-
-
-
the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that a child who was “weak in the mind” and could not benefit from instruction, was troublesome to other children, made “unusual notices,” and was unable to take “ordinary, decent, physical, care of himself” could be expelled from public school
-
The first White House Conference on Children focused on national attention on children and youth with disabilities.
-
-
Wisconsin Supreme Court in Beattie v. Board of Education, ruled that school officials could exclude a student with disabilities, even though that student had attended public school until the fifth grade.
-
A few states began to adopt laws requiring public schools to educate students with disabilities 1911 –New Jersey 1917-New York 1920-Massachusetts
-
The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) was founded– a professional organization concerned with the education of children with special needs
-
Cuyahoga County Ohio Council is established for the Retarded Children. It consisted initially of five mothers of children with mental retardation who banded together to protest the exclusion of their children from school. (Levine & Wexler, 1981; Turnball, Erwin, Soodak, & Shogren, 2011; Winzer, 1993).
-
Cuyahoga County Court of Appeals in Ohio ruled that the state statute mandating compulsory attendance for children ages 6 through 18 gave the State Department of Education the authority to exclude certain students (Winzer, 1993).
-
The National Association for Retarded Citizen (now ARC/USA, the Association for Retarded Citizens) was organized in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in September. Forty-two parents and concerned individuals from 13 local and state organizations met to establish a powerful organization of parents, families, and other persons with an interest in improving services for persons with mental retardation.
-
Brown v. Board of Education case was a major victory for the civil rights movement and became the major underpinning for civil rights actions. Resulted in changes in schools’ policies and approaches to students with disabilities.
-
The Supreme Court of Illinois, in Department of Public Welfare v. Haas, held that the state’s existing compulsory attendance legislation did not require the state to provide a free public education for the “feeble minded” or children who are “mentally deficient” and who, because of their limited intelligence, were unable to reap benefits of a good education.
-
Training of Professional Personnel Act, while helped train leaders to educate children with mental retardation.
-
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was a component of the war on poverty. The federal government provided direct funding to the states to assist in educating certain groups of students.
-
The state of North Carolina made it a crime for parents to persist in forcing the attendance of a child with disabilities after the child’s exclusion from public school (Weber, 2008).
-
The Education of the Handicapped Act, purpose was to consolidate and expand the previous federal grant programs and to continue funding pilot projects at the state and local levels. EHA provided funds to states if they would initiate, expand, or improve programs and projects for students with disabilities.
-
Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens (PARC) v. Pennsylvania, 1972 brought about a class action suit against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in a federal district court. The plaintiffs argued that students with mental retardation were not receiving publicly supported education. PARC was resolved and the agreement specified that all children with mental retardation between the ages of 6 and 21 must be provided by free public education. (Levine & Wexler, 1981; Zettel & Ballard, 1982).
-
Mills v. Board of Education suit was filed against District of Columbia’s Board of Education on behalf of all out-of-school students with disabilities. The school board was mandated to provide all children with disabilities a publicly supported education.
-
Congress passed Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which was the first federal civil rights law to protect the rights of persons with disabilities.
-
The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps (TASH) an organization that has provided strong support for individuals with disabilities
-
Education Amendments authorized the creation of the National Advisory Council on Handicapped Children. The goal was to provide educational opportunities for all children with disabilities.
-
The Education for all Handicapped Children Act of 1975 delineated the educational rights of students with disabilities and also provided the promise of the federal funding to the states.
-
Smith v. Robinson – Supreme Court stopped this practice of collecting attorney’s fees by using other laws
-
The Handicapped Children’s Protection Act of 1986 amended the EAHCA, thereby granting courts the authority to award attorney’s fees to parents or guardians if they prevailed in their actions pursuant to the law.
-
Congress recognized the importance of early intervention for young children when it passed the Education of the Handicapped Amendments in 1986.
-
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 (IDEA) renamed EAHCA– The IDEA amendments of 1990 substituted the term disability for the term handicapped throughout the law. The law used “people first” language to emphasize that the person should precede the category of the disability. The law also added and clarified types of related services, assistive technology, and rehabilitation services.
-
The IDEA Amendments of 1997 were passed to reauthorize and make improvements to the IDEA.
-
The President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education purpose of the commission was to recommend reforms to improve special education and bring it into the alignment with NCLB by requiring special education to be accountable for results and to rely on scientifically based programming.
-
The No Child Left Behind Act was a reaction to low academic achievement of America’s students, dramatically expanded the role of the federal government in public education by holding states, school districts, and schools accountable for producing measureable gains in students’ achievement in reading and mathematics (Yell & Drasgow, 2005).
-
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 builds on NCLB by emphasizing increased accountability for student performance at the classroom school, and school district levels.
