs of individual students.

• Incentivize and support districts and schools in redesigning learning environments in ways that prioritize positive, caring, and consistent relationships between students, staff, families, and communities.
• Support districts and schools in creating inclusive environments that provide all students with safety and belonging. 
• Adopt and invest in inclusive, restorative, and educative approaches to school discipline practice and policy.
• Support integrated support systems to better serve the holistic needs of students, families, and caregivers.
• Provide high-quality expanded learning time to reduce opportunity gaps and increase opportunities for enrichment.

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• Identify best practices on inclusion, and ensure that educators receive professional development on meaningful and effective inclusion that supports improved outcomes and relationship building between students with disabilities, school staff, and peers.
• Ensure that students with disabilities have equitable access to identity-safe environments and restorative discipline systems that nurture whole child learning and development.
• Ensure that physical learning settings are accessible and healthy.
• Educate school professionals on trauma-informed approaches to building strong conditions for learning, including ways that a student’s disability may or may not be visually apparent or commonly understood, and how disability may impact a student’s responsiveness to school discipline. These approaches include Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). 
• Ensure expanded learning time programming for students with disabilities, prioritizing opportunities for a well-rounded education, including education in the arts, music, physical education, and other extra- and co-curricular activities such as apprenticeships and mentoring supports.
• Establish systems and structures that encourage and enable students to advocate for themselves and their needs.

States and districts often create curriculum, instruction, and assessment without giving significant attention to differentiation, instead relying on individual schools and educators to determine the extent to which it should be adapted to support different learners. These materials frequently are not designed with students with disabilities in mind, often leaving educators to their best to provide adaptations and accommodations. Redesigned curriculum, instruction, and assessment with academic content in multiple forms (e.g., verbal, visual, etc.), integrated social-emotional learning, and several different ways for students to demonstrate understanding would better support students with disabilities and all students. 

• Promote and support the development of rich learning experiences through high-quality standards, curricula, and personalized learning structures.
• Support the design and implementation of authentic systems of assessment that support student growth.
• Adopt an effective, holistic accountability system that measures students’ opportunities to learn and that supports a system of continuous improvement.
• Strengthen distance and blended learning models to ensure equitable access to virtual learning and engagement opportunities.

• Develop culturally relevant and competent curricula that include multiple modalities for learning academic material, such as UDL, embed social-emotional learning with academic content, and are inclusive of the narratives, perspectives, and expertise of people with disabilities. 
• Provide multiple ways for students to demonstrate understanding of academic content.
• Design IEP goals and implementation structures to help students make progress in all areas, including academic, social, and behavioral, and aligned to grade-level standards.
• Ensure that IEP accommodations are tailored to individual student needs and that educators and other school staff are aware of the accommodations and how to best provide them.
• Provide professional development to help educators understand the importance of executive function in accessing educational content, and ensure that educators can explicitly teach those skills and support students who struggle with these skills.

• Design educator preparation standards, programs, assessments, and accreditation to ensure that educators have the knowledge and skills needed to support students’ whole child developmental needs.
• Adopt proactive recruitment and retention strategies to address teacher shortages and to ensure that all young people have access to diverse and effective educators.
• Support high-quality mentoring and induction programs.
• Promote professional development and school structures that promote educator collaboration, are responsive to educators’ learning and growth needs, and help them meet whole child needs.
• Adopt educator evaluation and improvement systems that support student and educator learning growth and well-being and that encourage teacher collaboration and reflection.
• Support educator and staff social, emotional, and mental health and well-being.

• Include requirements related to understanding and instructing students with disabilities in general educator preparation program standards, approval/accreditation processes, and educator certification, including licensure and assessments. 
• Ensure that all in-service professional development sessions include considerations for how classroom/school practices, policies, and procedures may need to be adapted for students with different disabilities. 
• Require structures to support cross-functional, school-based team collaboration that includes general education teachers, special education teachers, and specialized instructional support providers to ensure whole child learning and development.
• Include measures related to effective instruction of students with disabilities in teacher evaluation and improvement systems, and provide teachers with the necessary support to enhance their practice.
• Implement professional development on research-based frameworks like UDL principles to better meet the learning needs of all students, including students with disabilities.
• Develop systems and structures that incentivize the retention of special education educators such as through financial incentives and effective professional support.

• Adopt more equitable school funding formulas that prioritize high-need schools and that support all young people in having access to the whole child opportunities they need to succeed.
• Allocate adequate funding across the developmental continuum to ensure that children and families are supported from birth to age 5.
• Blend and braid federal, state, and local resources to reduce fragmentation, improve alignment across programs and funding streams, and strengthen supports to children, youth, and families.
• Leverage federal funds in ways that support all young people in having access to the whole child opportunities they need to succeed.
• Invest in community schools and wraparound services to better serve the holistic needs of children and families.
• Close the digital divide to ensure that every child has access to appropriate technology and connectivity to meet their whole child needs.

• Continue advocacy at the federal level for full funding of IDEA.
• Use COVID relief funds to directly address challenges faced by students with disabilities during the pandemic.
• Consider implementing weighted funding formulas that provide additional resources for students with disabilities. 
• Understand how various funding streams that support students with disabilities interact with each other, and identify opportunities to maximize the allowable uses of each source of funds. 
• Use Medicaid funds, where possible, to reimburse allowable education expenditures for students with disabilities. 
• Provide technological supports that include accessibility tools for students with disabilities, and teach students’ parents/guardians and students how to operate those tools.