Before focusing on how to incorporate special education into schools, let alone Catholic
schools, it is important to understand the laws that are being enforced. Looking back at the
history of education there exist multiple positions in case law that build the foundation for the
function of special education. One of the court cases essential to special education was Brown vs.
the Board of Education Topeka. Brown was fighting for the rights of those with different racial
backgrounds and made sure that schools were not divided among race. This case was a fight to
end “separate” from the “separate but equal” policy. More concretely “the issue is not whether
separate and equal accommodations are constitutional simply because there is equalization”
(Turnbull, et al., 2007, pg 15.) At the end of the court case it was stated that “in the field of
public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate education facilities
are inherently unequal” (Alexander, et al., 2005, pg. 896). Separate but equal soon became a
problem in the case of special education, where people think that schooling children with
disabilities in separate buildings or classrooms is a good thing. Brown becomes a foundation for
fighting this case. One of the statements made during Brown was that “education is perhaps the
most important function of a state and local government” (Alexander & Alexander, 2005, pg.
896). It is very questionable during these times if children will be able to succeed in this world if
they are not given the opportunities to be educated, so it is up to the state and local governments
to make sure that this is not happening. This case set ground for many civil rights movements to
come after it which would deal with discrimination in the government towards people with
personal characteristics which were unchangeable. (III, Stowe, & Huerta, 2007) Brown vs. the
Board of Education Topeka is one of the biggest assets for protecting the rights of children with
disabilities.
This next case became one that is used to form the basis for Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA). Pennsylvania Associating for Retarded Children vs. Pennsylvania
(PARC) stated that children who have special needs could not be denied an education in a public
school and that placing students with disabilities in regular classrooms was preferred to more
restrictive environments (Russo, et al., 2002). The last case that helped contribute to special
education is the Mills vs. the Board of Education of the District of Columbia. Many schools tend
to turn students away because they feel they do not have the resources to properly educate a child
with special needs. This case states that even when a school thinks they do not have the
necessary resources to teach special needs children, they cannot deny services to those children
without receiving permission (Russo, et al., 2002). These court cases began the process of what
is called Free Appropriate Public Education act. FAPE is a program which was designed to help
students benefit and but more specifically it is a program used to meet the individual unique
needs of every student (Alexander & Alexander, 2005). This act has been and will continue to
benefit students in special educations programs because of its requirement that the focus be set
on the student while using their individualize education plan. This will make it harder for schools
in the future to deny education to children with special needs because they will have to prove
that they cannot provide it, instead of trying to get out of it by assuming they do not. The
beginnings of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and IDEA were started; along with a
deeper focus on protecting the education of children with disabilities because of the cases PARC
and Mills.
The rights of individuals with special needs are supported by the results of these two
major laws, IDEA and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Although these laws have
very similar rights in common they both have brought separate benefits to special education
(Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was
originally called Education for All Handicapped Children Act but was renamed in 1990
(Raymond, 2008). This legislation made it the responsibility of schools, districts, and states to
identify and give services to students with mild disabilities (Raymond, 2008). IDEA established
six principles which underline the intentions of IDEA and how special education should be
established in schools: Zero Reject, Nondiscriminatory Evaluation, Individualized Education
Plans (IEPs), Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), Parental participation, and Procedural Due
Process.
The zero reject principle clearly states that “students without disabilities may not be
excluded, either physically or functionally, from public education” (Turnbull, et al., 2007, pg.
56). This clearly expresses the Congresses strong support that no child with disabilities should be
denied the opportunity of a good education. This further stresses Congress’s intent through IDEA
to make sure all students with disabilities are getting a full education and full educational
opportunities. When it comes to education, in order to make sure all children are receiving a
proper education, a child identification program was put into place called, child find, so that
students who do need protection against exclusion, can be found and helped. According to Russo
“ The IDEA regulations require states, through local educational agencies or school boards, to
identify, locate, and evaluate all children with disabilities, including those who attend religiously
affiliated non-public schools, regardless of the severity of their disability” (2002, pg. 20). The
child find process has three purposes: “to ensure that children with disabilities are not denied a
free appropriate education because they have not been located, ensure the cooperation between
agencies, and to enable the SEA and LEA to appropriate funds, plan and deliver programs, and
be held accountable to all children with disabilities” (Turnbull, et al., 2007) It is up to public
schools to do activities such as outreach to private schools in their boundaries, make brochures
and provide information to private schools in order to follow IDEA practice of the child find
process. Private schools can assist public schools in the child find process but they are not
required to (Christensen, Cohodes, Fernandes, Klasik, Loss, & Segeritz, 2007). Zero Reject does
not always mean that the student will receive a proper education in the best environment for
them, meeting those needs comes with evaluating the student to find their needs and strengths.
This can be done by giving the student a nondiscriminatory evaluation. Turnbull states, “IDEA
requires a multidisciplinary, multifaceted, nonbiased evaluation of a child before classifying and
providing special education for that child” (2007, 120).
Nondiscriminatory Evaluation is a series of tests that are given to the student to evaluate
their strengths and needs, and to see where they should be place in an educational setting. The
test is given in a variety of different ways so as not to be racially or culturally discriminatory
(Principles of IDEA, 2005-2010). Section 504 requires “the use of evaluation and placement
procedures that ensure that children are not misclassified, unnecessarily labeled as having a
disability, or incorrectly placed, based on inappropriate selection, administration, or
interpretation of evaluation materials” (Free Appropriate Public Education for Students with
Disabilites: Requirements under Sections 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 2007, pg.9).
This evaluation will provide teachers and administrators enough knowledge to know if the child
is eligible for special education and any other education services that might be needed by the
child.
After the child has been evaluated under the standards of a nondiscriminatory evaluation,
the next step in the IDEA process is to create an education plan for the child which focuses
directly on their needs and incorporates their strengths. This plan is called an Individualized
Education Plan. IEP’s allow for a child to receive mandatory accommodations to their education
which will strengthen their learning such as being placed in a special education classroom or
using other related services, being supplied with supplementary aids if needed, and the
implementations of program modifications and supports of school personnel to be provided to
the child (Turnbull, et al., 2007) Assigning students with disabilities an Individualized Education
Plan (IEP) is a good way to ensure that students are receiving the education that they need to
receive. IEPs are completely focused on the individual and their disabilities and tailored to the
unique needs of that student. Section 504 states that “IEPs are required for students participating
in the special education programs of recipients of funding under the IDEA” (Free Appropriate
Public Education for Students with Disabilites: Requirements under Sections 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 2007). To help with the process of forming IEPs for students, teams
are formed of the student, at least one regular education teacher, at least one special education
teacher, a representative who is qualified to provide special intrstuctions for the students unique
needs, an interpreter who can explain the evalutation results, and the student. Having all of these
members of the team present will allow for a stronger IEP to be made for the child because each
one of these individuals sees the student in different environments and can provide specific
insight on how to help the child. IEP teams must develop an indiviudualized education plan for
the student and then consider the needs of the student, and one of the first things they must
consider is how often and when they are going to place the student into a general education
classroom. This becomes one of IDEA next principles which is least restrictive environment.
Educating children with special needs in a general education classroom, under the
gerneral education curriculum is a strong preference of IDEA. Including students in these
classrooms allows for many benefits to come academically and socially which is the purpose of
LRE (Turnbull, et al., 2007) It is important when the IEP team is discussing how often to place
the child in a regualr edcuation classroom that the modificationts and supplements that are going
to be needed to help the student succeed in that classroom setting are addressed.Once IEP teams
are formed, the “IEP team may determine that the student cannot be educated satisfactorily in the
general classroom, even with the provision of modifications and supplementary aids and
services. The team must then consider other placements outside of the general classroom in order
to provide Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)” (Principles of IDEA, 2010, 1), This is
ensuring that all students with disabilities are being placed in the best learning environment
possible for their individual needs. According to Russo et al., “The bottom line is that
inclusionary placement should be the setting of choice and a segregated setting should be
contemplated only if an inclusionary placement has failed despite the best efforts of educators or
there is overwhelming evidence that it is not feasible” (2002, 19) . It is important, with all of
these principles of IDEA, that there is strong parental participation behind all of them, because
parents are the first educators of the students.
IDEA has always been strong advocates for protecting the rights of children with
disabilities along with their parents or guardians. Parental participation is essential when it comes
to making decisions about children with disabilities. IDEA states that “strengthening the role and
responsibility of parents and ensuring that families of such children have meaningful
opportunities to participate in the education of their child at school and at home” will help make
the education of the child more effective (Turnbull, et al., 2007, 291) This priniciple helps stress
that family members and parents are the core unity of the student and have a duty to support
their child and a right to the service provided to their children. The parents role in making
decisions is a rather large role. Parent participation involves things such as being a part of
making the decisions for their childs eduation, receiving notices from schools, giving permisison
for certain evaluations or release of information and being present at meetings involving their
students special education (Principles of IDEA, 2010). There are serveral safegaurds that protect
parents and students when it comes to education.
These safeguards fall under the Procedural due process. There are serveral rights the
procedural process gives parents. The first is the rights involving their children and age-specific
provisions (Turnbull, et al., 2007) This means that parents have to sign for consent for the
students until they are age 18. Parents are allowed acces to and privacy of education and health
records of their children. When it comes to testing a child the parents have the right to say if they
want an evaulation done or to have a reevalutation. Procedural safeguards ensure that “The rights
of children with disabilities and their parents are protected; all information needed to make
decisions about the provision of a free appropriate public education to the student is provided to
parents of children with disabilities and to the student when appropriate; procedures (mediation
and due process) are in place to resolve disagreements between parties” (Principles of IDEA,
2010). All of these safeguards are put into place to ensure the best environment and to make sure
the best education is being given to children with special needs.
All of the laws, legislations, and court cases that have been addressed, and many more,
are what make special education what it is today. Although these laws, regulations, and court
cases are all implemented, it can still be very hard for some schools to put these policies into
practice. The next area that is going to be addressed is the difficulties that come when private
Catholic schools attempt to bring special education into their facilities.