Legislative History

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), first passed in 1975 as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, is a United States (U.S.) law that provides federal funds to the states for education of students with disabilities. It sets out regulations to protect the rights of, and provides for, the individual educational and related service needs of infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities. The 1975 legislation represented the first allocation of public resources for schools to provide free appropriate public education (FAPE) and related services, including mental health, to youth with disabilities. It also established due process in providing these services. IDEA, renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act in 1990, was most recently reauthorized by Congress in 2004. IDEA today serves more than 6.8 million students and 200,000 eligible infants and toddlers with $12.4 billion in federal funds authorized for 2006 and planned increases of approximately $2.3 billion per year through 2011.

Since 1975, legislative changes have been directed at the improvement of educational, social and post-educational outcomes of youth with disabilities. Throughout the history of the legislation, however, the fundamental principles have remained the same: to ensure that (a) all children with disabilities receive free appropriate public education with services tailored to individual special needs; (b) children with disabilities and their families’ rights are protected; (c) states receive assistance to provide education for all children with disabilities; and (d) the quality of services provided to children with disabilities are assessed. Several significant changes have been made, which include the expansion of FAPE to preschool aged children with disabilities in 1986, the 1990 change of name to Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, and the restructuring of IDEA into Parts A through D in 1997.

In 2001, President George W. Bush established the Commission on Excellence in Special Education to collect information and study issues related to federal, state, and local special education programs and subsequently recommend policies for improving the educational performance of students with disabilities. As a result, the Commission recommended three major changes to IDEA: a focus on results-based accountability; the prioritization and implementation of school-based prevention approaches; and more flexibility in education spending to increase integration between special and general education. Congress incorporated these changes and reauthorized IDEA in 2004, with an effective date of July 1, 2005, as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004).

Specifics of the Legislation

Special education and related services for eligible children and youth are provided through public funding at no charge to children and their families. IDEA requires that states and schools identify and evaluate all youth with disabilities, regardless of the severity of the disability. Special education consists of unique individualized services that assist children in meeting educational standards set forth by state and local educational agencies for the general population of children without disabilities. For schools to receive federal funds, services must meet the standards set forth in IDEA regulations and State Education Agency (SEA) requirements, and must include an individualized educational program (IEP) for all eligible children.

IDEA legislation contains four main sections labeled Parts A-D. Part A, General Provisions, includes regulations pertaining to IEP’s, therapy, behavioral therapy, hearing/vision screening, related services, handicapped services, testing and evaluation and assistive technology. Part B, Assistance for Education of All Children with Disabilities, goes into greater depth about the regulations regarding school-aged children with disabilities. Part B covers specifics related to funding, state eligibility, eligibility determinations, educational placements, IEP’s, procedural safeguards, monitoring, technical assistance, administration, and pre-school grants. Part C, Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities, covers similar specific details for children from birth to 2 years old. Part D, National Activities to Improve Education of Children and Disabilities, focuses primarily on distributing findings from funded grant projects under IDEA.

To receive provisions under the law one must be identified as having a disability, which is defined as having a mental retardation diagnosis; a hearing impairment or deafness; a speech or language impairment; a visual impairment, including blindness; emotional disturbance; an orthopedic impairment; autism; traumatic brain injury or other health impairment; a specific learning disability; deaf-blindness or multiple disabilities. In addition, children aged 3 through 9 may be eligible for services if they meet SEA developmental delays criteria and children birth through age 2 may be eligible for services under Part C of IDEA.

If parents or public agencies suspect that a child has a disability that affects educational performance, they can request an evaluation. Individual evaluations are conducted with parental consent to determine whether and what type of special educational services may be required. Evaluations must assess all areas related to the suspected disability and can include evaluation of their health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general intelligence, academic performance, communicative status, and motor abilities. IDEA mandates that the following procedures are followed in the evaluation process: (a) multiple assessments are used to determine if a disability is present, (b) evaluation tools are employed that do not discriminate based on race and/or culture, (c) evaluations are administered in the child’s native language, and (d) materials and procedures are selected to measure the extent of a disability and not reflect a child’s English proficiency. If a disability is present, an IEP, an educational program that is designed to meet each child’s unique needs, must be created. The IEP specifically outlines a student’s performance level, deficits, goals to be achieved, and what accommodations and interventions are planned to achieve the goals. Parents, under the law, are provided every opportunity to participate in their child’s IEP, which includes the development of the IEP, placement decisions and continual involvement in the services provided to their child.

Special education instruction can occur in regular classrooms, special classes, special schools, at home, and in hospitals and institutions as long as they are provided in the least restrictive environment possible. A guiding principle in special education is to maximize integration into regular class settings as much as is appropriate. In making decisions about consequences for disciplinary problems, the disability must be taken into account. In addition to special education, children also are eligible for related services such as speech therapy and parent counseling.

Successes and Challenges of IDEA

Since IDEA was enacted, access to education and the quality of instruction has significantly improved for students with disabilities. Before 1975, it is estimated that only 1 in 5 children with a disability received public education. Now there are 6.8 million children and youth receiving special education services. The national assessment of special education services ordered by the 1997 reauthorization of IDEA provides ongoing information about the participation and performance of students with disabilities in the system. Most students in special education attend regular schools and approximately half are in regular classrooms for most of the day.

Over the last decade, inclusion in regular classrooms, high school graduation rates, college enrollment, and family participation in schools have risen for students with disabilities and dropout rates have decreased. Post-school employment levels for individuals who received special education are twice as high as for those who did not receive services prior to enactment of IDEA. However, outcomes in special education are better for some groups than others. For instance, the highest dropout rates have been found for students with emotional and behavioral disorders and the lowest for those with autism, hearing and visual impairments.

Throughout the history of IDEA, there have been concerns about the disproportionate diagnosis of disabilities across gender and ethnicity lines. For example, boys are identified as having disabilities at greater rates than girls across all age groups. African Americans and students in poverty are also overrepresented in special education, with the former group demonstrating particularly high percentages in the categories of mental retardation, developmental delay and emotional disturbance. African Americans are more likely to be in restrictive educational settings and are more likely to be suspended or expelled from school.

The under-identification of emotional and behavioral disorders in schools is noted by some as a serious problem. Research has shown that there are large numbers of youth with untreated mental disorders and that many are either failing to qualify for services under IDEA or they are misidentified. Given that youth with emotional and behavior problems have high dropout rates even when they have been identified, it is critical that this group receive appropriate and effective interventions.

Beginning in 1997, IDEA’s regulations were expanded to address the needs of youth whose behaviors interfere with learning. The amendments required provisions for behavioral assessments and positive behavioral intervention strategies and supports. Today, three fourths of the students are classified as having learning disabilities or speech/language impairments as their primary disabilities.

IDEA legislation has been enacted to address both under-identification and over-identification of disabilities. IDEA 2004 requires states to review and alter any policies and procedures leading to the disproportionate number of students with disabilities in respect to identification, placement and disciplinary actions. In addition, states now are required to provide comprehensive, coordinated, early-intervention programs for children in groups that are determined to be overrepresented. Finally, research is being conducted presently to investigate the causes of overrepresentation of minority groups in the areas of diagnosis, discipline and placement.

As more children are identified with special needs and the cost of services increases, policymakers are focusing on school-wide approaches and early intervening strategies as a means to proactively address the academic and behavioral needs of children. One critical change in IDEA 2004 is that it allows for the provision of Early Intervening Services (EIS) or pre-referral services to students in kindergarten through grade 12, with an emphasis on kindergarten through grade 3. EIS can be provided to students who are not identified as having a disability but who are in need of additional academic and/or behavioral supports to achieve success at school. States are allowed to use up to 15% of IDEA funds and other funds to implement EIS. The introduction of EIS means that, for the first time, IDEA funds can be directed toward the general education population with an increased focus on prevention. It is hoped that the provision of academic and behavioral support through EIS will reduce special education referrals and eventually decrease the costs of special education.

There has been criticism of the federal government for not funding IDEA at the authorized level throughout its history. Congress was authorized to contribute up to 40% of the national average per pupil expenditure for each special education student. However, in 2006, states and school districts are receiving less than 18% of this authorized sum. Although federal funding has increased over the years, costs for special education have risen at a higher rate as the range of disabilities and numbers of students served have expanded. States and local school districts have struggled to fund the balance thus resulting in cuts in regular education and less ability to fund early intervening services for infants and toddlers.

See also: Disproportionality in special education ; Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 ; Multicultural issues in special education ; Special education