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White House Conference on Children
Created by President Roosevelt, the conference was created with the intention to define and create remedial programs for children with disabilities. (1) -
Smith-Hughes Act
The first piece of legislation that provided Federal funding for vocational education. (2) -
Compulsory Attendance in all States
Massachusetts was the first state to require compulsory school attendance in 1852. Mississippi was the last (before Hawaii and Alaska became states) in 1918. (3) -
Council for Exceptional Children
Originally called the "International Council for the Education of Exceptional Children." Begun by a group of administrators attending Columbia University. (4) -
Cuyahoga County Ohio Council for the Retarded Child formed
This was the first advocacy group formed by parents. The original members joined together in order to protest the exclusion of their children from school. (5) -
GI Bill
Created to provide education/training funding and unemployment pay for veterans of the Second World War. Many returning soldiers took the opportunity to attend college. (6) -
Brown Vs. Board of Education
In this historic case, the supreme court overturned Plessy V. Ferguson, declaring that separate facilities could not be equal. This made it illegal to segregate schools based upon race. (7) -
Education of Mentally Retarded Children Act
Federal funding was provided for the purpose of training teachers of students with mental disabilities. This bill was the first of its kind. (8) -
Training of Professional Personnel Act
This act provided more extensive training for individuals whose job it was to teach students with disabilities. This act was separate from and in addition to the funding provided by 1958's Education of Mentally Retarded Children Act. (9) -
ESEA
The focus of this act was to provide funding for students who were at an economic disadvantage. It was part of President Johnson's "war on poverty" and had the largest impact in terms of scale of any Federal Bill up to that point in time. (10) -
Education of the Handicapped Act
Was created in order to expand Federal Grant programs which were aimed at funding programs for individuals with disabilities. It helped to increase the amount of grant funding from the previous ESEA of 1965. (11) -
PARC vs. Pennsylvania
The result of the case was that a free and appropriate public education had to be given to all students, regardless of mental disability status in the State of Pennsylvania. (12) -
Mills vs board of education
The result of this case was that financial reasons were not legally permissible to deny a student a free and appropriate public education. Many other cases resulted in the wake of this one. (13) -
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
Made it unlawful to exclude individuals, based upon sex, from taking art in any program that is receiving federal funding. (14) -
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Similar to Title 9, but was instead focused on individuals with disabilities. Section 504 mandates that individuals with disabilities cannot be denied access to programs in federally funded institutions. (15) -
The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps
An advocacy group which seeks to protect the rights of people with significant disabilities. (16) -
Education for all handicapped children act of 1975
Ensured that students with disabilities and their parents had due process of law and protective procedural safeguards.(17) -
A Nation at Risk
This was a report made by the National Commission on Excellence in Education under President Reagan. It pointed out that America's Education System was succumbing to mediocrity and it recommended that several actions be taken to reverse this trend. (18) -
HCPA
Amended the Education for All Handicapped Children Act and stipulated that parents must be allowed to be active participants in the development of IEP's for their children. (19) -
IDEA
This legislation replaced the Education for all Handicapped Children Act and ensured an FAPE for all students with disabilities. It also introduced the Least Restrictive Environment clause to make sure that students were educated in the regular education setting as long as possible. (20) -
Goals 2000/Educate America Act
A set of educational goals that bridged both the Bush Sr. and Clinton administrations. They outlined 8 goals that the American Educational System was to achieve by the year 2000. Many of the goals were never met. It was signed into law on March 31st, 1994 although its conception was in 1989. (21) -
Improving America's schools act, a re authorization of of ESEA of 1965
It was a re-authorization of the ESEA of 1965 and had four main tenets. It stipulated that there should be high standards for all students, better trained teachers, accountability for results, and close relationships between communities and schools. (22) -
IDEA Amendments
These were a series of amendments meant to improve the original IDEA of 1990. Its focus was on improving the quality of supports available to students with disabilities and improving the IEP. (23) -
NCLB
federal bill that was meant to increase the role of the Federal Government in holding schools accountable for results. Schools were expected to make AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) on standardized test results. If results were not met, sanctions were imposed. Generally thought to be a well-meaning but poorly executed piece of legislation. (24) -
IDEA of 2004
It re-authorized the IDEA and provided several revisions to the elements of that act. It is the most current form of the IDEA and it provides procedural safeguards as well as guidelines on how IEP's should be developed and the rights of students with disabilities. (25) -
ESSA
The Every Student Succeeds Act re-authorized the ESEA. It states that all students must be taught college-ready skills, that yearly progress info will be delivered to parents, and that there are certain protections for disadvantaged students. (26)
