-
Civil Rights Act of 1866
This act made it illegal to discriminate against individuals on the basis of color, race or whether they were a slave. This would help in future litigation and provide remedy for those effected in the education system. -
CEC Group
The Council for Exceptional Children is an organization that is considered the first advocacy group for children with disabilities.CEC is one of the largest special education advocacy groups. The main objective of CEC is to ensure that children with special needs receives FAPE. -
NARC
The National Association for Retarted Citizens was created in 1950. The main goal of this group is to ensure that mentally retarded persons share fully in all human rights and services. -
Brown vs Board of Education
This landmark court case overturned the Plessy v. Fergusen case saying that "Separate is NOT equal". This court case brought to attention not only black v. white in the schools, but also special needs students v. normal students. With this case, many advocacy groups were formed to help inform the nation of the problem with the US special education programs. -
Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia
The Board of the District of Columbia denied access to education for students who were special needs. The Court found that free public educational services, or a suitable private alternative paid for by the board of education, must be delivered based on the students' individual needs, regardless of cost (Smith, -
Pennsylvania Assocaiation for Retarded Citizens v. Pennsylvania. & Mills v. D.C. Board of Education
The federal court decided that children with mental disabilities would be provided with free and appropriate public education. These cases provided a legal standing to challenge officials denying equal opportunity. These cases brought to attention that students with disabilities should not be excluded and should have equal protection under the law. -
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
This act allows protection from discrimination against special needs and disabilities. This law is considered the first law put into place giving protection to students with special needs. -
Public Law No. 94-142
The Education for All Handicaped Children Act. This law secured the basic ideals, rights and responsibilities to ensure equal access to public education for all children who are disabled. -
PL 94-142
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was placed into law. Special education advocacy groups rejoiced this day because that's when President Ford signed this into law. This is the most important piece of legislation signed because it secured a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. -
ADA
The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law on July 26, 1990 by President George W. Bush. This act guarantees that people with special needs have the same rights as others in all places, this included school and work. This act also ruled that people with special needs would not be discriminated against in the school, workforce, or everyday society such as public transportation. -
IDEA
This law included 6 pillars: FAPE, LRE, IEP, evaluation, parent/student participation, and procedural safeguards for all participants. This law also included 4 sections, A-D. The IDEA makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children -
No Child Left Behind
The said goal of NCLB is to "level the playing field" in the education field. The goal is to level the playing field and shorten the gap. (Smith, Polloway, Patton & Dowdy, 2011). -
IDEA Reauthorized
IDEA 2004 was signed into law by President George W. Bush. This reauthorization of IDEA made many changes to the original IDEA. The changes included the IEP, due process, and student discipline.