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Issue: Overturn of separate but equal doctrine; integration of Kansas public schools
Finding: The case was the basis for future rulings that children with disabilities cannot be excluded from school. -
Issue: Access to public education for students with intellectual disabilities
Finding: In the state of Pennsylvania, no child with intellectual disabilities can be denied a public education. -
Issue: Access to special education for all students with disabilities
Finding: All students with disabilities have a right to a free public education. -
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
● set the stage for IDEA and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA);
● guaranteed basic civil rights to people with disabilities; and
● required accommodations in schools and in society. -
Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA)
● Guaranteed a FAPE in the LRE; and
● Was a landmark civil rights effort for students with disabilities. -
Issue: Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)
Finding/Importance: School districts must provide those services that permit a student with disabilities to benefit from instruction. -
Issue: Defining related services
Finding/Importance: Clean intermittent catheterization is a related service when necessary to allow a student to stay in school. -
Issue: Attorneys’ fees
Finding/Importance: Parents are reimbursed legal fees when they win a case resulting from special education litigation. -
Issue: Private school placement
Finding/Importance: In some cases, public schools may be required to pay for private school placements when the district does not provide a FAPE. -
EHA (reauthorized)
● Added infants and toddlers; and
● Provided the IFSP. -
Issue: Exclusion from school
Finding/Importance: Students whose misbehavior is related to their disability cannot be denied education. -
Issue: FAPE
Finding/Importance: Regardless of the existence or severity of a students’ disability, a public education is the right of every child. -
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
● Changed the name of PL 94-142 to IDEA;
● Added individualized transition plans (ITPs);
● Added autism as a special education category; and
● Added traumatic brain injury as a category. -
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
● Barred discrimination in employment, transportation, public accommodations, and telecommunications;
● Implemented the concept of normalization across U.S. life; and
● Required phased-in accessibility in schools. -
Issue: Paid interpreter at parochial high school
Finding/Importance: Paying for a sign language interpreter at a parochial school does not violate the constitutional separation of church and state. -
Issue: Reimbursement for private school
Finding/Importance: A court may order reimbursement to parents who withdraw their children from a public school that provides inappropriate education, even though the private placement does not meet all IDEA requirements. -
Issue: FAPE
Finding/Importance: Teachers are responsible for the implementation of accommodations specified in individual students’ IEPs. -
IDEA 1997 (reauthorized)
● Added ADHD to the category of other health impairment;
● Added functional behavioral assessments and behavioral intervention plans; and
● Changed ITP to a component of the IEP. -
Issue: Related Services
Finding/Importance: Health attendants are related service and a district’s expense if the service is necessary to maintain students in educational programs. -
Elementary and Secondary Education (No Child Left Behind) Act of 2001 (ESEA or NCLB)
● Required that all school children participate in state and district testing;
● Called for 100% proficiency of all students in reading and math by 2012; and
● Called for scientifically based research for programs and interventions. -
Assistive Technology Act of 2004 (ATA, or Tech Act) (reauthorized)
● Provided support for school-to-work transition projects;
● Continued a national website on AT; and
● Assisted states in creating and supporting device loan programs, financial loans to individuals with disabilities to purchase AT devices, and equipment demonstration. -
IDEA (reauthorized; called Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA); commonly referred to as IDEA)
● Required special education teachers to be highly qualified;
● Mandated that all students with disabilities participate annually either in state and district testing with accommodations or in alternative assessments;
● Eliminated IEP short-term objectives and benchmarks, except for those who use alternative assessments; -
IDEA (reauthorized; called Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA); commonly referred to as IDEA)
● Changed identification procedures for learning disabilities; and
● Allowed any student to be placed in an interim alternative educational setting for involvement in weapons, drugs, or violence. -
Issues: Fees
Finding/Importance: Parents are entitled to receiver fees for expert witnesses in special education due process hearings. -
Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act (ADAAA) (reauthorized)
● Restored workplace protection diminished by previous court decisions; and
● Redefined “major life activities” to enable individuals with disabilities to be protected against discrimination in the workplace. -
Issue: Private school tuition reimbursement
Finding/Importance: Parents are entitled reimbursement for private school special education services regardless of whether the child had received special education services in a public-school setting and the public school had not provided a FAPE. -
Rosa’s Law
● Changed the terms mental retardation and mentally retarded to intellectual disabilities and intellectually disabiled in federal laws. -
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
● Prohibited exclusion for preexisting conditions;
● Eliminated caps on benefits; and
● Prohibited discrimination based on disability and health status. -
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Part C-Early Intervention Program
● Allocated funding to states to serve infants and toddlers through age 2 with developmental delays or who have physical or mental conditions that result in developmental delays; and
● Ensure early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities birth through age 2. -
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (reauthorized the ESEA)
● Required all students be taught to high academic standards to prepare them to succeed in college and careers;
● Ensured annual state assessments that measure student progress toward high standards;
● Ensured accountability in lowest-performing schools -
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (reauthorized the ESEA)
○ The ESSA removed “highly qualified special education teachers” and included qualifications for special education teachers as holding state certification as a special education teacher or passing the state special education licensing exam.
○ The ESSA revised the term limited English proficient to English learner. -
○ The ESSA clarified that alternative assessments should be aligned with alternative academic achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who cannot participate in regular assessments even with accommodations. Expectations for achievement are modified with respect to the state grade-level content standards.
○ The ESSA specified that only 1% of students in special education can be given alternative tests.
○ The ESSA required evidence-based interventions. -
Issue: Equal opportunity to achieve success like other kids
Finding/Importance: The school district argued that the boy who had autism had the right to only a de minimis, or minimal, benefit from the IEP.
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled to send the case back to the trial level. The district judge in the case, who had initially ruled in favor of the Douglas County School District, reversed his decision and ruled in favor of the parents of a child with autism.