20 U.S.C. § 1400 : US Code - Section 1400: Short title; findings; purposes

Search 20 U.S.C. § 1400 : US Code - Section 1400: Short title; findings; purposes

(a) Short title
This chapter may be cited as the "Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act".
(b) Omitted
(c) Findings
Congress finds the following:
(1) 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 educational results for children
with disabilities is an essential element of our national policy
of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participation,
independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals
with disabilities.
(2) Before the date of enactment of the Education for All
Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-142), the
educational needs of millions of children with disabilities were
not being fully met because -
(A) the children did not receive appropriate educational
services;
(B) the children were excluded entirely from the public
school system and from being educated with their peers;
(C) undiagnosed disabilities prevented the children from
having a successful educational experience; or
(D) a lack of adequate resources within the public school
system forced families to find services outside the public
school system.
(3) Since the enactment and implementation of the Education for
All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, this chapter has been
successful in ensuring children with disabilities and the
families of such children access to a free appropriate public
education and in improving educational results for children with
disabilities.
(4) However, the implementation of this chapter has been
impeded by low expectations, and an insufficient focus on
applying replicable research on proven methods of teaching and
learning for children with disabilities.
(5) Almost 30 years of research and experience has demonstrated
that the education of children with disabilities can be made more
effective by -
(A) having high expectations for such children and ensuring
their access to the general education curriculum in the regular
classroom, to the maximum extent possible, in order to -
(i) meet developmental goals and, to the maximum extent
possible, the challenging expectations that have been
established for all children; and
(ii) be prepared to lead productive and independent adult
lives, to the maximum extent possible;
(B) strengthening the role and responsibility of parents and
ensuring that families of such children have meaningful
opportunities to participate in the education of their children
at school and at home;
(C) coordinating this chapter with other local, educational
service agency, State, and Federal school improvement efforts,
including improvement efforts under the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 [20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.], in
order to ensure that such children benefit from such efforts
and that special education can become a service for such
children rather than a place where such children are sent;
(D) providing appropriate special education and related
services, and aids and supports in the regular classroom, to
such children, whenever appropriate;
(E) supporting high-quality, intensive preservice preparation
and professional development for all personnel who work with
children with disabilities in order to ensure that such
personnel have the skills and knowledge necessary to improve
the academic achievement and functional performance of children
with disabilities, including the use of scientifically based
instructional practices, to the maximum extent possible;
(F) providing incentives for whole-school approaches,
scientifically based early reading programs, positive
behavioral interventions and supports, and early intervening
services to reduce the need to label children as disabled in
order to address the learning and behavioral needs of such
children;
(G) focusing resources on teaching and learning while
reducing paperwork and requirements that do not assist in
improving educational results; and
(H) supporting the development and use of technology,
including assistive technology devices and assistive technology
services, to maximize accessibility for children with
disabilities.
(6) While States, local educational agencies, and educational
service agencies are primarily responsible for providing an
education for all children with disabilities, it is in the
national interest that the Federal Government have a supporting
role in assisting State and local efforts to educate children
with disabilities in order to improve results for such children
and to ensure equal protection of the law.
(7) A more equitable allocation of resources is essential for
the Federal Government to meet its responsibility to provide an
equal educational opportunity for all individuals.
(8) Parents and schools should be given expanded opportunities
to resolve their disagreements in positive and constructive ways.
(9) Teachers, schools, local educational agencies, and States
should be relieved of irrelevant and unnecessary paperwork
burdens that do not lead to improved educational outcomes.
(10)(A) The Federal Government must be responsive to the
growing needs of an increasingly diverse society.
(B) America's ethnic profile is rapidly changing. In 2000, 1 of
every 3 persons in the United States was a member of a minority
group or was limited English proficient.
(C) Minority children comprise an increasing percentage of
public school students.
(D) With such changing demographics, recruitment efforts for
special education personnel should focus on increasing the
participation of minorities in the teaching profession in order
to provide appropriate role models with sufficient knowledge to
address the special education needs of these students.
(11)(A) The limited English proficient population is the
fastest growing in our Nation, and the growth is occurring in
many parts of our Nation.
(B) Studies have documented apparent discrepancies in the
levels of referral and placement of limited English proficient
children in special education.
(C) Such discrepancies pose a special challenge for special
education in the referral of, assessment of, and provision of
services for, our Nation's students from non-English language
backgrounds.
(12)(A) Greater efforts are needed to prevent the
intensification of problems connected with mislabeling and high
dropout rates among minority children with disabilities.
(B) More minority children continue to be served in special
education than would be expected from the percentage of minority
students in the general school population.
(C) African-American children are identified as having mental
retardation and emotional disturbance at rates greater than their
White counterparts.
(D) In the 1998-1999 school year, African-American children
represented just 14.8 percent of the population aged 6 through
21, but comprised 20.2 percent of all children with disabilities.
(E) Studies have found that schools with predominately White
students and teachers have placed disproportionately high numbers
of their minority students into special education.
(13)(A) As the number of minority students in special education
increases, the number of minority teachers and related services
personnel produced in colleges and universities continues to
decrease.
(B) The opportunity for full participation by minority
individuals, minority organizations, and Historically Black
Colleges and Universities in awards for grants and contracts,
boards of organizations receiving assistance under this chapter,
peer review panels, and training of professionals in the area of
special education is essential to obtain greater success in the
education of minority children with disabilities.
(14) As the graduation rates for children with disabilities
continue to climb, providing effective transition services to
promote successful post-school employment or education is an
important measure of accountability for children with
disabilities.
(d) Purposes
The purposes of this chapter are -
(1)(A) to ensure that all children with disabilities have
available to them a free appropriate public education that
emphasizes special education and related services designed to
meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education,
employment, and independent living;
(B) to ensure that the rights of children with disabilities and
parents of such children are protected; and
(C) to assist States, localities, educational service agencies,
and Federal agencies to provide for the education of all children
with disabilities;
(2) to assist States in the implementation of a statewide,
comprehensive, coordinated, multidisciplinary, interagency system
of early intervention services for infants and toddlers with
disabilities and their families;
(3) to ensure that educators and parents have the necessary
tools to improve educational results for children with
disabilities by supporting system improvement activities;
coordinated research and personnel preparation; coordinated
technical assistance, dissemination, and support; and technology
development and media services; and
(4) to assess, and ensure the effectiveness of, efforts to
educate children with disabilities.