Impacts of IDEA

IDEA has many components that impact the American education system, educators within that system, and the lives of individuals with disabilities. This paper shows directly how the IDEA principles impact the education system, and the students and teachers within the system. Through IDEA, schools and educators must focus on every individual, and treat all students with or without disabilities equally. IDEA has the components to solve every conflict or educational error. Students with disabilities are benefited from IDEA, with their own Individualized Education Program (IEP), a free and appropriate public education, and every other principle that is included in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

IDEA is known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and it’s most recent reauthorization took place in 2004. IDEA is practiced at every school district in the United States, and everyone involved with education is impacted. Teachers (both general and special educators), school administrators, parents, and the student are all impacted through IDEA. “The law reflects society’s concern about treating people with disabilities as full citizens with the same rights and privileges that all other citizens enjoy” (1). With this statement, it sums up all six principles of IDEA, with its main goal of giving students with disabilities the same rights that all other students enjoy.

IDEA is broken down into six major principles, explaining the majority of the rules and regulations of how IDEA operates. The principles are: Zero Reject, Nondiscriminatory Identification and Evaluation, Free Appropriate Public Education, Least Restrictive Environment, Due Process Safeguards, and Parent and Student Participation and Shared Decision Making. Zero Reject means that all schools must educate all children with disabilities. Nondiscriminatory Identification and Evaluation means that schools must used nonbiased, multifactored methods of evaluation. Free, Appropriate Public Education means that an IEP must be developed for each child and they must benefit from receiving a free education that is most appropriate and designed for them. Least Restrictive Environment requires that students must be educated with the students without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate. Due Process safeguards ensure that parents’ and children’s rights are protected. The Shared Decision Making principle of IDEA requires that schools must collaborate with parents. There are other provisions of IDEA, like: extension of Special Education Services to Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers, Related Services and Assistive Technology, and Federal Funding of Special Education. Every component of the IDEA is vital for the act to run smoothly, and with just one component left out, IDEA would not be complete. (1)

IDEA has impacted the American education system in many ways. The most ambitious promise is that IDEA requires that schools educate all children with disabilities, no matter what. There is also a requirement of IDEA called child find system, which holds each state education agency responsible to locating, identifying, and evaluating all children in the state with disabilities. “Education systems must use nonbiased, multifactored methods of evaluation to determine whether a child has a disability and, if so, whether the child needs special education”. They need to have the resources and ability to administer the testing in the child’s native language, and take many diverse tests to make placement and identification decisions. (1)

American education system also needs to be well prepared to provide a free appropriate public Education to all children with disabilities, no matter how severe. The cost is free, and the education is provided by the public expense. This is where the IEP comes in. IEPs must be developed and implemented to meet the unique needs of each student with a disability. It is up to the American Education System, each school, to provide an IEP team, a team that conducts the meeting with the parents, regular education teachers, special education teachers, local education agency representative, an individual who can interpret evaluation results, others at the discretion of the parent or school, and the student (age 14 or older must be invited).

The education systems are also impacted by IDEA by having to place the students with disabilities in the regular classroom as much as possible, while meeting the child’s special education needs. Least Restrictive Environment is very important to the general and special educators, because it keeps the students with disabilities educated with children without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate. School districts must provide a continuum or placement and service alternatives.

“Schools must provide due process safeguards to protect the rights of children with disabilities and their parents. This is usually the last resort to solving problems between school districts and parents, but they do occur.” This means that there are some disputes that need legal help. Settling them in court is not the main goal, but in case it does happen, this principle ensures that the parents and children with disabilities rights are protected. The majority of conflicts are about placement or program issues. According to the due process safeguards, the school district must be confidential with children’s records, but able to have the records available to the parents of the children with disabilities. (1)

Schools must collaborate with parents and students with disabilities in the planning and implementation of special education and related services. The parents’ and students, when appropriate, input and wishes must be considered in determining IEP goals, related-service needs, and placement decisions. Teachers must seek advice of the parents, because parents know what is best for their child. (1)

Along with the American education system, educators’ roles within that system are also being impacted by IDEA. Both general and special educators must take a crucial and important role in every child with a disability. The Process of Special Education consists of many aspects that are brought about by the educators, and also followed through by the educators. For every student with a disability, they must hold a pre-referral intervention, to provide immediate instructional and/or behavioral assistance. Evaluation and Identification comes next, requiring that all children suspected of having a disability must receive a nondiscriminatory multifactored evaluation – and it must be done within sixty days of parent consent. Now the program planning starts; an IEP must be developed for children identified as having a disability. After the IEP is planned, the IEP team must determine the least restrictive educational environment that meets the student’s needs. Teachers (both general and special education) must review and evaluate. The IEP has to be thoroughly and formally reviewed on an annual basis, notification or parents, and record and data keeping are all necessary for the educators’ roles within the education system.

IDEA has made the educators’ role much more demanding than ever before. They are the eyes and ears of the school district, and responsible for students with or without disabilities to receive the most appropriate education possible. The most crucial variable is the quality of instruction that each child receives. Educators teach a number of students, but they need to treat each student as an individual. IEPs really help out the educators, and make everything more individualized, and easier to focus on the goals and needs for each student. Reporting and analyzing data is a very important role for educators, not only for the annual IEP planning and evaluations, but also teaching to the maximum extent possible for each student.

Finally, the lives of individuals with disabilities are impacted by IDEA in many ways, very positively. IDEA makes it possible for all students with disabilities to receive a free appropriate public education. Without IDEA, students with disabilities would be rejected from the school district, they would be discriminated, and they would not receive a free appropriate public education. IDEA has the purpose of treating students with disabilities just like any other student, and strives to give them opportunities available to everyone, available to students with disabilities as well.

Once the student is being identified and evaluated for special education, IDEA ensures that no biased or discriminatory methods will be used to identify and evaluate the student. Students will also be evaluated under tests that are in their native language, and IDEA requires that they take more than one test in order to conduct the best possible evaluations for the students with disabilities. (1)

One of the greatest benefits of IDEA is that the students with disabilities receive their own IEP. “The IEP specifies the child’s unique educational needs, states present levels of performance, identifies measureable annual goals, and describes the specific special education and related services that will be provided to help the child attain those goals and benefit from education.” An IEP is so important for every student to have, because it really individualizes what they need the most in the classroom, what their goals are, and what the student’s present level of performance is at. (1)

Students with disabilities are able to be in the regular classroom to the maximum extent appropriate according to the Least Restrictive Environment principle of IDEA. The contents of the IEP will be explained as to how much time is spend with the students without disabilities, and how much time is spent in separate classrooms. “To ensure that each student with disabilities is educated in the least restrictive environment appropriate for her needs, school districts must provide a continuum of placement and service alternatives.” (1)

IDEA ensures that parent’s and children’s rights are protected, through Due Process Safeguards. Unfortunately, there always is the chance of having great conflicts between families and the education system, but parents and students can be at ease, because rights are protected. IDEA also includes that schools must collaborate with parents, through the principle of shared decision making. The educators and system administrators will all take parent’s concerns and comments and do what is appropriate for the students with disabilities. Parents know what is best for their child, so parent communication is a necessary principle to decision making. Each and every principle of IDEA really has a positive impact on students with disabilities, because it always puts the students first, making them the number one priority.

In conclusion, the components of IDEA have impacted the American education system, the educators’ roles within that system, and the lives of individuals with disabilities all very positively. Through IDEA, schools and educators must focus on every individual, and treat all students with or without disabilities equally. IDEA has the components to solve every conflict or educational error. Students with disabilities are benefited from IDEA, with their own IEP, a free and appropriate public education, and every other principle that is included in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Abstract

This paper goes through the components of IDEA and how they have impacted the American education system, educators’ roles within that system, and the lives of individuals with disabilities. I went through the six principles of IDEA, and how they have positively impacted students with disabilities. Schools are impacted by providing all of the sufficient resources and educators to fulfill the IDEA needs. Educators’ roles within the education system are to provide the best instruction based on IEPs of the students with disabilities, and evaluate all the students regularly while staying on task of educating to the best of their ability.

Works Cited

(1) Heward, W. L. (2009). Exceptional Children: an introduction to special education (Ninth ed. ). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.