Special Education Policy for Individuals with Disabilities Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays

Abstract

There have been so many concerns on how individuals with disability ought to be handled. This essay gives some insights on how the funds released from the federal government are used for these individuals. It shows the role of government special department in relation to the individuals living with disability. It also explains the role of other agencies and the society on helping the individuals with special needs.

Introduction

The Education for all handicap children act that ensures individuals with disabilities was enacted in the year 1975 to safeguard the rights of the children with disabilities in all the states. The policy was to ensure that children with disability had an equal opportunity to access free public education just like any other children in the State. This policy has been reviewed several times with the most relevant one coming in in 2004, where President Bush signed the policy Act. The final act regulation was published around august in 2006. The Individuals with disabilities education act . IDEA has the mandate and provision of guidelines to the countries and other public organizations to offer the primary intercession in relation to special education with other similar facilities to over 7 million eligible school children and youths with disability. Therefore the law on people with disability Acts are new despite the long historical reviews that it has gone through.

According to Claypool & McLaughlin, (2017, p. 89), the key objective of IDEA is to give the states federal funds that they use in ensuring that the students with disabilities have an opportunity to access special education services. IDEA has the responsibility of ensuring that a student with special needs receives special attention in relation to appropriate free education. The federal law requires the US Education department to define the new change in law and their meaning to schools in the district level. The latest regulations were also to interpret the laws and provide guidance on how it was to be carried out. This essay will be discussing the special education in relation to all handicap children Act of 1975 enacted by the US congress. The Act was passed by the legislative body to help the states and them in the protection of the rights and people’s needs. The purpose of this Act was to improve the results for the toddlers, infants and other related children with disability. Gordon, Gravel, and Schifter, (2009, p. 101) mentions that the key objective of the Act was to ensure that the children with disability had access to free access to public education.

This literature review will be discussing the special education Act of 2004 in relation to the individuals with disability in particular to district 75. The literature will include the role of the states and localities in providing the protection to the individual need in order to improve the needs of infants, toddlers and youths considered disable.

Literature Review

Achievement of the policy and place

The IDEA policy act have been several reviews in relevance to this law governing the individuals with disability. The latest review was in 2004 when the congress enacted it and President Bush signed it into the law. The beneficiaries of this IDEA laws was to be the students living with disability in different states around the US. According to Cohcran, …. The IDEA was by then the sole program that had authority over the states and the local aid programs and services in relation to proper care and service delivery to children with disability ages 3 -21 years of age. President Bush signed these individuals with disability education act on 3rd of December 2004 which marked a major review and reauthorization of the DEA Act. The new law was meant to reserve the elementary in addition to the civic rights guarantees of the individuals with disability education act (IDEA). The Act was also to provide and make some significant changes in the law. The act later classified a wide range of disabilities labeled as emotionally disturbed and not only disabled. After the enactment of the IDEA laws, most of them however were not implemented until sometime late in July 2005. There was high demand of highly qualified teachers to take care of the students with disability. Thus, as a result the law on highly qualified teachers, the relation to special education to these individuals with special needs was made active. All district in the US states were now tasked with the responsibility to ensure IDEA. It was also in charge of schools ensuring that the children with disability received the required attention in relation to their disability. This implied that children with special needs in schools had access to equal opportunity to free public education and other special care services related to their disability as the rest of the students (Claypool & McLaughlin, 2017, p. 144).

Policy Implementation

The policy was enacted to cater for the special needs of the students in all the states within the US. The policy was thus directly linked to the US education department that was entitled to implement it. In addition to the US department of Education, there were other public agencies, which were as well tasked with the mandate of ensuring that the policy was implemented. The US department of education has the responsibility of ensuring that the federal regulations are given to the states. New & Cochran, (2007, p. 107) prepossess that, this federal regulations ensures that, the policy is full it its meaning in relation to the individuals with disability education and special needs. The federal also ensures that, there is full description of the law. According to New & Cochran, (2007, p. 108), it was also to ensure that the extreme importance of the law was applied by the states.

The federal regulation was also defining how the policies were to be applied by schools. The major attention was to be on students with disability and other special needs. All states were also to ensure that the rules and regulations of the IDEA are implemented by the schools within the individuals’ states. The parents of the students with special needs were also required to report the issue to the relevant authority or agencies. The school districts in various states are as well responsible to ensure that the policy is implemented. The district schools are supposed to use the federal funds in the intervention in coordinating the children with disability and special need in kindergarten. The IDEA policy therefore is implemented by, the federal regulation in conjunction with the district schools, professional teachers and the parents have a role to play in the whole process.

Oversee and accountability of the policy

For any policy to be effectively implemented and have an impact to the target group there must be a system by which that particular policy is implemented. The federal regulatory body is the overall body overseeing the implementation of the IDEA policy. It gives guidelines and procedures on how the policy is to be implemented by different schools. Therefore, the federal regulatory body has the mandate of ensuring that the policy is strictly implemented and the target group has had the opportunity to access the information. The states are as well in charge of ensuring that the education departments have implemented the policy. The policy implementation is sequential in that, the federal department discharges the responsibility to the specific state. The state has the mandate from the federal department in ensuring that the policy is fully implemented. The federal program authorizes the states and other local administrations to ensure that the individuals with disability have received special care in relation to their problem.

The Special Education Office is responsibility of ensuring that the policy is implemented by the various states. It is in charge of all the publications in relation to the students with the disability problem. According to New & Cochran, (2007, p. 81), OSEP responsibility is to drafts regulations, monitors and enforces the law they also provides technical assistance to the state. The Major principles of IDEA are Part A, Part B, Part C and Part D. Part A justifies for the IDEA terminology which was discuss in the policy implementation. Part B discusses educational requirements for students ages 3- 21 to access for free public education which was mention in part of policy implementation. Part C mentions early intervention for children and Part D discusses the research, personnel, preparation and development. The director of special education is Debby Sharpe she is in charge with ensuring that the fund from the federal program that comes through the department is fully implemented and the right recipients are the beneficiaries such as the teachers and students. Debby role is to ensure that the teachers have the necessary resources to support the special needs children. Under School district 75 there’s eleven public school and one charter school. The teacher and the director have a responsibility to ensure that the beneficiaries of the funds are genuine (Walsh et, al. 2000, p. 45). Both must account for how many students are enrolled into special education and under what grounds. It is therefore arguable that the specialized professional teachers are also accountable to the use of funds meant for the individuals with special needs.

Evaluation of the policy act

Evaluation is extremely important in the issues to do with students with disability problems. The evaluations are done by the school specialized teachers. The teachers have the responsibility of identifying children aged 3 years to 21 years who have disability problem. The disability problem need to have a substantial impact on the way the student learns and behaves. In such scenarios, the students identified are tasked to undergo certain tests and evaluation in relation to the disability under question. The evaluation of these students with suspected disability is by use of individualized education plan (IEP). The IEPs are used purposely to lay out a series of specials actions and the steps through which the specialized professional teachers and parents use in helping the students with disability in achieving their dreams (New & Cochran, 2007, p. 96). The students evaluated to have the disability challenges are also entitled to use the IEPs in reaching their set objectives and goals.

Parent and teacher relationship

This IEP is carried throughout the child progress when moving from one level grade to the next. If the child is in a situation where they’ve moved to a different district or another state this IEP would keep track of the child standard in a particular subject. For example, If the child is doing very well in reading but poorly in math the IEP would discuss the child weakness in math and what the teacher should have a focus on in that particular subject. The IEPs requires that the children with disability are also assessed and evaluated in environments that are less restrictive. However more test time on an exam, quiet area and out loud reading from a paraprofessional and frequent breaks. During the process, the input of the child and parent or guardian should be taken into account.it is extremely important for the parents to note that, in the sense they feel that their child is not being given the required attention in relation to the disability, the parent can appeal. They have the right to challenge the way their children are treated if they feel it is not the right way the can contest.

The relevance of the IEP

As mentioned, the IEPs are able to move from one school to the other as they evaluate the performance of the child, and recommend the area in which they feel needs attention. For the high school children, a compensatory net option is a program that’s entitled for the students. The compensatory net option gives students a chance to a enter regular aid and graduate with a regents high school diploma. The students are required to take six RCT exams which are called regents competency test. This exam allows the student to have the option of taking all six exams. In list of exams Math, Living Environment, Global History, Science, US History and Reading. On all six exams a student is responsible for scoring a 55 or above in order to sit for the regents exams which requires the student to score a 65 or above. The regent’s competency test allows the student to graduate with a local diploma if scored below a 55. Scoring between a 40-45 allows the student to graduate with a local diploma which is a certificate. The certificate is only good for the student to have vocational work but does not qualify as a diploma and cannot get you into college the student would have to take GED class or be below 21 years of age to sit and retake all regents competency test scoring at least a 55. It is absurd because, when a student who has to sit and take six re exits exams and 5 regent exams totaling 11 exams just to get into college seems to be a questions of what’s ethical. Students with disability have to be considered first priority in all situations. This would ensure that they do not miss the chances for education.

The Finance and Budgeting of the policy

For any project to be implemented and the end results achieved, funding is critical. Therefore, in implementation of the IDEA policy, funding is important. In the case of funding, the federal program is responsible for all of the funding in matters to do with the students with disability and special needs. The federal program funds the policy implementation through the individual states education departments. The funds from the federal program also reach the schools through local and other public agencies. The funds from the federal program are used for different functions to ensure the needs of the students with disability are met. The funds are used specifically for the development and the specialized teacher trainings. The teachers have to under some disability handling trainings, and thus the fund from the federal program is used. The federal funds are also used to provide direct special services to the students with disability. The specialized services where the funds are used may entail educational and behavioral change. The funds can as well be used in the support program, for instance the support and remedial reading services. In the scenario that the support is successful, the students and the school will benefit.

Success of the policy

Success is related or considered when the set goals and objectives of the policy are achieved. The policy is a success in that most of the objectives of helping a child with disability are achieved. There have been many state activities undertaken in relation to the child with disability. We can measure the success of the policy by several tangible programs that have been achieved. For example, under school district 75 there’s a program called the inclusive program the program allows teacher to serves students whose academic and behavioral needs should be meet additional support is needed with another paraprofessional who allowed in the classroom with the teacher. According to district 75, the program does not allow more than 12 students is a class. This is good for tailoring the student specific needs without distraction from outsiders. This program is for all ages and there have been several grants to this program from the states. These grants have helped in transforming the educational sector in relation to special program.

From 1975 to 2017 there have been more students who went from being labeled with a disability to just an emotional disturbed child with distractions. When working hand in hand with two teachers the achievement rate of getting out of special education has been high. Despite the many tests that were given to exit the program. Roughly 63 percent of students with disabilities graduated from high school in 2014 as oppose to 30 percent in 1975. There have been different programs, projects and resources that have positively contributed to the students with disability positively. For instance, in 2010 report published by the US department of education, acknowledged the success of the IDEA (Claypool & McLaughlin, 2017, p. 19). According to Claypool & McLaughlin, 2017, the report entailed many achievements of the policy like increased college enrollment for disabled people and reduced high school dropouts.

The decision theory in relation to special needs Education

The decision theory entails the study of reasoning in relation to the individual’s choice. It is further divided into two theories, the descriptive theory and the decision theory. The decision theory relates about giving advices on making decisions as well as giving a set of beliefs and values. Description on the other hand entails how the irrational agents make decisions. In the scenario therefore, we consider who based special education director. Debby Sharpe is the director of special education.

Debby is responsible for the implementation of the special education student’s policy. She decides who is to benefit from the funds in relation to the special needs. The decision theory here, applies because, she is the individual in charge of making decisions on who among the special education students benefits from the special education funds from the federal government. Debby Sharpe determines the students with disability to receive the tax credit in relation to their special needs. She is the person who decides on the student with special needs to benefit from the funds. The theory is relevant in public administration related to the special needs of the students. Debby’s role is very critical in the sense that, she will be answerable to the district education on relation to the special need funds issued to students with disability. In “the public administration primer” the states that “meaning of theory in public administration is further than just a query of how laborious the dimension and how accurate the reflection are”. Debby Sharpe has been assigned to determine the special needs in District of Albany that has been noted to have much suspension of students in relation to special needs. Therefore, Debby plays a major role in relation to the issuance of the tax credits to the students with special needs.

Role of policy administration in relation to policy implementation

The government has played extremely important role in the policy implementation. It has ensured that there are enough resources and facilities. These resources help in taking care of the students with disability. The government through the federal program has availed funds to the department of education to help the individuals with special needs attain education in public schools. The public schools are fully funded by the public administration to help the students either special needs that needs specialized attention. There have been funds from the government to aid in the training of specialized teachers. Therefore, the public administration has played its role well in ensuring that the students with disability have received the care that they deserve.

RQ: How has the IDEA policy since its enactment influenced people requiring special care?

Method

In response to the proposed research question, I will utilize the available resources on the special education and other relevant materials I will deem necessary and relevant to the question. The scope of the research will be from 2004 to 2017. The critical analysis of the material will be employed in this particular research.

The research will first start by analyzing the changes and reviews that have been there since the enactment of the policy in 1975. The review will seek to answer relevant questions in relation to public, level of government, local, federal and social. The data analyzed will be compared to the influence that the IDEA has had on the student living with disability and how whether the policy has had any impact on their lives.

Conclusion

In conclusion, therefore, individuals who requires special care ought to be given the attention they require. The parents and guardians with any individual who is disabled in one way or the other ought to report them to the necessary agencies and the government department that deals with special needs. The department of the special education needs has the mandate of ensuring that the recipient of the funds and any support from the federal government is channeled to the right recipient. There is also need to train more teachers to deal with the numerous special needs arising. The society ought to accept the individuals with the special care needs and give them the necessary support they require.

Special Education Policy for Individuals with Disabilities - Literature review Example

Extract of sample "Special Education Policy for Individuals with Disabilities"