|
YEAR
|
HISTORICAL
EVENT
|
IMPACT
ON PUBLIC SCHOOLS
|
|
1965
|
Congress
adds Title VI to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 creating
a Bureau of Education for the Handicapped (this bureau today is called the
Office of Special Education Programs or OSEP).
|
Educating
students with disabilities is still NOT mandated by federal or state law.
However, creation of the Bureau signified that a change was on the horizon.
|
|
1972
|
Two
significant supreme court decisions [PARC v. Pennsylvania (1972) and Mills v. D.C.
Board of Education (1972)] apply the equal protection argument to students
with disabilities.
|
The
courts take the position that children with disabilities have an equal right
to access education as their non-disabled peers. Although there is no
existing federal law that mandates this stance, some students begin going to
school as a result of these court decisions.
|
|
1973
|
Section
504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is enacted into statute. This national
law protects qualified individuals from discrimination based on their
disability.
|
This
national law was enacted with little fanfare. Most educators were not aware
that this applied to public schools.
|
|
1974
|
The
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is
enacted.
|
Parents
are allowed to have access to all personally identifiable information
collected, maintained, or used by a school district regarding their child.
|
|
1975
|
The
Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) is enacted. This was also
known as P.L. 94-142. Today we know this law as the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
|
Before
1975, children with disabilities were mostly denied an education solely on
the basis of their disabilities. EAHCA, along with some key supreme court
cases, mandated all school districts to educate students with disabilities.
|
|
1977
|
The
final federal regulations of EAHCA are released.
|
The
final federal regulations are enacted at the start of the 1977-1978 school
year and provide a set of rules in which school districts must adhere to when
providing an education to students with disabilities.
|
|
1986
|
The
EAHCA is amended with the addition of the Handicapped Children’s Protection
Act.
|
This
amendment makes clear that students and parents have rights under EAHCA (now
IDEA) and Section 504.
|
|
1990
|
The
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is enacted.
|
ADA adopts the Section 504 regulations as part of the ADA statute. In turn,
numerous “504 Plans” for individual students start to become more common
place in school districts.
|
|
1990
|
The
EAHCA is amended and is now called the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA).
|
This
amendment calls for many changes to the old law. One of the biggest was the
addition of transition services for students with disabilities. School Districts were now required to look at outcomes
and assisting students with disabilities in transitioning from high school to
postsecondary life.
|
|
1997
|
IDEA
reauthorized
|
This
amendment calls for students with disabilities to be included in on state and
district-wide assessments. Also, Regular Education Teachers are now required
to be a member of the IEP team.
|
|
2001
|
No
Child Left Behind is enacted.
|
This
law calls for all students, including students with disabilities, to be
proficient in math and reading by the year 2014.
|
|
2004
|
IDEA
reauthorized
|
There
are several changes from the 1997 reauthorization. The biggest changes call
for more accountability at the state and local levels, as more data on
outcomes is required. Another notable change involves school districts
providing adequate instruction and intervention for students to help keep
them out of special education.
|
