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In 1852, Massachusetts was the first state to pass a compulsory education law.
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In 1867, Vermont was the second state to pass a compulsory education act.
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A student could be expelled from school if they made "unusual noises" and were unable to take "ordinary, decent, physical care of himself" because the Supreme Judicial Court felt that these students could not benefit from instruction and were troublesome to others.
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By 1918 all states have passed a compulsory education law.
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The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that school officials could exclude a student with disabilities. The student had attended school for years and was currently in fifth grade. This student was excluded from school because their condition caused drooling, facial contortions and speech problems. The school felt that this condition required too much of the teachers time and was disruptive.
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Brown v. Board of Education is a very historical case. This was a major victory for civil rights and student's with disabilities. This case ended with the mandate that all students, with or without disabilities are entitled to an education. All students are provided an equal opportunity to learn.
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North Carolina made it a law that it is a crime for a parent to persist that a student with disabilities attend a school after their exclusion from school.
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The argument was that students with disabilities were not receiving publicly supported education. The state and 13 school districts were delaying or ignoring their constitutional obligations.
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This class-action suit was filed against the District of Columbia's Board of Education. Thirteen out-of-school students with disabilities were denied or excluded from public education. These thirteen students were representing 18,000 students.
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A studied showed that in 1975, 1.75 million students with disabilities were not receiving educational services. This act addressed the educational rights of students with disabilities and provided the promise that federal funding will be given to the states.
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Prior to this act parents of children with disabilities could not collect attorney's fees. This act allowed parents to collect attorney's fees.
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Early intervention and its importance was recognized by congress when the Education of the Handicapped Amendments in 1986 was passed. This law became the sub chapter of the IDEA. All participating states needed to develop early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities.
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The IDEA required that individual transition planning be included in students with disabilities IEPs that are over 16 years old. IDEA also emphasized the idea of "people first" language- "student with a disability". The term disability is used instead of handicap.
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These amendments were passed to make improvements to the IDEA. IDEA had been very successful and these amendments were to help this succeed. The most significant amendment to the law and the goal was to improve the effectiveness of special education.
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This act was a reaction to low academic achievements within the United States. The states were to establish rigorous plans to increase student achievements. Data needed to be provided as evidence that students had improved. Students with disabilities were to be included in this act.
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IDEIA builds on NCLB and focused even more on increased accountability for student academic performance. IEPs were a significant change along with identifying student's with learning disabilities. All special education teachers must be certified. All instructional strategies must be evidence based.