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Jean Jacques Rousseau publishes "Emile"
Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote his book "Emile" which was a book about the philosophy of education. Prior to the 18th century, people who had disabilities were considered cursed or stupid, and weren't given much attention or care. Rousseau's book helped foster the ideas that learning should take place at a child's pace without the factor of social roles or wealth impacting that. This was revolutionary at the time. -
IQ introduced
In 1916, the Intelligence Quotient (more commonly known as IQ) was introduced by Lewis Terman. IQ was developed based on the intelligence scale that was introduced in 1908 by Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon. That scale was used to identify mentally retarded children. The test Binet and Simon had for the intelligence scale was revamped for IQ by Terman. IQ was a popular measure to analyze the capability of children. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education was a U.S. Supreme Court that is quite famous for its impact on African American students and their right to attend public schools, not just the segregated schools they had attended previously. The case stated that all children have the right to an equal education, paving the way for students with disabilities. -
Eisenhower Signs Public Law 85-926
In 1958, President Eisenhower signed into law public law 85-926. This law provided funds through grants to ensure that courses would be offered to prepare teachers to teach special education. -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act Ammendment
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was originally brought into law in 1965, but an amendment was added in 1966. This amendment provided funds from the federal government for public education for students who had disabilities. It also required a Bureau of Education for the Handicapped in the Office of Education. -
Dunn's Critique of African American Special Education
The first identification of a disparity in representation of minority groups in special education comes from Dunn's critique of the deep-rooted issues present in the field. In the critique, Dunn emphasized that there were too many ethnic/language minority students in the special education classroom, raising significant civil rights/educational concerns. -
First Special Education Legislation
Along with the recent civil rights movement, a focus was also brought to the disparity in education among students with special needs. After the topic of racial inequality in education was brought to litigation with 1972's Mills v. Board of Education, the first special education legislation was passed on this day. This was known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (or IDEA, Public Law No. 94-142). -
Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 97)
In order to better address the issue of disproportionate minority placement, the reauthorization of IDEA happened in 1997 (Public Law No. 105-17). This law was introduced in order to increase the efforts to prevent the increase in problems that were connected to mislabeling and high dropout rates for minority children that have disabilities. -
No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2004 (Public Law No. 108-446) helped to increase the quality of special education programs. It required statewide assessments and specially trained educators who are qualified to teach students with disabilities. This act was a bit controversial due to its heavy reliance on standardized testing and punishments that schools faced for not meeting proficient levels on those tests. -
Introduction of Every Student Succeeds Act
The Every Student Succeeds Act (Public Law No: 114-95) was signed into law in 2015. This act aimed to solve some of the highly debated and controversial topics that 2004's No Child Left Behind Act. The Every Student Succeeds Act does many things, including putting more responsibility on the states for accountability, adding new standards to measure progress, and proficiency targets for states.