What Parents Need to Know: High School Graduation & Special Education Transition Services After MCAS

Description

Introduction

As a result of the voting on Ballot Question 2 in November 2024, students in Massachusetts are no longer required to pass MCAS to graduate and receive a high school diploma. While there are valid criticisms about MCAS, parents, special education advocates and attorneys know from experience during the pandemic that removing MCAS as a graduation requirement places many students with disabilities at risk of losing eligibility for valuable years of Transition services.

MATTHEW ENGEL – BIOGRAPHY

Matthew Engel is an attorney with more than thirty years of experience working with clients on civil rights issues involving persons with disabilities, with a primary focus on special education law. Prior to entering law school, he worked as a Child Advocate for the Massachusetts Office for Children. Following his first year as a full-time law student at Suffolk University, he switched to part-time night school so that he could work full-time as a legal advocate with the Disability Law Center in Boston. After graduating and passing the Massachusetts Bar Exam, Attorney Engel relocated to Western Massachusetts for a staff attorney position in the Northampton office of the Disability Law Center. He was later promoted to a senior attorney position which he held until he left to open his own private practice in education and disability law.

In addition to representing parents and students in special education cases, Attorney Engel has presented numerous trainings on special education law at conferences, seminars and for parent organizations, including the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, The Association for the Severely Handicapped, The National Disability Rights Network, The Federation for Children with Special Needs, The Special Needs Advocacy Network and Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education. He has authored or co-authored chapters in several books, including publications by Mass Continuing Legal Education and Boston Children’s Hospital.