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Brown Vs. Board of Education
the Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA)
a program created by the United States Department of Education to distribute funding to schools and school districts with a high percentage of students from low-income families signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. -
Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (PARC)
In the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (PARC) v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ruling, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania sided in favor of students with intellectual and learning disabilities in state-run institutions. PARC v. Penn called for students with disabilities to be placed in publicly funded school settings that met their individual educational needs, based on a proper and thorough evaluation. -
Mills vs. Board of Education of the District of Columbia case
In the Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia case, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia students classified as “exceptional”—including those with mental and learning disabilities and behavioral issues. This ruling made it unlawful for the D.C. Board of Education to deny these individuals access to publicly funded educational opportunities. -
Congressional Investigation of 1972
In the wave of the PARC and Mills ruling, [AR1] Congress set out to uncover how many children with special education needs were being underserved. The Bureau of Education for the Handicapped found that there were eight million children requiring special education services. Of this total, 3.9 million students adequately had their educational needs met, 2.5 million were receiving a substandard education and 1.75 million weren’t in school. -
Public Law 94-142
President Gerald Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, otherwise known as Public Law 94-142. This law required all states that accepted money from the federal government were required to provide equal access to education for children with disabilities, in addition to providing them with one free meal per day. States had the responsibility to ensure compliance under the law within all of their public school systems. -
Public Law 99-457
Public Law 99-457 was an amendment to the All Handicapped Children Act, which 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. -
Handicapped Children’s Protection Act
President Reagan signed the Handicapped Children’s Protection Act, a law that gave parents of children with disabilities more say in the development of their child’s Individual Education Plan, or IEP. -
Public Law 101-476
Public Law 101-476 called for significant changes to Public Law 94-142, or the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. Traumatic brain injury and autism were added as new disability categories. Additionally, Congress mandated that as a part of a student’s IEP, an individual transition plan, or ITP, must be developed to help the student transition to post-secondary life. -
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
The Education for all Handicapped Children’s Act became the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. President Clinton reauthorized IDEA with several key amendments that emphasized providing all students with access to the same curriculum, additionally, states were given the authority to expand the “developmental delay” definition from birth through five years of age to also include students between the ages of six and nine. -
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) is a federal law that guarantees all eligible children with disabilities between the ages of 3 and 21 (or until the child graduates) the right to a free appropriate public education designed to meet their individual needs. -
No Child Left Behind Out, Every Student Succeeds Act In
In 2015, Congress reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the statute formerly known as the No Child Left Behind Act. In response to complaints from states and school districts, Congress removed many portions of the law about accountability -- including requirements for highly qualified teachers. The new education statute, Every Student Succeeds Act, was signed into law by President Obama