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Public Law 86-158: Training of Professional Personnel Act of 1959
This act allowed money from education grants to go towards training program administrators, teachers of children with disabilities, and other personnel that worked with disabled children in education. Acts like this helped emphasize the importance of teachers being properly trained to help students with disabilities as well as the importance of students having educators and a support system around them with knowledge of their needs. -
Public Law 87-276: Teachers of the Deaf Act
This act helped to establish that deaf students or students with speech and hearing impairments were able to work with and be taught by teachers, speech pathologists, and audiologists specially trained to support them. In most school districts today, there are specialists and teachers that directly support students with speech and hearing impairments to help give them their best chance to learn successfully at school. -
Public Law 89-10: Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
This act was an effort to improve the quality of education throughout the country with financial assistance provided to educational agencies that cater to low-income families. With most of the funds for school districts being derived from state taxes, areas that have families with more wealth will have more money to spend on educational efforts. Having a system in place to give government funds to lower-end districts helps to give students in those districts more opportunities. -
Public Law 90-538: Handicapped Children’s Early Education Assistance Act
This act helped provide financial support to the establishment of new preschools and early education programs for handicapped children Considering that public education is kindergarten to 12th grade, with few public schools having early childhood education programs, having an act that supports education for handicapped children before kindergarten is very important in recognizing that all students deserve access to education from any early age. -
Public Law 91-230: Education of the Handicapped Act
This act helped establish a grant program, originally conceived as an amendment to the ESEA, that encouraged development of educational programs and resources for individuals with disabilities. It seems that while the intentions behind this act were good, there was not much success as it was too vague in how the program should function. This failure suggests that the country was still uncertain how to properly support its disadvantaged students. -
Public Law 92-424: Economic Opportunities Amendments of 1972
This act stated that no less than 10% of the total number of placements in Head Start preschool programs, established by President Lyndon B. Johnson, had to be children with disabilities. Similar to Public Law 90-538, this act sought to provide early education opportunities to more disabled children. I think that this helped more families feel that despite their child’s difficult circumstances, there was a possibility for them to receive education from an early age. -
Public Law 93-112: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
This law prohibits any discrimination of individuals with disabilities in any program that receives federal funding. Since this went into law, students with disabilities identified under the law are given specific support to ensure that they are able to learn in public or federally-supported schools with as much success as other students. This is very much still active today and serves as protection for these students during their educational efforts. -
Public Law 93-380: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA)/ Education Amendments of 1974
This act focuses on ensuring that students and their families have certain rights when it comes to education records and introduced amendments to ESEA. In today’s society, having these protections in place on student records and information is essential in ensuring that their information is being used only for educational reasons. -
Public Law 94-142: Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA)
This act guaranteed free, appropriate public education (FAPE) for all handicapped children. With this act, students were also provided one free meal a day and students were to have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) formed by a support team, including the student’s parent. A lot of the specifics laid out in this act are an essential part of services for special education students today. -
Public Law 99-372: Handicapped Children’s Protection Act of 1986
This act served as a means to amend the EAHCA to provide fees for attorneys representing handicapped children in special education lawsuits and clarify protections in place for handicapped individuals. Helping to relieve the financial burden families and individuals may face when dealing with the repercussions of legal matters is a great way to support handicapped children in their effort for equal education. -
Public Law 99-457: Amendments to the Education of the Handicapped Act
These amendments to the EHA helped provide more specified services early childhood education programs for special needs children. Building upon the efforts of the EHA, these amendments helped to specify what actions needed to be taken to give these young special needs students the proper foundation to their education before entering kindergarten. The openness to improvement of educational efforts shows that the country was growing and learning how to properly support these students. -
Public Law 101-336: American Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
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Public Law 101-476: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)/ 1990 Amendments to EAHCA
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Public Law 105-17: IDEA Amendments of 1997
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Public Law 107-110: No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 (NCLB)
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Public Law 108-364: Assistive Technology Act
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Public Law 108-446: IDEA 2004
