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DINF Web Posted on December 15, 1997


Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1995


Individuals With Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1995

How these Amendments Affect You and Your Child:
A Guide for Families

U.S. Department of Education


History and Purpose of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

Since 1975, IDEA has ensured access to education for children with disabilities. IDEA is designed to ensure that each child with a disability has a free appropriate public education; that each child's education is determined on an individualized basis and designed to meet his or her unique needs; that each child's education is provided in the least restrictive environment; and that the rights of each child and family are ensured through procedural safeguards.

IDEA has helped millions of disabled children finish school, go to college, get jobs, and participate fully in society. However, academic achievement, graduation rates and employment rates of disabled students are still lower than those of their non-disabled peers.

The U.S. Department of Education is proposing amendments that build on two decades of research and experience to meet the needs of the classroom of today. These amendments mark the first substantial revisions to the law since Congress enacted P.L. 94-142, the basis of IDEA, in 1975.

These proposals are based on six key principles that reflect our mission to ensure that students with disabilities have the opportunity to learn challenging materials in classrooms with well-prepared teachers. What follows is an explanation of how the specific proposals under each of these principles will help your child succeed.

PRINCIPLE I:

Align IDEA with State and Local Education Reform Efforts So That Students with Disabilities Can Benefit from Them

  • Connecting IDEA with educational improvements occurring in schools around the nation will help ensure that your child will be included in overall school-improvement activities.

  • Your child's special education program is more likely to be the supports and services your child needs, rather than a separate program and separate place to educate students.

PRINCIPLE II:

Improve Results for Students with Disabilities Through Higher Expectations and Access to the General Curriculum

  • Your child's Individualized Education Plan (IEP) will be an important tool for focusing on participation in the general curriculum and evaluating your child's progress and the effectiveness of his or her educational program.

  • The IEP team will include you, your child's special education teacher, and at least one of the regular education teachers who works with your child.

  • As a member of the IEP team, your input in developing the IEP and determining measurable annual objectives will be an important consideration in the process.

  • You will receive regular reports on your child's progress, by means such as report cards, at least as often as the regular reporting cycle of the school.

  • The IEP will describe the special education, related services and program modifications your child needs to meet annual objectives and participate in the general curriculum and extra-curricular activities, and it will justify the extent, if any, to which your child will not be educated with non-disabled students.

  • Beginning at age 14, transition planning for your child will consider a course of study and supports needed to move toward postsecondary education, employment or other meaningful activities.

  • Your child will participate in state and district-wide assessments and the results of state assessments will be publicly reported, thus ensuring more accountability for educational results.

PRINCIPLE III:

Address Individual Needs in the Least Restrictive Environment

  • Your child's initial evaluation and three-year re-evaluation are more likely to gather information that will be helpful to you and your child's teacher, such as what instructional techniques will be effective for your child.

  • Once it is determined that your child has a disability, the currently required re-evaluation would no longer have to include a full battery of tests to determine whether your child continues to have a disability if you and the school agree that this determination is unnecessary.

  • Your state would be able to use eligibility criteria that are less categorical in order to focus more on student needs than student labels, while ensuring that all students who are currently eligible remain eligible.

  • Current procedural safeguards and child-find requirements will be maintained.

  • It will be easier for your child's school to provide appropriate special education services because excessive paperwork now required to track the use of IDEA funds in the regular classroom would be eliminated.

  • Changes in IDEA funding formula would facilitate pre-referral activities and would discourage the over-identification of children for special education, thus helping schools better serve students.

PRINCIPLE IV:

Provide Families and Teachers -- Those Closest to Students -- with the Knowledge and Training to Effectively Support Students' Learning

  • As a parent, you will get better, more useful information about your rights under the law.

  • As a parent, you will be included in the decision-making about your child's educational placement.

  • Mediation will be offered to you as an option for resolving any complaints you may have with your child's school, and the option of requesting a hearing will be maintained.

  • State and community partnerships to meet the educational, health, mental health and social-service needs of children and their families will be promoted.

  • A Parent Training and Information Center will exist in every state to provide information and training for all families.

  • Current knowledge about research and best practices will reach parents, teachers and administrators through a comprehensive federal research and technical assistance program.

  • With input from parents, educators and others, your state may develop a state improvement plan that addresses the need to improve the performance of students with disabilities, with emphasis on professional development, and receive funding to implement the plan.

PRINCIPLE V:

Focus Resources on Teaching and Learning

  • Energy and resources can be focused on activities with clear educational benefit, due to the elimination of unnecessary paperwork requirements.

  • State planning will be focused on improved results for your child and other students with disabilities.

  • The ability of your child's school to maintain safe and disciplined classrooms will be enhanced.

  • Schools will be allowed to move a student who has brought a firearm or other dangerous weapon to school to an alternative educational setting for up to 45 days, and hearing officers will be permitted to authorize the removal for up to 45 days to an alternative educational setting of a student who is substantially likely to injure himself or others, during which time the IEP team can consider appropriate services and placement for the child.

PRINCIPLE VI:

Strengthen Early Intervention To Help Ensure That Every Child Starts School Ready To Learn

  • Infants and toddlers who are at risk of developmental delay will be more likely to receive services under the Part H comprehensive system for early intervention because states will be able to provide at-risk infants and toddlers with service coordination without having to provide a full array of Part H services.

  • Less variation may exist from state to state in the definition of "developmental delay" as a result of the recommendations of a panel of experts convened to propose a definition of the term.


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