Hello, I'm Dr. Brent Daigle with the Tiff College of Education at Mercer University. Today I will discuss a brief overview of major historical events within the field of special education. In the November 1998 edition of Remedial and Special Education, Mitchell explains that public education is often viewed as a birthright for those in the United States. He adds, a common misconception regarding public education is that it is guaranteed by the federal constitution, when in fact...
Education is the business of the states. The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution implies that education is a responsibility of the state government.
Rhode Island is the first state in 1840 to pass compulsory attendance laws. By 1918, every state in the Union would have similar requirements. Compulsory attendance statutes, however, did not apply to everyone, particularly students with disabilities and African Americans.
In 1890, the Louisiana State Legislature, by a vote of 23 to 6, Thanks. passed Act 111, otherwise known as the Separate Car Act. This law required equal but separate train car accommodations for blacks and whites.
On June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy, a French Creole from New Orleans, purchased a first-class ticket to take him from New Orleans to Covington on the East Louisiana Railroad. Plessy boarded the white carriage section of the train at the corner of Preston Royal in New Orleans. where the conductor had been informed ahead of time that the light-skinned Plessy was legally African American.
The conductor was told by Plessy that he was in violation of the Separate Car Act, and the conductor had him arrested and charged with violation of the law. The case was brought before John Howard Ferguson. Plessy's lawyers argued on the basis of the 13th and 14th Amendments that their client's rights had been violated. Ferguson ruled that Louisiana was free to regulate such actions and that Plessy was guilty as charged. The Louisiana Supreme Court upheld this decision.
Finally, the case ended in an 8-1 ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States in Plessy v. Ferguson that upheld the constitutionality of separate but equal facilities. Although this case was not specific to public education, it had a profound impact on educational policy for the next 60 years. Following the Plessy decision, students with disabilities were categorically denied access to an education. The Watson case in 1893 gives us an example of the challenges this population faced.
The issue for the court involved the expulsion of a student who the school felt could in no way benefit from an education. The court, supporting the recommendation of the school, held that a child who was weak in mind and could not benefit from instruction, was troublesome to other children, and was unable to take ordinary, decent physical care of himself, should be denied access to school. Twenty years later, there was still little improvement for students with disabilities.
In Beattie v. The Board of Education, The court heard arguments about a student who had a disability that caused him to drool, have involuntary facial contortions, and had speech problems. Although his disability was strictly physical and his intellectual ability was not affected, he was expelled from school because this condition nauseated the teachers and other students. The court upheld the school district's decision to remove the student from the school because of the effect the student had on other students. In 1954, Thurgood Marshall, on behalf of the NAACP, challenged the Plessy ruling in Brown v. the Topeka Board of Education. The case centered around Linda Brown, a third grader from Topeka, Kansas, who lived near Sumner Elementary, which was the school for white students.
She could not, however, attend Sumner. Instead, her father walked with her six blocks each day, part of it through a train switchyard, so that she could attend Monroe Elementary, which was the school for African Americans. The Brown decision was unanimous.
Chief Justice Warren, writing for the opinion of the court, stated, In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, or the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right that must be made available to all on equal terms. He then added, We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place.
Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Yale adds, this decision opened a number of legal avenues for those seeking redress for students with disabilities. In the decades following the Brown decision, we see a series of judicial and legislative victories for students with exceptionalities. The Park v. Pennsylvania case in 1972 established that students with disabilities have a right to a free, appropriate public education, otherwise known as FAPE.
The Mills v. Board of Education case in 1972 extended these protections by requiring schools Provide services regardless of the district's ability to pay. In 1975 President Gerald Ford signed into law the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, EAHCA. This law has been reauthorized and improved over time and it is today that basis for special education rights and services.
Known today as the Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act or simply IDEA, students who meet the criteria for special education services are guaranteed the following six protections. Zero reject, that provided the student qualifies for services there is no disability a school district will not serve. The guarantee of an individualized education program for students ages 3 through 21 with specific goals and objectives unique to each student.
An appropriate evaluation, that multiple evaluations will be carried out both formal and informal to ensure that a student is being assessed in an appropriate way. Procedural safeguards, which allow all decision makers a mechanism, such as due process, to disagree and seek outside input from mediators. Parent and child participation, all decisions are made on a committee basis and parents and students are equal partners in the decision making process for special education services.
And finally, FAPE, or Free Appropriate Public Education, the requirement that all students are educated in an environment that is the least restrictive to meet their needs. We've come a long way from excluding children based on their physical disabilities. When I think of how far we've come, I'm reminded of Robert Frost's poem, Stopping by woods on a snowy evening, indeed, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles... to go before I sleep. But we have promises to keep and miles to go before we sleep and miles to go before we sleep.
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