Title: AN IDEA SCHOOLS CAN USE: LESSONS FROM SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGISLATION
Abstract: I. INTRODUCTION The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (the IDEA) (1) has been a part of our public education system since 1975. The IDEA was enacted in response to the exclusion and inadequate education of children with disabilities. (2) The IDEA is widely viewed as having opened the doors to education to previously excluded children. (3) The Act also assisted schools in identifying children who have disabilities and providing them with educational services. (4) Today over six million children receive some kind of education services; about thirteen percent of a total school population of forty-eight million children in school. (5) Reform of public education is not a new topic for public discussion. Shifts in educational philosophy and calls for change have characterized education since the beginning of the common school. (6) Likewise, education has been a subject of scrutiny since its inception. (7) During the summer of 2001, as Congress labored to pass new standards for public education, the Secretary of Education under President George W. Bush's administration resisted efforts to increase funding for education, asserting that the IDEA needed reforms that money could not address. (8) This article argues that the resources already available through the IDEA can, if used inclusively, help provide a better education to every school child. They can bring personnel, training, and support into the classroom that will give each child more individual attention and more chances to learn. The increasing number of children identified as needing education should be viewed not as a failure of education, but as a warning about the inability of traditional classrooms to meet the needs of many children. There are lessons from the IDEA that can inform educational policy for all children. The commitment to an appropriate education is costly, but education resources and expertise about how to meet the individual educational needs of children can be shared and put to work school-wide. One size does not fit all; children learn in different ways and we must be willing to teach children with an array of strategies and techniques that build their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses. We should not square off and fight over funds or services, playing tug of war between and education or regular education kids and special education kids. Instead, we should use available funds in inclusive ways, and recognize that most children with disabilities are already members of our classrooms today. We need to fund all education adequately to avoid disadvantaging one child in order to serve another. Moreover, the principles that shape the IDEA should be preserved and expanded. A focus on the individual child's needs, parental involvement, enforceable rights, and a range of services should be part of every school child's life, not only those designated as special. Until this occurs, though, it will ill-serve education to withdraw resources from those served under the IDEA in the name of either equity or excellence. (9) II. THE PRINCIPLES BEHIND THE IDEA The IDEA embodies several policy choices about the best way to provide students with disabilities access to an appropriate, publicly funded education. (10) These can be summarized as follows: 1. Tailoring educational services to the individual needs of the child. (11) 2. Requiring that parents have a role in planning the child's educational program. (12) 3. Offering a range of different placements and ways to deliver educational services. (13) 4. Educating the child in the most integrated environment appropriate for that child's learning. (14) 5. Treating the delivery of an appropriate education as an enforceable right. (15) 6. Offering clear and known routes for parents to resolve disputes with school districts. …
Publication Year: 2001
Publication Date: 2001-12-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 6
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