Laws and Special Education

By allysengoffredo

  • Compulsory Attendance is Mandated

    Education is not mentioned in the Constitution, therefore it is the responsibility of the states. Even though it was required by law for children to attend school, children with disabilities were often excluded from public schools. This means that if parents did not send their children to school, they would be prosecuted. This effects special education laws because now all students regardless of disability, race etc. must attend school.

  • Watson v. City of Cambridge

    The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that a child who was "weak in mind" and could not benefit from instruction, was troublesome to other children, made "unusual" noises and was unable to take "ordinary, decent, physical care of himself" could be expelled from public school.

  • Beattie v. Board of Education

    School officials could exclude a student with disabilities, even though that student had attended public school until the fifth grade.

  • The White House Conference

    Brought national attention to children and youth with disabilities. Also set out to establish remedial programs for children with disabilities or special needs. The conference lead to an increased interest in educating children with special needs rather than institutionalizing them.

  • Public School Programming 1911-1920)

    New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts pass laws requiring public schools to educate students with disabilities.

  • The Council for Exceptional Children

    Based in Reston, Virginia and is a major force in the development of innovative educational programming, preservice and in service teacher education and policy making and lobbying efforts for children and youth with special needs.

  • Cuyahoga County Ohio Council for the Retarded Child

    Sought to protest the exclusion of children diagnosed with mental retardation from school

  • Cuyahoga County Court of Appeals in Ohio

    Ruled that the state statute mandating compulsory attendance for children ages 6 through 18 gave the State Department of Education the authority to exclude certain students.

  • The National Association for Retarded Citizens

    Formed in Minnesota with an interest in improving services for persons with mental retardation.

  • Brown v. Board of Education

    State-required or state-sanctioned segregation solely on the basis of a person's unalterable characteristics was unconstitutional and that segregation based solely on race violated equal protections and denied children from minority backgrounds equal educational opportunity. This case enforced the peoples civil rights in education because all people needed to be equally represented and have the same access to education. Therefore, special education became even more diverse in regards to needs.

  • Department of Public Welfare v. Haas

    Legislation does not require the state to provide a free public education for the "feeble minded" or children who were "mentally deficient" and who, because of their limited intelligence were unable to reap the benefits of a good education.

  • The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

    Passed so that for the first time the federal government had to provide direct funding to the sates to assist in educating certain groups of students.

  • State of North Carolina

    Made it a crime for parents to persist in forcing the attendance of a child with disabilities after the child's exclusion from public school.

  • The Education of the Handicapped Act of 1970

    Purpose was to consolidate and expand the previous federal grant programs and to continue funding pilot projects at the state and local levels.

  • Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

    students with mental retardation were not receiving publicly supported education because the state was delaying or ignoring its constitutional obligations to provide publicly supported education for these students thus violating state statute and the student's rights under the 14th Amendment.

  • Mills v. Board of Education

    Class action suit filed on behalf of all out-of-school- students with disabilities. Represented more than 18,000 students who were denied or excluded from public education in Washington, D.C.

  • Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

    No otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United States...shall solely by reason of this handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any activity receiving federal financial assistance.

  • The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps

    Disseminates information on best practices, publishes research reports and supports the rights and humane treatment of persons with severe and multiple disabilities through active involvement in court cases

  • The Education Amendments of 1974

    Requires that each state receiving federal special education funding establish a goal of providing full educational opportunities for all children with disabilities.

  • The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975

    Requires states to provide a free appropriate public education for all qualified students with disabilities between the ages of 3 and 18 by September 1, 1978 and for all students up to 21 by September 1, 1980. It also mandated that qualified students with disabilities had the right to nondiscriminatory testing, evaluation, and placement procedures; education in the lease restrictive environment, procedural due process, a free education, and an appropriate education as developed in an IEP

  • The Handicapped Children's Protection Act of 1986

    Grants courts the authority to award attorney's fees to parents or guardians if they prevailed in their actions pursuant to the law.

  • The Education of the Handicapped Amendments of 1986

    This law, which became a subchapter of IDEA made categorical grants to states contingent on providing services to children with developmental disabilities from birth to their 3rd birthday. Also requires participating states to develop and implement statewide interagency programs of early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families.

  • The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990

    Substituted "disability" for the term "handicap", people first language, added and clarified types of related services, assistive technology and rehabilitation services. It also required that individual transition planning be included in the individualized education programs.

  • The IDEA Amendments of 1997

    ensuring access to a free appropriate education and improving education results for students with disabilities.

  • The No Child Left Behind Act

    Requires states to establish rigorous systems that hold school districts and schools accountable for measurably improving student achievement, must use numerical data to provide evidence of improved student outcomes, and all public schools bring every student up to state standards in reading and math within a certain period of time, thus closing the achievement gap based on race, ethnicity, language and disability.

  • The President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education

    Recommended reforms to improve special education and to bring it into alignment with NCLB by requiring special education to be accountable for results and to rely on scientifically based programs.

  • Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004

    Emphasized increased accountability for student performance at the classroom, school and school district levels.