Background

Reviewing the past twenty years, it is important to recognize the positive impact that IDEA has had on the lives of students with disabilities. Significant progress has been made and opportunities are now available to children with disabilities that were unavailable twenty, or even ten, years ago.

Conditions Before IDEA

Thirty years ago, only one-fifth of all United States students with disabilities were being educated. By 1970, only seven States were providing education to more than one-half of their students with disabilities, and many States had laws specifically excluding certain students, such as those who were blind, deaf, emotionally disturbed, or "feeble-minded" (Weintraub, Abeson & Braddock, 1971). Before the enactment of IDEA, one million children with disabilities were excluded from school altogether, and another 3.5 million did not receive appropriate programs within the public schools (Rothestein, 1990; Zettel & Ballard, 1982). Still others were housed in institutions such as the Willowbrook State School for the Mentally Retarded in New York and the Pennhurst State School and Hospital in Pennsylvania, which failed to address their educational needs.

Before IDEA, special education practices were inconsistent and haphazard. Through the use of questionable tests and procedures, students could be labeled "special education" and placed in dead-end programs; frequently, too, students from different cultures and language backgrounds were inappropriately labeled "mentally retarded" and placed in special education. Parents were often not involved in any of these decisions and sometimes did not know that their children had been removed from regular classrooms.

The Positive Impact of IDEA

Today, one of the basic goals of the law -- ensuring that children with disabilities are not excluded from school -- has been largely achieved. In fact, about 12 percent of elementary and secondary students receive special education services (see Figure 1).

Many of these students are being educated in regular classrooms (see Figure 2). Today, families can have a positive vision for their child's future. They can participate in a planning process for their child, both in school and in the community, that leads toward a future with higher education, employment opportunities, community living options, and increased degrees of independence.

Increases in Educational Attainment and Employment

Because of IDEA, during the past 20 years, results for students with disabilities have improved dramatically. From 1984-85 to 1991-92, the percent of students with disabilities completing high school increased from 55 to 64 percent. As Figure 3 shows, high school graduates, in turn, have a much greater likelihood of being employed than those without high school degrees, particularly those students who enrolled in occupationally oriented education programs. Graduates out of school up to five years report employment rates about 18 percent higher than school dropouts.

In addition, more students are going on to college. Fourteen percent of students with disabilities who have been out of high school two years have attended postsecondary school in the previous year (Wagner et al., 1993). The percentage of college freshmen reporting disabilities has more than tripled since 1978 (see Figure 4). Overall today, 44 percent of all adults with a disability have completed some college or received a degree, compared to only 29 percent in 1986.

Rates of employment are higher as a result of increased education under IDEA. Recent high school graduates with disabilities (who have received services under IDEA) have an employment rate twice that of the overall population of individuals with disabilities, most of whom did not have the benefit of IDEA.

Additional Benefits

The number of children served in costly State institutions has declined significantly. For example, there has been a 62 percent reduction in the number of children with mental retardation placed in residential facilities between 1978 and 1987. Today, just over one percent of all children with disabilities live in institutions. This has led to significant benefits to individuals with mental retardation who live and work in our society, and to society as a whole.

Our research and understanding of how to improve educational results for children with disabilities also improved significantly over the past twenty years. As a result of research supported by IDEA, demonstrations, dissemination, and technical assistance, there exists an important knowledge base regarding effective strategies for teaching and learning for infants, preschoolers, children, and youth with disabilities -- including minority and culturally and linguistically diverse children. Many States, school districts, and individual schools are translating that knowledge into improved practices.

IDEA has been a primary catalyst for this progress and must continue to open doors for people with disabilities. 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 the educational performance of children with disabilities is an essential element of empowering individuals with disabilities to maximize employment, economic self-sufficiency, independence, and integration into society.

Why We Need Change

While there has been great progress, significant challenges remain. Now that children with disabilities are in school, the critical issue is to place greater emphasis on improving student performance. Despite progress, educational achievement for students with disabilities remains less than satisfactory. The students served under IDEA are very diverse and represent a broad range of abilities. Too many students, without appropriate interventions or supplementary aids and services, are failing courses and dropping out of school. When appropriate interventions are not provided, these students too often get in trouble with the law. Enrollment in postsecondary education is still too low. And, while employment rates are improving, they are still unsatisfactory. Results for students with learning disabilities and emotional disabilities are particularly poor--and these students are approximately 60 percent of all students served under IDEA. Moreover, children from minority backgrounds are often inappropriately identified or served. In some cases, children with disabilities are not identified and served. In other cases, particularly with African-American children, students are over-identified and placed in overly restrictive settings.

The challenges that face students with disabilities and their families often require services from multiple agencies and providers. While the law recognizes the importance of interagency collaboration, more needs to be done to encourage better working relationships among schools and other community programs, resources, and agencies to meet the needs of children with disabilities and their families.

Improving educational results for children with disabilities requires a continued focus on full implementation of IDEA in order to ensure that each student's educational services and placement are determined on an individual basis, according to the unique needs of the child, and provided in the least restrictive environment. This means that we must focus on teaching and learning, utilizing individualized approaches, improving developmental and educational results, and ensuring that students with disabilities graduate from high school prepared for independent living and work or continued education. We must build on the experience and research developed in the past 20 years. As we know more about how children learn, we know that all students with disabilities, given the opportunity, can achieve more than we ever believed possible. It is our responsibility, within the framework and the spirit of the law, to provide this opportunity.

We also know, after 20 years, that there is no quick or easy fix. Hoping that the right thing will happen is not sufficient. In this reauthorization, we have the opportunity to improve IDEA to ensure both that the fundamental objectives of the law are more likely to be achieved and that the existing rights and protections for children and their families are preserved and maintained.

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