2. Critical Legislative and Federal Initiatives NCLB (No Child Left Behind) IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) FAPE (Free appropriate public education) IEP (Individualized education program) Section 504 Americans with Disabilities Act
3. NCLB (No Child Left Behind) Was put into effect in 2001. Brought about statewide accountability systems that are based on state standards; testing; and evaluations of schools yearly. Allows parents to move their child to different schools with in a district. Allows schools flexibility in the use of federal education funds. Put reading first. Set the goal to have only highly qualified teachers in schools.
4. IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) Was originally called Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA, Public Law 94-142). It provides incentives for schools to serve preschool children who have disabilities. Had states collect info & addresses for students who are leaving school to go to post-school. It was reauthorized (PL 101-457) and mandated services for children 3 to 5. It also provided attorney’s fees for due process or court cases where parents prevailed. It was reauthorized (PL 101-476) and added autism and traumatic brain injury to IDEA. The name was changed to the IDEA, and required schools to initiate transition services before students turned 16. It was again reauthorized (PL 105-17) and required schools to start the transition planning before the age of 14 for students and include behavior intervention plans.
5. FAPE (Free appropriate public education) Requires schools to provide special education and services necessary to meet the needs of students with special learning requirements. Schools are also required to provide transportation and services such as speech therapy or physical therapy that are necessary to ensure an appropriate education.
6. IEP (Individualized education program) This is a plan that would show the student’s behavior, academic goals and objectives that should be reached. These goals must be achievable and measurable. IEPs must also contain a transition plan for students.
7. Section 504 A law that states that it is illegal to deny participation in activities, benefits or programs; or to in any way discriminate against someone with a disability solely because of the disability. Any student that has physical or mental impairments that substantially limits one or more major life activities can qualify for Section 504.
8. Americans with Disabilities Act Means that no persons of any age will be discriminated against in the areas of transportation, public access, local government, or telecommunications. It protects people with disabilities who are “otherwise qualified” from discrimination.
9. Key Elements of Special Education in Schools Today Standards-Based Education Student Accountability Inclusion RTI UDL Differentiated Instruction Evidence-Based Practices Diversity consideration
10. Standards-Based Education Everything that is taught to students must be tied into the state-derived content and performance standards that now exist in almost all states in the subject areas of language arts, math, social studies, and science. This ensures that students can read, write, compute, problem solve, think critically, apply technology, and communicate across these subjects.
11. Student Accountability The NCLB Act requires students in grades 3-8 to standardized tests. Most students who have disabilities can take these test. Some students will take these test with the help of accommodations. Some students will be exempt from taking these tests, but will still be accountable through a different type of assessment.
12. Inclusion This means that children with special needs are put into the regular classroom for some or all of the day with or without some resources.
13. RTI RTI is a process that utilizes all resources within a school in a collaborative manner to create a single, well-integrated system of instruction and interventions guided by student outcome data. RTI is a three tier process of providing high-quality, research-based instruction and interventions at varying levels of intensity to students who struggle with learning and behavior. The interventions are matched to student need, and progress is closely monitored at each level of intervention to make decisions about further instruction and/or interventions.
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15. The approach is proactive, and uses new technologies & electronics. It also looks at students with disabilities in a new way.
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17. Evidence-Based Practices Teachers are to use practices of science that have proven to work. Researchers observe, intervene, analyze, and then write abut a specific aspect of instructional intervention. Researchers take the how, why, and what conditions of instructional strategies and generalize them for the population of students.
18. Diversity consideration Every school has a diverse population of students. Diversity is very dimensional. Each student has different needs, and learns different ways. Teachers must understand these diversities and have the skills to address these needs in order to teach them.
19. Works Cited: Polloway, Edward Al, Patton, James R., & Serna, Loretta. (2008). Strategies for teaching learners with special needs. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
