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Before the 1950s, many students with disabilities were excluded from attending public schools. Although children with more severe disabilities were forced either to stay home or to be institutionalized, students with mild or moderate learning problems often dropped out of school long before graduating (Pardini, 2002). -
Exclusion of students with disabilities from public education would not last forever. A landmark education case paved the way for future legislation that would protect the rights of individuals with disabilities to attend and benefit from public education. In Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that school segregation by race was not constitutional, even if resources were allotted equally. -
Court cases ruled in favor of excluding students with disabilities from a public school education. In Department of Public Welfare v. Haas in 1958, the Supreme Court of Illinois maintained that the state’s compulsory education laws did not require a “free public education for the ‘feebleminded’ or to children who were ‘mentally deficient’ and who, because of their limited intelligence were unable to reap the benefits of a good education” (Yell, 1998, p. 55).
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The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) passed in 1965 initiated the role of the federal government in protecting and providing for students from disadvantaged backgrounds so that they would have equal access to the public education system.
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Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia. Another case in which handicapped children had been excluded from public schools. Similar to the PARC case, this suit required the state to provide “adequate alternative education services” as well as “prior hearing and periodic review of the child’s status, progress, and the adequacy of any educational alternative” (348 F. Supp., at 878). -
On November 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford signed into law the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142), or the EHA. The EHA guaranteed a free, appropriate public education, or FAPE, to each child with a disability in every state and locality across the country. IDEA: https://sites.ed.gov/idea/IDEA-History#:~:text=On%20November%2029%2C%201975%2C%20President,and%20locality%20across%20the%20country.
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In 1986, the National Council on Disability recommended the enactment of an Americans with Disabilities Act and drafted the first version of the bill which was introduced in the House and Senate in 1988.
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A broad bipartisan coalition of legislators supported the ADA, while the bill was opposed by business interests (who argued the bill imposed costs on business) and conservative evangelicals (who opposed protection for individuals with HIV). The final version of the bill was signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H. W. Bush. It was later amended in 2008 and signed by President George W. Bush with changes effective as of January 1, 2009. https://www.ada.gov -
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed by President Obama in December 2015 as a commitment to equal opportunity for all students. ESSA replaced the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) which was enacted in 2002. ESSA includes many of the components of NCLB but provides additional opportunities for schools when students are not making adequate progress. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZINwnEPhiFM