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First American School for Exceptional Students
Gallaudet opens first American school for exceptional students -
Perkins Institution for the Blind
Perkins Institution for the Blind is opened by Samuel Gridley Howe and sparked numerous educational developments for individuals who are blind. -
Experiential School for Teaching and Training Idiotic Children
Samuel Howe opens first formal education facility for students with cognitive disabilities. The school was later referred to as the Fernald Center, when it was named after its third superintended Walter Fernald. -
Special Education
Formal training for teachers of blind individuals begins at Columbia University under the term special education, which was introduced by Alexander Graham Bell. -
Intelligence Testing
Testing to provide understanding of a person's potential to learn is introduced by Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon, which becomes he basis for IQ testing. -
International Council for the Education of Exceptional Children
Ferrell and other administrators established the International Council for the Education of Exceptional Children. In 1958 the name was changed to the Council for Exceptional Children. -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
The first Federal law directly addressing the education of students with disabilities. -
Public Law 94-142
this is also known as The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. The purpose of the law was to ensure that all children had access to an education and due process of the law. -
IDEA
The purpose of the law is to ensure that students with a disability are provided with Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) that is tailored to their individual needs. This is not a new law rather a renaming of Education for all Handicapped Children Act. -
No Child Left Behind
This law increased the accountability of teachers and schools to ensure that they could still receive federal funding. This increased the standards of tests provided and the training of the teachers for all students.