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Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
Educating students with disabilities is still not a mandated state or federal law but this act indicated that changes were on the horizon! -
Mills vs. D.C. Board of Education
The court took the position that students with disabilities have an equal right to education. There is still no law mandating the education of students with disabilities but more students started going to school as a result of this court case. -
Section 504
This mandated that children with disabilities were given appropriate accommodations and modifications in the classroom. Many people were unaware when this first came out that it applied to schools. -
FERPA
This act mandated that parents have access to all information collected, maintained, or used by a school district that personally identifies their child. https://ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html?src=rn -
Education for all Handicapped Children Act
This is when it became mandated that all children with disabilities receive an education from their school district. -
Handicapped Children's Protection Act
This amendment made it clear that parents and students have rights under IDEA and 504 plan. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This is when the ADA took over the 504 plan and it started to be seen in school districts. This is when the 504 plan became a common go to in schools when a students needed assistance. -
IDEA 1990
This is when the law transitioned into requiring schools to help students not only make it through highschool but also be prepared for life after graduation. This is when transition services were put into play and it was required for schools to help students with transitions from middle to high and high to post secondary. -
No Child Left Behind
This law called that all children be proficient in reading and math by 2014. It required that all students, regardless of disability, access the general education curriculum. In my opinion, as a special education teacher, this law set our kids up for failure. The following link is to a video of George Bush first introducing his idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EOrlOKkZq4 -
IDEA 2004
The main adjustment that took place was the call for more accountability at state and local levels. A new framework was built and the goal was to provide interventions that would keep students out of special education if at all possible.
