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The Refugee Act of 1980
Signed by President Jimmy Carter on March 18th, it reforms immigration law to admit refugees for humanitarian reasons and results in the resettlement of more than three-million refugees in the United States including many children who bring special needs and issues to their classrooms. -
Plyler v. Doe
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in a 5-4 decision that Texas law denying access to public education for undocumented school-age children violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The ruling also found that school districts cannot charge tuition fees for the education of these children. -
Improving America's Schools Act (IASA)
Signed into law by President Bill Clinton on January 25th. It. reauthorizes the ESEA of 1965 and includes reforms for Title I; increased funding for bilingual and immigrant education; and provisions for public charter schools, drop-out prevention, and educational technology. -
Multicultural Education: Transformative Knowledge and Action is published
James Banks' book, Multicultural Education: Transformative Knowledge and Action, makes an important contribution to the growing body of scholarship regarding multiculturalism in education.. -
Pre-school for all Children in New York
New York follows Georgia's lead and passes legislation that will phase in voluntary pre-kindergarten classes over a four-year period. However, preschool funding is a casualty of September 11, 2001 as New York struggles to recover. As of 2008, about 39% of the state's four year olds, mostly from low-income families, are enrolled. -
Proposition 227 CA
California voters pass Proposition 227, requiring that all public school instruction be in English. -
No Child Left Behind Act
It is approved by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002. The law, which reauthorizes the ESEA of 1965 and replaces the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, mandates high-stakes student testing, holds schools accountable for student achievement levels, and provides penalties for schools that do not make adequate yearly progress toward meeting the goals of NCLB. -
H.R. 1350, The Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act
Modifies the IEP process and procedural safeguards, and increased authority for school personnel in special education placement decisions. Also requires school districts to use the Response to Intervention (RTI) approach for early identification of students at risk for specific learning disabilities and provides a three-tiered model for screening, monitoring, and providing increasing degrees of intervention with the overall goal of reducing the need for special education services -
American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) became the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), joining the trend toward use of the term intellectual disability in place of mental retardation. -
Transgender students
The federal government tells school districts "to allow transgender students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity." Though the directive is not a law, districts that do not comply could face lawsuits or lose federal aid.
