Special Education News in Brief

Federal Spec. Ed. Chief Rejoins Private Sector

By Nirvi Shah — August 21, 2012 1 min read
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Alexa Posny, the head of the office of special education at the U.S. Department of Education since 2009, left the position earlier this month.

Ms. Posny left to become a senior vice president at Renaissance Learning, which sells screening programs, interventions, and progress-monitoring tools in mathematics and reading.

Michael Yudin, who most recently served as the deputy assistant secretary of the office for elementary and secondary education, will be the interim director.

As assistant secretary, Ms. Posny worked on preserving and expanding the inclusion of students with disabilities in various ways, but some disability advocates felt the department did not come down hard enough on reforming the restraint and seclusion of students with disabilities. In the George W. Bush administration, she also served as director of the office of special education.

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A version of this article appeared in the August 22, 2012 edition of Education Week as Federal Spec. Ed. Chief Rejoins Private Sector

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