History of Special Education

  • Brown v. Board of Education

    The
    Brown decision led the way to a growing understanding that all
    people, regardless of race, gender, or disability, have a right to
    a public education.
  • Federal Government recognizes special education

    Parents' unyielding efforts to get their children's educational needs addressed played a major role in the federal government's recognition of specific learning disability as a special education category in the late 1960s.
  • Education for All Handicapped Children

    On November 19, 1975, Congress enacted Public Law 94-142 in 1975, also known as The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975.
  • President Reagan

    President Reagan signed the Handicapped Children’s Protection Act, a law that gave parents of children with disabilities more say in the development of their child’s Individual Education Plan, or IEP.
  • ADA

    The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities
  • IDEA

    Revisions to EHA (Education for all Handicapped Children) became IDEA. IDEA emphasized the use of individual education plans, or IEPs, for all special education students.
  • No Child Left Behind

    No Child Left Behind focuses on closing student achievement gaps by providing all children with a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education.
  • Testing for 3-8

    Under the 2002 law, states are required to test students in reading and math in grades 3–8 and once in high school.
  • ADA Amendments Act of 2008

    The law was intended to clarify the scope of the definition of disability under the ADA
  • What is Biden doing?

    Biden's budget request includes $16 billion for services provided to students in preschool through high school under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, an increase of $2.7 billion that the plan describes as a “significant first step toward fully funding IDEA.”