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Special Education Law timeline

  • Brown v. Board of Education

    Brown v. Board of Education
    Racial segregation of students was ruled unconstitutional. This case was used as a precedent that children with disabilities were entitled to public education.
  • Mills V. Board of Education

    Mills V. Board of Education
    The court ruled that students with disabilities cannot be excluded from public education solely based on their disabilities.
  • PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

    PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
    Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a landmark case focused on the rights of children with intellectual disabilities to receive a free appropriate public education
  • Section 504

    Section 504
    This is the first public law that specifically designed to protect children and adults against discrimination based on disability.
  • Education for all Handicapped Children Act

    Education for all Handicapped Children Act
    (PL 94-142) EHA, for short; now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This law guaranteed access to a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment to every child with a disability.
  • Hendrick Hudson Dist. Bd. v Rowley

    Hendrick Hudson Dist. Bd. v Rowley
    The U.S. Supreme Court addresses for the first time, what is meant by a free appropriate public education under EHA. It concluded that to meet its obligation to provide FAPE, the school district must provide services individually designed to provide educational benefit to the child with a disability.
  • Public Law 99-457

    Public Law 99-457
    This reauthorization addressed early intervention and mandated that individual states provide services to families of children born with disabilities from the time they are born. Previously, these services were not available until a child reached the age of three.
  • Individuals with Disabilities Act

    Individuals with Disabilities Act
    Reauthorization and name change of the EHA. Main change is the inclusion of transition services as students transition out of high school.
  • Public Law 105-17

    Public Law 105-17
    A major change introduced by this public law is the IEP requirements. This law strengthened the requirements for developing and implementing IEP's for students with disabilities.
  • Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments of 2008

    Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments of 2008
    Public Law 105-17, this legislation revised the definition of a disability.This resulted in the protection of a greater number of individuals.
  • Every Student Succeeds Act

    Every Student Succeeds Act
    This law replied the No Child Left Behind Act. A key change was the shift in decision making authority from the federal government to the states. This Act provides more flexibility to states in designing their own accountability systems and determining how to improve educational outcomes for students.