Investment in special education resources can help a school district to meet federal academic standards as part of a strategic education improvement plan. Some school districts are being required to implement changes due to their failure to meet the increasingly rigorous yearly progress standards set out under the No Child Left Behind Act by the federal government.

Investments in training staff on best practices for teaching special education students and certifying that more teachers are certified in English as a Second Language (ESL) can help to ensure that special needs students do not fall through the cracks. The Texas Education Agency, for example, has released data that showed 8 out of 25 schools in one state district didn't' meet the federal standards in 2011.These standards require a school to test at least 95% of students and have at least 80% pass a reading and English test and 75% pass a math test.