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Brown v. Board of Education
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that school segregation by race was unconstitutional. This paved a path for future legislation for individuals with disabilities because it was the first time the government stood-up for students who experienced inequality or prejudice in their schools. This was a huge step stone for getting students with disabilities into the classrooms for a fair and equal education. -
Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia
This court case was based off of another influential court case known as Brown. v Board of Education (1954). This case ruled that children with disabilities had the same right to a free public education. This case required the state to provide adequate alternative education services and progress updates on the child's education. This was an important case assisting students with disabilities with getting the proper education they needed to succeed with a free public education. -
Vocational Rehabilitation Act- Section 504
This act was an important milestone for students with disabilities. With this act, students with disabilities had access to federally funded programs. Prior to this, these students were discriminated against in government programs, which kept them out of the public schools. Section 504 was monumental because it allowed the students to be in the same school as the rest of their peers and get a free public education. -
Education for All Handicapped Children Act
1975 was a big year for students with disabilities. In 1975, EAHCA was passed which did many things, starting with requiring states to provide a free and appropriate public education for students with disabilities. This was a helpful step for these students because this act required every student with a disability to have their own IEP (individualized education plan), which helped focus on that student's individual growth, needs, and goals. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This act was passed in order to protect Americans with disabilities. The regulations of this act include prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities in a private sector, while also protecting equal opportunity for employment, public services, accommodations, transportation, and telecommunications. This act was important for people with disabilities because it allowed them to get into the public and be treated fairly. -
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (101-476)
IDEA strives to grant equal access to students with disabilities and also to provide additional special education services with procedural safeguards. IDEA requires states to educate students with disabilities for transition to employment, and to provide the transition services. With this, the development of individualized transition programs for these students by the time they reach the age of 16 is required by state. -
IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Act) (105-17)
IDEA continued to improve from 1990 into 1997 when they added more regulations to the act. They added that students with disabilities would partake in statewide and districtwide assessments, have greater access to general education curriculum, access to mediation if educators and parents don't agree on something, and focused more on improving parts of the IEP process.This was beneficial to the students because it focused on what could benefit them individually rather than their conditions. -
No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
President Obama enacted NCLB in 2001 in hopes to improve the performance of America's elementary and secondary schools while also ensuring that no child is stuck in a failing school. This act forced schools to make standards for each grades while also making annual testing for these standards a requirement. These testing scores include students with disabilities scores, which ensures that each school is providing an equal education to all students. This keeps schools accountable. -
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA)
IDEIA branched off IDEA and improved the regulations to better serve the students with disabilities needs and futures. Under IDEIA, students with disabilities will be provided with more federal funds to have early intervention services and will be able to participate in RTI (response to intervention), which is a model to early determine whether a child has a specific learning disability or not. IDEIA also eliminated short-term objectives in an IEP and raised standards for SPED licensure.
