A History of Special Education in the US

By hufflepuff_em
  • Brown v. Board of Education

    Brown v. Board of Education

    This Supreme Court case ruled that a separate educational setting was inherently unequal. This ruling gave public schools permission to educate children with disabilities.
  • PL 94-142

    PL 94-142

    This landmark federal law, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, established that all children with disabilities have a right to free, appropriate, public education.
  • The Supreme Court rules on PL 94-142

    The Supreme Court rules on PL 94-142

    In Hudson v. Rowley, the Supreme Court ruled that schools do not necessarily have to provide education that will produce the maximum possible achievement for a student.
  • Capitol Crawl Protest

    Capitol Crawl Protest

    Disability rights activists abandoned their wheelchairs and mobility devices and crawled up steps to the US Capitol Building in protest of delays in passing ADA.
  • ADA

    ADA

    The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. This gives people the right to nondiscriminatory treatment, as well as rights in the areas of employment, transportation, public accommodations, state and local government, and telecommunications.
  • IDEA

    IDEA

    PL 94-142 was amended and became the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
  • IDEA amended

    IDEA amended

    IDEA was amended, but the name was not changed.
  • NCLB

    NCLB

    The No Child Left Behind Act was passed. This act required students with disabilities to take standardized tests and score similarly to students without disabilities.
  • IDEIA

    IDEIA

    IDEA was reauthorized and became the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act.
  • ESSA

    ESSA

    NCLB morphed into the Every Student Succeeds Act.
  • Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District

    Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District

    In this Supreme Court case, it was ruled that schools must provide "more than de minimis".