Americans with Disabilities Act in Education PP - William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

1. Americans with Disabilities
Act in Education
William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

2. Early Development
• Compulsory attendance laws
• The exclusion of students with
disabilities
• Parental advocacy
– Council for Exceptional Children,
1922
– Cuyahoga Council for Retarded
Children, 1933
– National Association for Retarded
Citizens (The ARC), 1950

3. Case Law
• Brown v. Board of Education
347 U.S. 483 (1954)
After the decision in Brown, parents of
children with disabilities started to bring
lawsuits against school districts for
excluding and segregating children with
disabilities. The parents argued that, by
excluding these children, schools were
discriminating against the children because
of their disabilities.

4. Brown v. Board of Education
“In these days, it is doubtful that
any child may reasonably be
expected to succeed in life if he
is denied the opportunity of an
education. Such an opportunity,
where the state has undertaken
to provide it, is a right that must
be available to all on equal
terms.”
-Chief Justice Earl Warren-

5. Landmark Cases
• Pennsylvania Association for Retarded
children (PARC) v. Pennsylvania (343
F.Supp, 279, E.D. PA, 1972)
–U.S. District Court found that mentally
retarded persons are capable of benefiting
from education.
• Mills v. District of Columbia Board of
Education (348 F.Supp, 869, D.D.C. 1972)
–Students with disabilities must be given a
public education, and that financial limits
were a moot point in providing education to
the students
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mills_vs._Board_of_Education_of_District_of_Columbia

6. Early Federal Involvement
• The Education of the Handicapped
Act of 1970
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
of 1973
• The Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965
• The Education Amendments of 1974

7. Major Legislation
• The Education for All
Handicapped Children Act of
1975 (P.L. 94-142)
 Was to ensure access to public education
for students with disabilities

8. EAHCA Mandates
• Nondiscriminatory testing, evaluations,
placement and procedures
• Education in least restrictive
environment
• Procedural due process
• Free education
• Appropriate education

9. Reauthorizations of the EAHCA
• 1986
– The Handicapped Children’s Protection
Act
– The Infants & Toddlers with Disabilities
Act
• 1990
– The Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act
• 1997
– The Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act Amendments of 1997

10. Board of Education v. Rowley
458, U.S. 176 (1982)
• First special education case to go
to the U.S. Supreme Court
• Was a “free appropriate
education” being given?
http://www.listen-up.org/dnload4/rowley.pdf

11. IDEA Amendments of 1997
• IEP
• Mediation
• Discipline
• Attorney Fees
• Charter Schools
• Manifestation Determination

12. The IDEA Acts Amendments of 1997
• The underlying theme of IDEA '97
was to improve the effectiveness of
special education by requiring
demonstrable improvements in the
educational achievement of students
with disabilities

13. The No Child Left Behind Act of
2001
• Controversial law
• Aimed to improve performance of
schools
• Give parents more flexibility in
choosing schools
• Promotes a focus on reading
• Highly qualified teachers

14. NCLB Accountability
• NCLB focuses on:
a. Increasing the academic achievement of all public
school students
b. Improving the performance of low-performing schools
c. Requiring schools to adopt scientifically based
instructional practices
• NCLB accomplishes this by:
a. Requiring states to measure the progress of students
and groups of students, including students with
disabilities, every year
b. Reporting the results of these measures to parents
c. Requiring states to set proficiency standards that
schools must attain within a set period of time

15. Focus of IDEIA 2004
• To increase the academic
achievement of students in special
education
– Focus on writing measurable goals and
actually measuring them
– Focus on progress monitoring
• To increase accountability for results
• To streamline the special education
process

16. Challenges to Special Education
• Conduct relevant assessments of
students’ educational needs
• Monitor students’ progress using
data- based formative evaluation
systems

17. Changes in Special Education Law
Individual and
Group Efforts
EAHCA
1974
IDEA 1990
IDEAA 1997
IDEIA 2004
Special education went from an issue of access
to an issue of quality.

18. Conclusion
After going through the history of how
special education came to what it is today, I
have a new appreciation for my husband.
He is “deaf” and I realize he did not receive
a high quality education as it is given today.
He is a good citizen and provider for his
family, but he missed out on quality skills.
I have encouraged him to go to school and
get more education so that him may work in
a place that he has passion for. He is going,
but it takes a little longer and we are all ok
with that. Special education has come a
long way since he has been in school.