Special Education Legal aspects. Who Students who qualify as having a disability …and need to have...
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Transcript of Special Education Legal aspects. Who Students who qualify as having a disability …and need to have...
Special Education
Legal aspects
Who
Students who qualify as having a disability
…and need to have instruction not available or deliverable in general education
WHO (according to IDEA)
IN GENERAL- The term `child with a disability' means a child--(i) with mental retardation, hearing impairments
(including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance (referred to in this title as `emotional disturbance'), orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disabilities; and
(ii) who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services.
From the introduction to IDEA 04
Disability is a natural part of the human experience and in no way diminishes the right of individuals to participate in or contribute to society…
From the introduction to IDEA 04
…Improving educational results for children with disabilities is an essential element of our national policy of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities.
What is special education?
Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)RemedialCompensatoryAlternative
Where
Placement is not intervention.General education classroom
InclusionMainstreaming
Resource roomSelf contained with partial inclusionSelf containedHomeHospital
Educational policy must be:
Based on appropriate legal authorityFederalStateCase lawLocal School Board
Early Federal
Education is not mentioned in the constitution
Citizens were governed primarily by the constitution of the state they lived in
U.S. citizenship was secondary to state citizenship
Laws Specific to Education
Early 1900’s Compulsory Attendance laws 1957 National Cooperative Education
Research Program 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education
Act 1969 Jacob Javits Act 1973 Rehabilitation Act
Section 504
14th amendment
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.
No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Factors influencing practice
Laws IDEA ADA 14th amendment
Litigation Cases Interpretation of the
law
Ethics of practice
Why do we need laws on education for special education?
“While States, local educational agencies, and educational service agencies are primarily responsible for providing an education for all children with disabilities, it is in the national it is in the national interestinterest that the Federal Government have a supporting role in assisting State and local efforts to educate children with disabilities in order to improve results for such children and to ensure equal protection of the law. “
Public Law 94-142 1975
•Education for All Handicapped Children Act
•Now called IDEA: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Subsequent reauthorizations
1983 and 1986Laws enacted to help states plan and
develop early intervention servicesRequired IFSP: Individual Family Service
Plan
ADA
1990Americans with Disabilities ActCovers adults as well as childrenProvides for accessible buildings, etc. Discrimination on the basis of a disability
is not legal
IDEA 04
IDEA is a law that requires reauthorization periodically
Requires that students have a Free and Appropriate Public Education
Has led to a large body of case law
Six Principles of the IDEA
FAPEAppropriate evaluationIndividualized Educational PlanLeast Restrictive EnvironmentParent and Student Participation in
Decision MakingProcedural Due Process
January 8, 2002
ESEA: Education and Secondary Act Law responsible for majority of federally
funded K-12 education programsThis reauthorization period is 6 years
ESEA Basics
ESEA is the law authorizing the majority of Federal K-12 education programs
This year ESEA funding went up 24 percent to over $12 billion
ESEA was signed into law on January 8, 2002
New reauthorization period is six years, FY 2002-FY 2007
How Title I Funds Can Be Spent
Preschool programs Reduce class-size or provide other related
educational supports by hiring additional teachers
Hiring paraprofessionals Extended-day/Extended-year programs Implementing exemplary instructional
programs Professional development for teachers and
paraprofessionals
What do we know (according to IDEA 04)
(A) having high expectations for such children and ensuring their access to the general education curriculum in the regular classroom, to the maximum extent possible, in order to--
(i) meet developmental goals and, to the maximum extent possible, the challenging expectations that have been established for all children; and
(ii) be prepared to lead productive and independent adult lives, to the maximum extent possible;
What do we know (according to IDEA 04)
(B) strengthening the role and responsibility of parents and ensuring that families of such children have meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children at school and at home
What do we know (according to IDEA 04)
(C) coordinating this title with other local, educational service agency, State, and Federal school improvement efforts, including improvement efforts under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, in order to ensure that such children benefit from such efforts and that special education can become a service for such children rather than a place where such children are sent;
What do we know (according to IDEA 04)
(D) providing appropriate special education and related services,
and aids and supports in the regular classroom, to such children,
whenever appropriate;
What do we know (according to IDEA 04)
(E) supporting high-quality, intensive preservice preparation and professional development for all personnel who work with children with disabilities in order to ensure that such personnel have the skills and knowledge necessary to improve the academic achievement and functional performance of children with disabilities, including the use of scientifically based instructional practices, to the maximum extent possible;
What do we know (according to IDEA 04)
(F) providing incentives for whole-school approaches, scientifically based early reading programs, positive behavioral interventions and supports, and early intervening services to reduce the need to label children as disabled in order to address the learning and behavioral needs of such children;
What do we know (according to IDEA 04)
(G) focusing resources on teaching and learning while reducing paperwork and requirements that do not assist in improving educational results; and
What do we know (according to IDEA 04)
(H) supporting the development and use of technology, including assistive technology devices and assistive technology services, to maximize accessibility for children with disabilities.
Who is going to pay for it?
the number of children with disabilities in the State who received special education and related services--
multiplied by
40 percent of the average per-pupil expenditure in public elementary schools and secondary schools in the United States
$$$$$$
$ must not supplant the general education dollars
Special education is in excessIDEA is under funded
Funding for Special Education: The Travis Story
“No Child Left Behind and the new IDEA have not only removed the final barrier separating special education from general education, they have put the needs of students with disabilities front and center. Special education is no longer a peripheral issue. It's central to the success of any school.”- Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings