Public Law reflection

Public Law reflection

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The National Center for Education Statistics (2011) indicates that there are over seven million special needs students between age 3 to 21 in the United States’ schools. 14% of these students are in public schools. Because students with special needs have very distinct needs, they are reliant on a teaching environment specifically tailored to their needs. With this in mind, the schools in every state have gone through great evolution over the years to create room and approaches for educating students with special needs. According to Greer, (2019), one evident change has been the transition towards an inclusive classroom structure that gives students with special needs the opportunity to learn in an environment where special education is offered together with their peers. This therefore means that all teachers need to have good understanding of special education policies and laws. There are several laws that have been put in place and have played a very huge role in helping the United States shape their school system. In this paper, I will discuss one distinctive act that has created a great impact in ensuring inclusivity of the special needs children in the education system.

Education for All Handicapped Children Act

In the early 1970’s, many students living with disabilities struggled in the classrooms as the services to assist them in learning were not availed to them. This however took a positive turn in when President Ford Gerald, approved and signed into law the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, in 1975 (Zettel & Ballard, 1979). This Act outlined the actions that needed to be taken to ensure that all students with special needs are provided with quality education. All the states were required to follow the required mandates as per the law. The first mandate was zero reject. The law of the United States indicates that every child is entitled to Free and Appropriate Public Education, also known as FAPE. This thus means that no school should send a student away from school for having special needs. For instance, if a student is on a wheelchair and the school they are admitted to doesn’t have the wheelchair ramp, they will have to build one or find a way to ensure the child accesses all the facilities in the school with ease.

The second mandate is non-discriminatory evaluation and identification. Before this act was signed into law, many students had not been identified and evaluated. The law thus mandates that every school in every state puts in place a program that ensures the identification and evaluation of the students who might be in need of extra help (Colley, 1981). This process is to be done without any form of discrimination. The third mandate was the individualized education program. This is a formally written plan which outlines how the school plans to meet the needs of every student. For instance, a student with disability having a problem with grasping what is taught in class might have a plan made involving extra classes twice every week to help them catch up with the rest.

A least restrictive environment is another mandate. Before the Act, all the students with special needs were placed in different schools or different classrooms. This way, it was hard for them to interact with the other students who did not have any disability, therefore creating a negative impact on their self-esteem. This act therefore required that every school provides students with the least restrictive environment, while at the same time meeting their needs (Roach, 1977). The final and most crucial mandate was the due process. This was the checks and balances that needed to be carried out to ensure the special needs children together with their families are protected and they can have recourse in case they feel the needs of the child have not been met. This include things like, keeping the information of the child confidential.

Conclusion

Whether one is living with disabilities or not or whether they are teachers, it is important that they grasp the special education laws. These laws ensure that the rights of the special needs students together with their families are preserved and as well help in the integration of special needs students into the society without them feeling segregated. Although these laws might differ a bit from state to state, the acts that were passed by the congress help in standardizing the treatment of students with special needs all over the nation.

References

Colley, R. (1981). The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) A Statutory and Legal Analysis. JL & Educ., 10, 137.

Greer, A. (2019). Increasing Inclusivity in the Classroom. Centre for Teaching, Vanderbilt University.

Roach, R. (1977). The Least Restrictive Environment Section of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975: A Legislative History and an Analysis. Gonz. L. Rev., 13, 717.

United States. Office of Educational Research, Improvement. Center for Education Statistics, & Institute of Education Sciences (US). (2011). Digest of education statistics. US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Education Division, National Center for Education Statistics.

Zettel, J. J., & Ballard, J. (1979). The education for all handicapped children act of 1975 PL 94-142: Its history, origins, and concepts. Journal of Education, 161(3), 5-22.