What You Need to Know
The IDEA 2004 and the IDEA 2006 Regulations Webcast
The purpose of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as amended in 2004 (34 CFR 300.1) is:
- to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education (FAPE) that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment and independent living
- to ensure that the rights of children with disabilities and their parents are protected
- to assist States, localities, educational service agencies, and Federal agencies to provide for education of all children with disabilities; and
- to assess and ensure the effectiveness of efforts to educate children with disabilities.
The background for this purpose is found in the findings section where the United States Congress stated that “improving education results for children with disabilities is an essential element of our national policy of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities”.
Almost 30 years of education research and experience has demonstrated that the education of children with disabilities can be made more effective by:
- Having high expectations for children with disabilities ensuring their access to the general education curriculum in the regular classroom, to the maximum extent possible, in order to meet developmental goals and prepare to lead productive and independent adult lives
- Strengthening the role and responsibility of parents and ensuring that families of children with disabilities have meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children
- Coordinating the IDEA with other local, state, and federal school improvement efforts such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, also known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
- Providing appropriate special education and related services, and supports in the regular classroom whenever appropriate
- Supporting high-quality, intensive, preservice preparation and professional development for all personnel who work with children with disabilities in order to ensure that personnel have the skills and knowledge necessary to improve the academic achievement and functional performance of children with disabilities, including the use of scientifically based instructional practices, to the maximum extent possible
- Providing incentives for whole-school approaches to reduce the need to label children as disabled
- Focusing resources on teaching and learning while reducing paperwork
- Supporting the development and use of technology
This event is provided by the California Department of Education and partially funded from federal funds awarded as a State Program Improvement Grant to California (CFDA 84.323A) allowed in Part D of the Public Law 108-446, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
