The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) aimed to improve the education of students with disabilities and amend the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. Before the passage of this bill, there were inadequate resources for students with disabilities in schools, making these students unprepared for postgraduate life (“IDEA”). In 1972, a congressional investigation run by The Bureau of Education for the Handicapped concluded that over eight million children required special education services in schools; current programs meet only half of these students’ needs. Furthermore, there were almost three million children with disabilities who received an inadequate education and almost two million children with disabilities who …show more content…
The 1990 bill created Individualized Education Plans for all students with disabilities, also known as an IEP. An IEP is a “formal contract outlining the services and support the school will provide for the child to benefit from the educational program” (“IDEA”). The addition of an IEP helps achieve IDEA’s goals of ensuring children with disabilities are placed in a standard educational setting and preparing students with skills of self-sufficiency (“Learn the Law”). Additionally, the IEP dictates how much time each student will spend in a typical classroom setting to help prevent segregated classrooms. Currently, 64.8 percent of students receiving special education services spend 80 percent or more of their time in regular education classes (“IDEA”). Because of IDEA, there is a greater emphasis on teaching practical and valuable skills within the classroom rather than basic school subjects. IDEA also outlined the importance of parental contributions and opinions to create their child’s IEP. If a parent feels their child’s needs are not fulfilled, they can challenge the IEP and work with school administrators to help rectify it. Students who went through school since IDEA are 2x more likely to have jobs than those adults prior because of the valuable skills fostered through an IEP. (Peterson). IDEA also increased the number of students with disabilities who can attend school. In 2019–20, “the number of students ages 3–21 who received special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was 7.3 million, or 14 percent of all public school students.” ("Individuals with Disabilities Education