Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
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| Long title | Individuals with Disabilities Education Act |
|---|---|
| Acronyms (colloquial) | IDEA |
| Enacted by | the 101st United States Congress |
| Citations | |
| Public law | Pub.L. 101-476 |
| Statutes at Large | 104 Stat. 1142 |
| Codification | |
| Acts amended | Education for All Handicapped Children Act |
| Titles amended | 20 |
| U.S.C. sections amended | 1400 et seq. |
| Legislative history | |
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| Major amendments | |
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No Child Left Behind Act Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, P.L. 108-446 |
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| United States Supreme Court cases | |
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Board of Education of the Hendrick Hudson Central School District v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176 (1982) Cedar Rapids Community School District v. Garret F., 526 U.S. 66 (1999) Schaffer v. Weast, 546 U.S. 49 (2005) Arlington Central School Dist. Bd. of Ed. v. Murphy, 548 U.S. 291 (2006) Winkelman v. Parma City School District, 550 U.S. 516 (2007) Forest Grove School District v. T.A., 129 S.Ct. 2484 (2009) |
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The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a four-part (A-D) piece of American legislation that ensures students with a disability are provided with Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) that is tailored to their individual needs. IDEA was previously known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) from 1975 to 1990. In 1990, the United States Congress reauthorized EHA and changed the title to IDEA (Public Law No. 94-142). Overall, the goal of IDEA is to provide children with disabilities the same opportunity for education as those students who do not have a disability.
IDEA is composed of four parts, the main two being part A and part B. Part A covers the general provisions of the law, Part B covers assistance for education of all children with disabilities, Part C covers infants and toddlers with disabilities which include children from birth to age three, and Part D is the national support programs administered at the federal level. Each part of the law has remained largely the same since the original enactment in 1975.
In practice, IDEA is composed of six main elements that illuminate its main points. These six elements are: Individualized Education Program (IEP), Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), Appropriate Evaluation, Parent and Teacher Participation, and Procedural Safeguards. To go along with those six main elements there are also a few other important components that tie into IDEA: Confidentiality of Information, Transition Services, and Discipline. Throughout the years of IDEA being reauthorized these components have become key concepts when learning about IDEA.
Before the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was enacted in 1975, U.S. public schools accommodated only 1 out of 5 children with disabilities. Until that time, many states had laws that explicitly excluded children with certain types of disabilities from attending public school, including children who were blind, deaf, and children labeled "emotionally disturbed" or "mentally retarded." At the time the EHA was enacted, more than 1 million children in the U.S. had no access to the public school system. Many of these children lived at state institutions where they received limited or no educational or rehabilitation services. Another 3.5 million children attended school but were “warehoused” in segregated facilities and received little or no effective instruction. As of 2006, more than 6 million children in the U.S. receive special education services through IDEA.
In 1954, the established educational format in the United States of segregating black and white students into separate schools was declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court during the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). This caused a great deal of unrest in the political sphere and marks a gateway moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Education was an important aspect of the Civil Rights Movement. The years that led up to the formation of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 were marked by strife in the United States, from the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 to the Vietnam war ongoing from 1955 until 1975. On top of those events, the Civil Rights Movement was in full force in the United States. From schools being integrated to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, from Greensboro sit-ins to marches on Washington, equal rights for all was a prevalent ideal. President John F. Kennedy showed interest in mental retardation studies and President Lyndon Johnson used Federal funds to increase research on “at-risk” youth. Early intervention programs for children living in low socioeconomic situations, such as the Head Start Program, began showing up around the country. Education was soon at the forefront of many political agendas.
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