Abbi's Timeline

The Columbia Institution was one of the first institutions to give an education for students with disabilities at the college level, because of this they were able to give college degrees. This was incredibly important for special education history because it was the first opportunity for students with disabilities to go to school after high school and give the potential to graduate with a college degree!

The Council for Exceptional Children was the first council to fully back special education children and all children with disabilities. It is also considered one of the biggest special ed advocacy groups. This is important to special education history because they were the first people to really step up and make sure all students with disabilities were receiving a free and public education!

Brown vs Board was a big accomplishment for schools during this time, including special education. This case ruled out the "separate but equal" idea in schools and ruled segregation in schools unconstitutional. This in turn put segregation in schools to an end and required districts to allow all students no matter the race, or disability in to a school to get an education! This was big for the special education history because it was the first big step to making sure that students with disabilities were allowed in schools to get an education and not turned away.

This association was the first non-profit association that came together and realized how unfairly students with disabilities were being treated and recognized some of the services that students needed to be able to be successful in the classroom. This is important to special education history because this group came together with no expectation of getting paid to make sure all students with disabilities had the same opportunities as those without disabilities to be successful in life. Without this association we may not have some of the services we do now for special education students.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was created to give grants to public schools to be able to provide an education to students with disabilities. This was important to special education history because shortly after this was when the Public Law was passed that required all schools to provide a Free and Public Education to all students with disabilities which allowed for these schools to then receive grants as well!

The LRE ensures that all students with a disability that have an IEP and or have a 504 plan are required to be in a general education classroom as much as their disability allows. We are unable to hold a student out of a general ed classroom if their disability allows them to be in one! This is big for special education history because it allows disabled students to still have social interaction and be with a general education teacher regardless of a disability. This also meant that general education teachers were not able to turn students with a disability away just because they didn't want the stress of it in the classroom.

Public Law 94-142 mandated federal funding for special education. This was important because it was the start to requiring schools to provide a free and pubic education to disabled children. This law also required schools to educate disabled students in the Least Restrictive Environment as well. This is still important to special education today because it ensures that ALL students are able to receive an education to no cost of their family and also ensures that they will receive the best education possible with the disability they have.

This act was very important as this not only protected people with disabilities from discrimination in school, but in all aspects of life. This includes school, work, jobs, buses, or anywhere that is open to the public. Without this act people would have been able to turn someone with a disability away from a job because of their disability even if they were capable of doing the job! This was so important to the special education history because it protects those with disabilities from any segregation after they have graduated from school and pretty much for the rest of their life!

The idea of the No Child Left Behind Act passed in 2001 was to try to close the achievement gap between certain groups of students such as special education, English second language learners, etc. and those that were very successful. This was important to the special education history because, teachers and districts were required to test students and send it scores to ensure that all students were meeting standards and if districts were not they risked losing funding.

The Every Student Succeeds Act is an upgrade/update to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This act ensures that all students, including those with disabilities are being held to high academic standards that will in turn help them later on in life. All schools are required to show this by assessments to prove that disabled students are still meeting standards to be successful! This is important to special education history because it means that students with disabilities are still being expected to meet standards in school, not just those without disabilities!