Mitchell L. Yell, Ph.D., is the Fred and Francis Lester Palmetto Chair in Teacher Education and a Professor in Special Education at the University of South Carolina. He earned his Ph.D. in special education from the University of Minnesota. His professional interests include special education law, IEP development, progress monitoring, and parent involvement in special education.
Dr. Yell has published 136 journal articles, 6 textbooks, 36 book chapters, and has conducted numerous workshops on various aspects of special education law, classroom management, and progress monitoring. His textbook, Special Education and the Law, is in its 5th edition. He co-authored the text Developing Educationally Meaningful and Legally Sound IEPs. Dr. Bateman and Dr. Yell are the editors of the Special Education Law, Policy, and Practice series published by Rowman Littlefield.
In 2020, he was awarded the Researcher of the Year from the Council for Exceptional Children. Dr. Yell also serves as a State-level due process review officer (SRO) in South Carolina and is on the Board of Directors of the Council for Exceptional Children. He recently served as the special education expert on two cases on discrimination against students with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act for the U.S. Department of Justice. Prior to working in higher education, Dr. Yell was a special education teacher in Minnesota for 12 years.
