History of Special Education Law Timeline

  • Cuyahoga County Court of Appeals in Ohio

    Cuyahoga County Court of Appeals in Ohio

    The court ruled that the state department of education had the right to exclude certain students from the compulsory attendance expectations. The contradiction between compulsory education and exclusion of students with special needs became a launching for many advocacy groups. This includes but not limited to parental groups, National Association for Retarded Citizens, and The Council for Exceptional Children.
  • Brown v. Board of Education

    Brown v. Board of Education

    The Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to have segregation in public schools. The justices determined that "Separate education facilities are inherently unequal" This case laid the foundation for the IDEA and civil rights advocates to fight for inclusion of special education students in mainstream classrooms when possible
  • PARC v. Commonwealth of PA

    PARC v. Commonwealth of PA

    The plaintiffs of this case argued that mentally challenged students were not receiving support because of the state ignoring their constitutional duty to provide support. The 14th amendment was disregarded. The courts sided with PARC and came up with the law named FAPE which stands for Free Appropriate Public Education
  • Mills v. Board of Education

    Mills v. Board of Education

    This court case ruled that since Brown v. Board of Ed. found that segregation of students based on race was unconstitutional, that the exclusion of students with disabilities was also unconstitutional. It also established protocols for providing due process to families.
  • Section 504

    Section 504

    Section 504 was the first disability civil rights law to play a part in the U.S. Certain students were given a 504 whether or not they had a learning disability or medical condition that would impede their learning.
  • Individual with Disabilities Act

    Individual with Disabilities Act

    Parc v. Commonwealth of PA and Mills v. Board of Education were two of the essential court cases that resulted in the passage of the IDEA. This required schools to create and develop Individualized Education Plans (IEP). Schools who promised to provide this service were given federal funding
  • The Individuals with Disabilities Education Imporvement of 2004

    The Individuals with Disabilities Education Imporvement of 2004

    Although there was the IDEA that was passed in 1975, there was also amendments passed in 1997. There were also some additions, such as, the IEP content, the IEP team and last but not least some disciplinary implements. The improvements in 2004 were as such, bettering the identification of students with disabilities, certain adjustments in the IEP, and it also chose to follow some of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The demand of instructional
    procedures and other methods based on research.
  • Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015

    Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015

    In 2015, when Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), more adjustments were made with when it came to the IDEA. The law was reduced given the new demands of ESSA. ESSA got rid of an abundance of controversial requirements of NCLB, such as, annual progress. This new law provided some vigilance in ideas to support low performance. Last but not least, ESSA kept the requirement that school districts must include students with disabilities and their state testing needed to be recorded.