Abstract
Special education is about educating students with special needs because of their disabilities, such as speech or vision impairment, autism, and orthopedic issues among others. Their condition does not allow them to progress in the normal classroom environment, and so they need special attention. Over the past 20 years, the legal system has evolved to guarantee the inclusion of children with disabilities in the public school system. Various laws have been passed, such as Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHCA) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), to afford the necessary services to special students and ensure that they get an appropriate education. The legal framework for special needs and regular students greatly differ as the former are entitled to additional rights as stated by the federal laws regarding the matter. In addition, it is the local education administrator that monitors the implementation and evaluation of Individualized Education Programs (IEP). Special education laws have transformed the lives of many children with disabilities; however, certain elements still need to be refined. Consequently, there is a need to push for additional funding and increased cooperation among parents and special education teachers.
Introduction
Special education refers to the practice of educating students with special needs due to their physical disabilities or learning difficulties. These disabilities include autism, speech impairment, development delay, vision issues, and orthopedic problems among others. Such students have special requirements that are difficult to satisfy within the normal classroom environment. The advancement seen in the sector of special education cannot be discussed without mentioning the main law entitled, IDEA, which has been active in providing funds to states to help in educating children with disabilities (Javier, 2005). This paper scrutinizes the responses of a special education director to questions, such as the evolution of the legal system as it related to the field of study, the legal framework for special needs students and their regular counterparts in private and public schools, the person tasked with monitoring the implementation and evaluation of IEPs in schools, and the elements of the outlined law that need refinement.
How has the legal system evolved, as it applies to special education, over the past 20 years, and how has that affected the legal framework for special education today?
Undoubtedly, the legal system as it applies to special education has evolved significantly. According to the director, back in the 1960’s, handicapped children were highly discriminated and segregated from public schools, and they were unable to acquire an education with their counterparts not suffering from the same condition. During the time, disability was treated as a disease, and so physically and mentally challenged children were barred from joining others in regular classrooms. Their exclusion was mainly because of their disabilities, making it harder to acquire appropriate education like their typical counterparts. This pushed parents to petition their legislators about the violation of their children’s civil rights. Thereafter, legislation was enacted and passed to include special students in public schools, prohibiting the seclusion of handicapped students in a specific classroom. For instance, in 1975, a new law called IDEA was passed to allow the funding of states to educate special students in regular schools but in self-contained classrooms. However, over the past twenty years, the legal system has been aggressive in ensuring that students with special needs are absorbed in public education accordingly. As a result, these students were gradually moved from self-contained classes to resource classes with regular education classes. Additionally, they enjoyed being taught by both regular and special teachers. Thus, the law has been the major force behind improved and quality education for students with special needs. In addition, IDEA was introduced and passed in the 1990’s, making major changes to the field of special education for the benefit of handicapped children.
Javier (2005) agrees that the IDEA law was mainly enacted to enable children with disabilities to be educated properly. This law assisted in ensuring that such learners were provided with the services they needed at school. It replaced the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHCA) law, which also helped in reforming the lives of children with disabilities ranging from fully meeting their needs to their inclusion in the public school system (Ciment, 2015). IDEA focused more on the child and less on their condition. Initially, many viewed special education as a serious emotional impairment rather than a learning disability. However, things have changed nowadays, thanks to the legal system.
The evolved legal system is characterized by a set of testing procedures that can assist in identifying different learning disabilities as to come up with an education plan that suits the special needs students well. Moreover, special needs students are taught by teachers who are specially trained, fully aware of their condition, understand them, and know how to handle them correctly. Today, the provision of IDEA has transformed the lives of many children living with disabilities. The interviewed director argued that numerous special children have benefited a lot from IDEA, citing the fact that, more children with disabilities are nowadays able to attend schools and access general education curriculum with ease. This enables them to acquire a wide variety of academic skills. Additionally, more special needs youths are now graduating from high school and absorbed in various employment sectors. According to Sacks (2001), about 4 million children and adolescents enjoy special education and related services. Therefore, this is a good sign that the discrimination of people living with disabilities is no longer acceptable in the education sector.
How does the legal framework differ for special needs students and regular students in private and public schools?
Notably, the legal framework differs for special needs and regular students in private and public schools. To begin with, the fact that regular students are not protected by the law like their special needs counterparts is a big difference. The law requires public schools to provide or pay for the education of students if the local system is unable to provide the same for free. On the contrary, in private schools, the local school system must ensure that the state department of education helps students to receive an appropriate education just like in public schools. The provisions of the main law called IDEA clearly outline specific goals and services that are meant to meet the individual needs of students with special needs. On the other hand, for regular students, such provisions are not applicable to them. But just like public schools, private schools are allowed to make use of IDEA and the applicable resources.
However, students in public schools are entitled to additional rights and protections as the institutions are state actors that are government regulated and receive state and federal education funds. This is not the case in private schools as students do not enjoy additional rights and protections like their public counterparts. In most cases, the rights of students in private schools are determined by the contract that their parents sign during their enrollment. In addition, the students with special needs have an additional set of rights under IDEA and other related laws. For example, IDEA requires states to ensure that children with disabilities are active in statewide and district assessment programs (Jones, Apling, & Smole, 2004).
Who monitors the implementation and evaluation of IEPs in private and public schools?
The federal law requires public schools to identify and appropriately evaluate students who are suspected to be disabled. This is also the case with private schools as they are expected to do the same (Tucker, 2016). It is necessary for students who receive special education services to have an Individualized Education Programs (IEP). The director stated that the federal law, IDEA, requires public schools to create an IEP for all special needs students. The IEP assists in identifying the child’s learning needs, the services that the school offers them, and explicates how to measure their progress. Given that IEP is an important document, various parties, including parents, are involved in establishing it. Since it helps parents to highlight their child’s strengths and weaknesses, participating in creating it helps them come up with ways to assist their children to succeed in school. Thus, the IEP is supposed to address the unique learning issues of every child. It is mainly aimed at identifying the special education services children with disabilities need (Dubos & Fromer, 2006).
The director mentioned that it is the responsibility of local education administrator to monitor the implementation and evaluation of IEPs in both private and public schools. Agreeably, the local education administrator in charge of IEPs may be the school principal, the deputy principal, or even a special education teacher acting as the administrator. After the implementation and evaluation process, the IEPs are then signed off by the local school designated personnel. Notably, the director of special education in private schools must attend the meeting of IEP on an annual basis to ensure that students receive quality education.
Tucker (2016) agrees that creating an IEP is an activity that needs teamwork. Firstly, the parents play an important role in sharing the child’s strengths and weaknesses. In addition, there should be at least one special education teacher in the faction. A school district representative should also be part of the team because of their knowledge of general and special education. Such a person can make the requisite decisions involving school resources to help the special children under their jurisdiction. More so, the presence of a school psychologist is needed to assist in interpreting the learners’ evaluation outcome.
In the legal expert’s opinion, are there any elements of special education law that need refinement? Explain.
There is no doubt that certain elements of the special education law need refinement. For instance, the special education sector requires additional funding. This is necessary to assist in meeting the needs of special students accordingly. Although the director believes that IDEA has been assisting in funding special education and related services for many children with disabilities by providing enough funds to cater for these students’ needs, Javier (2005) argues that the money provided for special education services is not enough to satisfy the needs of such learners fully. Given that the current needs of these students are not met in most cases as required, additional funding is necessary to help satisfy special needs students. The local schools receive inadequate funds, making it hard to get the materials and instructional resources needed to cater for the needs of special students. Additionally, the teaching staff may sometimes feel frustrated by the set rules and requirements that inhibit their teaching, for instance, in situations where teachers need to fight for supplies, rooms, and inclusion of special needs in the regular school’s activities, or enough money has not been allocated to ensure that their efforts are fruitful. This results in reduced morale, and so they may not be able to provide quality education to the learners.
Conversely, parents of such students may as well be frustrated by the lack of cooperation and input from significant parties in the course of their attempts to ensure that their children’s educational needs are met accordingly. Moreover, the special education programs have never been funded as outlined by the law. Therefore, the special education law should focus on addressing not only the needs of children with disabilities but also those of their parents and teachers. The number of students with special needs has increased, and so there need for the allocation of enough funds to be able to provide them with a quality education. The director agrees with related studies that certain changes need to be made especially to increase cooperation linking parents, special education teachers, and other significant parties to be able to make the special education programs successful. To this end, the necessary amendments need to be made to facilitate the channeling of more funds to special education to improve its quality.
Conclusion
Special education programs have played a significant role in transforming the lives of learners with disabilities. For instance, the director praises the introduction of laws, such as the EHCA and IDEA, which have changed the special education sector, enabling handicapped children to learn, graduate, and get employed just like their regular counterparts. These laws outlined their provisions erasing the extreme discrimination and segregation that children with disabilities were previously exposed to. In addition, the legal framework differs when it comes to special needs and regular students as the former enjoy special rights as outlined in the provisions of IDEA. It is also important to monitor the implementation and evaluation of IEPs in schools, which is the responsibility of the local school administrators. Even though the legal system has evolved to ensure that children with disabilities are not excluded from public school systems and acquire education in the right manner, there are some elements that need to be refined, such as additional funding, increased cooperation and support from parents and special education teachers. As a result, the special education programs will fully satisfy the special requirements and needs of children with disabilities.
References
Ciment, J. (2015). Social issues in America: An encyclopedia. New York, NY: Routledge.
Dubos, L., & Fromer, J. (2006). A parents' guide to special education in New York City and the metropolitan area. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Javier, I. O. (2005). The individuals with disabilities education act (IDEA). New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
Jones, N. L., Apling, R. N., & Smole, D. P. (2004). Individuals with disabilities education act, IDEA: Background and issues. New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
Sacks, A. (2001). Special education: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Tucker, G. C. (2016). 6 things to know about private schools and special education. Retrieved from https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/choosing-starting-school/finding-right-school/6-things-to-know-about-private-schools-and-special-education
