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20
U.S.C. §1400.
Congressional statements and declarations
(a) Short title
This chapter may be cited as the "Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act".
(b) Omitted
(c) Findings
Congress finds the following:
(1) 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. 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.
(2) Before the date of enactment of the
Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975
(Public Law 94-142), the educational needs of millions
of children with disabilities were not being fully met
because--
(A) the children did not receive appropriate educational services;
(B) the children were excluded entirely from the public school system
and from being educated with their peers;
(C) undiagnosed disabilities prevented the children from having a
successful educational experience; or
(D) a lack of adequate resources within the public school system
forced families to find services outside the public
school system.
(3) Since the enactment and implementation
of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of
1975, this chapter has been successful in ensuring
children with disabilities and the families of such
children access to a free appropriate public education
and in improving educational results for children with
disabilities.
(4) However, the implementation of this
chapter has been impeded by low expectations, and an
insufficient focus on applying replicable research on
proven methods of teaching and learning for children
with disabilities.
(5) Almost 30 years of research and
experience has demonstrated that the education of
children with disabilities can be made more effective
by--
(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;
(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;
(C) coordinating this chapter 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;
(D) providing appropriate special education and related services, and
aids and supports in the regular classroom, to such
children, whenever appropriate;
(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;
(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;
(G) focusing resources on teaching and learning while reducing
paperwork and requirements that do not assist in
improving educational results; and
(H) supporting the development and use of technology, including
assistive technology devices and assistive technology
services, to maximize accessibility for children with
disabilities.
(6) 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
interest 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.
(7) A more equitable allocation of resources
is essential for the Federal Government to meet its
responsibility to provide an equal educational
opportunity for all individuals.
(8) Parents and schools should be given
expanded opportunities to resolve their disagreements
in positive and constructive ways.
(9) Teachers, schools, local educational
agencies, and States should be relieved of irrelevant
and unnecessary paperwork burdens that do not lead to
improved educational outcomes.
(10)(A)
The Federal Government must be responsive to the
growing needs of an increasingly diverse society.
(B) America's ethnic profile is rapidly changing. In 2000, 1 of every
3 persons in the United States was a member of a
minority group or was limited English proficient.
(C) Minority children comprise an increasing percentage of public
school students.
(D) With such changing demographics, recruitment
efforts for special education personnel should focus
on increasing the participation of minorities in the
teaching profession in order to provide appropriate
role models with sufficient knowledge to address the
special education needs of these students.
(11)(A)
The limited English proficient population is the
fastest growing in our Nation, and the growth is
occurring in many parts of our Nation.
(B) Studies have documented apparent discrepancies in the levels of
referral and placement of limited English proficient
children in special education.
(C) Such discrepancies pose a special challenge for special education
in the referral of, assessment of, and provision of
services for, our Nation's students from non-English
language backgrounds.
(12)(A)
Greater efforts are needed to prevent the
intensification of problems connected with mislabeling
and high dropout rates among minority children with
disabilities.
(B) More minority children continue to be served in special education
than would be expected from the percentage of minority
students in the general school population.
(C) African-American children are identified as having mental
retardation and emotional disturbance at rates greater
than their White counterparts.
(D) In the 1998-1999 school year, African-American children
represented just 14.8 percent of
the population aged 6 through 21, but comprised 20.2
percent of all children with disabilities.
(E) Studies have found that schools with predominately White students
and teachers have placed disproportionately high
numbers of their minority students into special
education.
(13)(A)
As the number of minority students in special
education increases, the number of minority teachers
and related services personnel produced in colleges
and universities continues to decrease.
(B) The opportunity for full participation by minority individuals,
minority organizations, and Historically Black
Colleges and Universities in awards for grants and
contracts, boards of organizations receiving
assistance under this chapter, peer review panels, and
training of professionals in the area of special
education is essential to obtain greater success in
the education of minority children with disabilities.
(14) As the graduation rates for children
with disabilities continue to climb, providing
effective transition services to promote successful
post-school employment or education is an important
measure of accountability for children with
disabilities.
(d) Purposes
The purposes of this chapter are--
(1)(A) to ensure that all children with
disabilities have available to them a free appropriate
public education that emphasizes special education and
related services designed to meet their unique needs
and prepare them for further education, employment,
and independent living;
(B) to ensure that the rights of children with disabilities and
parents of such children are protected; and
(C) to assist States, localities, educational service agencies, and
Federal agencies to provide for the education of all
children with disabilities;
(2) to assist States in the implementation of a statewide,
comprehensive, coordinated, multidisciplinary,
interagency system of early intervention services for
infants and toddlers with disabilities and their
families;
(3) to ensure that educators and parents have the necessary tools to
improve educational results for children with
disabilities by supporting system improvement
activities; coordinated research and personnel
preparation; coordinated technical assistance,
dissemination, and support; and technology development
and media services; and
(4) to assess, and ensure the effectiveness of, efforts to educate
children with disabilities.
__________________________________________
Susan S. DePaola, Attorney
Montgomery, Alabama
Specializing in Special Education for Children with Disabilities
http://specialeducationattorney.com
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