1. What is Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)?
According to American Psychological Association, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) ensures that all children with disabilities are entitled to a free appropriate public education to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment and independent living. Prior to IDEA, over 4 million children with disabilities were denied appropriate access to public education. Many children were denied entry into public school altogether, while others were placed in segregated classrooms, or in regular classrooms without adequate support for their special needs (Katsiyannis, Yell, Bradley, 2001; Martin, Martin, Terman, 1996; U.S. Department of Education, 2010).
2. What is the historical timeline of IDEA?
1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case
The U.S. Supreme Court decided in the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case that it was unconstitutional for educational institutions to segregate children by race. This landmark legal ruling would have far-reaching implications for the special education arena.
Influence:
Court case may heave helped shape the policy of school integration.
Challenges and barriers:
There were many schools in South did not support Brown v Board Act. A lot of students of colors were threatened by the white. After ten years, very low percentage of African American students attended the white schools.
Federal level:
Brown v. Board of Education declared that separate education for white and African American students were inherently unequal.
According to Duiganan (2021), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously (9–0) that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits the states from denying equal protection of the laws to any person within their jurisdictions.
State level:
In California, there were many Mexican American families fought school segregation and won the federal court case ruling that segregation of public school is unconstitutional (Roos, 2019).
Local level:
My school district is Lynwood Unified School District. According to wikipedia, it was predominately white until 1970s. It was a dairy town. They most likely did not have to worry about African Americans living in their community at that time. It took until the 70s for African American families to move into Lynwood. And in the 80s it was predominantly African American. Now it is predominantly by Latino. It seems that Brown v. Board of Education had little impact to my school district.
1965 The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson as part of the “War on Poverty.” ESEA not only called for equal access to education for all students but also federal funding for both primary and secondary education for students disadvantaged by poverty.
Influence:
Some schools ignored the 1954 Brown decision, but when money got involved, the federal government had more power. Pressured by the president, new federal laws and civil rights movement , most schools integrated students across races and colors.
Challenges and barriers:
The political climate changed. While Title I’s gains were modest, hardly living up to the rhetorical claims made during the War on Poverty, they still held value, calling to question what was the best way to get results for the nation’s poor and under-educated (Jeffrey, 1978).
Federal level:
According to Jeffrey (1978) " this law brought education into the forefront of the national assault on poverty and represented a landmark commitment to equal access to quality education". It was a Great Society program enacted in 1965 that allocates federal funding for primary and secondary school education and forbs the establishment of a national curriculum.
State level:
Most schools in California started to integrating students across races and colors.
Local level:
It did not affect my school district that much because there was not much school segregation in my district during that time.
1973 Vocational Rehabilitation Act and Section 504
Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act was the first disability civil rights law to be enacted in the United States. It prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in programs that receive federal financial assistance, and set the stage for enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Section 504 works together with the ADA and IDEA to protect children and adults with disabilities from exclusion, and unequal treatment in schools, jobs and the community.
Influence:
It prohibits the exclusion, the denial of benefits, and discrimination by reason of disability in programs or activities receiving federal funds.
Challenges and barriers:
The Section 504 regulations do not contain a requirement that a person file a complaint with Office for Civil Rights and exhaust his or her administrative remedies before filing a private lawsuit.
Federal level:
According to U.S. Department of Education, Section 504 is a Federal statute that may be enforced through the Department's administrative process or through the Federal court system. It requires affirmative action by federal government in hiring people with disabilities. Section 504 prohibits discrimination to individual with disabilities in federally-funded programs.
State level:
Most schools in California started offering Section 504 to students with disabilities.
Local level:
My school district implements Section 504 for students with disabilities.
1974 Educational Amendments Act
President Ford has cleared the way for increased Federal spending for education of handicapped children. It ensured education in the lest-restrictive environment for all children.
Influence:
Increased federal funds helped handicapped students. It gave students and families rights to due process of special education. Students are able to be in the same classroom as their classmates. Parents were given access to their children's records.
Challenges and barriers:
There was not enough guidance for instruction.
Federal level:
President Ford has cleared the way for increased Federal spending for education of handicapped children.
State level:
Handicapped children in California were provided equal government welfare in every state.
Local level:
My school district followed this Act and provided the support for the handicapped students, such as the accessibility ramps and wheelchairs.
1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children.
Influence:
It provides a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) to all kids regardless of disability at public expense. Individualized Education Program (IEP) are legal documents that establish goals, accommodations and modifications to the general curriculum and access to qualified professionals to ensure that a child with a disability is learning at the right pace and to his ability within their environment. These plans level the educational playing field for those with a disability.
Challenges and barriers:
Parents may disagree with the school about their children's score. Parents may want more support from school.
Federal level:
Congress support states and localities in protecting the rights of, meeting the individual needs of, and improving the results for infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities and their families.
State level:
Education and Related Services must be provided to children up to the age of 21. California extends this to age 22.
Local level:
My school districts follows IDEA and provide students with disabilities the support they need. IEP team hold meetings to diagnose and monitor students' academic and mental matters.
1986 Handicapped Children’s Protection Act
August 6, 1986: President Reagan signed the Handicapped Children’s Protection Act, a law that gave parents of children with disabilities more say in the development of their child’s Individual Education Plan, or IEP.
Influence:
Ensures rights of parents and students under (now) IDEA and Section 504. It authorize the award of reasonable attorneys' fees, expenses, and costs to the parents or guardian of a handicapped child or youth who is the prevailing party in a civil suit under such Act to protect the child's right to a free appropriate public education.
Challenges and barriers:
Unlike the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 does not require a public school to provide an Individualized Educational Program (IEP) that meets a child's unique needs and provides the child with educational benefit. Under Section 504, fewer procedural safeguards are available to the child with a disability and the child's parents than under IDEA. Without studying, most people are not clear about the differences between IEP and 504.
Federal level:
It is a law that gave parents of children with disabilities more say in the development of their child’s Individual Education Plan, or IEP.
State level:
California schools began to provide IEP to students with disabilities.
Local level:
My school district provides IEP to students with disabilities. The IEP group hold meetings to provide students with disabilities with support they need.
1990 The Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990. The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. The ADA is divided into five titles (or sections) that relate to different areas of public life.
Influences:
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) opens doors to employment for disabled Americans. According to ADA National Network, besides helping to end overt discrimination against disabled persons, the ADA also helps implement workplace standards and government requirements that enable disabled persons to function as any other person would in the workplace. This includes wheelchair ramps to entrances and exits of buildings, handicap accessible restrooms, and other accommodations tailored to fit the needs of disabled persons. The transformation of the workplace environment to fit basic needs of disabled persons helps afford them an equal footing in the competition for jobs.
Challenges and barriers:
The conditions for being deemed disabled are too loose. This allows people who are not as significantly disabled to receive many of the same benefits that those who are more severely disabled receive. Increases in those with disabilities can put a strain not only other disabled persons but can also put a strain on businesses. For instance, some people who qualify to park in handicapped spaces may fill a space that someone who is significantly more disabled would need more.
Federal level:
Its overall purpose is to make American Society more accessible to people with disabilities. Its purpose is to broaden the definition of disability, which had been narrowed by U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
State level:
Every state implement the five titles of the ADA: Employment, Public Services, Public Accommodations, Telecommunications, Miscellaneous.
Local level:
My school district makes efforts to implement ADA to provide students with disabilities the support they need.
1990 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children.
Influence:
According to U.S. Education Department, reauthorized and renamed as Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), expands funding, defines assistive services, addresses and mandates transition services.
Challenges and barriers:
Misuse of funding, poor assessments, limited training for teachers, and poor collaboration between schools and caregivers.
Federal level:
The IDEA was amended in 1997 to provide related services (accommodations) to children in the general education curriculum. Previously, the law did not specifically incorporate disabled students within general education classrooms. The IDEA now mandates improving teaching and learning by specific focus on the IEP as the primary means of developing a child’s involvement in the general curriculum to the greatest extend possible.
State level:
Education and Related Services must be provided to children up to the age of 21. California extends this to age 22. Education includes academic as well as self-help and vocational skills.
Local level:
My school makes efforts in holding IEP meetings and making IEP for the students in special education.
1997 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Additional Amendments
The 1997 Amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act are the most comprehensive and significant changes made since its original enactment. Several of the most important changes were made regarding the discipline of children with disabilities. Congress attempted to strike “a careful balance between the LEA’s (local educational agency’s) duty to ensure that school environments are safe and conducive to learning for all children, including children with disabilities, and the LEA’s obligation to ensure that children with disabilities receive a free appropriate public education.”
Influence:
Before 1975, only one in five children with disabilities attended public school. The landmark law that would later become known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, changed that by declaring that schools could no longer deny an education to students with disabilities. Years later,
Challenges and barriers:
Government has been paid much more attention to the special education than the mainstream and gifted students education.
Federal level:
This additional amendment to IDEA brings evolution and its continued commitment to greater educational accountability, inclusion and quality for all students. According to CRS report, Congress attempted to strike "a careful balance between the LEA's (local educational agency's) duty to ensure that school environments are safe and conducive to learning for all children, including children with disabilities, and the LEA's obligation to ensure that children with disabilities receive a free appropriate public education."
State level:
1997 IDEA additional amendments impacted states, including California, on strengthening academic expectations and accountability for the children with disabilities and bridges the gap that has too often existed between what children with disabilities learn and what is required in regular curriculum.
Local level:
My school district follows IDEA and its amendments, and additional amendments to provide support to students with disabilities. We make efforts to create and maintain a safe and accessible learning environment to all students. Some teachers might overlook the IEP report of the students with disabilities.
2001 No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act authorizes several federal education programs that are administered by the states. The law is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Many educators complained it adds unnecessary pressure on schools and teachers failing schools must meet minimum benchmarks for student achievement. NCLB meant to provide new funding and new requirements, but the law needs to work on the federal control. School district are expected to give high stake state tests in math, reading, and science, but the curriculum should be remained as a local concern.
Influences:
By creating standardized testing results, students could be compared via performance to identify learning gaps. That allowed more students to receive an individualized plan to improve their learning opportunities.
Challenges and barriers:
According to Gaille (2017), many schools tied student performance to teacher salaries. If students didn’t perform well, then teachers received poor marks on their annual review. That offered the potential of losing a raise or even a job because students were under-performing. Since teachers have no real control over who is assigned to their classroom, many felt like this process kept them from teaching. They felt forced to “teach to the test” just so they could protect their own livelihood. It became a process that was intended to help students, but wound up hurting many learning opportunities instead.
Federal level:
It added structure to educational programs nationwide. It changed the federal government’s role in kindergarten through grade twelve education by requiring schools to demonstrate their success in terms of the academic achievement of every student.
State level:
Although the standards were set by the states, No Child Left Behind became one of the first concentrated efforts to improve the standing of US students compared to the rest of the world.
Local level:
My school district is located in the high-poverty community. With Title I as the cornerstone and students of greatest academic needs in high-poverty schools as the focus, NCLB emphasizes stronger accountability for results, expanded options for parents, and improvement in teacher quality.
2015 The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed by President Obama on December 10, 2015, and represents good news for our nation’s schools. This bipartisan measure reauthorizes the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the nation’s national education law and longstanding commitment to equal opportunity for all students.
Influences:
According to U.S. Education Department, the goal of the initial laws passed in the 1960s were to create more equality through civil rights legislation. It provided grants to districts that provided services to low-income students, including money for library books, textbooks, and educational centers.
Now the money goes toward place-based and evidence-based interventions that local teachers, administrators, and leaders create to encourage more educational opportunities. This benefit is consistent with the Promise Neighborhoods and Investing in Innovation programs that support public schools across the United States.
Challenges and barriers:
ESSA creates a patchwork system where each state, territory, and district can potentially use a different system of accountability. This inconsistency creates the potential for unequal practices, which means the government has no way to intervene if there is resistance to certain kinds of reforms.
Federal level:
This legislation helps to promote local innovative methods.
State level:
In 2017, California released The California School Dashboard. According to California Department of Education, the Dashboard allows parents/guardians, educators, and the public to see how districts and schools are meeting the needs of California's diverse student population based on the concise set of measures included in the new accountability system, including test scores, graduation rates, English learner progress, and suspension rates.
As part of California’s transition to ESSA, California must submit an ESSA State Plan to the U.S. Department of Education. The State Plan describes the state’s implementation of standards, assessments, accountability, and assistance programs and will move us toward California’s goal of having a single, coherent local, state, and federal education system.
Local level:
My school district approaches education in a way that best suits the needs of students and the families we serve. Beside providing students free education, books, and many learning supplies, my district provides student 1:1 Chromebook program since 2019, free masks and hand satirizer since 2021. However, we need much more budget to help every student succeed, for instance the membership of accessing educational app and resources, mini whiteboard and dry erase markers for class activities, college rule notebook
3. What is Tiki-Toki? (not TikTok)
Tiki-Toki is an online Timeline maker. Create beautiful interactive timelines that you can share on the web. Perfect for company history timelines and school projects.
Here is the Timeline of IDEA I made by Tiki-Toki.
https://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/1825529/Timeline-of-Individuals-with-Disabilities-Education-Act-IDEA/
References:
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund. (2008). A guide for California parents: Special education due process meeting and the resolution meeting. Retrieved from http://www.dredf.org/special_education/dueprocess.pdf
Individuals with Disability Education Act Amendments of 1997 [IDEA]. (1997). Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov/105/plaws/publ17/PLAW-105publ17.pdf
Katsiyannis, A., Yell, M., & Bradley, R. (2001). Reflections on the 25th anniversary of the individuals with disabilities education act. Remedial and Special Education, 22, 324-334.
Martin, E., Martin, R., & Terman, D. (1996). The legislative and litigation history of special education. The Future of Children, 6, 25-39.
Turnbull, H. (2005). Individuals with disabilities education act reauthorization: Accountability and personal responsibility. Remedial and Special Education, 26, 320-326.
Turnbull, H., Huerta, N., & Stowe, M. (2004). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as Amended in 2004. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
U.S. Department of Education. (2010). Thirty-five Years of Progress in Educating Children With Disabilities Through IDEA. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/idea35/history/idea-35-history.pdf
Yell, M., Rogers, D., & Rogers, E. (1998). The legal history of special education: What a long strange trip it's been. Remedial and Special Education, 19, 219-228.
