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Exclusion of persons with disabilities
"The idea of excluding students with any disability from public school education can be traced back to 1893, when the Massachusetts Supreme Court expelled a student merely due to poor academic ability". -
Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court found that African-American children had the right to equal educational opportunities and that segregated schools “have no place in the field of public education.” This was a stepping stone for families of children with disabilities to start to fight for their rights too. -
Training of Professional Personnel Act
The Training of Professional Personnel Act of 1959 helped
train program administrators and teachers of children
with mental retardation -
Teachers of the Deaf Act
The Teachers of the Deaf Act of 1961 trained instructional personnel for children who were deaf or hard of hearing. -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act/State Schools Act
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the State Schools Act provided states with direct grant assistance to help educate children with disabilities. -
Pre-IDEA: State Institutions
State institutions were home to almost 200,000 persons with
significant disabilities in 1967. Many of these restrictive settings
provided only minimal food, clothing, and shelter. Too
often, persons with disabilities received care for basic
needs rather than education and rehabilitation. -
One in Five Children
In 1970, U.S. schools educated only one in five children with
disabilities, and many states had laws excluding certain
students from school, including children who were deaf,
blind, emotionally disturbed, or mentally retarded. -
Pennsylvania Assn. for Retarded Children v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (PARC)
A catalyst for change, PARC dealt with the exclusion of children with mental retardation from public schools. In the settlement, it was agreed that educational placement decisions must include a process of parental participation and a means to resolve disputes. -
Mills v. Board of Education of District of Columbia.
Another catalyst for change, Mills involved the practice of suspending, expelling and excluding children with disabilities from the District of Columbia public schools. -
Rehabilitation Act
The Rehabilitation Act guaranteed civil rights for the disabled in the context of federally funded institutions or any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. It required accommodations in affected schools for the disabled including access to buildings and structures and improved integration into society -
Education for All Handicapped Children Act
The U.S. Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, Public Law which supports states and localities in protecting the rights of, meeting the individual needs
of, and improving results for infants, toddlers, children, and youths with disabilities and their families. -
Amendments to EHA
The 1986 amendments to EHA mandated that
states provide programs and services to children with
disabilities from birth (this differed from the original start age of 3). -
1990 Amendments: Name Change to IDEA
The 1990 amendments to EHA changed the name to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. -
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) barred discrimination in employment (Title 1), public services and transportation (Title 2) public accommodations (Title 3), telecommunications (Title 4) and miscellaneous provisions (Title 5). -
Amendments: Transition Services
The 1997 amendments to IDEA supported initiatives for transition services from high school to adult living. -
IDEA was reauthorized in 1997
The act emphasized academic outcomes for students with disabilities. This involved raising expectations for students, supporting students who follow the general curriculum, supporting parents, and helping states determine appropriate outcomes. With the focus on outcomes, school-to-work transition planning gained new importance. -
African American Children in SpED
In the 1998-1999 school year, African-American children represented just 14.8 percent of the population aged 6 through 21, but comprised 20.2 percent of all children with disabilities. -
No Child Left Behind Act
The purpose of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was “to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments.” -
Amendments to Sharpen Federal Mandates
The 2004 amendments to IDEA sharpened federal mandates to increase state/local accountability for educating children with disabilities and expanded methods to identify students with specific learning disabilities. -
Every Student Succeeds Act
In 2015, Congress reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), 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 on December 10, 2015.